CN114828240A

CN114828240A - Carrier switching method and device

Info

Publication number: CN114828240A
Application number: CN202110559333.8A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 王洲; 薛丽霞; 徐海博
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2021-01-27
Filing date: 2021-05-21
Publication date: 2022-07-29
Also published as: WO2022161051A1

Abstract

The application relates to a carrier switching method and device. The carrier switching method comprises the following steps: the terminal equipment receives a first timing advance TA of a first carrier and a second TA of a second carrier; the terminal equipment determines a first switching time parameter according to the first TA and the second TA, wherein the first switching time parameter is used for indicating at least one of the following items: a position of a switching time or a length of the switching time for switching from the first carrier to the second carrier, or an adjusted position of a switching time or an adjusted length of the switching time for switching from the first carrier to the second carrier; the terminal device switches from the first carrier to the second carrier according to the first switching time parameter. And determining new switching time or adjusting the original switching time according to the timing advance of the two carriers, so as to adjust the position and/or length of the switching time according to the timing advance, thereby enabling the UE to realize flexible switching between the carriers according to different scenes and improving the efficiency of data transmission.

Description

Carrier switching method and device

Technical Field

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

Background

With the development of wireless communication technology, a mobile communication network gradually evolves to the fifth generation (5G), i.e., a New Radio (NR) network, and a terminal device puts higher requirements on downlink transmission performance and uplink transmission performance. In an actual network, considering that the amount of downlink data is large, more downlink time domain resources are generally allocated to the terminal device, and less uplink time domain resources are allocated to the terminal device, and the uplink transmission performance is poor due to limited uplink time domain resources.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of this, a method and an apparatus for switching carriers are provided, which provide a mechanism for scheduling switching time, and can improve the efficiency of data transmission when the switching time of carrier switching conflicts with data transmission.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a carrier switching method, which is applied to a terminal device, and the method includes: the terminal equipment receives a first timing advance TA of a first carrier and a second TA of a second carrier; the terminal equipment determines a first switching time parameter according to the first TA and the second TA, wherein the first switching time parameter is used for indicating at least one of the following items: a position of a switching time or a length of a switching time for switching from the first carrier to the second carrier, or an adjusted position of a switching time or an adjusted length of a switching time for switching from the first carrier to the second carrier; and the terminal equipment is switched from the first carrier to the second carrier according to the first switching time parameter.

According to the carrier switching method provided by the embodiment of the application, the first TA of the first carrier and the second TA of the second carrier are obtained, the first switching time parameter is determined according to the first TA and the second TA, the new switching time or the parameter for adjusting the original switching time is obtained according to the first switching time parameter, and the position and/or the length of the switching time are/is adjusted in advance according to the timing, so that the flexible switching between the carriers according to different scenes can be realized, and the data transmission efficiency is improved.

According to the first aspect, in a first possible implementation manner, the method further includes: the terminal equipment receives data type information or carrier priority information, wherein the data type information comprises a data type of first data of the first carrier and/or a data type of second data of the second carrier, and the carrier priority information comprises a priority of the first carrier and/or a priority of the second carrier; the terminal equipment determines a first switching time parameter according to the first TA and the second TA, and the method comprises the following steps: the terminal equipment determines the first switching time parameter according to the first TA, the second TA and one or more of the following information: data type information, carrier priority information.

According to the carrier switching method provided by the embodiment of the application, the first switching time parameter is determined by combining the first TA of the first carrier and the second TA of the second carrier, and the data type information or the carrier priority information, so that the switching time can be flexibly adjusted according to different scenes, the carrier switching can be flexibly carried out under different scenes, and the data transmission efficiency is improved.

According to the first aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a second possible implementation manner, the method further includes: and the terminal equipment reports the first switching time parameter to network equipment and receives a confirmation instruction sent by the network equipment aiming at the first switching time parameter. The first switching time parameter is determined according to the first TA and the second TA for multiple times, and the determined first switching time parameter is reported to the network equipment for multiple times, so that the method adapts to different scenes and flexibly adjusts the switching time.

According to the first aspect, in a third possible implementation manner, the first switching time parameter is used to indicate: the position of the adjustment of the switching time or the length of the adjustment of the switching time for switching from the first carrier to the second carrier, and the terminal device determining the first switching time parameter according to the first TA and the second TA, include: the terminal device determines the first switching time parameter according to the first TA, the second TA and a second switching time parameter, wherein the second switching time parameter is a position or a length of switching time, which is used for indicating switching time for switching from the first carrier to the second carrier, of a network device and is determined and reported by the terminal device before the first switching time parameter is determined; the terminal equipment is switched from the first carrier to the second carrier according to the first switching time parameter, and the switching method comprises the following steps: and the terminal equipment is switched from the first carrier to the second carrier according to the second switching time parameter and the first switching time parameter.

According to a third possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner, the method further includes: and the terminal equipment reports the first switching time parameter to network equipment and receives a confirmation instruction sent by the network equipment aiming at the first switching time parameter. The first switching time parameter is determined according to the first TA and the second TA for multiple times, and the determined first switching time parameter is reported to the network equipment for multiple times, so that the method adapts to different scenes and flexibly adjusts the switching time.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a carrier switching apparatus, where the apparatus is applied to a terminal device, and the apparatus includes:

a first receiving module, configured to receive a first timing advance TA of a first carrier and a second TA of a second carrier; a first determining module configured to determine a first handover time parameter according to the first TA and the second TA, the first handover time parameter being indicative of at least one of: a position of a switching time or a length of a switching time for switching from the first carrier to the second carrier, or an adjusted position of a switching time or an adjusted length of a switching time for switching from the first carrier to the second carrier; a first switching module, configured to switch from the first carrier to the second carrier according to the first switching time parameter.

The carrier switching device provided in the embodiment of the application obtains the first TA of the first carrier and the second TA of the second carrier, determines the first switching time parameter according to the first TA and the second TA, obtains a new switching time or adjusts the original switching time according to the first switching time parameter, and realizes the adjustment of the position and/or the length of the switching time in advance according to the timing, thereby realizing the flexible switching between the carriers according to different scenes and improving the efficiency of data transmission.

According to the second aspect, in a first possible implementation manner, the apparatus further includes: a second receiving module, configured to receive data type information or carrier priority information, where the data type information includes a data type of first data of the first carrier and/or a data type of second data of the second carrier, and the carrier priority information includes a priority of the first carrier and/or a priority of the second carrier; the first determining module is further configured to determine, by the terminal device, the first handover time parameter according to the first TA and the second TA and one or more of the following information: data type information, carrier priority information.

The carrier switching device provided by the embodiment of the application determines the first switching time parameter by combining the first TA of the first carrier and the second TA of the second carrier, and the data type information or the carrier priority information, and realizes flexible adjustment of the switching time according to different scenes, so that flexible carrier switching can be realized in different scenes, and the efficiency of data transmission is improved.

In a second possible implementation manner, according to the second aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the apparatus further includes: a first reporting module, configured to report the first switching time parameter to a network device, and receive a confirmation instruction issued by the network device for the first switching time parameter. The first switching time parameter is determined according to the first TA and the second TA for multiple times, and the determined first switching time parameter is reported to the network equipment for multiple times, so that the method adapts to different scenes and flexibly adjusts the switching time.

In a third possible implementation form according to the second aspect, the first switching time parameter is used to indicate: the first determining module is further configured to determine the first handover time parameter according to the first TA, the second TA, and a second handover time parameter, where the second handover time parameter is a position or a length of a handover time that is used for indicating a handover time for switching from the first carrier to the second carrier, and is determined and reported to the network device by the terminal device before the first handover time parameter is determined; the first switching module is further configured to switch from the first carrier to the second carrier according to the second switching time parameter and the first switching time parameter.

According to a third possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner, the apparatus further includes: a first reporting module, configured to report the first switching time parameter to a network device, and receive a confirmation instruction issued by the network device for the first switching time parameter.

According to a third possible implementation manner of the first aspect, according to the third possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner, a position of an adjustment of a switching time for switching from the first carrier to the second carrier is represented by a subframe symbol of the first carrier or the second carrier, and a length of the adjustment of the switching time for switching from the first carrier to the second carrier is represented by a difference value between the first TA and the second TA or a quantization index of the difference value.

In a sixth possible implementation form, according to the first aspect or any one of the first to fourth possible implementation forms of the first aspect, or according to the second aspect or any one of the first to fifth possible implementation forms of the second aspect, the terminal device communicates with the network device by using a multi-carrier uplink transmission technology, where the multi-carrier uplink transmission technology is any one or more of carrier aggregation CA, dual connectivity DC, supplemental uplink SUL, or Sidelink communication Sidelink.

In a sixth possible implementation manner according to the first aspect or the second aspect, in a seventh possible implementation manner, the multiple carriers in the multi-carrier uplink transmission technology are time division multiplexing, TDM.

In an eighth possible implementation manner, according to the first aspect or any one of the first to fourth possible implementation manners of the first aspect, or according to the second aspect or any one of the first to fifth possible implementation manners of the second aspect, the first carrier and the second carrier are carriers for power amplifier, PA, link multiplexing.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a carrier switching method, where the method includes: the terminal equipment determines a first switching time parameter according to the data type information or the carrier priority information, wherein the first switching time parameter is used for indicating at least one of the following items: a position of a switching time or a length of a switching time for switching from a first carrier to a second carrier, or an adjusted position of a switching time or an adjusted length of a switching time for switching from the first carrier to the second carrier; wherein the data type information comprises a data type of first data of the first carrier and/or a data type of second data of the second carrier, and the carrier priority information comprises a priority of the first carrier and/or a priority of the second carrier; and the terminal equipment is switched from the first carrier to the second carrier according to the first switching time parameter.

According to the carrier switching method, for the co-station multi-carrier communication scene, before carrier switching is carried out, the first switching time parameter is determined according to the data type information or the carrier priority information, new switching time or the parameter for adjusting the original switching time is obtained according to the first switching time parameter, the position and/or the length of the switching time are/is adjusted in advance according to timing, therefore, flexible switching among carriers according to different scenes can be achieved, and the data transmission efficiency is improved.

According to a third aspect, in a first possible implementation manner, the method further includes: the terminal equipment determines the capability information of the terminal equipment; the terminal equipment determines a first switching time parameter according to the data type information or the carrier priority information, and the method comprises the following steps: and the terminal equipment determines the first switching time parameter according to one or more items of the capability information, the data type information or the carrier priority information.

According to the carrier switching method provided by the embodiment of the application, for the co-station multi-carrier communication scene, when the carrier switching is performed, the first switching time parameter can be determined according to the PA capability, or the first switching time parameter can be determined according to the PA capability in combination with the data type information or the carrier priority information, the new switching time or the parameter for adjusting the original switching time is obtained according to the first switching time parameter, the position and/or the length of the switching time can be adjusted in advance according to the timing, so that the flexible switching between carriers according to different scenes can be realized, and the data transmission efficiency is improved.

According to the third aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the third aspect, in a second possible implementation manner, the method further includes: and the terminal equipment reports the first switching time parameter to network equipment and receives a confirmation instruction sent by the network equipment aiming at the first switching time parameter. The carrier switching method can send the parameters related to the switching time between the terminal equipment and the network equipment for multiple times, so that the switching time can be flexibly changed according to the change of an application scene during carrier switching.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a carrier switching apparatus, which is applied to a terminal device, and the apparatus includes: a second determining module, configured to determine a first handover time parameter according to the data type information or the carrier priority information, where the first handover time parameter is used to indicate at least one of: a position of a switching time or a length of a switching time for switching from a first carrier to a second carrier, or an adjusted position of a switching time or an adjusted length of a switching time for switching from the first carrier to the second carrier; wherein the data type information comprises a data type of first data of the first carrier and/or a data type of second data of the second carrier, and the carrier priority information comprises a priority of the first carrier and/or a priority of the second carrier; a second switching module configured to switch from the first carrier to the second carrier according to the first switching time parameter.

According to the carrier switching device, for the co-station multi-carrier communication scene, before carrier switching is carried out, the first switching time parameter is determined according to the data type information or the carrier priority information, new switching time or the parameter for adjusting the original switching time is obtained according to the first switching time parameter, the position and/or the length of the switching time are/is adjusted in advance according to timing, therefore, flexible switching among carriers according to different scenes can be achieved, and the data transmission efficiency is improved.

According to a fourth aspect, in a first possible implementation manner, the apparatus further includes: a third determining module, configured to determine capability information of the terminal device; the second determining module is further configured to determine the first handover time parameter according to one or more of the capability information, the data type information, or carrier priority information.

The carrier switching device provided in the embodiment of the application, in a co-station multi-carrier communication scenario, when carrier switching is performed, may determine the first switching time parameter according to the PA capability, or may determine the first switching time parameter according to the PA capability in combination with data type information or carrier priority information, obtain a new switching time or a parameter for adjusting the original switching time according to the first switching time parameter, and implement adjusting the position and/or length of the switching time in advance according to timing, thereby implementing flexible switching between carriers according to different scenarios, and improving the efficiency of data transmission.

In a second possible implementation manner, according to the fourth aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the apparatus further includes: and the second reporting module is used for reporting the first switching time parameter to network equipment and receiving a confirmation instruction which is issued by the network equipment aiming at the first switching time parameter. The carrier switching device can send parameters related to the switching time between the terminal equipment and the network equipment for multiple times, so that the switching time can be flexibly changed according to the change of an application scene during carrier switching.

According to a second possible implementation manner of the third aspect or according to the second possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, in a third possible implementation manner, the terminal device communicates with the network device through a multicarrier uplink transmission technology, where the multicarrier uplink transmission technology is any one or more of carrier aggregation CA, dual connectivity DC, supplemental uplink SUL, or Sidelink.

