CN114258111B

CN114258111B - Method and communication device for determining anchor point cell under non-independent networking

Info

Publication number: CN114258111B
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: 2023-11-17
Anticipated expiration: 2040-09-23
Also published as: WO2022062939A1; CN114258111A

Abstract

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

Description

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

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of communications, and more particularly, to a method and a communications device for determining an anchor cell under an independent network.

Background

Most of the fifth generation (5th Generation,5G) systems or New Radio (NR) communication systems employ a non-independent Networking (NSA) mode in the early stage of networking. Currently, most networking modes in NSA mode use Option 3 (Option 3 x) as a preferential networking mode, that is, the 5G base station is preferentially accessed to the 4th generation (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 perform network searching as a separate access technology. There are two long term evolution (long term evolution, LTE) base stations in the network architecture, one LTE base station supporting evolved universal terrestrial radio access (evolved universal terrestrial radio access, E-UTRA) and NR dual connectivity (E-UTRA NR dual connectivity, EN-DC) dual connectivity, i.e. LTE base station covered cells supporting EN-DC dual connectivity, which cells may be referred to as anchor cells. Another LTE base station does not support EN-DC dual connectivity, i.e. the cell covered by the LTE base station does not support EN-DC dual connectivity, which may be referred to as a non-anchor cell. The anchor cell can support a 5G cell as a secondary cell, so that dual connection of a 5G network and a 4G network can be realized, and the non-anchor cell only supports the 4G network and does not support an NR cell as the secondary cell. In other words, the anchor cell may be understood as an LTE cell supporting the addition of NR cells as secondary cells. At present, when a terminal device (such as a mobile phone) manually searches for a network, a user defaults the searched cell to be a non-anchor cell and processes the cell according to 4G in the manual network searching process by using the terminal device even in an area covered by a 5G network. That is, by using the existing manual network searching technology, since the terminal device cannot distinguish between the anchor cell and the non-anchor cell, even if there is 5G network coverage, the terminal device cannot select the anchor cell to reside by means of the current manual network searching, and further, the 5G network is used, which seriously affects the user experience.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides a method and a communication device for determining an anchor point cell under a non-independent networking, which can enable terminal equipment to distinguish the anchor point cell from a non-anchor point cell. The terminal equipment can automatically detect whether the 5G network coverage exists around, and can preferentially select the 5G network to be used in the anchor point cell under the condition that the 5G network coverage exists, so that the communication quality and the user experience are improved.

In a first aspect, a method for determining an anchor cell under a non-independent networking is provided, where an execution body of the method may be 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 and analyzing a system information block; analyzing the system information block according to the indication information; and determining whether an anchor point cell exists according to the analysis result, wherein the anchor point cell is a double-connection cell supporting a new wireless NR access technology and a Long Term Evolution (LTE) access technology.

According to the method for determining the anchor point cell under the non-independent networking, under the NSA networking architecture, the SIB is analyzed in the network searching process, the searched cell is distinguished to be the anchor point cell or the non-anchor point cell through analyzing the system information block, and whether the anchor point cell exists in the periphery or not is determined, so that a user can distinguish the anchor point cell and the non-anchor point cell. The terminal equipment can automatically detect whether the 5G network coverage exists around, and can preferentially select the 5G network to be used in the anchor point cell under the condition that the 5G network coverage exists, so that the communication quality and the user experience are improved.

For example, the method for determining the anchor point cell under the non-independent networking provided by the application can be applied to the scene of networking modes of Option3 (Option 3), option 3a (Option 3 a) and Option 3x (Option 3 x) under the NSA networking architecture.

In the embodiment of the application, the anchor point 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 point cell only supports the 4G network, and the NR cell is not supported as the auxiliary cell. In other words, the anchor cell may be understood as an LTE cell supporting the addition of NR cells as secondary cells.

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

In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the indication information includes: searching network type indication information and at least one of Radio Access Technology (RAT) indication information;

The network searching type indication information is used for indicating and analyzing 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 the terminal device locally stores a preset CGI set, analyzing the system information block according to the indication information includes:

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

determining whether the CGI belongs to a preset CGI set, wherein the preset CGI set comprises the CGI of at least one anchor point cell; and under the condition that the CGI belongs to the preset CGI set, determining the cell identified by the CGI as an anchor cell.

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

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

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

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

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

In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the method further includes: and stopping analyzing the system information block after determining an anchor point cell meeting the cell residence threshold and the S criterion. In the implementation mode, the condition is used as a standard for ending searching the anchor point cell, the searching speed is high, the searched cell can meet the resident condition, and the user can select to resident on the anchor point cell, so that 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 on the full frequency band. In this implementation, this condition is used as a criterion for ending the search for anchor cells, which is more comprehensive. The terminal device may search for multiple anchor cells, or may search for multiple anchor cells that meet a cell residence threshold and S criteria, or the terminal device 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 the user.

In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the method further includes: the cell is re-camped on an anchor cell that meets the cell camping threshold and S criteria.

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

In the method for determining the anchor point cell under the non-independent networking provided in the second aspect, under the NSA networking architecture, the indication information and the system information block are sent to the terminal equipment, so that the terminal equipment can analyze the system information block in the network searching process, and the searched cell is distinguished to be the anchor point cell or the non-anchor point cell by analyzing the system information block, so as to determine whether the anchor point cell exists in the periphery, and therefore the user can distinguish the anchor point cell and the non-anchor point cell. The terminal equipment can automatically detect whether the 5G network coverage exists around, and can preferentially select the 5G network to be used in the anchor point cell under the condition that the 5G network coverage exists, so that the communication quality and the user experience are improved.

In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the indication information includes: searching network type indication information and at least one of 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 SIB2.

In a third aspect, a communication device is provided, comprising means for performing the steps of the above first aspect or any of the possible implementations of the first aspect.

In a fourth aspect, there is provided a communication device comprising means for performing the steps of the second aspect above or any of the possible implementations of the second aspect.

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

In a sixth aspect, a communication device is provided, the communication device 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 of the possible implementations of the second aspect.

In a seventh aspect, a communication device is provided, the communication device comprising at least one processor and interface circuitry, the at least one processor being configured to perform the method of the above first aspect or any of the possible implementations of the first aspect.

In an eighth aspect, a communication device is provided, the communication device comprising at least one processor and interface circuitry, the at least one processor being configured to perform the method of the second aspect above or any of the possible implementations of the second aspect.

A ninth aspect provides a terminal device comprising any one of the communication apparatuses provided in the third, fifth or seventh aspects above.

In a tenth aspect, there is provided a network device comprising any one of the communication apparatuses provided in the fourth, sixth or eighth aspects above.