In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a carrier switching method, where the method is applied to a network device, and the method includes: the network equipment determines a first timing advance TA of a first carrier and a second TA of a second carrier; the network device determines a first handover time parameter according to the first TA and the second TA, wherein the first handover time parameter is used for indicating at least one of the following: the position of the switching time or the length of the switching time for the terminal equipment to switch from the first carrier to the second carrier, or the adjusted position of the switching time or the adjusted length of the switching time for the terminal equipment to switch from the first carrier to the second carrier; and the network equipment transmits the first switching time parameter to the terminal equipment.

According to a fifth aspect, in a first possible implementation manner, the method further includes: the network equipment determines data type information or carrier priority information, wherein the data type information comprises a data type of first data of the first carrier and/or a data type of second data of the second carrier, and the carrier priority information comprises a priority of the first carrier and/or a priority of the second carrier; the network device determines a first handover time parameter according to the first TA and the second TA, and includes: the network device determines the first handover time parameter from the first and second TAs and one or more of the following information: data type information, carrier priority information.

According to the fifth aspect, in a second possible implementation manner, the first switching time parameter is used to indicate: the position of adjustment of the switching time or the length of adjustment of the switching time when the terminal switches from the first carrier to the second carrier, and the network device determines a first switching time parameter according to the first TA and the second TA, including: and the network equipment determines the first switching time parameter according to the first TA, the second TA and a second switching time parameter, wherein the second switching time parameter is a position of switching time or a length of the switching time, which is determined by the network equipment before the first switching time parameter is determined and is issued to the terminal equipment, for indicating the terminal equipment to switch from the first carrier to the second carrier.

According to the fifth aspect or any one of the first to third possible implementation manners of the fifth aspect, in a sixth possible implementation manner, the network device is a master network device in a DC, the DC further includes a slave network device, the master network device communicates with the terminal device through a first carrier, the slave network device communicates with the terminal device through a second carrier, and the network device determines a first timing advance TA of the first carrier and a second TA of the second carrier, including: and the network equipment receives the TA of the second carrier wave reported by the terminal equipment or the difference value between the TA of the second carrier wave and the TA of the first carrier wave, or the network equipment receives the TA of the second carrier wave reported by the auxiliary network equipment.

In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a carrier switching apparatus, where the apparatus is applied to a network device, and the apparatus includes: a fourth determining module, configured to determine a first timing advance TA of the first carrier and a second TA of the second carrier; a fifth determining module, configured to determine a first handover time parameter according to the first TA and the second TA, where the first handover time parameter is used to indicate at least one of: the position of the switching time or the length of the switching time for the terminal device to switch from the first carrier to the second carrier, or the adjusted position of the switching time or the adjusted length of the switching time for the terminal device to switch from the first carrier to the second carrier; and the first sending module is used for sending the first switching time parameter to the terminal equipment.

According to a sixth aspect, in a first possible implementation manner, the apparatus further includes: a sixth determining module, configured to determine data type information or carrier priority information, where the data type information includes a data type of first data of the first carrier and/or a data type of second data of the second carrier, and the carrier priority information includes a priority of the first carrier and/or a priority of the second carrier; the fifth determining module is further configured to determine the first handover time parameter according to the first TA and the second TA and one or more of the following information: data type information, carrier priority information.

According to the sixth aspect, in a second possible implementation manner, the first switching time parameter is used to indicate: the fifth determining module is further configured to determine the first handover time parameter according to the first TA, the second TA, and the second handover time parameter, where the second handover time parameter is a position or a length of a handover time that is determined by the network device before the first handover time parameter is determined and is issued to the terminal device and is used to instruct the terminal device to switch from the first carrier to the second carrier.

In a third possible implementation form of the method according to the second possible implementation form of the fifth aspect or the second possible implementation form of the sixth aspect, a position of an adjustment of a switching time from the first carrier to the second carrier is represented by a subframe symbol of the first carrier or the second carrier, and a length of the adjustment of the switching time from the first carrier to the second carrier is represented by a difference value between the first TA and the second TA or a quantization index of the difference value.

In a fourth possible implementation form of the method according to the fifth aspect or any one of the first to second possible implementation forms of the fifth aspect or any one of the first to third possible implementation forms of the sixth aspect or the sixth aspect, the network device communicates with the terminal device by using a multi-carrier uplink transmission technology, where the multi-carrier uplink transmission technology is any one or more of carrier aggregation CA, dual connectivity DC, supplemental uplink SUL, or Sidelink.

In a fourth possible implementation manner according to the sixth aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner, the multiple carriers in the multiple carrier uplink transmission technology are time division multiplexing TDM.

According to the sixth aspect or any one of the first to third possible implementation manners of the sixth aspect, in a sixth possible implementation manner, the network device is a main network device in a DC, the DC further includes an auxiliary network device, the main network device communicates with the terminal device through a first carrier, the auxiliary network device communicates with the terminal device through a second carrier, and the fourth determining module is further configured to receive the TA of the second carrier reported by the terminal device or a difference between the TA of the second carrier and the TA of the first carrier, or receive the TA of the second carrier reported by the auxiliary network device.

In a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a carrier switching method, where the method is applied to a network device, and the method includes: the network equipment determines a first switching time parameter according to the data type information or the carrier priority information, wherein the first switching time parameter is used for indicating at least one of the following items: the position of the switching time or the length of the switching time for switching the terminal equipment from the first carrier to the second carrier, or the adjusted position of the switching time or the adjusted length of the switching time for switching the terminal equipment from the first carrier to the second carrier; wherein the data type information comprises a data type of first data of the first carrier and/or a data type of second data of the second carrier, and the carrier priority information comprises a priority of the first carrier and/or a priority of the second carrier; and the network equipment transmits the first switching time parameter to the terminal equipment.

The carrier switching method can send the parameters related to the switching time between the terminal equipment and the network equipment for multiple times, so that the switching time can be flexibly changed according to the change of an application scene during carrier switching.

According to a seventh aspect, in a first possible implementation manner, the method further includes: the network equipment receives the capability information reported by the terminal equipment; the network equipment determines a first switching time parameter according to the data type information or the carrier priority information, and comprises the following steps: the network device determines the first handover time parameter according to one or more of the capability information, the data type information, or carrier priority information.

In an eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a carrier switching apparatus, where the apparatus is applied to a network device, and the apparatus includes: a seventh determining module, configured to determine a first handover time parameter according to the data type information or the carrier priority information, where the first handover time parameter is used to indicate at least one of: the position of the switching time or the length of the switching time for switching the terminal equipment from the first carrier to the second carrier, or the adjusted position of the switching time or the adjusted length of the switching time for switching the terminal equipment from the first carrier to the second carrier; wherein the data type information comprises a data type of first data of the first carrier and/or a data type of second data of the second carrier, and the carrier priority information comprises a priority of the first carrier and/or a priority of the second carrier; and the second issuing module is used for issuing the first switching time parameter to the terminal equipment.

According to an eighth aspect, in a first possible implementation manner, the apparatus further includes: the third receiving module is used for receiving the capability information reported by the terminal equipment; the seventh determining module is further configured to determine, by the network device, the first handover time parameter according to one or more of the capability information, the data type information, or carrier priority information.

According to a seventh aspect or a first possible implementation manner of the seventh aspect, or according to the eighth aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the eighth aspect, in a second possible implementation manner, the network device communicates with the terminal device through a multi-carrier uplink transmission technology, where the multi-carrier uplink transmission technology is any one or more of carrier aggregation, CA, dual connectivity, supplemental uplink SUL, or side chain communication, Sidelink.

In a ninth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a terminal device, where the terminal device may perform the carrier switching method of the first aspect or one or more of the multiple possible implementations of the first aspect, or the terminal device may perform the carrier switching method of the third aspect or one or more of the multiple possible implementations of the third aspect.

In a tenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a network device, where the network device may perform the carrier switching method of one or more of the foregoing fifth aspect or multiple possible implementations of the fifth aspect, or the network device may perform the carrier switching method of one or more of the foregoing seventh aspect or multiple possible implementations of the seventh aspect.

In an eleventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer program product, which includes computer readable code or a non-transitory computer readable storage medium carrying computer readable code, and when the computer readable code runs in an electronic device, a processor in the electronic device performs a carrier switching method of one or more of the first aspect or the multiple possible implementations of the first aspect, or performs a carrier switching method of one or more of the third aspect or the multiple possible implementations of the third aspect.

In a twelfth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer program product, which includes computer readable code or a non-volatile computer readable storage medium carrying computer readable code, and when the computer readable code runs in an electronic device, a processor in the electronic device executes a carrier switching method of one or more of the fifth aspect or the fifth possible implementation manners, or executes a carrier switching method of one or more of the seventh aspect or the seventh possible implementation manners.

In a thirteenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication system, where the communication system includes at least one terminal device and at least one network device, the at least one terminal device may communicate with one or more of the at least one network device, the at least one terminal device communicates with the network device via a multicarrier uplink transmission technique, and the at least one terminal device and/or the at least one network device determine a first handover time parameter according to a first timing advance TA of a first carrier and a second TA of a second carrier, where the first handover time parameter is used to indicate at least one of: the position of the switching time or the length of the switching time for the terminal equipment to switch from the first carrier to the second carrier, or the adjusted position of the switching time or the adjusted length of the switching time for the terminal equipment to switch from the first carrier to the second carrier; and at least one terminal device switches between the first carrier and the second carrier according to the first switching time parameter.

These and other aspects of the present application will be more readily apparent from the following description of the embodiment(s).

Drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate exemplary embodiments, features, and aspects of the application and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the application.

Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a CA scenario according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 2 shows a schematic diagram of a DC scenario according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 3a is an exemplary diagram of a communication scenario according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 3b is an exemplary diagram of a communication scenario according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 4 a-4 e show diagrams of standard specified switching times, respectively.

Fig. 5 a-5 f show diagrams of the handover times specified by the 3GPP standard, respectively.

Fig. 6 shows a schematic diagram of the uplink-downlink timing relationship.

Fig. 7 a-7 c illustrate diagrams of carrier switching according to some embodiments of the present application.

Fig. 8a shows a schematic diagram of a DC scenario according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 8b shows a flowchart of a carrier switching method according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 9a shows an interaction diagram of a device in an application scenario of a carrier switching method according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 9b shows a schematic diagram of carrier switching according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 10 shows a schematic diagram of a subframe structure according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 11a shows a schematic diagram of carrier switching according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 11b shows a schematic diagram of carrier switching according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 11c illustrates an interaction diagram of an apparatus for performing a carrier switching method according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 12a shows a flowchart of a carrier switching method according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 12b shows an interaction diagram of an apparatus for performing a carrier switching method according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 13a shows a flowchart of a carrier switching method according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 13b shows an interaction diagram of an apparatus for performing a carrier switching method according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 14 a-14 c respectively illustrate diagrams of carrier switching according to some embodiments of the present application.

Fig. 15 a-15 c respectively illustrate diagrams of carrier switching according to some embodiments of the present application.

Fig. 16 a-16 c respectively illustrate schematic diagrams of carrier switching according to some embodiments of the present application.

Fig. 17 a-17 c respectively illustrate diagrams of carrier switching according to some embodiments of the present application.

Fig. 18a and 18b respectively show schematic diagrams of carrier switching according to some embodiments of the present application.

Fig. 19 shows an interaction diagram of a device in an application scenario of a carrier switching method according to another embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 20 is an interaction diagram of a device in an application scenario of a carrier switching method according to another embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 21 shows a block diagram of a carrier switching apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 22 shows a block diagram of a carrier switching apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application.

FIG. 23 shows a block diagram of a network device according to an embodiment of the application.

Detailed Description

Various exemplary embodiments, features and aspects of the present application will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings, like reference numbers can indicate functionally identical or similar elements. While the various aspects of the embodiments are presented in drawings, the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale unless specifically indicated.

The word "exemplary" is used exclusively herein to mean "serving as an example, embodiment, or illustration. Any embodiment described herein as "exemplary" is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments.

Furthermore, in the following detailed description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a better understanding of the present application. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the present application may be practiced without some of these specific details. In some instances, methods, procedures, components, and circuits that are well known to those skilled in the art have not been described in detail so as not to obscure the present application.

The embodiment of the application provides a communication system, which comprises at least one network device and at least one terminal device, wherein the at least one terminal device can communicate with one or more of the at least one network device.

The communication system in the embodiment of the present application may be a communication system supporting a fourth generation (4G) access technology, for example, a Long Term Evolution (LTE) access technology; alternatively, the communication system may also be a communication system supporting a 5G access technology, such as an NR access technology; alternatively, the communication system may be a communication system supporting a third generation (3G) access technology, such as a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) access technology; alternatively, the communication system may also be a communication system supporting a plurality of wireless technologies, for example, a communication system supporting an LTE technology and an NR technology. In addition, the communication system may also be adapted for future-oriented communication technologies.

The network device in this embodiment may be a device that is used by an access network side to support a terminal device to access a communication system, and may be, for example, a Base Transceiver Station (BTS) and a Base Station Controller (BSC) in a second generation (2G) access technology communication system, a node b (node b) and a Radio Network Controller (RNC) in a 3G access technology communication system, an evolved node b (eNB) in a 4G access technology communication system, a next generation base station (neighbor node b, gNB) in a 5G access technology communication system, a Transmission Reception Point (TRP), a relay node (relay node), an Access Point (AP), and the like. The network device may be referred to as a base station, a node, or an access network device, etc.

The terminal device in this embodiment may be a device that provides voice or data connectivity to a user, and may also be referred to as a User Equipment (UE), a mobile station (mobile station), a subscriber unit (subscriber unit), a station (station), and so on. For example, the terminal may be a cellular phone (cellular phone), a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a wireless modem (modem), a handheld device (hand-held), a laptop computer (laptop computer), a cordless phone (cordless phone), a Wireless Local Loop (WLL) station, a tablet (pad), a smart phone (smart phone), a Customer Premises Equipment (CPE), a sensor with a network access function, and the like. With the development of wireless communication technology, all devices that can access a communication system, can communicate with a network side of the communication system, or communicate with other objects through the communication system may be terminal devices in the embodiments of the present application, such as terminal devices in intelligent transportation and automobiles, home devices in smart homes, power meter reading instruments in smart grids, voltage monitoring instruments, environment monitoring instruments, video monitoring instruments in smart security networks, cash registers, and so on.

In the related art, the technical problem of poor uplink transmission performance caused by limited uplink time domain resources is solved through a multi-carrier uplink transmission technology. The multi-carrier uplink transmission means that a plurality of carriers exist between the terminal device and the network device in the uplink direction. The terminal device may access one network device, the multiple carriers may include carriers between the terminal device and one network device, or the terminal device may access two network devices at the same time, the multiple carriers may include carriers between the terminal device and two network devices, or the terminal device may be connected to the multiple network devices through multiple different carriers, and the terminal device may switch between different carriers.

Illustratively, the multi-Carrier Uplink transmission technology may include Carrier Aggregation (CA), Dual Connectivity (DC), Super Uplink/Supplementary Uplink (SUL) technology, or Sidelink, etc. When the multi-carrier uplink transmission is performed, the uplink transmission may be performed in a Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) manner, or may be performed in a concurrent manner. The TDM scene may include scenes such as 1T1T, 1T2T, and 2T 2T. Where T in 1T1T, 1T2T, 2T2T represents an antenna chain or a Power Amplifier (PA) driving the antenna chain, for example, 1T1T may represent a scenario of switching from one antenna to another antenna on the same PA or from one PA to another PA.

These three different techniques are described separately below.

Carrier aggregation CA

CA is a technology that aggregates 2 or more carriers together to support a larger transmission bandwidth. CAs may be divided into upstream and downstream CAs. For uplink CA, a terminal device may receive or transmit simultaneously on multiple carriers depending on its capabilities. Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a CA scenario according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 1, the terminal device may perform uplink CA between carrier 1 and carrier 2, so as to support a larger uplink transmission bandwidth between the network device and the terminal device, and improve uplink transmission performance.

Dual connection DC

In current communication systems, the terminal device supports simultaneous access to two different nodes, this access mode being referred to as DC. In this case, the terminal device may perform transmission using radio resources of one or more of two nodes, where the two nodes may be of the same system or of different systems.

One of the two different nodes is a primary node and the other node is a secondary node. The link between two nodes may be either a non-ideal backhaul link or an ideal backhaul link. The two different nodes may be different network devices, or may be different modules in the same network device, and one module may correspond to one cell.

In an embodiment of the present application, the DC may be a multi-Mode (MR) -DC, and the MR-DC may include an Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) and NR DC (EN-DC), a Next Generation (NG) Radio Access Network (RAN) E-UTRA and NR DC (NG-RAN E-UTRA-NR Dual Connectivity, NGEN-DC), an NR and E-UTRA DC (NR-E-UTRA Dual Connectivity, NE-DC), or an NR and NR DC (NR-DC).

Fig. 2 shows a schematic diagram of a DC scenario according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 2, the terminal device may communicate with one of two different nodes via multiple carriers, or the terminal device may communicate with both nodes via multiple carriers. For example, as shown in fig. 2, if two different nodes are a Long Term Evolution (LTE) base station and an NR base station, a terminal device may communicate with the LTE base station through multiple carriers, and uplink CA and/or downlink CA may be performed between the multiple carriers. The terminal device may also communicate with the NR base station using multiple carriers, and uplink CA and/or downlink CA may be performed between the multiple carriers.

Fig. 2 shows a scenario for a non co-sited deployment, as described above, DC may also be applied to the scenario for a co-sited deployment.

Supplemental upstream SUL

In order to improve UpLink coverage enhancement, a lower Frequency band (e.g., <3GHz) is introduced as an SUL band (supplemental UpLink Frequency band), one SUL may be associated with a Time Division Duplex (TDD) or a Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) Frequency band (including a Normal DownLink (NDL)/Normal UpLink (Normal UpLink, NUL)) and still become a cell, and the SUL technology may allow a User Equipment (User Equipment, UE, terminal device) to select an UpLink resource from the NUL and SUL carriers to initiate random access.

Fig. 3a is an exemplary diagram of a communication scenario according to an embodiment of the present application, and fig. 3b is an exemplary diagram of a communication scenario according to an embodiment of the present application. Fig. 3a shows a wireless communication scenario of LTE-NR co-sited deployment, and fig. 3b shows a wireless communication scenario of LTE-NR non-co-sited deployment.

As shown in fig. 3a, the network device 100 supports both LTE technology and NR technology, and belongs to LTE-NR co-sited deployment. The dotted circle in fig. 3a may represent the range of uplink coverage of the NR carrier of the network device 100, and the solid circle may represent the range of uplink coverage of the LTE carrier. LTE UE1 is an LTE terminal (i.e., uplink and downlink resources in an LTE carrier may be used for signal transmission with network device 100), NR UE1 is an NR terminal (i.e., uplink and downlink resources in an NR carrier may be used for signal transmission with network device 100), and NR UE2 is an NR terminal supporting uplink sharing (i.e., uplink and downlink resources in an NR carrier may be used for signal transmission with network device 100, or SUL resources may be used for uplink transmission with network device 100). If the NR UE2 uses the uplink resource in the NR carrier to transmit the uplink signal to the network device 100, the quality of the uplink signal received by the network device 100 may be poor and the uplink signal may not be correctly received due to a higher NR carrier frequency and a larger path loss, or the power of the NR UE2 is limited, so the NR UE2 may use the SUL resource (with a smaller low-frequency path loss) to transmit the uplink signal to the network device 100, thereby improving the uplink coverage in NR. In the embodiments of the present application, signal transmission may also be described as information transmission or data transmission.

As shown in fig. 3b, the network device 200 is an NR base station, the network device 300 is an LTE base station, and for the network device 200, a curve 1 represents a boundary line of an uplink coverage area of the NR, a curve 2 represents a boundary line of a downlink coverage area of the NR, and an annular area between the curve 2 and the curve 1 represents an area where uplink coverage and downlink coverage are mismatched. The NR UE3 is an NR terminal (that is, uplink and downlink resources in an NR carrier may be used for signal transmission with the network device 2), and the NR UE4 is an NR terminal supporting uplink sharing (that is, uplink and downlink resources in an NR carrier may be used for signal transmission with the network device 200, and an SUL resource may also be used for uplink transmission with the network device 300). If the NR UE4 uses the uplink resource in the NR carrier to transmit the uplink signal to the network device 200, because the NR carrier frequency is higher and the path loss is larger, the quality of the uplink signal received by the network device 200 may be poor, and the uplink signal cannot be correctly received, so the NR UE4 may use the SUL resource to transmit the uplink signal to the network device 300 (that is, the downlink transmitting node and the uplink receiving node of the NR UE4 are not at the same node), and then the network device 300 may transmit the uplink signal to the network device 200, thereby improving a part of uplink coverage in the NR of the network device 200. As shown in fig. 3b, the annular region between the curve 2 and the curve 1 may supplement NUL through one other LTE carrier, improve uplink coverage in NR, and may also seamlessly improve uplink coverage in NR through other multiple LTE carriers, so that the UE may initiate random access using SUL resources.

The number of antennas configured on the terminal device and the capability of the antennas are different, and the terminal device can switch between different carriers when uploading uplink signals by adopting CA, DC or SUL technology. For example, a typical transmitting antenna architecture of a terminal device supporting EN-DC is one NR antenna and one shared antenna, where the NR antenna is dedicated for NR uplink transmission, and the shared antenna is switched to meet uplink transmission requirements of NR or LTE at different times. For another example, if the UE4 shown in fig. 3b is associated with TDD technology and the UE4 does not have dual PA capability, the UE4 can switch between different carriers to meet uplink transmission requirements of NR or LTE at different times.

The standard specifies that most DC band combinations support concurrency, except for a few DC band combinations due to intermodulation interference. Based on this specification, a basic upper switching time limit is defined in the standard, such as in the context of a co-sited single Timing Advance Group (TAG), where the NR protocol specifies that the switching time is located on the NR carrier. The single band (Intra band) EN-DC has two switching times according to the different quantity of the power amplifiers PA, and the single band EN-DC currently defines an upper limit of the switching time.

Fig. 4 a-4 e show diagrams of standard specified switching times, respectively. An example as shown in fig. 4a is a switching time window (150 μ s) for switching from E-UTRA to NR in the single-band EN-DC scenario with only a single uplink and no dual PA capability, the switching time window comprising a 20 μ s transition period, a 10 μ s transition period and a 120 μ s power off time, the switching time window being at NR. As shown in FIG. 4b, in the single-segment EN-DC scenario with only a single uplink and no dual PA capability, switching from NR to E-UTRA is performed within a switching time window (150 μ s) comprising a 20 μ s transition period, a 10 μ s transition period, and a 120 μ s power-off time, the switching time window being at NR.

The example shown in fig. 4c is a switching time window (30 μ s) for switching from E-UTRA to NR in the dual PA capable single-band EN-DC scenario, the switching time window comprising a transition period of 20 μ s and a transition period of 10 μ s, the switching time windows being located at E-UTRA and NR.

An example as shown in fig. 4d is a switching time window (150 μ s) for switching from E-UTRA to NR in a single-segment EN-DC scenario where only a single switchable uplink is supported, the switching time window comprising a transition period of 20 μ s, a transition period of 10 μ s and a power off time of 120 μ s, the switching time window being at NR.

As shown in fig. 4E, in the scenario of a single segment EN-DC supporting only a single switchable uplink, the switching time window (150 μ s) for switching from NR to E-UTRA comprises a transition period of 20 μ s, a transition period of 10 μ s and a power off time of 120 μ s, and the switching time window is located at NR.

For the SUL technology, in the 3GPP standard, switching times for other DC and SUL technologies are also specified. Fig. 5 a-5 f show diagrams of the handover times specified by the 3GPP standard, respectively.

The example shown in fig. 5a is type 1 of a switching time window (32.21 μ s) for switching from E-UTRA to NR in a UL sharing scenario based on TDMS, the switching time window comprising a transition period of 20 μ s and a transition period of 12.21 μ s, the switching time window being located at E-UTRA and NR. The example shown in FIG. 5b is type 1 switching time window (32.21 μ s) from NR to E-UTRA in TDMS-based UL sharing scenario, the switching time window includes a 10 μ s transition period and a 22.21 μ s transition period, and the switching time window is located in E-UTRA and NR.

As an example shown in fig. 5c, in the UL sharing scenario based on TDMS, type 2 of the switching time window (52.21 μ s) for switching from E-UTRA to NR, the switching time window includes a transition period of 20 μ s, a transition period of 12.21 μ s and a power relation time of 20 μ s, and the switching time window is located at NR. As shown in FIG. 5d, the example is type 2 switching time window (52.21 μ s) from NR to E-UTRA in TDMS-based UL sharing scenario, the switching time window includes a 10 μ s transition period, a 22.21 μ s transition period, and a 20 μ s power relation time, and the switching time window is at NR.

The example shown in fig. 5E is an example of a switching time window where the switching time is at NR, switching from E-UTRA uplink to NR uplink. The example shown in fig. 5f is an example of a switching time window where the switching time is located in carrier 1 and the uplink is switched from the supplemental uplink of carrier 1 to carrier 2.

An important feature of uplink transmission is that different UEs are orthogonal multiple access (orthogonal multiple access) in time and frequency, and uplink transmissions from different UEs in the same cell do not interfere with each other. To ensure orthogonality of uplink transmissions and avoid intra-cell (intra-cell) interference, the arrival times of signals at the eNodeB from different UEs in the same subframe but in different frequency domain resources are substantially aligned. When the eNodeB receives uplink data transmitted by a UE within a Cyclic Prefix (CP), the eNodeB can correctly decode the uplink data, and therefore, uplink synchronization requires that signals from different UEs in the same subframe arrive at the eNodeB within the CP. In order to ensure time synchronization on the eNodeB side, LTE proposes an Uplink Timing Advance (Uplink Timing Advance) mechanism.

The standard specifies the timing relationship between uplink and downlink transmissions. At the terminal device, the Timing Advance (TA) is a negative offset between the start of the received downlink subframe and the transmitted uplink subframe, this offset at the terminal device enabling synchronisation of the downlink and uplink subframes at the network device.

The network device may determine the timing advance based on measurements of uplink transmissions from the terminal device, such as random access preambles. The network device informs the UE of the Timing Advance time by sending a Timing Advance Command (TAC) to the UE. Fig. 6 shows a schematic diagram of the uplink-downlink timing relationship. As shown in fig. 6, for a downlink subframe with a system frame number i and a corresponding uplink subframe, the start of the uplink subframe i precedes the start of the downlink subframe i. Terminal device transmitting uplink subframe i before the start of the corresponding downlink subframe at the terminal device (N) _TA +N _{TA offset} )*T _s The second starts. Wherein N is _TA Is the measurement quantity, N, analyzed by the UE in the TAC _{TA offset} Is a fixed value that varies according to different frequency bands and subcarrier intervals, for example, 0 ≦ N for frame structure type 1 (i.e., LTE FDD) _TA ≤20512，N _{TA offset} 0; for frame structure type 2 (i.e., LTE TDD), 0 ≦ N _TA ≤20512， N _{TA offset} ＝624。T _s 1/(15000 × 2048) sec, T _s Is the sampling period of the OFDM symbol.

For example, for a DC scenario, if two network devices are deployed in a non-co-sited manner, the distance from the UE to the two network devices may be different, and the TAs of the two carriers are also different. When the UE switches between carriers, the transmission of data on the carriers is affected by the difference in TA between the two carriers.