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

In a twelfth aspect, there is provided a computer readable storage medium having stored therein a computer program for performing the method of any of the first to second aspects or for performing the method of any of the possible implementations of any of the first to second aspects when the computer program is executed.

In a thirteenth aspect, there is provided a chip comprising: a processor for calling and running a computer program from a memory, causing a communication device on which the chip is installed to perform the method of any of the first to second aspects, or to perform the method of any of the possible implementations of any of the first to second aspects.

According to the method for determining the anchor point cell under the non-independent networking, under the NSA networking structure, the SIB is analyzed in the network searching process of the terminal equipment, whether the searched cell is the anchor point cell or the non-anchor point cell is distinguished through analyzing the SIB, and whether the anchor point cell exists in the periphery is determined, so that the terminal equipment can distinguish the anchor point cell and the non-anchor point cell. The terminal equipment can automatically detect whether the 5G network coverage exists around, and can preferentially select the 5G network to be used in the anchor point cell under the condition that the 5G network coverage exists, so that the communication quality and the user experience are improved.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a specific networking mode of option 3, option 3a, option 3x under 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 a display interface when a user performs an operation during a manual network searching operation according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of a display interface for a user to activate 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 flow chart of a method for determining an anchor cell under a non-independent networking according to an embodiment of the present application.

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

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

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

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

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

Fig. 12 is a schematic block diagram of another example communication apparatus structure provided by an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 13 is a schematic block diagram of a communication apparatus according to still another embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 14 is a schematic block diagram of another example communication apparatus structure provided by an embodiment of the present application.

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

Detailed Description

The technical scheme of the application will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In the description of the embodiments of the present application, unless otherwise indicated, "/" means or, for example, a/B may represent a or B; "and/or" herein is merely an association relationship describing an association object, and means that three relationships may exist, for example, a and/or B may mean: a exists alone, A and B exist together, and B exists alone. In addition, in the description of the embodiments of the present application, "plurality" means two or more than two.

The terms "first" and "second" are used below for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated. Thus, a feature defining "a first" or "a second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more such feature. In the description of the present embodiment, unless otherwise specified, the meaning of "plurality" is two or more.

The technical scheme of the embodiment of the application can be applied to an LTE system, an LTE frequency division duplex (frequency division duplex, FDD) system, an LTE time division duplex (time division duplex, TDD), a universal mobile communication system (universal mobile telecommunication system, UMTS), a worldwide interoperability for microwave access (worldwide interoperability for microwave access, wiMAX) communication system, a 5G system or NR and the like.

The terminal device in the embodiments of the present application may refer to a user device, an access terminal, a subscriber unit, a subscriber station, a mobile station, a remote terminal, a mobile device, a user terminal, a wireless communication device, a user agent, or a user apparatus. The terminal device may also be a cellular telephone, a cordless telephone, a session initiation protocol (session initiation protocol, SIP) phone, a wireless local loop (wireless local loop, WLL) station, a personal digital assistant (personal digital assistant, PDA), a handheld device with wireless communication capabilities, 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 future-evolving public land mobile network (public land mobile network, PLMN), etc., as embodiments of the application are not limited in this respect.

The network device in the embodiment of the present application may be a device for communicating with a terminal device, where the network device may be a base station (base transceiver station, BTS) in a global system for mobile communications (global system of mobile communication, GSM) or code division multiple access (code division multiple access, CDMA), a base station (NodeB, NB) in a wideband code division multiple access (wideband code division multiple access, WCDMA) system, an evolved base station (eNB or eNodeB) in an LTE system, a wireless controller in a cloud wireless access network (cloud radio access network, CRAN) scenario, or the network device 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 of future evolution, and the embodiment of the present application is not limited.

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

As shown in fig. 1, fig. 1 shows specific networking modes of Option3 (Option 3), option 3a (Option 3 a) and Option 3x (Option 3 x) under NSA networking architecture. The diagram a in fig. 1 shows an Option3 networking mode, where user plane data and control plane data of a 5G base station are both connected to a 4G core network through an enhanced 4G base station, that is, interaction of data information and control information is not directly performed between the 5G base station and the 4G core network. The b diagram in fig. 1 shows an Option 3a networking mode, the user plane data of the 5G base station is directly connected to the 4G core network, and the control plane data is continuously anchored in the 4G base station. I.e. only user plane data interaction is performed between the 5G base station and the 4G core network. The c diagram in fig. 1 shows an Option 3x networking mode, and the user plane data of the 5G base station is divided into two parts, wherein 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 anchor to the 4G base station.

Under the networking architecture shown in fig. 1, when a user uses the multimode terminal device to perform manual network searching, the manual network searching scheme of the pure 4G single-mode terminal device is completely adopted, namely, when the user performs manual network searching, the user selects to reside on an LTE cell, and triggers the user to perform network searching flow through a modem (modem) instruction, namely, an AT (Attention) +public open policy service (common open policy service, COPS).

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

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

Step 2: the multi-service credit control module (multiple services credit control, MSCC) sends a manual PLMN LIST (PLMN LIST) search request to the MMC.

Step 3: and the MMC starts the manual PLMN LIST network searching according to the received manual PLMN LIST (PLMN LIST) network searching request.

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

Step 5: MMC waits for manual network searching result fed back by LMM.

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

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

Step 8: the MMC exits the PLMN list network searching.

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

For example, a schematic diagram of the display interface when the user performs an operation when the user performs a manual search is shown in fig. 3. As shown in a of fig. 3, it is assumed that there is 5G network coverage in the area where the user is located, and the display policy of the signal field of the user's handset may display the 5G network signal of the chinese telecommunication. The user clicks the "set up" menu on the screen, the displayed interface is shown as b in fig. 3, the user clicks the "mobile network" menu, the displayed interface is shown as c in fig. 3, the user clicks the "manual search network" menu, the manual search network is opened, and the displayed interface is shown as d in fig. 3, 46010 represents the PLMN number of the chinese communication network. As can be seen from d in fig. 3, although the signal coverage of the 5G network of the china telecommunication exists in the area where the user resides, the result of the manual network searching shows that the china telecommunication is only a 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, in the case where the radio access technology (radio access technology, RAT) is LTE, even if there is actually an anchor cell, the user cannot distinguish whether the searched cell is an anchor cell or a non-anchor cell, and the user cannot camp on the anchor cell and use the 5G network.

Fig. 3 shows an example of a display strategy of a signal field of a mobile phone of a user, which can display a 5G network signal of china telecommunication. Another possible scenario is: the 5G network coverage exists in the area where the user is located in the chinese telecommunication, but the display policy of the signal column of the mobile phone of the user is that the 5G network signal of the chinese telecommunication cannot be displayed, that is, in the signal display column in fig. 3, the signal displayed by the chinese telecommunication is still the 4G signal. In this case, the user may ask the operator to determine whether the 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 search by the user still coincides with the d display in fig. 3. Even if there are anchor cells actually, the user cannot distinguish whether the searched cells are anchor cells or non-anchor cells by using the existing manual network searching scheme, and the processing is performed according to the non-anchor cells. The user cannot camp on the anchor cell using the 5G network.