Figures 7 a-7 c illustrate diagrams of carrier switching according to some embodiments of the present application. Assuming that the switching time is located in carrier 2, the timing advance of carrier 1 is TA1, and the timing advance of carrier 2 is TA2, as shown in fig. 7a, if TA1 is TA2, the data transmission of carrier 1 and carrier 2 has no effect, and there is no collision of data scheduling. As shown in fig. 7b, if TA1 < TA2, collision between data transmission and carrier switching may occur at the tail of carrier 1, and since TA1 < TA2, the timing advance of carrier 2 is greater than that of carrier 1, and therefore, the switching time from carrier 1 to carrier 2 occupies the time for tail data transmission of carrier 1, which affects tail data transmission of carrier 1, such as the part of data circled in fig. 7 b. As shown in fig. 7c, if TA1 > TA2, collision between data transmission and carrier switching may occur at the tail of carrier 2, and since TA1 < TA2, the timing advance of carrier 2 is smaller than that of carrier 1, and therefore, the switching time from carrier 2 to carrier 1 occupies the time for transmitting the header data of carrier 1, which affects transmission of the header data of carrier 1, as shown in fig. 7c by the circled partial data.

As can be seen from the above analysis, the TA of different carriers may affect the transmitted data, causing collisions and affecting the transmission efficiency. In practical application scenarios, there are also problems of carrier switching and data transmission collisions caused by other reasons, which affect the transmission efficiency.

In order to solve the above technical problem, the present application provides a carrier switching method, which may determine a new switching time or a parameter for adjusting an original switching time in advance according to timings of two carriers, and adjust a position and/or a length of the switching time in advance according to the timings, so that a UE may flexibly switch between the carriers according to different scenarios, and improve efficiency of data transmission.

The carrier switching method provided by the embodiment of the application can be applied to a scene of multi-carrier uplink transmission and a scene of multi-carrier uplink transmission associated with TDM. For example, the method can be applied to the scenarios of CA, DC, SUL or side chain communication Sidelink-associated TDM. Wherein, TDM may include 1T1T, 1T2T, 2T2T, etc., carrier switching relates to PA readjustment scenario, and multiple carriers are carriers of PA link multiplexing.

The scenario of the multi-carrier uplink transmission applied by the carrier switching method provided in the embodiment of the present application may be non-co-sited, for example, the scenario may be a non-co-sited multi-TAG scenario, and may include the CA, DC, SUL, or the like as described above.

The carrier switching method provided by the embodiment of the application can be applied to network equipment and/or terminal equipment in a communication system. The network device and/or the terminal device may obtain TAs of the multiple carriers, and determine a first switching time parameter according to the multiple carriers, the network device may determine whether to schedule the UE according to the first switching time parameter, and the UE may determine a carrier for transmitting data and a time period for not transmitting data according to the first switching time parameter, thereby performing switching between carriers.

The carrier switching method according to the embodiment of the present application is described below by taking a DC scenario as an example.

Fig. 8a shows a schematic diagram of a DC scenario according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 8a, network device 10 is connected to UE30 over carrier 1, with the timing advance for carrier 1 being TA1, and network device 20 is connected to UE30 over carrier 2, with the timing advance for carrier 2 being TA 2. The network device 10 is a master device and transmits control information. The UE30 reports different combinations of frequency bands and different handover times to the network device 10. In the embodiments of the present application, both network device 10 and network device 20 may be base stations.

The embodiment of the present application provides a carrier switching method, which may be applied to a terminal device, for example, the terminal device UE30 shown in fig. 8 a. Fig. 8b shows a flowchart of a carrier switching method according to an embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 8b, the carrier switching method provided in the embodiment of the present application may include the following steps:

step S800, the terminal equipment receives a first timing advance TA of a first carrier and a second TA of a second carrier;

step S801, a terminal device determines a first switching time parameter according to the first TA and the second TA, where the first switching time parameter is used to indicate at least one of the following: a position of a handover time or a length of a handover time for switching from the first carrier to the second carrier, or an adjusted position of a handover time or a length of a handover time adjustment for switching from the first carrier to the second carrier;

step S802, the terminal device switches from the first carrier to the second carrier according to the first switching time parameter.

Fig. 9a shows an interaction diagram of a device in an application scenario of a carrier switching method according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 8a and 9a, the UE30 may transmit random access preambles to the network device 10 and the network device 20, the network device 10 and the network device 20 may estimate TA1 of carrier 1 and TA2 of carrier 2 respectively according to the random access preamble transmitted by the UE30, the network device 10 indicates the estimated TA1 of the UE30 through a random access response, and the network device 20 indicates the estimated TA2 of the UE30 through a random access response. In this way, the terminal device may receive the first TA of the first carrier and the second TA of the second carrier.

In the related art, the UE30 transmits uplink data to the network device 10 according to TA1, and the UE30 transmits uplink data to the network device 20 according to TA 2.

As shown in fig. 7b and 7c, if TA1 is not equal to TA2, the efficiency of data transmission on the carrier is affected. For example, as shown in fig. 7c, if TA1 < TA2, transmission of header data of carrier 1 is affected, control signaling is at the head of the frame, data is at the tail of the frame, reliability of control signaling transmission is guaranteed for effective and reliable transmission of data, and if transmission of header data of carrier 1 is affected, reliability of user data transmission is affected. In some scenarios, the importance of data transmitted by each carrier in multi-carrier transmission may be different, and as analyzed above, the TA relationship of each carrier may affect the data frames transmitted by different carriers, and the related art does not consider the effect of the different TAs of the carriers on the data transmission efficiency.

In the carrier switching method provided by the embodiment of the application, the terminal device may obtain TAs of multiple carriers, determine the first switching time parameter according to the TAs of the multiple carriers, and obtain the actual switching time according to the first switching time parameter, thereby implementing adjustment of the switching time and improving the efficiency of data transmission.

In one embodiment of the present application, the first switching time parameter is used to indicate: the position of the switching time or the length of the switching time for the terminal equipment to switch from the first carrier to the second carrier.

Specifically, in the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device may determine the switching time specified by the standard, for example, the switching time on the terminal device may be configured through higher layer signaling. Therefore, in the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device may determine parameters for adjusting the handover time, for example, parameters for adjusting the position and the length of the handover time, according to the first TA and the second TA, and adjust the handover time according to the adjusted parameters, to obtain the first handover time parameter.

For example, assume that the carrier occupied by the standard specified handover time is the second carrier, and the length of the handover time is T1. Fig. 9b shows a schematic diagram of carrier switching according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 9b, T1 represents a switching time, and when switching between carrier 1 and carrier 2, the switching time is located on carrier 2, and the time length and the location of T1 may be predefined or configured through high layer signaling, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application; TA1 denotes a first TA, TA2 denotes a second TA, and it is assumed that the first TA determined by the terminal device is smaller than the second TA.

In the schematic diagram of carrier switching in the embodiment of the present application, the upper part of the boundary indicates the manner in which the UE switches between carrier 1 and carrier 2 without timing advance, the lower part of the boundary indicates the manner in which the UE switches between carrier 1 and carrier 2 with timing advance before and after introducing timing advance, and the timing advance of the two carriers is different.

As shown in fig. 9b, carrier 1 below the boundary is shifted to the left by TA1 with respect to carrier 1 above the boundary, carrier 2 below the boundary is shifted to the left by TA2 with respect to carrier 2 above the boundary, and since TA1 < TA2, carrier 2 is shifted to the left for a longer time, which is shown in fig. 9b as carrier 2 being shifted to the left by a longer length with respect to carrier 1. If carrier 1 is switched to carrier 2, the switching time T1 on the left side of carrier 2 will occupy the tail data transmission time of carrier 1, but since the standard specifies that the carrier occupied by the switching time is carrier 2, the terminal device delays the switching time backward by TA2-TA1, the switching time occupies the transmission time of the header data on carrier 2, the occupied part is shown as the circled part in fig. 9b, as shown in fig. 9b, the time at which the switching time starts on the lower carrier 2 of the boundary line is advanced by TA1 relative to the time at which the switching time starts on the upper carrier 2 of the boundary line, and the time at which the uplink data of carrier 2 on the lower carrier of the boundary line should start to be transmitted (the side on the left side of the rectangle filled by the diagonal grid, that is the side on the left side of the rectangle circled in fig. 9 b) is advanced by TA2 relative to the time at which the uplink data of carrier 2 on the upper carrier of the boundary line starts to be transmitted, the time when the uplink data actually starts to be transmitted on the carrier 2 on the lower boundary (the left side of the rectangle filled with the diagonal grid, i.e. the left side of the rectangle circled in fig. 9 b) and the time when the uplink data starts to be transmitted on the carrier 2 on the upper boundary are advanced by TA1, so the time length of the header data transmission of the carrier 2 occupied by the switching time is TA2-TA 1.

That is, if the time instant of switching from carrier 1 to carrier 2 determined by the terminal device according to the switching time is M and the length is T1, then the time instant of switching from carrier 1 to carrier 2 indicated by the first switching time parameter determined by the terminal device according to TA1 and TA2 is M + TA2-TA1, and the length of the switching time is also T1.

In another embodiment of the present application, the first handover time parameter may be used to indicate a location of an adjustment of a handover time for switching from the first carrier to the second carrier or a length of a handover time adjustment.

In this embodiment, in step S801, the determining, by the terminal device, a first handover time parameter according to the first TA and the second TA may include: the terminal device determines the first handover time parameter according to the first TA, the second TA, and a second handover time parameter, where the second handover time parameter is a position or a length of a handover time that is used for indicating a handover time for switching from the first carrier to the second carrier, and is determined and reported to a network device by the terminal device before the first handover time parameter is determined.

That is, in this embodiment, the first handover time parameter determined by the terminal device according to the first TA and the second TA is a parameter for adjusting the handover time specified by the standard, and may be used to indicate a position of adjustment of the handover time or a length of adjustment of the handover time. The second handover time parameter may refer to the handover time mentioned above, and indicate a location of the handover time for switching from the first carrier to the second carrier or a length of the handover time, and the terminal device may report the handover time to the network device.

Still taking the example of fig. 9b as an example, the first switching time parameter may include a parameter indicating an adjusted position of the switching time, the parameter indicating the adjusted position of the switching time may be a subframe symbol of a carrier, and the adjusted length of the switching time may be represented by a difference value of TAs of different carriers or a quantization index of the difference value, or may also be represented by a subframe symbol length or a bit number, and the like, which is not limited in this application.

In a possible implementation manner, the parameter indicating the adjusted position of the switching time may also be a data type of the carrier or a priority of the carrier, and the like, and priorities of different data types are different, so that the terminal device may determine the adjusted position of the switching time according to the data type of the carrier or determine the adjusted position of the switching time according to the priority of the carrier. For example, the terminal device may determine that the adjusted handover time does not affect transmission of data of the carrier with the high priority or the carrier carrying the data type with the high priority, in other words, the terminal device may determine that the adjusted handover time may occupy transmission time of data of the carrier with the low priority or the carrier carrying the data type with the low priority.

In this embodiment, in step S802, the switching, by the terminal device, from the first carrier to the second carrier according to the first switching time parameter may include: and the terminal equipment is switched from the first carrier to the second carrier according to the second switching time parameter and the first switching time parameter. That is, the terminal device may perform carrier switching according to the switching time and the first switching time parameter specified by the standard.

For example, if the terminal device starts to switch from the nth subframe symbol of carrier 1 to carrier 2 according to the switching time, the length of the switching time is T1, the position of the switching time adjustment for the terminal device to switch from carrier 1 to carrier 2 indicated by the first switching time parameter determined by TA1 and TA2 is the nth subframe symbol of carrier 1, and the length of the switching time adjustment is K subframe symbol lengths. Then, when switching from carrier 1 to carrier 2, the terminal device performs carrier switching starting from the kth subframe symbol after the nth subframe symbol of carrier 1.

Fig. 10 shows a schematic diagram of a subframe structure according to an embodiment of the application. The subframe shown in fig. 10 may be a subframe of NR or LTE, the subframe includes 14 symbols (0-13), and the position of the adjustment of the switching time may be represented by a symbol of the subframe, for example, the position of the adjustment of the switching time is subframe symbol 13.

For example, the length of the first switching time parameter adjustment may be expressed as a subframe symbol length, and if the length of the switching time adjustment is 1 subframe symbol length, the position of the switching time adjustment is subframe symbol 13. In connection with the examples shown in fig. 10 and 9b, the terminal device may start carrier switching at the position where carrier 1 ends.

According to the carrier switching method, the node where the real switching time starts can be obtained, flexible switching is carried out among carriers, network throughput is maximized, and higher data experience is brought to UE.

It should be noted that the above examples of the switching time and the first switching time parameter are only some examples provided in the present application, and the present application is not limited thereto. For example, the length of the switching time adjustment in the first switching time parameter may also be the precise time occupied by the switching time, or the bit number of the data transmission subframe occupied by the switching time.

In a possible implementation manner, the carrier switching method provided in the embodiment of the present application may further include: the terminal device receives data type information or carrier priority information, wherein the data type information includes a data type of first data of the first carrier and/or a data type of second data of the second carrier, and the carrier priority information includes a priority of the first carrier and/or a priority of the second carrier.

In a possible implementation manner, the network device may configure data type information or carrier priority information to the terminal device when performing Radio Resource Control (RRC) configuration or RRC reconfiguration, or configure the terminal device through a System Information Block (SIB).

In this embodiment, in step S801, the determining, by the terminal device, a first handover time parameter according to the first TA and the second TA may include: the terminal equipment determines the first switching time parameter according to the first TA, the second TA and one or more of the following information: data type information, carrier priority information.

In the embodiment of the present application, different data types may represent different priorities, that is, the terminal device may transmit the data type with high priority preferentially. For example, the types of data transmitted between the terminal device and the network device may include: a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH), a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH), a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH), a Sound Reduction System (SRS), or the like, wherein, in one example, the priority order of the data types is PRACH > PUCCH > PUSCH > SRS.

The carrier priority information may directly indicate the priority of the first carrier and the priority of the second carrier, for example, the priority of the first carrier is 1, the priority of the second carrier is 2, and the terminal device may determine the carrier with the higher priority according to the priority of the first carrier and the priority of the second carrier, and in one example, may determine that the carrier with the smaller priority number has the higher priority. The carrier priority information may also indicate a carrier with a high priority, for example, the carrier with the high priority in the carrier priority information may indicate that the carrier with the high priority is carrier 1, and the terminal device may preferentially transmit data carried by the carrier with the high priority.

Therefore, when determining the first handover time parameter, the terminal device may consider, in addition to the first TA and the second TA, a data type of the first data of the first carrier and/or a data type of the second data of the second carrier, or may also consider the carrier priority information, or may consider the data type of the first data of the first carrier, the data type of the second data of the second carrier, and the carrier priority information at the same time.

In an embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 9a, the carrier switching method may further include: and the terminal equipment reports the first switching time parameter to network equipment and receives a confirmation instruction which is issued by the network equipment aiming at the first switching time parameter. The terminal device may determine the first handover time parameter multiple times according to the first TA and the second TA, and report the determined first handover time parameter to the network device multiple times, so as to adapt to different scenarios and flexibly adjust the handover time.

In a possible implementation manner, the terminal device may report the first handover time parameter to the network device through RRC signaling, such as UE capability, UE assistance information, or dedicated handover information, or may dynamically report the first handover time parameter through mac ce or a Universal Communications identifier (Universal Communications identifier). The network device receives the first switching time parameter, and may also issue an Acknowledgement Character (ACK) to the terminal device.

Some exemplary carrier switching methods provided in the embodiments of the present application are respectively described below.

Example 1

And the terminal equipment determines a first switching time parameter according to the first TA, the second TA and the data type information. The data type priority of first data transmitted by a first carrier is lower than the priority of a data type of second data transmitted by a second carrier, the first TA is smaller than the second TA, and the carrier occupied by the switching time configured by the system is the second carrier.

Fig. 11a shows a schematic diagram of carrier switching according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 11a, T1 represents a switching time, and when switching between carrier 1 and carrier 2, the switching time is located on carrier 2, and the time length and the location of T1 may be predefined or configured through higher layer signaling, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application. The first carrier is carrier 1 and the second carrier is carrier 2. The first TA is TA1 and the second TA is TA 2.

When the terminal device is about to perform carrier switching, for example, switching from carrier 1 to carrier 2, the terminal device determines the first switching time parameter according to the switching time, TA1, TA2, the data type of the first data transmitted by the first carrier, and the priority of the data type of the second data transmitted by the second carrier.

As shown in fig. 11a, carrier 1 below the boundary is shifted leftward with respect to carrier 1 above the boundary by TA1, carrier 2 below the boundary is shifted leftward with respect to carrier 2 above the boundary by TA2, and since TA1 < TA2, carrier 2 is shifted leftward for a longer time, which is shown in fig. 11a as carrier 2 is shifted leftward with respect to carrier 1. Since the switching time is located in carrier 2, the switching time will occupy the transmission time of a part of data of carrier 1 when switching from carrier 1 to carrier 2. In this embodiment, since the priority of the data type of the first data transmitted by the first carrier is lower than the priority of the data type of the second data transmitted by the second carrier, and the loss of the data transmitted by the first carrier has less influence on the transmission efficiency, the first switching time parameter determined by the terminal device may be the same as the switching time specified by the standard, or the terminal device does not adjust the switching time specified by the standard, and in the first switching time parameter determined by the terminal device, the adjusted position of the switching time and the adjusted length of the switching time are both null.

In this embodiment, the terminal device may not report the determined first handover time parameter. In a possible implementation manner, the terminal device may report the determined position and length of the data transmission occupied by the switching time to the network device, where the position of the data transmission occupied by the switching time may be represented by a subframe symbol, and the length of the data transmission occupied by the switching time may be represented by a symbol length, which may be specifically referred to fig. 10.

Example 2

And the terminal equipment determines a first switching time parameter according to the first TA, the second TA and the data type information. The data type priority of first data transmitted by a first carrier is higher than that of second data transmitted by a second carrier, the first TA is smaller than the second TA, and the carrier occupied by the switching time configured by the system is the second carrier.

Fig. 11b shows a schematic diagram of carrier switching according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 11b, T1 represents a switching time, and when switching between carrier 1 and carrier 2, the switching time is located on carrier 2, and the time length and the position of T1 may be predefined or configured through high layer signaling, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application. The first carrier is carrier 1 and the second carrier is carrier 2. The first TA is TA1 and the second TA is TA 2.

As shown in fig. 11b, carrier 1 below the boundary is shifted to the left with respect to carrier 1 above the boundary by TA1, carrier 2 below the boundary is shifted to the left with respect to carrier 2 above the boundary by TA2, and since TA1 < TA2, carrier 2 is shifted to the left more often, and it appears in fig. 11b that carrier 2 is shifted to the left with respect to carrier 1 by a greater length. Since the switching time is located in carrier 2, the switching time will occupy the transmission time of a part of the tail data of carrier 1 when switching from carrier 1 to carrier 2. In this embodiment, since the priority of the data type of the first data transmitted by the first carrier is higher than that of the data type of the second data transmitted by the second carrier, the loss of the data transmitted by the first carrier has a large influence on the transmission efficiency, and therefore, the terminal device delays the switching time backward by TA2-TA1, the switching time occupies the transmission time of the header data on carrier 2, and the occupied portion is shown as the circled portion in fig. 11 b.

If the time instant when the terminal device switches from carrier 1 to carrier 2, which is determined by the switching time, is M and the length is T1, then the time instant when the terminal device switches from carrier 1 to carrier 2, which is indicated by the first switching time parameter determined by TA1 and TA2, is M + TA2-TA1, and the length of the switching time is also T1. Or, if the terminal device starts to switch from the 13 th subframe symbol of the carrier 1 to the carrier 2 according to the switching time, the length of the switching time is T1, the position of the switching time adjustment for switching from the carrier 1 to the carrier 2 indicated by the first switching time parameter determined by the terminal device is the 13 th subframe of the carrier 1, and the length of the switching time adjustment is 1 subframe symbol length, then the terminal device starts to perform carrier switching from the carrier 2 when switching from the carrier 1 to the carrier 2; or, the position of the switching time adjustment for switching from the carrier 1 to the carrier 2 of the first switching time parameter index determined by the terminal device is the carrier 1 (the priority of the data type is high), the length of the switching time adjustment is 1 subframe symbol length, and since the terminal device starts to switch from the 13 th subframe symbol of the carrier 1 to the carrier 2 determined according to the switching time, the terminal device starts to switch the carrier by adjusting the 1 symbol length from the 13 th subframe symbol of the carrier 1 backwards.

The terminal device may report the determined first handover time parameter to the network device, and in addition, the terminal device may also report the position and length of the data transmission occupied by the handover time to the network device.

Example 3

And the terminal equipment determines a first switching time parameter according to the first TA, the second TA and the carrier priority information. The priority of the first carrier is assumed to be 1, the priority of the second carrier is assumed to be 2, the priority of the first carrier is lower than that of the second carrier, the first TA is smaller than the second TA, and the carrier occupied by the switching time configured by the system is the second carrier.

Taking the example shown in fig. 11a as an example, when the terminal device is about to perform carrier switching, for example, switching from carrier 1 to carrier 2, the terminal device determines the first switching time parameter according to the switching time, TA1, TA2, and priority information of the carriers. As shown in fig. 11a, carrier 1 below the boundary is shifted leftward with respect to carrier 1 above the boundary by TA1, carrier 2 below the boundary is shifted leftward with respect to carrier 2 above the boundary by TA2, and since TA1 < TA2, carrier 2 is shifted leftward for a longer time, which is shown in fig. 11a as carrier 2 is shifted leftward with respect to carrier 1. Since the switching time is located in carrier 2, the switching time will occupy the transmission time of a part of data of carrier 1 when switching from carrier 1 to carrier 2. In this embodiment, since the priority of the carrier 1 is lower than that of the carrier 2, the loss of data transmitted by the carrier 1 has less influence on the transmission efficiency, and therefore, the first switching time parameter determined by the terminal device may be the same as the switching time specified by the standard, or the terminal device does not adjust the switching time specified by the standard, and in the first switching time parameter determined by the terminal device, the position of adjustment of the switching time and the length of adjustment of the switching time are both null.

Example 4

And the terminal equipment determines a first switching time parameter according to the first TA, the second TA and the carrier priority information. The priority of the first carrier is assumed to be 2, the priority of the second carrier is assumed to be 1, the priority of the first carrier is higher than that of the second carrier, the first TA is smaller than the second TA, and the carrier occupied by the switching time configured by the system is the second carrier.

In this example, the example shown in fig. 11b can be taken as an example for explanation. In the embodiment, since the priority of the first carrier is higher than that of the second carrier, the loss of the data transmitted by the first carrier has a large influence on the transmission efficiency, and therefore, the terminal device delays the switching time backward by TA2-TA1, the switching time occupies the transmission time of the header data on carrier 2, and the occupied portion is shown as the circled portion in fig. 11 b. Other processes are the same as those of example 2 and are not described again.

Example 5

Fig. 11c illustrates an interaction diagram of an apparatus for performing a carrier switching method according to an embodiment of the present application. The terminal device may determine the first handover time parameter multiple times according to the first TA and the second TA, and report the determined first handover time parameter to the network device multiple times. As shown in fig. 11c, the terminal device may periodically send a random access preamble to the network device, the network device 10 and the network device 20 determine TA1 of carrier 1 and TA2 of carrier 2 according to the random access preamble sent by the terminal device, and the network device 10 and the network device 20 may respectively indicate the determined TA1 and TA2 to the terminal device through random access.

When carrier switching is to be performed each time, the terminal device may determine the first switching time parameter according to TA1 and TA2, and report the first switching time parameter to the network device. The terminal equipment can perform carrier switching according to the determined first switching time parameter. That is, the terminal device may execute the method shown in fig. 9a before performing carrier switching each time, and report the determined first switching time parameter to the network device.

It should be noted that example 5 may be combined with any one of examples 1 to 4, that is, in any one of examples 1 to 4, the terminal device may determine the first handover time parameter according to the first TA and the second TA multiple times, and report the determined first handover time parameter to the network device multiple times.

The embodiment of the present application provides a carrier switching method, which may be applied to a network device in a non co-sited scenario, for example, may be applied to the network device 10 shown in fig. 8 a. Fig. 12a shows a flowchart of a carrier switching method according to an embodiment of the present application, and fig. 12b shows an interaction diagram of a device performing the carrier switching method according to an embodiment of the present application.

As shown in fig. 12a, the carrier switching method provided in the embodiment of the present application may include the following steps:

step S120, the network equipment determines a first timing advance TA of the first carrier and a second TA of the second carrier;

step S121, the network device determines a first handover time parameter according to the first TA and the second TA, where the first handover time parameter is used to indicate at least one of the following: the position of the switching time or the length of the switching time for the terminal equipment to switch from the first carrier to the second carrier, or the adjusted position of the switching time or the adjusted length of the switching time for the terminal equipment to switch from the first carrier to the second carrier;

step S122, the network device issues the first switching time parameter to the terminal device.

In a possible implementation manner, the network device communicates with the terminal device through a multi-carrier uplink transmission technology, where the multi-carrier uplink transmission technology is any one or more of carrier aggregation CA, dual connectivity DC, supplemental uplink SUL, or Sidelink. In this embodiment, the terminal device communicates with multiple network devices through a multi-carrier technology, in other words, the carrier switching method of this embodiment is applied in a non-co-sited scenario.

In one possible implementation, the multiple carriers in the multi-carrier uplink transmission technology are time division multiplexing TDM.

In a possible implementation manner, the network device is a primary network device in a DC, the DC further includes a secondary network device, the primary network device communicates with the terminal device through a first carrier, the secondary network device communicates with the terminal device through a second carrier, and the network device determines a first timing advance TA of the first carrier and a second TA of the second carrier, including: the network device receives the TA of the second carrier or the difference between the TA of the second carrier and the TA of the first carrier reported by the terminal device, or the network device receives the TA of the second carrier reported by the auxiliary network device.

For example, in the carrier switching method provided in the embodiment of the present application, the network device may obtain TAs of multiple carriers, as shown in examples in fig. 8a and fig. 13b, the network device 10 is a master device, and the network device 20 reports TA2 to the network device 10, or in another possible implementation, the UE30 reports TA2 or a difference between TA2 and TA1 to the network device 10, so that the network device 10 may obtain TA1 of carrier 1 and TA2 of carrier 2. Network device 10 may determine the first handover time parameter based on the TA of the carrier.

The network device may issue the determined first switching time adjustment parameter to the terminal device when issuing scheduling Information, where the scheduling Information is used to indicate allocation and usage of resources, and the scheduling Information may be an RRC signaling, a MAC Control Element (MAC CE), or Downlink Control Information (DCI), and the scheduling Information carries the first switching time adjustment parameter. When receiving the scheduling information issued by the network device, the terminal device may obtain a first switching time parameter, and implement carrier switching according to the first switching time parameter.

As shown in step S12 in fig. 12b, when the network device 10 issues the scheduling information to the UE30, the first switching time parameter may be issued to the UE30, and the UE30 implements carrier switching according to the first switching time parameter.

Specifically, in the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device may determine the switching time specified by the standard, for example, the switching time on the terminal device may be configured through higher layer signaling. The terminal device may report the switching time to the network device. The handover time specified by the standard includes a carrier occupied by the handover time, a length of the handover time, and the like.