Therefore, with the existing manual network searching scheme, even if the 5G network coverage exists in the cell where the user resides, the user can only use the 4G network on the non-anchor cell because the terminal equipment regards the searched cell as the non-anchor cell. That is, in the area covered by the 5G network, the anchor point cell and the non-anchor point cell are mixed together, and by using the existing manual network searching method, the 5G network cannot be self-checked, the anchor point cell and the non-anchor point cell cannot be distinguished, the user cannot preferentially select the anchor point to reside, the 5G network cannot be used, and the user experience is seriously affected.

In view of this, the present application provides a method for determining anchor cells under an independent networking, under NSA networking architecture, by analyzing system information blocks (system information blocks, SIB) in a network searching process, and by analyzing the system information blocks to distinguish whether a searched cell is an anchor cell or a non-anchor cell, whether anchor cells exist in the periphery is determined, so that a user can distinguish the anchor cells from the non-anchor cells. The terminal equipment can automatically detect whether the 5G network coverage exists around, and can preferentially select the 5G network to be used in the anchor point cell under the condition that the 5G network coverage exists, so that the communication quality and the user experience are improved.

In the embodiment of the application, the traditional manual network searching and the 5G network detecting area can be separated in consideration of longer time of 5G network scanning, a display interface is arranged on an application layer of the terminal equipment, and under the condition that a 5G network detecting switch is opened, the display interface can independently prompt a user whether to start 5G network coverage condition scanning or not, the user clicks a 'determining' button, a 5G network searching instruction is issued, and the terminal equipment starts 5G network detecting. For example, fig. 4 is a schematic operation diagram of an example of a detection function for starting a 5G network, as shown by a in fig. 4, for clicking a "setup" menu, a displayed interface is shown by b in fig. 4, a user clicks a "5G switch" menu, a displayed interface to the user is shown by c in fig. 4, and the user is reminded of whether to start monitoring of coverage of the 5G network, and clicks a "confirm" menu, so that the detection function of the 5G network is started. The interface displayed is shown as d in fig. 4, and the user can click on the "mobile network" menu to search the 5G network manually, so that the method for determining the anchor point cell under the non-independent networking provided by the application is executed.

In order to implement the method for determining the anchor point cell under the non-independent networking provided by the application, some configurations need to be performed on the terminal equipment, and in the embodiment of the application, the terminal equipment is multimode terminal equipment, and the specific configurations comprise:

a Physical (PHY) layer of a protocol stack of the terminal device supports full band (full band) network searching of the parsing system information block 2 (system information blocks, SIB 2);

a radio resource control (radio resource control, RRC) layer of a terminal equipment protocol stack supports the scanning of an anchor point cell in an NSA networking mode, and reports a scanning result to an application layer;

a non-access stratum (NAS) and an access stratum newly added interface are used for realizing a specified RAT (such as LTE or NR), further, the interface can be also used for realizing a list searching function of indicating a specified RAT priority frequency band (prefband), and a corresponding AT interface is provided for executing manual network searching of an anchor cell;

the wireless interface layer (radio interface layer, RIL) adds a 5G network scanning interface upper layer application 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 networks), and can automatically initiate registration, residence and the like of the anchor cell.

Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of an overall architecture of a terminal device for implementing the method provided by the embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 5: the user clicks on a display interface on an application layer of the terminal device, for example, as shown in fig. 4, starts a 5G network search, transmits to a radio interface layer RIL through an application framework layer (frame work) of the terminal device, transmits to a core network side through NAS signaling using a 5G network scan interface of the radio interface layer, sends an instruction to a new radio physical layer (NR physical, NPHY) through new radio resource control (NR radio resource control, NRRC) for determining an anchor cell, and sends an instruction to an LTE physical layer (LTE physical, LPHY) through LTE radio resource control (LTE radio resource control, LRRC) for determining an anchor cell. After the LPHY and the NPHY determine the detection results, reporting the detection results to an LRRC and an NRRC respectively, transmitting the detection results to an RIL layer of terminal equipment through NAS signaling, transmitting the detection results to an application layer through a 5G network scanning interface of the RIL layer, and finally displaying the scanning results to a user at the application layer.

Wherein the application framework layer provides an application programming interface (application programming interface, API) and programming framework for application programs 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. Alternatively, the application framework layer may include a window manager, resource manager, notification manager, view system, and the like.

Fig. 6 is a schematic flow chart diagram of a method 100 of determining anchor cells under a non-independent networking in accordance with one embodiment of the present application. The method can be applied to a scene of non-independent networking as 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 embodiments of the present application are not limited herein.

In the following description, the method provided by the present application is described with respect to a terminal device and a network device as execution subjects. By way of example, and not limitation, the execution subject of the execution method may also be a chip applied in the terminal device and the 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 equipment sends indication information to the terminal equipment, wherein the indication information is used for indicating and analyzing the system information block. Correspondingly, the terminal equipment receives the indication information.

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

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

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

In S110, after the terminal device starts the manual network searching, the terminal device may send, through signaling, information of "start the manual network searching" to the network device, for notifying the network device that the terminal device performs (or starts) the manual network searching for the 5G network. For example, the terminal device may send a manual search 5G network request to the network device, the manual search 5G network request carrying indication information for instructing the terminal to initiate a manual search. After the network equipment receives the manual network searching 5G request, the network equipment determines that the terminal equipment needs to search the 5G network manually, and the network equipment can send indication information to the terminal equipment, wherein the indication information is used for indicating the terminal equipment to analyze SIB when searching the network. 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 between the anchor cell and the non-anchor cell when searching the network manually. For example, the indication information may be specifically used to instruct the terminal device to parse SIB1 and SIB2 when searching for the network.

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

Alternatively, in the 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 use a 4G network and a 5G network.

After the terminal device receives the indication information, it can determine that 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. Correspondingly, the terminal equipment receives SIB1 and SIB2 sent by the network equipment.

In S130 and S140, after the terminal device receives the SIB, the SIB may be parsed. For example, the terminal device may parse SIB1, or parse SIB1 and SIB2. Therefore, whether the cell in which the terminal equipment currently resides is an anchor cell or not is determined, or whether the cell existing in the current environment is provided with 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 an embodiment of the present application, as a possible implementation manner, the indication information includes: at least one of search type indication information and RAT indication information.

The network searching type (SRCH TEYP) indication information is used to instruct the terminal device to parse the PLMN list in the system information block, and in the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device parses the PLMN list means that the terminal device needs to parse the SIB when searching the network, that is, needs to distinguish the anchor cell and the non-anchor cell. The RAT indication information indicates that the specified RAT is NR or LTE. The designated RAT being NR or LTE means that the terminal device needs to parse the SIB when searching the network, i.e. needs to distinguish between anchor cells and non-anchor cells.

It should be understood that, in the embodiment of the present application, the specific content included in the indication information and the form of the indication information are not limited, so long as the indication information is used to instruct the terminal device to parse the SIB (including SIB1 and SIB 2) when searching the network, so as to distinguish the anchor cell from the non-anchor cell. For example, the indication information may also carry other contents for indicating the terminal device to parse SIB when searching for the network. The embodiments of the application are not limited in this regard.

Optionally, in the embodiment of the present application, in the process of parsing the SIB to perform network searching, the terminal device may search (parse) the SIB by using a background network searching (or may also be referred to as background searching) manner. For example, the terminal device parses SIB1 using the form of background search, or parses SIB1 and SIB2. In other words, the terminal can analyze the SIB by using the background network searching mode, so as to distinguish the anchor point cell from the non-anchor point cell.

Optionally, in some possible implementations 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, S140 may specifically include: s141:

s131, the terminal equipment analyzes the system information block SIB1 according to the indication information.

S132, the terminal equipment determines a global cell identification code (cell global identifier, CGI) according to the SIB1.

S133, the terminal equipment determines whether the CGI belongs to a preset CGI set, wherein the preset CGI set comprises the CGI of at least one anchor cell.

S141, under the condition that the CGI belongs to the preset CGI set, the terminal equipment determines that the cell identified by the CGI is an anchor cell.

The descriptions of S110 and S120 shown in fig. 7 may refer to the descriptions of these steps in fig. 6, and are not repeated here for brevity.

In S131, when the terminal device locally stores the preset CGI set, the terminal device first parses SIB1 after receiving SIB1. The preset CGI set includes CGIs of at least one anchor cell, and the CGI included in the preset CGI set may be understood as a CGI of an a priori anchor cell, where the CGI is used to identify the cell. A priori anchor cells can be understood as: the cell that was the anchor cell before, i.e. the cell was the anchor cell before, on which the terminal device was previously camped.

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, i.e. determines whether the CGI in SIB1 belongs to a preset CGI set.

In S141, if the CGI in SIB1 belongs to a 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 the cell may add a secondary cell group (secondary cell group, SCG) dual link. The cell identified by the CGI in the SIB1 is the cell in which the terminal equipment currently resides, namely a service cell. In this case, the terminal device does not need to parse SIB2 corresponding to the cell.

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

Optionally, in some possible implementations of the present application, in the case where the terminal device locally stores the preset CGI set, taking fig. 8 as an example, on the basis of the method steps shown in fig. 6, S130 in the method 100 may specifically include: s131 to S134. S140 may specifically include: s142.

S131, the terminal equipment analyzes SIB1 according to the indication information.

S132, the terminal equipment determines CGI according to the SIB1.

S133, whether the CGI of the terminal equipment belongs to a preset CGI set or not, wherein the preset CGI set comprises CGI of at least one anchor point cell.

S134, in the case that the CGI does not belong to a preset CGI set, the terminal equipment blocks SIB2.

S142, in case the SIB2 includes an upper layer indication (upper layer Indication, ULI), the terminal device determines that the SIB2 indicated cell 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, and are not repeated here for brevity.

In S131 to S133, reference may be made to the description of these steps in fig. 7, which is not repeated here, and in S134, in the case 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 an a priori anchor cell, and whether the cell is an anchor cell cannot be determined by using the CGI in SIB1. 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 the result of parsing SIB2, where in the embodiment of the present application, the cell indicated by SIB2 and the cell identified by CGI in SIB1 are the same cell, and the cell is the cell where the terminal device currently resides, that is, the serving cell. In S142, the terminal device determines whether the SIB2 includes the ULI according to the received SIB2 parsing result. If ULI is configured in SIB2, the indicated cell of SIB2 is proved to be the anchor cell.

If no ULI is configured in SIB2, it can be proved that the cell where the terminal device is currently camping is not an anchor cell. In this case, the terminal device needs to continue the background network searching process, i.e. continue searching for SIB1 corresponding to another cell, or continue searching for SIB1 and SIB2 corresponding to another cell until the anchor cell is searched.

Optionally, in other possible implementations of the present application, in the case where the terminal device does not store the preset CGI set locally, taking fig. 9 as an example, on the basis of the method steps shown in fig. 6, S130 in the method 100 may specifically include: s135. S140 may specifically include: s142.

S135, analyzing the system information block SIB2 according to the indication information.

S142, determining that the cell indicated by the SIB2 is an anchor cell under the condition that the SIB2 comprises an upper layer indication ULI, wherein the preset CGI set comprises CGI of at least one anchor cell.

The descriptions of S110 and S120 shown in fig. 9 may refer to the descriptions of these steps in fig. 6, and are not repeated here for brevity.

If the terminal device does not store the preset CGI set locally, the terminal device may not need to parse SIB1. Specifically, the terminal device may directly parse SIB2 after receiving SIB2 without parsing the CGI in SIB1, and in S142, the terminal device determines whether the SIB2 includes the ULI according to the result of parsing SIB2. If ULI is configured in SIB2, the indicated cell of SIB2 is proved to be the anchor cell.

If no ULI is configured in SIB2, it is proved that the cell in which the terminal device is currently camping is not an anchor cell. In this case, the terminal device needs to continue the background network searching process, i.e. continue searching for SIB1 corresponding to another cell, or continue searching for SIB1 and SIB2 corresponding to another cell until the anchor cell is searched.

In other words, in the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device may use any one of the following three network searching methods to search for anchor cells in background:

the first way is: under the condition that the terminal equipment locally stores a preset CGI set, the terminal equipment performs background searching on an anchor cell by utilizing a network searching flow (namely only analyzing SIB 1) shown in fig. 7, and determines whether the cell in which the terminal equipment currently resides is the anchor cell or not.

The second way is: under the condition that the terminal equipment locally stores a preset CGI set, the network searching process (analyzing SIB1 and SIB 2) shown in figure 8 is utilized to search the anchor point cell in the background, and whether the cell in which the terminal equipment currently resides is the anchor point cell or not is determined.

Third mode: under the condition that the terminal equipment does not store the preset CGI set locally, searching for an anchor cell by utilizing a network searching flow (only analyzing SIB2 and not analyzing CGI in SIB 1) background as shown in fig. 9, and determining whether the cell in which the terminal equipment is currently resident is the anchor cell.