In the embodiment of the present application, the network device may determine a new handover time according to the first TA, the second TA, and the handover time, or determine a parameter for adjusting the handover time according to the first TA and the second TA.

In one embodiment of the present application, the first switching time parameter is used to indicate: the position of the switching time or the length of the switching time for the terminal equipment to switch from the first carrier to the second carrier. The network device may determine a parameter for adjusting the handover time, for example, a parameter for adjusting a position and a length of the handover time, according to the first TA and the second TA, and adjust the handover time according to the adjusted parameter to obtain a first handover time parameter. For details, reference may be made to the description of the terminal device, and details are not described again.

In this embodiment, step S121 may include: the network device determines the first switching time parameter according to the first TA, the second TA and a second switching time parameter, wherein the second switching time parameter is a position of switching time or a length of the switching time, which is determined by the network device before the first switching time parameter is determined and is issued to the terminal device, for indicating the terminal device to switch from the first carrier to the second carrier.

In this embodiment, in a possible implementation manner, a position of adjustment of the switching time for switching from the first carrier to the second carrier is represented by a subframe symbol of the first carrier or the second carrier, and a length of adjustment of the switching time for switching from the first carrier to the second carrier is represented by a difference value between the first TA and the second TA or a quantization index of the difference value. For details, reference may be made to the description of the terminal device portion, and details are not described again.

In a possible implementation manner, the carrier switching method according to the embodiment of the present application may further include: the network equipment determines data type information or carrier priority information, wherein the data type information comprises a data type of first data of the first carrier and/or a data type of second data of the second carrier, and the carrier priority information comprises a priority of the first carrier and/or a priority of the second carrier.

The network device may obtain a data type of data transmitted when communicating with the scheduled terminal device and/or obtain priority information of a carrier wave of which communication with the scheduled terminal device is transmitted. The carrier or data type transmitted by communication between the network device and the scheduled terminal device is defined according to a specified rule, and the specified rule may be defined by a standard or implemented by a base station, which is not limited in this application.

In this embodiment, in step S121, the determining, by the network device, the first handover time parameter according to the first TA and the second TA may include: the network device determines the first handover time parameter from the first and second TAs and one or more of the following information: data type information, carrier priority information. For details, reference may be made to the description of the terminal device, and details are not described again.

In the embodiment of the present application, the network device may also determine the first switching time parameter multiple times, and send the first switching time parameter to the terminal device multiple times. For details, reference may be made to the description of the multiple reporting part of the terminal device, which is not described again. In the embodiment of the present application, reporting, by the terminal device, the TA2 or the difference between TA2 and TA1 to the network device may be implemented in various ways, for example, the terminal device may report the number of symbols occupied by the difference between TA2 and TA1, or the number of bits occupied by the difference, or may also be the precise time of the difference between TA2 and TA1, which is not limited in this application.

When reporting is carried out in a symbol unit, under the scene that the bit number is not changed, frequent reporting is not needed, for example, the SCS of a 5G typical non-co-sited subframe is less than 240KHz, and the SCS of a subframe of Inter RAT DC is less than 60 KHz. When the report is reported by taking accurate time as a unit, if the report is aperiodic, the report needs to be reported once every a period of time or when the variation of the RSRP measurement value is greater than a certain threshold value, and if the report is periodic, the report is reported according to a set period. The way in which the terminal device reports the difference between TA2 and TA1 to the network device is described below by taking the bit number occupied by reporting the difference between TA2 and TA1 as an example.

In mobile communication, data is transmitted in units of frames on a wireless network, and one radio frame may include a plurality of subframes, the length of which is fixed to 1ms for 5G and LET technologies. The sub-carrier space (SCS) of LTE is fixed and is 15KHz, the SCS in 5G is variable, for example, 15KHz, 30KHz, SCS 60KHz, etc., and under the conventional NR carrier transmission scenario, the number of symbols that cannot transmit data due to the collision between the switching time and the data transmission time can be used as a standardized baseline scheme.

In the embodiment of the present application, the TA value granularity is 1TA ═ 16Ts (0.52us), 1Ts ═ 64Tc, 1Ts ═ 1/(15000 × 2048) seconds, and the distance variation between the corresponding terminal device and the network device is (300000km/s × 0.52 μ s)/2 ═ 78m for 1TA value. 1 symbol length of a regular subframe with 15KHz SCS is 66.7us, and 1TA value accounts for about 0.7% of one symbol length of the subframe with 15KHz SCS; 1 symbol length of 30KHz SCS is 33.3us, 1TA value occupies about 1.5% of one symbol length of 30KHz SCS; one symbol length of the sub-frame with the SCS of 60KHz is 16.7us, and 1TA value accounts for about 3 percent of the one symbol length of the sub-frame with the SCS of 60 KHz; one symbol length of the sub-frame with the SCS of 120KHz is 8.3us, and 1TA value accounts for about 6 percent of the one symbol length of the sub-frame with the SCS of 120 KHz; one symbol length of the subframe with the SCS of 240KHz is 4.1us, and 1TA value accounts for about 12% of the one symbol length of the subframe with the SCS of 240 KHz; one symbol length of the sub-frame with the SCS of 480KHz is 2.1us, and 1TA value accounts for about 24% of one symbol length of the sub-frame with the SCS of 480 KHz.

Typical coverage radii for 2G base stations are about 5-10 km, 3G base stations are about 2-5 km, 4G base stations are about 1-3 km, and 5G base stations are about 0.25-0.5 km. Since the distance between the terminal device and the network device varies by (300000km/s 0.52 μ s)/2 ═ 78m for 1TA value, the range of the TA value of the terminal served by the base station can be determined according to the radius covered by the base station and the distance variation corresponding to 1TA value. For example, the 5G typical non-co-sited TA difference is 0-13TA (0-1km), which is about 0-9.1% of one symbol length (66.7us) of the conventional sub-frame SCS 15KHz, about 0-18.2% of one symbol length (33.3us) of the conventional sub-frame SCS 30KHz, about 0-36.4% of one symbol length (16.7us) of the conventional sub-frame SCS 60KHz, about 0-72.8% of one symbol length (8.3us) of the conventional sub-frame SCS 120KHz, about 0-145.6% of one symbol length (4.1us) of the conventional sub-frame SCS 240KHz, and about 0-291.2% of one symbol length (2.1us) of the conventional sub-frame SCS 480 KHz.

Therefore, when the SCS of the conventional subframe is lower than 240KHz, the maximum occupied sign bit is 1, and the difference between TA2 and TA1 reported by the terminal device can occupy 1 bit; when the conventional subframe SCS is 240KHz, the maximum occupied sign bit is 2, that is, the difference between TA2 and TA1 reported by the terminal device can occupy 2 bits; when the conventional subframe SCS is 480KHz, the maximum occupied sign bit is 3, and the difference between TA2 and TA1 reported by the terminal device may occupy 2 bits.

Typical non co-sited TA differences between Inter RAT DC (EN-DC/NE-DC) are 0-43TA (0-5.5km), about 0-30.1% of one symbol length (66.7us) of 15KHz of regular subframe SCS, about 0-60.2% of one symbol length (33.3us) of 30KHz of regular subframe SCS, about 0-120.4% of one symbol length (16.7us) of 60KHz of regular subframe SCS, about 0-240.8% of one symbol length (8.3us) of 120KHz of regular subframe SCS, about 0-481.6% of one symbol length (4.1us) of 240KHz of regular subframe, and about 0-963.2% of one symbol length (2.1us) of 480KHz of regular subframe SCS.

Therefore, when the SCS of the conventional subframe is lower than 30KHz, the maximum occupied sign bit is 1, and the difference between TA2 and TA1 reported by the terminal equipment can occupy 1 bit; when the SCS of the conventional subframe is 60KHz, the maximum occupied sign bit is 2, and the difference between TA2 and TA1 reported by the terminal device can occupy 2 bits; when the SCS of the conventional subframe is 120KHz, the maximum occupied sign bit is 2, and the difference between TA2 and TA1 reported by the terminal device can occupy 2 bits; when the SCS of the conventional subframe is 240KHz, the maximum occupied sign bit is 5, and the difference between TA2 and TA1 reported by the terminal device may occupy 3 bits; when the conventional subframe SCS is 480KHz, the maximum occupied sign bit is 10, and the difference between TA2 and TA1 reported by the terminal device may occupy 4 bits.

When the report is made in the unit of symbol, under the scene of constant bit number, the report is not required to be frequently made, and the communication times of the terminal equipment and the network equipment can be reduced. It should be noted that the first handover time parameter determined by the network device and the terminal device includes a difference between TA2 and TA1, which may also be represented in the manner described above.

In the above scenario of non-co-station, the terminal device performs a carrier switching process. The embodiment of the application also provides a carrier switching method, which can be applied to a multi-carrier communication technology in a co-station scene. In a co-sited scenario, as shown in fig. 3a, for different carriers in a multi-carrier, since the distances between the terminal device and the base station are the same, the TAs of the carriers in the multi-carrier communication are the same. However, due to different UE capabilities and the like, the switching time required for the terminal device to perform carrier switching may be different, and in the related art, the switching time is fixed, cannot adapt to various different environments or cannot change according to changes of actual application scenarios, and is not flexible enough.

In order to solve the above technical problem, the present application provides a carrier switching method, where, in a co-station multi-carrier communication scenario, before carrier switching is performed, a first switching time parameter is determined according to data type information or carrier priority information, and a new switching time or a parameter for adjusting an original switching time is obtained according to the first switching time parameter, so as to adjust a position and/or a length of the switching time in advance according to a timing, thereby implementing flexible switching between carriers according to different scenarios, and improving efficiency of data transmission.

The application provides a carrier switching method, which can be applied to a multi-carrier uplink transmission technology, wherein the multi-carrier uplink transmission technology is any one or more of carrier aggregation CA, dual-connection DC, supplementary uplink SUL or side chain communication Sidelink. The device for executing the carrier switching method may be a terminal device or a network device, which is not limited in this application. The carrier switching method provided by the application is mainly different from the related technology in that the carrier switching method can send parameters related to switching time between the terminal equipment and the network equipment for multiple times, so that the switching time can be flexibly changed according to the change of an application scene during carrier switching.

Fig. 13a shows a flowchart of a carrier switching method according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 13a, the carrier switching method according to the embodiment of the present application may include the following steps:

step S130, the terminal device determines a first switching time parameter according to the data type information or the carrier priority information, wherein the first switching time parameter is used for indicating at least one of the following items: a position of a switching time or a length of a switching time for switching from a first carrier to a second carrier, or an adjusted position of a switching time or an adjusted length of a switching time for switching from the first carrier to the second carrier; wherein the data type information comprises a data type of first data of the first carrier and/or a data type of second data of the second carrier, and the carrier priority information comprises a priority of the first carrier and/or a priority of the second carrier;

step S131, the terminal device switches from the first carrier to the second carrier according to the first switching time parameter.

In one possible implementation, the terminal device may determine the first handover time parameter according to a data type of data transmitted by the first carrier and the second carrier. The data types of the first data transmitted by the first carrier and the second data transmitted by the second carrier may be different, and the priority of the different data types is different. Therefore, the terminal device may determine the first switching time parameter according to the data type of the data transmitted by the first carrier and the second carrier, and the content specifically indicated by the first switching time parameter may be as described above.

For example, in one example, the first handover time parameter indicates a location of a handover time or a length of the handover time to switch from the first carrier to the second carrier. Before the terminal device performs the carrier switching, the terminal device may acquire a data type of first data transmitted by a first carrier and a data type of second data transmitted by a second carrier, and determine a first switching time parameter according to the data type of the first data and the data type of the second data. Assuming that the data type of the first data is higher in priority than the data type of the second data, the terminal device may determine the location of the switching time indicated by the first switching time parameter as the switching time occupying the second carrier, and the length of the switching time may be determined according to the length of the switching time specified by the standard.

In another example, the first handover time parameter indicates a location of an adjustment of a handover time for switching from the first carrier to the second carrier or a length of the handover time adjustment. In this example, assuming that the standard-specified switching time occupies the second carrier, the length of the switching time is T1, the data type of the first data has a lower priority than the data type of the second data, the terminal device may determine that the adjusted position of the switching time indicated by the first switching time parameter is the first carrier, and the length of the switching time may still be T1.

In another possible implementation, the terminal device may determine the first handover time parameter according to a priority of the first carrier and a priority of the second carrier. The priority of the first carrier and the priority of the second carrier may be different, and the terminal device may preferentially transmit data carried by the carrier with the higher priority. The specific process is similar to the way of determining the first switching time parameter according to the data type, and is not described again.

In one possible implementation, the method further includes: and the terminal equipment reports the first switching time parameter to the network equipment and receives a confirmation instruction issued by the network equipment aiming at the first switching time parameter. In the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device may determine the first handover time parameter multiple times according to the data type information or the carrier priority information, and report the determined first handover time parameter to the network device multiple times. Fig. 13b shows an interaction diagram of an apparatus for performing a carrier switching method according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 13b, when carrier switching is to be performed, the terminal device may obtain data type information or carrier priority information, determine a first switching time parameter according to the data type information or the carrier priority information, report the determined first switching time parameter to the network device, and perform carrier switching according to the first switching time parameter.

In one possible implementation, the method further includes: the terminal device determines capability information of the terminal device. In this embodiment, in step S130, the determining, by the terminal device, the first handover time parameter according to the data type information or the carrier priority information may include: and the terminal equipment determines the first switching time parameter according to one or more items of capability information, data type information or carrier priority information.

The capability information may refer to PA capability, PA capabilities of different terminal devices are different, and PA capability of the same terminal device may also change. Therefore, when the terminal device performs carrier switching, the first switching time parameter may be determined according to the PA capability, or the terminal device may determine the first switching time parameter according to the PA capability in combination with the data type information or the carrier priority information. In this embodiment, the terminal device may also determine the first handover time parameter multiple times according to the PA capability, and report the determined first handover time parameter to the network device multiple times, as shown in fig. 12 b.