It should be appreciated that the three different ways described above are directed to the flow of searching for anchor cells for the same cell. For any one cell, the terminal device may search for the anchor cell by using any one of the above three manners.

Optionally, in the embodiment of the present application, when any one of the three ways of searching the network is used for searching the network, when any one of the following first to third conditions is satisfied, the network searching process ends:

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

For example, if the CGI in SIB1 is the same as the CGI of the a priori anchor cell, determining that the cell identified by the CGI in SIB1 is the anchor cell, and stopping the background network searching process. For example, the SIB2 corresponding to the cell is stopped from being parsed and SIBs (including SIB1 and SIB 2) corresponding to other cells are stopped from being parsed.

Or the CGI in the SIB1 is different from the CGI of the prior anchor point cell, but the SIB2 comprises the ULI, the cell where the terminal equipment currently resides is determined to be the anchor point cell, and the background network searching process is stopped. For example, parsing of SIBs (including SIB1 and SIB 2) corresponding to other cells is stopped.

Or under the condition that the terminal equipment does not store the preset CGI set locally, but the SIB2 comprises the ULI, determining that the cell where the terminal equipment currently resides is an anchor cell, and stopping the background network searching flow. For example, parsing of SIBs (including SIB1 and SIB 2) corresponding to other cells is stopped.

The second condition is: after determining an anchor point cell meeting the cell residence threshold and the S criterion, stopping analyzing the SIB, namely stopping searching the network. Wherein the S criterion is used to determine whether a cell may be the cell in which 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. In the embodiment of the application, if a certain searched anchor point cell meets the cell residence threshold and the S criterion, the terminal equipment can choose to reside in the cell.

For example, if the CGI in SIB1 is the same as the CGI of the a priori anchor cell, and if the small identified by the CGI in SIB1 satisfies the cell residence threshold and S criteria, then the parsing of SIB2 corresponding to the cell and the parsing of SIBs (including SIB1 and SIB 2) corresponding to other cells are stopped. If the cell identified by the CGI in SIB1 does not meet at least one of the cell residence threshold and S criteria, it proves that although the cell identified by the CGI is an anchor cell, the user cannot reside in the anchor cell, in which case the terminal device needs to be able to parse SIB1 or SIB1 and SIB2 corresponding to other cells in any of the three manners described above. If it is determined that a certain anchor cell meets the cell residence threshold and S criteria, the background network searching procedure is stopped, for example, the parsing of SIBs (including SIB1 and SIB 2) corresponding to another cell is stopped.

Or: if the CGI in SIB1 is not the same as the CGI of the a priori anchor cell, or the terminal device does not locally store a preset CGI set, if the ULI is included in SIB2, determining whether the anchor cell indicated by SIB2 meets a cell residence threshold and an S criterion. If the anchor cell indicated by SIB2 meets the cell residence threshold and S criteria, stopping parsing SIB (including SIB1 and SIB 2) corresponding to other cells. If the anchor cell indicated by SIB2 does not meet at least one of the cell residence threshold and the S criterion, then searching for SIB (including SIB1 and SIB 2) corresponding to the other cell is continued. The terminal equipment can use any one of the three network searching modes to continue searching the anchor point cell meeting the cell residence threshold and the S criterion until searching an anchor point cell meeting the cell residence threshold and the S criterion, and stopping analyzing the SIB.

Optionally, in an embodiment of the present application, an Srxlen value greater than zero and a square value greater than zero indicates that the S criterion is met, wherein:

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

Squal＝Qqualmeas–(Qqualmin+Qqualminoffset)。

wherein Qrxlevmeas represents the reference signal received power (reference signal receiving power, RSRP) of the detected cell, qrxlevmin is the minimum acceptable level of the cell, typically-128 dbm; qrxlevminoffset represents the offset of the lowest accepted level, typically set to 0; pcompensation=max (Pmax-Pumax, 0), pmax representing the maximum transmit power allowed by the terminal device in the current serving cell; pumax represents the maximum uplink transmit power of the terminal device; qqualmeas refers to the detected reference signal received quality (reference signal receiving quality, RSRQ); qqualmin refers to the lowest accepted reference signal quality, typically set to-18, and qqualminoffset refers to the lowest reference signal received quality offset, typically also set to 0. A Srxlen value greater than zero and a square value greater than zero indicates that the S criterion is met.

Alternatively, in the embodiment of the present application, the cell residence threshold may be preconfigured or predefined for the protocol.

Third condition: after the system information blocks corresponding to all cells on the full band are analyzed, stopping analyzing the SIB.

For the third condition, the terminal device needs to search for the anchor cell on the full frequency band, that is, for each cell on the full frequency band, any one of the above three network searching modes is used to continue searching for the anchor cell, and each cell needs to analyze SIB1, or analyze SIB1 and SIB2, or analyze 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 residence threshold and S criteria, or the terminal device may not search for anchor cells.

In the embodiment of the application, whether the search of the anchor point cell is ended is judged by utilizing the first condition, the search speed is high, and the time is short, however, the searched cell possibly does not meet the residence condition, and the user cannot select to reside on the anchor point cell. And judging whether to finish the search of the anchor point cell by using the second condition, wherein the search speed is higher, the searched cell can meet the resident condition, and the user can select to resident on the anchor point cell. And judging whether to finish the search of the anchor point cell by using a third condition, wherein the search is comprehensive, but the speed is slower and the required time is longer.

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 is ended earlier than if the third condition is used as a condition for ending the search of the anchor cell. If there is no anchor cell satisfying the first condition or the second condition at all times, it is necessary to wait until the entire fullbend search is completed to determine whether there is an anchor cell.

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

Optionally, in the embodiment of the present application, after searching for an anchor cell or searching for an anchor cell that meets a cell residence threshold and an S criterion, the user may re-camp the terminal device from the currently camping cell on the anchor cell or an anchor that meets the cell residence threshold and the S criterion. For example, the terminal device may reselect to the anchor cell using a cell reselection procedure. If multiple anchor cells are searched, or multiple anchor cells meeting the cell residence threshold and the S criteria are searched, the terminal device may select the anchor cell with the best signal for residence.

The method for determining the anchor point cell under the independent networking provided by the embodiment of the application is described below with reference to a specific example.

Fig. 10 is a schematic flowchart of an exemplary method 200 for determining an anchor cell under a non-independent networking, 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 equipment by using a newly added AT interface, and a manual search 5G flow is triggered. For example, the user may click on "mobile network" as shown by d in fig. 4, triggering a flow of manual search 5G.

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

S203, after receiving the request of searching for the 5G network manually, the MMC module sends a notification of entering a network searching 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 the 5G network to the LMM, where the request specifies that the network searching type is PLMN LIST (PLMN LIST) searching, and the request carries a specified RAT as LTE, and optionally, the specified RAT is also NR.

S206, the LMM issues a request for manually searching the 5G network to the LRRC, the request designates the network searching type as PLMN LIST (PLMN LIST) search, and the request carries the designated RAT as LTE. Optionally, the specified RAT may be NR.

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

S208, the LHPY replies back to the LRRC with confirmation information of starting background search SIB 2.

S209, after the LHPY background searching SIB2 is successful, if the SIB2 is analyzed to be configured with ULI, wherein the ULI is used for indicating that the current cell is an anchor cell, the current cell is identified as the anchor cell. The current cell may be understood as a cell in which the terminal device currently resides, and the cell in which the terminal device currently resides may also be referred to as a serving cell. If no ULI is configured in SIB2, the current cell is considered to be a non-anchor cell. If the current cell is an anchor cell, then a further determination is made as to whether the anchor cell satisfies a camping condition (e.g., whether a cell camping threshold and an S criterion are met).

S210, in the case that the anchor cell meets the camping condition (for example, meets the cell camping threshold and S criterion), LHPY replies to LRRC with acknowledgement information (confirm) that the manual search of the 5G network was successful, where the information carries the information of the anchor cell.

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

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

S213, the MMC reports the successful confirmation information of the manual search of the 5G network to the MSCC.

And S214, reporting a successful result of the manual network searching 5G to an application layer by the MSCC, and displaying the network searching result to a user by the application layer. For example, the 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 an AS flow in the flow shown in fig. 10, specifically, a specific flow of interaction between LRRC and LHPY, and AS shown in fig. 11, the flow 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 designated by the request is LTE, and the type of the network searching is carried as a PLMN LIST (PLMN LIST) of an analytic SIB 2. Here, S301 corresponds to S206 in the flow shown in fig. 10.

S302, the LRRC transmits 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 the LRRC with confirmation information of starting the background search of SIB2, and S303 corresponds to S208 in the flow shown in fig. 10.

S304, a 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 for acquiring a system information block to the LPHY.

S307, the LPHY acquires a physical broadcast channel (physical broadcast channel, PBCH) for receiving the main system information block (master information block, MIB), and acquires a physical downlink shared channel (physical downlink shared channel, PDSCH) for receiving the SIB according to the PBCH.

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

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

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

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

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

S313, the LPHY sends a background search ending confirmation message to the CSELBG.

S314, the CSELBG sends the information of the searched anchor cell to the LNAS. After the LNAS receives the information of the anchor point cell, the LNAS can report the successful confirmation information of the manual search of the 5G network by an application layer, and the application layer displays the search result of the anchor point cell to a user.

In S308, during the physical layer background searching for the anchor cell, SIB1 may be parsed 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 prior cell, the cell identified by the CGI in SIB1 is the anchor cell.

If there is no priori anchor cell locally or the CGI in SIB1 is different from that in the priori anchor cell, then SIB2 can be continuously analyzed to determine whether it is the anchor cell according to whether there is ULI in SIB2. After searching the anchor point cell and recording the information of the anchor point cell, the information of the anchor point cell is sent to the LNAS. If the anchor point cell is not searched or the searched anchor point cell does not meet the residence threshold and the S criterion, continuing to execute the cell search flow, namely continuing to analyze the SIB1 and the SIB2 corresponding to the next cell.

The background search for anchor cells ends if any of the following three conditions are met:

the first condition is: and ending the search for an anchor cell.

The second condition is: and (5) ending the search when an anchor cell meeting the residence threshold and the S criterion is searched.

Third condition: full band (full band) search is completed 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 the manner shown in S308.

After the background anchor point searching cell is finished, the terminal equipment can display the searching condition of the manual anchor point searching to the user at an application layer, and inform the user whether the 5G network coverage exists or not.

After searching the anchor point cell meeting the residence threshold and the S criterion, or after determining the anchor point cell meeting the residence threshold and the S criterion in the searched anchor point cells, the user can be triggered to carry out a cell reselection flow, so that the user resides on the anchor point cell, the user can use a 5G network, and the communication quality and the user experience are improved.

According to the method for determining the anchor point cell under the non-independent networking, under the NSA networking structure, the SIB is analyzed in the network searching process, and the searched cell is distinguished to be the anchor point cell or the non-anchor point cell through analyzing the system information block, so that whether the anchor point cell exists in the periphery or not is determined, and a user can distinguish the anchor point cell and the non-anchor point cell. The terminal equipment can automatically detect whether the 5G network coverage exists around, and can preferentially select the 5G network to be used in the anchor point cell under the condition that the 5G network coverage exists, so that the communication quality and the user experience are improved.

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

It should also be understood that the foregoing description of embodiments of the present application focuses on highlighting differences between the various embodiments and that the same or similar elements not mentioned may be referred to each other and are not repeated herein for brevity.

It should be further understood that the sequence numbers of the above processes do not mean the order of execution, and the order of execution of the processes should be determined by the functions and internal logic of the processes, and should not be construed as limiting the implementation process of the embodiments of the present application.

It should be further understood that, in the embodiments of the present application, the "preset" and "predefined" may be implemented by pre-storing corresponding codes, tables or other manners that may be used to indicate relevant information in devices (including, for example, terminals and network devices), and the present application is not limited to the specific implementation manner thereof.

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

It is also to be understood that in the various embodiments of the application, where no special description or logic conflict exists, the terms and/or descriptions between the various embodiments are consistent and may reference each other, and features of the various embodiments may be combined to form new embodiments in accordance with their inherent logic relationships.

The method for determining the anchor cell under the independent networking according to the embodiment of the present application is described in detail above with reference to fig. 1 to 11. The following describes the communication device according to the embodiment of the present application 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, or may be a chip or a component applied to the terminal device, and each module or unit of the communication apparatus 400 is used to perform each action or process performed by the terminal device in each of the foregoing method 100 to 300, respectively, 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 and analyzing a 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-connection cell supporting the new wireless NR access technology and the LTE access technology.

Under NSA networking architecture, the communication device provided by the application analyzes SIB in the network searching process, and distinguishes whether the searched cell is an anchor cell or a non-anchor cell by analyzing the system information block, so as to determine whether the anchor cell exists in the periphery, thereby enabling a user to distinguish the anchor cell and the non-anchor cell. The terminal equipment can automatically detect whether the 5G network coverage exists around, and can preferentially select the 5G network to be used in the anchor point cell under the condition that the 5G network coverage exists, so that the communication quality and the user experience are improved.

Optionally, in some embodiments of the present application, the indication information includes: searching network type indication information and at least one of Radio Access Technology (RAT) indication information;

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

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

determining a global cell identity (CGI) according to the SIB1;

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

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

determining a global cell identity (CGI) according to the SIB1;

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

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

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

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

after determining an anchor cell, stopping parsing the system information block.