In one example, the first handover time parameter indicates a location of a handover time for switching from the first carrier to the second carrier or a length of the handover time, the terminal device may obtain a data type of first data transmitted by the first carrier and a data type of second data transmitted by the second carrier and a PA capability of the UE before performing carrier switching, and the first handover time parameter is determined according to the data type of the first data and the data type of the second data and the PA capability of the UE. Assuming that the second carrier is occupied by the switching time specified by the standard, the length of the switching time is T1, the data type of the first data is higher in priority than the data type of the second data, the terminal device may determine, according to the data type, the position of the switching time indicated by the first switching time parameter as that the second carrier is occupied by the switching time, and may obtain the length of the switching time T2 according to the PA capability of the UE. If T2 and T1 are the same, no adjustment may be made to the switch time, or the first switch time parameter determined may be the same as that originally existed. If T2 and T1 are different, the terminal device may determine that the length of the handover time indicated by the first handover time parameter is T2.

In another example, assuming that the second carrier is occupied by the switching time specified by the standard, the length of the switching time is T1, the data type of the first data is lower than the priority of the data type of the second data, the terminal device may determine the location of the switching time indicated by the first switching time parameter as that the first carrier is occupied by the switching time according to the data type, and the length of the switching time T2 may be obtained according to the PA capability of the UE. If T2 and T1 are the same, the terminal device may determine that the first switching time parameter indicates the location of the switching time as the first carrier. If T2 and T1 are different, the terminal device may determine that the position of the switching time indicated by the first switching time parameter is the first carrier and the length of the switching time is T2.

According to the carrier switching method, the actual switching time can be flexibly determined according to the actual situation, so that the switching time during carrier switching can be flexibly changed according to the change of an application scene.

The embodiment of the application also provides a carrier switching method for network equipment in a multi-carrier communication system under a co-station scene. The network device communicates with the terminal device through a multi-carrier uplink transmission technology, where the multi-carrier uplink transmission technology is any one or more of carrier aggregation CA, dual-connection DC, supplementary uplink SUL, or side-chain communication Sidelink. The main difference between the carrier switching method provided by the present application and the related art is that the carrier switching method of the present application can send parameters related to the switching time between the terminal device and the network device for multiple times, so that the switching time can be flexibly changed according to the change of the application scenario when the carrier is switched.

Specifically, the method may include: the network equipment determines a first switching time parameter according to the data type information or the carrier priority information, wherein the first switching time parameter is used for indicating at least one of the following items: the position of the switching time or the length of the switching time for switching the terminal equipment from the first carrier to the second carrier, or the adjusted position of the switching time or the adjusted length of the switching time for switching the terminal equipment from the first carrier to the second carrier; wherein the data type information comprises a data type of first data of the first carrier and/or a data type of second data of the second carrier, and the carrier priority information comprises a priority of the first carrier and/or a priority of the second carrier; and the network equipment transmits the first switching time parameter to the terminal equipment. For a specific process, reference may be made to the description of the terminal device portion, which is not described in detail.

In one possible implementation, the method further includes: the network equipment receives the capability information reported by the terminal equipment; the network equipment determines a first switching time parameter according to the data type information or the carrier priority information, and comprises the following steps: the network device determines the first handover time parameter according to one or more of the capability information, the data type information, or carrier priority information. For a specific process, reference may be made to the description of the terminal device portion, which is not described in detail.

The embodiment of the present application further provides a carrier switching method, and for a non-co-located scenario, a network device or a terminal device may determine a first switching time parameter according to a data priority principle, a first TA, and a second TA. The data priority principle may include data type information or carrier priority information as described above, and may further include header data priority, trailer data priority, channel priority information, and the like. The first data priority may refer to that when the switching time occupies the data transmission time of the carrier, the transmission of the first data is preferentially guaranteed or the switching time preferentially occupies the transmission time of the tail data of the carrier. The priority of the tail data is opposite to that of the head data, and when the switching time occupies the data transmission time of the carrier, the transmission of the tail data is preferentially ensured or the switching time preferentially occupies the transmission time of the head data of the carrier. The channel priority information is similar to the carrier priority information, and the priority of the carrier transmitted in the channel with high priority is higher.

Example 6

Taking the scenarios shown in fig. 8a and fig. 9a as an example, it is assumed that the carrier occupied by the switching time is carrier 2, that is, the switching time is located in carrier 2. In this embodiment, the data priority rule configured on the network device 10 is header data priority.

The network device 10 determines TA1 of carrier 1 according to the random access preamble sent by UE30, and the network device 10 acquires TA2 of carrier 2. The manner for the network device 10 to acquire TA2 may be to receive TA2 of carrier 2 reported by the network device 20, or receive TA2 reported by UE30 or a difference between TA2 and TA 1.

In an embodiment of the present application, TA notification signaling (for example, RAN3 signaling) may be added between network devices, where network device 10 is a primary device, network device 20 is a secondary device, and network device 20 may send RAN3 signaling to network device 10 to notify network device 10 of TA2 of carrier 2.

In an embodiment of the present application, TA2 of carrier 2 may also be reported by UE30 to network device 10. After estimating TA2 of carrier 2 according to the random access preamble sent by UE30, network device 20 may indicate TA2 of carrier 2 to UE30 through a random access response, so UE30 may report TA2 to network device 10. In one possible implementation, UE30 may report the initial value of TA2 or the difference between the initial value of TA2 and TA1 to network device 10 when Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection establishment is completed. In another possible implementation, the UE30 may report the TA2 or the difference between the TA2 and the TA1 to the network device 10 within the TA valid time, and the UE30 may report periodically or non-periodically within the TA valid time. The TA valid time may refer to starting a timer after a new TA is measured, and after the timer expires, if the TA is not updated, the TA value is invalid, and if the TA is updated to obtain the new TA before the timer expires, the timer is cleared and times again. In other words, the TA is valid for a certain period of time after the TA update, i.e., the TA valid time.

Network device 10 may determine the first handover time parameter according to TA1, TA2 and the data prioritization principle. Fig. 14 a-14 c show schematic diagrams of carrier switching according to some embodiments of the present application. In fig. 14 a-14 c, T1 represents a switching time, and when switching between carrier 1 and carrier 2, the switching time is located on carrier 2, and the time length and the position of T1 may be predefined or configured through higher layer signaling, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application. The first carrier may be carrier 1 and the second carrier may be carrier 2, or the first carrier may be carrier 2 and the second carrier may be carrier 1.

In the schematic diagram of carrier switching in the embodiment of the present application, the upper part of the boundary indicates a manner in which the UE switches between carrier 1 and carrier 2 without timing advance, the lower part of the boundary indicates a manner in which the UE switches between carrier 1 and carrier 2 before and after introducing timing advance, and timing advance of two carriers are different.

If TA1 is TA2, network device 10 may determine that the switch time does not occupy the time that the carrier transmits data. As shown in fig. 14a, if carrier 1 is switched to carrier 2, since TA1 is TA2, the time for carrier 1 and carrier 2 at the lower part of the boundary in fig. 14a to shift to the left (negative shift) relative to carrier 1 and carrier 2 at the upper part of the boundary is the same, and the switching time does not need to occupy the time for the tail data transmission of carrier 1. Similarly, if carrier 2 is switched to carrier 1, the switching time does not need to occupy the time for transmitting the header data of carrier 1. Thus, in this example, the first handover time parameter determined by the network device is the same as the handover time specified by the standard.

Since the switching times are all located in carrier 2, TA1 < TA2, and the data priority type adopted in this example is head data priority, network device 10 may determine that the switching time occupies the transmission time of tail data of carrier 1 when switching from carrier 1 to carrier 2, and the occupied time length is TA2-TA 1. As shown in fig. 14b, carrier 1 below the boundary is shifted to the left with respect to carrier 1 above the boundary by TA1, carrier 2 below the boundary is shifted to the left with respect to carrier 2 above the boundary by TA2, and since TA1 < TA2, carrier 2 is shifted to the left for a longer period of time, which is shown in fig. 14b as carrier 2 being shifted to the left with respect to carrier 1. If carrier 1 is switched to carrier 2, the switching time T1 on the left side of carrier 2 will occupy the tail data transmission time of carrier 1, and the occupied time length is TA2-TA1, as the circled part of data in fig. 14b, without violating the principle of head data precedence, therefore, the first switching time parameter determined by the network device indicates that the position of the switching time and the length of the switching time are the same as those specified by the standard, or the first switching time parameter determined by the network device indicates that the adjusted position of the switching time and the adjusted length of the switching time are both null. If carrier 2 is switched to carrier 1, the switching time is located in carrier 2, and the offset length of carrier 2 to the left is greater, so that the switching time does not occupy the data transmission time of the carrier.

Since the switching times are all located in carrier 2, TA1 > TA2, and the data priority type adopted in this example is head data priority, network device 10 may determine that the switching time occupies the transmission time of tail data of carrier 2 when switching from carrier 2 to carrier 1, and the occupied time length is TA1-TA 2.

As shown in fig. 14c, carrier 1 below the boundary is shifted leftward with respect to carrier 1 above the boundary by TA1, carrier 2 below the boundary is shifted leftward with respect to carrier 2 above the boundary by TA2, and since TA1 > TA2, carrier 1 is shifted leftward for a longer time, which is shown in fig. 14c as carrier 1 is shifted leftward with respect to carrier 2. If the carrier 1 is switched to the carrier 2 and the switching time is located in the carrier 2, the carrier 1 is shifted to the left by a larger length relative to the carrier 2, as shown in fig. 14c, the switching time on the left side of the carrier 2 is a certain distance away from the tail data of the carrier 1, so that the switching time does not occupy the data transmission time of the carrier 1 and does not violate the data priority principle, and therefore, the position of the first switching time parameter determined by the network device indicating the switching time and the length of the switching time are the same as those specified by the standard, or the position of the first switching time parameter determined by the network device indicating the adjustment of the switching time and the length of the adjustment of the switching time are both null.

If carrier 2 is switched to carrier 1, the switching time T1 on the right side of carrier 2 will occupy the transmission time of the tail data of carrier 2, as shown by the circled part of data in fig. 14c, and the occupied time length is TA1-TA 2. As shown in fig. 14c, this is because carrier 2 has a small length shifted to the left with respect to carrier 1, and therefore the switching time on the right side of carrier 2 collides with the transmission time of the header data of carrier 1, and in this example, the data priority principle is header data priority, so to ensure the transmission of the header data of carrier 1, the time advance of the switching time on the right side of carrier 2 is changed from TA2 to TA1, while the time advance of the uplink transmission data of carrier 2 is still TA2, and therefore, the transmission time of part of the tail data of carrier 2 is occupied by the switching time.

Therefore, when switching from carrier 2 to carrier 1, assuming that the time when the network device switches from carrier 1 to carrier 2, which is determined according to the switching time, is M and the length is T1, the network device may determine the first switching time parameter is M- (TA1-TA2) and the length is T1 according to TA1, TA2 and the head data priority principle. Or, assuming that the network device starts to switch from the nth subframe symbol of the carrier 2 to the carrier 2 according to the switching time, the length of the switching time is T1, the position of the adjustment of the switching time from the carrier 2 to the carrier 1, which is indicated by the first switching time parameter determined by the network device, is the nth-K subframe symbols of the carrier 2, and the length of the adjustment of the switching time is K subframe symbols, then the terminal device starts to perform carrier switching from the nth-K subframe symbols of the carrier 2 when switching from the carrier 1 to the carrier 2.

The carrier switching method of the embodiment of the application can preferentially ensure the header data, and the initial arrival time of the data is ensured. The method is suitable for application scenes needing to protect the head signaling.

Example 7

In this example, it is assumed that the carrier occupied by the switching time is the previous carrier, that is, the carriers before the switching are all located in the switching time when the carrier switching is performed. For example, if carrier 1 is switched to carrier 2, the carrier occupied by the switching time is carrier 1, and if carrier 2 is switched to carrier 1, the carrier occupied by the switching time is carrier 2. In the present embodiment, the data priority rule is header data priority.

The process of network device 10 acquiring TA1 and TA2 is as described in the above embodiments, and is not described in detail. In this embodiment, since the carrier occupied by the handover time is the previous carrier, that is, the handover time parameter is different from that in the above embodiment, specifically, the carrier occupied by the handover time is different. Therefore, the network device 10 determines the first handover time parameter according to the obtained TA1, TA2, handover time, and data priority rule, which is different from the above-described embodiments.

Fig. 15 a-15 c respectively show schematic diagrams of carrier switching according to some embodiments of the present application. In fig. 15 a-15 c, T1 represents the switching time, which is on carrier 1 when switching from carrier 1 to carrier 2 and on carrier 2 when switching from carrier 2 to carrier 1.

If TA1 is TA2, network device 10 may determine that the time to switch does not occupy the time that the carrier transmits data. For a detailed analysis process, see the analysis of fig. 14a, which is not described in detail.