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

after the system information blocks corresponding to all cells on the full frequency band are analyzed, stopping analyzing the system information blocks

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 the user.

Optionally, in some embodiments of the present application, the processing unit 420 is further configured to: the cell is re-camped on an anchor cell that meets the cell camping threshold and S criteria.

It should be understood that, for a specific process of each unit in the communication apparatus 400 to perform the above corresponding steps, reference is made to the foregoing description of the steps performed by the terminal device in connection with fig. 4, fig. 6 to fig. 11, and the related embodiments in the methods 100 to 300. For brevity, details are not repeated here.

Alternatively, the communication unit 410 may include a receiving unit (module) and a transmitting unit (module) for performing the steps of receiving information and transmitting information by the terminal device in the foregoing respective method embodiments. Optionally, the communication device 400 may further comprise a storage unit for storing instructions to be executed by the processing unit 420 and the communication unit 410. The processing unit 420, the communication unit 410, and the storage unit are communicatively connected, the storage unit stores instructions, the processing unit 420 is configured to execute the instructions stored in the storage unit, and the communication unit 410 is configured to execute specific signal transceiving under the driving of the processing unit 420.

It should be appreciated that the communication unit 410 may be a transceiver, an input/output interface or interface circuitry, etc. The memory 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 foregoing methods 100 to 300 and the related embodiments shown in fig. 6 to 11. Similar descriptions can be made with reference to the descriptions in the corresponding methods previously described. In order to avoid repetition, a description thereof is omitted.

It should also be appreciated that the communication apparatus 400 shown in fig. 12 or the communication apparatus 500 shown in fig. 13 may be a terminal device, or the 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 method 100, or may be a chip or a component applied to the network device, and each module or unit of the communication apparatus 600 is used to perform each action or process performed by the network device in the manner of each embodiment of the method, and 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, with the terminal device, whether there is an anchor cell, 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.

According to the communication device provided by the application, under the NSA networking architecture, the indication information and the system information block are sent to the terminal equipment, so that the terminal equipment can analyze the system information block in the network searching process, and the searched cell is distinguished to be an anchor cell or a non-anchor cell by analyzing the system information block, so that whether the anchor cell exists in the periphery or not is determined, and therefore, a user can distinguish the anchor cell and the non-anchor cell. The terminal equipment can automatically detect whether the 5G network coverage exists around, and can preferentially select the 5G network to be used in the anchor point cell under the condition that the 5G network coverage exists, so that the communication quality and the user experience are improved.

Optionally, in some embodiments of the present application, the system information block includes: system information block SIB1 and system information block SIB2.

It should be understood that, for a specific process of each unit in the communication apparatus 600 to perform the corresponding steps described above, reference is made to the foregoing description of the steps performed by the network device in connection with fig. 4, 6 to 9, and the related embodiment of the method 100. For brevity, details are not repeated here.

Alternatively, the communication unit 620 may include a receiving unit (module) and a transmitting unit (module) for performing the steps of receiving information and transmitting information by the network device in the foregoing respective method embodiments. Optionally, the communication device 600 may further comprise a storage unit for storing instructions to be executed by the processing unit 610 and the communication unit 620. The processing unit 610, the communication unit 620, and the storage unit are communicatively connected, the storage unit stores instructions, the processing unit 610 is configured to execute the instructions stored in the storage unit, and the communication unit 620 is configured to perform specific signal transceiving under the driving of the processing unit 610.

It is to be understood that the communication unit 620 may be a transceiver, an input/output interface or interface circuit, etc. The memory 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 respective embodiments in the foregoing method 100, and the related embodiments shown in fig. 6 to 9. Similar descriptions can be made with reference to the descriptions in the corresponding methods previously described. In order to avoid repetition, a description thereof is omitted.

It should also be appreciated that the communication apparatus 600 shown in fig. 14 or the communication apparatus 700 shown in fig. 15 may be a network device, or 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 merely a division of a logic function, and may be fully or partially integrated into a physical entity or may be physically separated. And the units in the device can be all realized in the form of software calls through the processing element; or can be realized in hardware; it is also possible that part of the units are implemented in the form of software, which is called by the processing element, and part of the units are implemented in the form of hardware. For example, each unit may be a processing element that is set up separately, may be implemented as integrated in a certain chip of the apparatus, or may be stored in a memory in the form of a program, and the functions of the unit may be called and executed by a certain processing element of the apparatus. The processing element, which may also be referred to herein as a processor, may be an integrated circuit with signal processing capabilities. In implementation, each step of the above method or each unit above may be implemented by an integrated logic circuit of hardware in a processor element or in the form of software called by a processing element.

In one example, the unit in any of the above apparatuses may be one or more integrated circuits configured to implement the above methods, for example: one or more application specific integrated circuits (application specific integrated circuit, ASIC), or one or more digital signal processors (digital signal processor, DSP), or one or more field programmable gate arrays (field programmable gate array, FPGA), or a combination of at least two of these integrated circuit forms. For another example, when the units in the apparatus may be implemented in the form of a scheduler of processing elements, the processing elements may be general-purpose processors, such as a central processing unit (central processing unit, CPU) or other processor that may invoke the program. For another example, the units may be integrated together and implemented in the form of a system-on-a-chip (SOC).

The embodiment of the application also provides a communication system, which comprises: the terminal equipment and the network equipment provided by the embodiment of the application are described.

The embodiment of the application also provides a computer readable storage medium for storing a computer program code, wherein the computer program code comprises instructions for executing the method for determining anchor cells under any of the independent networking provided by the embodiment of the application. The readable medium may be read-only memory (ROM) or random access memory (random access memory, RAM), to which embodiments of the application are not limited.

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

The embodiment of the application also provides a chip positioned in the communication device, which comprises: a processing unit, which may be, for example, a processor, and a communication unit, which may be, for example, an input/output interface, pins or circuitry, etc. The processing unit may execute computer instructions to cause the communication device to execute any of the methods for determining anchor cells under the independent networking provided in the embodiments of the present application.

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

Alternatively, the storage unit is a storage unit in the chip, such as a register, a cache, etc., and the storage unit may also be a storage unit in the terminal located outside the chip, such as a read-only memory (ROM) or other type of static storage device that can store static information and instructions, a random access memory (random access memory, RAM), etc. The processor mentioned in any of the above may be a CPU, a microprocessor, an ASIC, or one or more integrated circuits for controlling the execution of the program of the above-mentioned feedback information transmission method. The processing unit and the storage unit may be decoupled and respectively disposed on different physical devices, and the respective functions of the processing unit and the storage unit are implemented by wired or wireless connection, so as to support the system chip to implement the 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 used to execute the corresponding method provided above, so that the beneficial effects thereof can be referred to the beneficial effects in the corresponding method provided above, and will not be described herein.

It will be appreciated that the memory in embodiments of the application may be volatile memory or nonvolatile memory, or may include both volatile and nonvolatile memory. The nonvolatile memory may be a ROM, a Programmable ROM (PROM), an erasable programmable EPROM (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable EPROM (EEPROM), or a flash memory, among others. The volatile memory may be RAM, which acts as external cache. There are many different types of RAM, such as Static RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double data rate SDRAM (DDR SDRAM), enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), synchronous Link DRAM (SLDRAM), and direct memory bus RAM (DR RAM).

The terms "system" and "network" are often used interchangeably herein. The term "and/or" is herein merely an association relationship describing an associated object, meaning that there may be three relationships, e.g., a and/or B, may represent: a exists alone, A and B exist together, and B exists alone. In addition, the character "/" herein generally indicates that the front and rear associated objects are an "or" relationship.

Various objects such as various messages/information/devices/network elements/systems/devices/actions/operations/processes/concepts may be named in the present application, and it should be understood that these specific names do not constitute limitations on related objects, and that the named names may be changed according to the scenario, context, or usage habit, etc., and understanding of technical meaning of technical terms in the present application should be mainly determined from functions and technical effects that are embodied/performed in the technical solution.

In various embodiments of the application, where no special description or logic conflict exists, terms and/or descriptions between the various embodiments are consistent and may reference each other, and features of the various embodiments may be combined to form new embodiments based on their inherent logic.

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 solution. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present application.

The methods in 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 computer network, or other programmable apparatus. The computer program or instructions may be stored in or transmitted across a computer-readable storage medium. The computer readable storage medium may 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 will be clear to those skilled in the art that, for convenience and brevity of description, specific working procedures of the above-described systems, apparatuses and units may refer to corresponding procedures in the foregoing method embodiments, and are not repeated herein.

In the several embodiments provided by the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, devices, and methods may be implemented in other manners. For example, the apparatus embodiments described above are merely illustrative, e.g., the division of the units is merely a logical function division, and there may be additional divisions when actually implemented, e.g., multiple units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted or not performed. Alternatively, the coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed with each other may be an indirect coupling or communication connection via some interfaces, devices or units, which may be in electrical, mechanical or other form.

The units described as separate units may or may not be physically separate, and units shown 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 may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of this embodiment.

In addition, each functional unit in the embodiments of the present application may be integrated in one processing unit, or each unit may exist alone physically, or two or more units may be integrated in 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 this understanding, the technical solution of the present application may be embodied essentially or in a part contributing to the prior art or in a part of the technical solution, in the form of a software product stored in a readable storage medium, comprising several instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, a network device, etc.) to perform all or part of the steps of the method according to the embodiments of the present application. And the aforementioned readable storage medium includes: a U-disk, a removable hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (random access memory, RAM), a magnetic disk, or an optical disk, or other various media capable of storing program codes. The foregoing is merely illustrative of the present application, and the present application is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art will readily recognize that variations or substitutions are within 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 foregoing is merely illustrative of the present application, and the present application is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art will readily recognize that variations or substitutions are within 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 anchor cells in a non-independent networking, comprising:

the terminal equipment displays a first user interface, wherein a control is displayed on the first user interface and used for prompting a user: whether to start new wireless NR network detection or not is judged, wherein the control comprises a first control;

the terminal equipment receives the operation of the user on the first control, wherein the operation is used for starting NR network detection;

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

the terminal equipment analyzes a 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 double-connection cell supporting a new wireless NR access technology and a Long Term Evolution (LTE) access technology.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the indication information comprises: searching network type indication information and at least one of Radio Access Technology (RAT) indication information;

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

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

the terminal equipment determines a global cell identification code CGI according to the SIB1;

the terminal equipment determines whether the CGI belongs to a preset CGI set or not, wherein the preset CGI set comprises the CGI of at least one anchor point cell;

and under the condition that the CGI belongs to the preset CGI set, the terminal equipment determines that the cell identified by the CGI is 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, comprising:

if 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 the CGI of at least one anchor point 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 case the terminal device does not locally store a preset CGI set, the terminal device parses the system information block according to the indication information, comprising:

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

and under the condition that the SIB2 comprises an upper layer indication ULI, the terminal equipment determines the cell indicated by the SIB2 as an anchor cell, wherein the preset CGI set comprises at least one CGI of the anchor cell.

6. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the method further comprises:

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

7. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the method further comprises:

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

8. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the method further comprises:

and after the terminal equipment analyzes the system information blocks corresponding to all the cells on the full frequency band, stopping analyzing the system information blocks.

9. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the method further comprises:

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

10. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the method further comprises:

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

11. A communication device, comprising:

and a display unit: the method comprises the steps of displaying a first user interface, wherein a control is displayed on the first user interface and used for prompting a user: whether to start new wireless NR network detection or not is judged, wherein the control comprises a first control;

the display unit is further configured to: receiving operation of the user on the first control, wherein the operation is used for starting NR network detection;

A communication unit: for receiving indication information, the indication information being used for indicating: analyzing 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.

12. The communication apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the indication information includes: searching network type indication information and at least one of Radio Access Technology (RAT) indication information;

13. The communication device according to claim 11 or 12, wherein the processing unit is further configured to:

determining a global cell identity (CGI) according to the SIB1;

14. The communication device according to claim 11 or 12, the processing unit further configured to:

determining a global cell identity (CGI) according to the SIB1;

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

and in the case that the SIB2 comprises an upper layer indication ULI, determining the cell indicated by the SIB2 as an anchor cell.

15. The communication device according to claim 11 or 12, wherein the processing unit, in case the communication device does not locally store a preset CGI set, is further configured to:

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

16. The communication device according to claim 11 or 12, wherein the processing unit is further configured to:

17. The communication device according to claim 11 or 12, wherein the processing unit is further configured to:

18. The communication device according to claim 11 or 12, 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 on the full frequency band.

19. The communication device according to claim 11 or 12, wherein the processing unit is further configured to:

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

20. The communication device according to claim 11 or 12, wherein the processing unit is further configured to:

the cell is re-camped on an anchor cell that meets the cell camping threshold and S criteria.

21. A communication apparatus, the apparatus comprising at least one processor coupled with at least one memory:

the at least one processor configured to execute a computer program or instructions stored in the at least one memory to cause the communication device to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 10.

22. A computer-readable storage medium, in which a computer program or instructions is stored which, when read and executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 10.

23. A chip, comprising: a processor for calling and running a computer program from a memory, causing a communication device on which the chip is mounted to perform the method of any of claims 1 to 10.