If TA1 < TA2, the data first principle used in this example is header data first, and the switching time is in the previous carrier. Thus, network device 10 may determine that the handoff time occupies the transmission time of the tail data of carrier 1 for the length of TA2-TA 1. As shown in fig. 15b, carrier 1 at the lower part of the boundary is shifted to the left by TA1 with respect to carrier 1 at the upper part of the boundary, carrier 2 at the lower part of the boundary is shifted to the left by TA2 with respect to carrier 2 at the upper part of the boundary, and since TA1 < TA2, carrier 2 is shifted to the left for a longer time, which is shown in fig. 15b as carrier 2 is shifted to the left by a longer length with respect to carrier 1. If carrier 1 is switched to carrier 2, the switching time is partly on carrier 1, partly occupying the header data of carrier 2, since the data priority rule adopted in this example is header data priority, in order to ensure transmission of header data of carrier 2, network device 10 changes TA of the handoff time on carrier 1 from TA1 to TA2, the handoff time occupies transmission time of tail data on carrier 1, the occupied portion is shown as the circled portion in fig. 15b, as shown in fig. 15b, the time at which the switching time starts on the carrier 1 on the lower side of the boundary is advanced by TA2 with respect to the time at which the switching time starts on the carrier 1 on the upper side of the boundary, the time for the uplink data of the carrier 1 on the lower side of the boundary to start transmission relative to the uplink data of the carrier 1 on the upper side of the boundary is TA1, and the time length of data transmission occupying the tail of the carrier 1 is TA2-TA 1. The manner in which the first switching time parameter is specifically determined may refer to the analysis process of example 6.

If carrier 2 is switched to carrier 1, the switching time is located in carrier 2, and carrier 2 is shifted to the left by a larger length, so that the switching time does not occupy the data transmission time of the carrier.

If TA1 > TA2, the data first principle used in this example is header data first, and the switching time is located in the previous carrier. Thus, network device 10 may determine that the handoff time occupies the transmission time of the tail data of carrier 2 for the length of TA2-TA 1. As shown in fig. 15c, carrier 1 at the lower part of the boundary is shifted leftward with respect to carrier 1 at the upper part of the boundary by TA1, carrier 2 at the lower part of the boundary is shifted leftward with respect to carrier 2 at the upper part of the boundary by TA2, and since TA1 > TA2, carrier 1 is shifted leftward for a longer time, which is shown in fig. 15c as carrier 1 is shifted leftward with respect to carrier 2. If carrier 1 is switched to carrier 2, the switching time is located in carrier 1, and the carrier 1 is shifted to the left relative to carrier 2 by a greater length, as shown in fig. 15c, the switching time on the right side of carrier 1 is a certain distance away from the header data of carrier 2, so that the switching time does not occupy the transmission time of the header data of carrier 2, and no collision occurs. If carrier 2 is switched to carrier 1, the switching time is located in carrier 2, and the switching time T1 on the right side of carrier 2 occupies the transmission time of the tail data of carrier 2, as shown in the circled part of data in fig. 15c, and the occupied time length is TA1-TA 2. As shown in fig. 15c, this is because carrier 2 has a small length shifted leftward with respect to carrier 1, and therefore the switching time on the right side of carrier 2 collides with the transmission time of the header data of carrier 1, in this example, the data priority principle is header data priority, and therefore, in order to ensure the transmission of the header data of carrier 1, the timing advance of the switching time on the right side on carrier 2 is changed from TA2 to TA1, while the timing advance of the uplink transmission data of carrier 2 is still TA2, and therefore, the transmission time of part of the tail data of carrier 2 is occupied by the switching time. The manner in which the first switching time parameter is specifically determined may refer to the analysis process of example 6.

Example 8

In this example, the data priority rule configured on the network device 10 is that the selected carrier is prioritized, and it is assumed that the carrier occupied by the handover time is carrier 2. The selected carrier priority refers to data priority transmission of the selected carrier, and if the switching time conflicts with the data transmission of the selected carrier, the switching time does not occupy the data transmission time of the selected carrier, but occupies the data transmission time of the unselected (other than the selected carrier) carriers.

In one possible implementation, the selected carrier may be a network configuration selected priority carrier, for example, a network configures priorities of different carriers, and a carrier with a higher priority is the selected carrier, or the selected carrier may be a standardized priority carrier. That is, the selected priority carrier may be configured in the network according to the requirement of a specific transmission service, for example, the priority of the selected carrier is set as the highest priority. The standardized preferential carrier may refer to a type of a carrier preferentially selected as a standard, for example, if two carriers to be switched are NR and LTE, a carrier transmitting non-control information may be set as a preferential carrier, that is, a switching time is preferentially located in a carrier transmitting non-control information, that is, a selected carrier of a carrier transmitting control information preferentially selects transmission of carrier data. Or, in an Inter RAT DC scenario, NR is a priority carrier, that is, the handover time is preferentially located on the NR carrier, or a carrier transmitting non-control information is a priority carrier, that is, the handover time is preferentially located on a carrier transmitting non-control information.

In one possible implementation, priority may be set for the carriers, the carrier with the highest priority is the selected carrier, and data of the selected carrier is transmitted preferentially.

Taking the application scenarios shown in fig. 8a and fig. 9a as an example, in this example, it is assumed that the selected carrier is carrier 1.

The process of network device 10 acquiring TA1 and TA2 is as described in the above embodiments, and is not described in detail.

In the present embodiment, since the data priority rule is different from that of example 1, the first switching time parameter determined by the network device 10 according to the acquired TA1, TA2 and the data priority rule is different from that of the embodiment described in example 6. Figures 16 a-16 c illustrate diagrams of carrier switching, respectively, according to some embodiments of the present application. In fig. 16 a-16 c, T1 denotes the switching time, which is located on carrier 2.

If TA1 < TA2, since the handover time is located in carrier 2, and the data priority rule adopted in this example is that the selected carrier is priority, and the selected carrier is carrier 1, the network device 10 may determine that the handover time occupies the transmission time of the header data of carrier 2, and the occupied time length is TA2-TA 1. As shown in fig. 16b, carrier 1 below the boundary is shifted to the left by TA1 with respect to carrier 1 above the boundary, carrier 2 below the boundary is shifted to the left by TA2 with respect to carrier 2 above the boundary, and since TA1 < TA2, carrier 2 is shifted to the left for a longer period of time, which is shown in fig. 16b as carrier 2 being shifted to the left by a longer length with respect to carrier 1. If carrier 1 is switched to carrier 2, the switching time T1 on the left side of carrier 2 will occupy the tail data transmission time of carrier 1, but since the data priority principle adopted in this example is that the selected carrier takes precedence and the selected carrier is carrier 1, in order to ensure the transmission of data of carrier 1, the network device 10 changes the TA of the switching time on carrier 2 from TA2 to TA1, the switching time occupies the transmission time of the header data on carrier 2, the occupied part is shown as the circled part in fig. 13b, as shown in fig. 16b, the time at which the switching time on carrier 2 on the lower side of the boundary line starts is advanced by TA1 relative to the time at which the switching time on carrier 2 on the upper side of the boundary line, and the time at which the uplink data of carrier 2 on the lower side of the boundary line should start to be transmitted (the side on the left side of the rectangle filled with diagonal grids, that is the side on the left side of the rectangle circled in fig. 16 b) relative to the time at which the uplink data of carrier 2 on the upper side of the boundary line starts to be transmitted The time of inter-phase advance is TA2, and the time of actual start of transmission of uplink data of carrier 2 on the lower side of the boundary (the left side of the rectangle filled with the diagonal grid, i.e. the left side of the rectangle circled in fig. 16 b) and the time of start of transmission of uplink data of carrier 2 on the upper side of the boundary are TA1, so the time length of header data transmission of carrier 2 occupied by the switching time is TA2-TA 1. The manner in which the first switching time parameter is specifically determined may refer to the analysis process of example 6.

If TA1 > TA2, the data priority rule employed in this example is selected carrier first and the handoff time is on carrier 2. Thus, network device 10 may determine that the handoff time occupies the transmission time of the tail data of carrier 2 for the length of TA1-TA 2. As shown in fig. 16c, carrier 1 below the boundary is shifted to the left by TA1 with respect to carrier 1 above the boundary, carrier 2 below the boundary is shifted to the left by TA2 with respect to carrier 2 above the boundary, and since TA1 > TA2, carrier 1 is shifted to the left for a longer period of time, which is shown in fig. 16c as carrier 1 is shifted to the left by a longer length with respect to carrier 2. If carrier 1 is switched to carrier 2, the switching time is located in carrier 2, and the carrier 1 is shifted to the left relative to carrier 2 by a larger length, as shown in fig. 16c, the switching time on the left side of carrier 2 is a certain distance away from the tail data of carrier 1, so that the switching time does not occupy the data transmission time of carrier 1. If carrier 2 is switched to carrier 1, the switching time T1 on the right side of carrier 2 will occupy the transmission time of the tail data of carrier 2, as shown by the circled part of data in fig. 16c, and the occupied time length is TA1-TA 2. As shown in fig. 16c, this is because carrier 2 is shifted to the left with respect to carrier 1 by a small length, and therefore the switching time on the right side of carrier 2 collides with the transmission time of the header data of carrier 1, in this example, the data priority principle is that the selected carrier takes precedence, and therefore, in order to ensure the transmission of the header data of carrier 1, the time advance of the switching time on the right side of carrier 2 is changed from TA2 to TA1, while the time advance of the uplink transmission data of carrier 2 is still TA2, and therefore, the transmission time of the partial tail data of carrier 2 is occupied by the switching time. The manner in which the first switching time parameter is specifically determined may refer to the analysis process of example 6.

The carrier switching method according to the embodiment of the present application can preferentially ensure data of a selected carrier (a carrier with a high priority), and ensure arrival time and transmission of the data of the selected carrier. In some application scenarios, different carriers transmit different information, for example, some carriers transmit control signaling and some carriers transmit data, and in order to preferentially ensure transmission of the control signaling, the priority of the carrier transmitting the control signaling may be set to be the highest, that is, the carrier transmitting the control signaling is a selected carrier, so that transmission of the control signaling may be ensured.

Example 9

In this example, the data priority rule configured on the network device 10 is that the selected carrier is prioritized, and it is assumed that the carriers occupied by the handover time are previous carriers, that is, when performing carrier handover, the handover time is located in the carriers before the handover. Taking the application scenarios shown in fig. 8a and fig. 9a as an example, in this example, it is assumed that the selected carrier is carrier 1.

The process of network device 10 acquiring TA1 and TA2 is as described in the above embodiments, and is not described in detail. In this embodiment, since the carrier occupied by the switching time is the previous carrier, the data priority rule is that the selected carrier is prioritized. Therefore, the network device 10 determines the first switching time parameter according to the acquired TA1, TA2 and the data priority rule, which is different from the above-described embodiments. Figures 17 a-17 c illustrate diagrams of carrier switching, respectively, according to some embodiments of the present application. In fig. 17a to 17c, T1 represents the switching time, and the switching time is on carrier 1 when switching from carrier 1 to carrier 2, and the switching time is on carrier 2 when switching from carrier 2 to carrier 1.

If TA1 < TA2, the data priority principle employed in this example is that the selected carrier takes precedence and the switch time is in the previous carrier. Thus, network device 10 may determine that the handoff time occupies the transmission time of the header data of carrier 2 for a length of time TA2-TA 1. As shown in fig. 17b, carrier 1 below the boundary is shifted to the left by TA1 with respect to carrier 1 above the boundary, carrier 2 below the boundary is shifted to the left by TA2 with respect to carrier 2 above the boundary, and since TA1 < TA2, carrier 2 is shifted to the left for a longer time, which is shown in fig. 17b as carrier 2 is shifted to the left by a longer length with respect to carrier 1. If carrier 1 is switched to carrier 2, part of the switching time is located in carrier 1, and part of the switching time occupies the header data of carrier 2, so that the principle of selecting carrier 1 for priority is not influenced. The occupied part is shown as the circled part in fig. 17b, as shown in fig. 17b, the time for the end of the switching time on the carrier 1 on the lower side of the boundary relative to the time for receiving the switching time on the carrier 1 on the upper side of the boundary is TA1, the time for the start of transmitting the uplink data of the carrier 2 on the lower side of the boundary relative to the uplink data of the carrier 2 on the upper side of the boundary is TA2, and the time length of transmitting the header data of the occupied carrier 2 is TA2-TA 1. However, in this embodiment, it is also possible to preferentially ensure transmission of header data of carrier 2, and after switching from carrier 1 to carrier 2 is completed, transmission may be started from header data of carrier 2. If carrier 2 is next to switch to carrier 1, since carrier 1 has a small leftward offset length with respect to carrier 2 and TA2-TA1, carrier switching can be started after data transmission of carrier 2 is completed, and data transmission of carrier 1 can be started just after the switching is completed. This is equivalent to advancing the actual time for carrier 2 to TA 1.

If TA1 > TA2, the data priority principle employed in this example is that the selected carrier takes precedence and the switching time is located on the previous carrier. Thus, network device 10 may determine that the handoff time occupies the transmission time of the tail data of carrier 2 for the length of TA2-TA 1. As shown in fig. 17c, carrier 1 below the boundary is shifted to the left with respect to carrier 1 above the boundary by TA1, carrier 2 below the boundary is shifted to the left with respect to carrier 2 above the boundary by TA2, and since TA1 > TA2, carrier 1 is shifted to the left more often, and it appears in fig. 17c that carrier 1 is shifted to the left with respect to carrier 2 by a greater length. If carrier 1 is switched to carrier 2, the switching time on carrier 1 will not affect the data transmission of carrier 2 and no collision will occur because carrier 1 is shifted to the left with respect to carrier 2 by a greater length. If carrier 2 is switched to carrier 1, the switching time is located in carrier 2, and the switching time T1 on the right side of carrier 2 occupies the transmission time of the tail data of carrier 2, as shown in the circled part of data in fig. 17c, and the occupied time length is TA1-TA 2. As shown in fig. 17c, this is because carrier 2 has a small length shifted to the left with respect to carrier 1, and therefore the switching time on the right side of carrier 2 collides with the transmission time of the header data of carrier 1, in this example, the data priority principle is header data priority, and therefore, in order to ensure the transmission of the header data of carrier 1, the time advance of the switching time on the right side of carrier 2 is changed from TA2 to TA1, while the time advance of the uplink transmission data of carrier 2 is still TA2, and therefore, the transmission time of part of the tail data of carrier 2 is occupied by the switching time.

In this example, the manner in which the first switching time parameter is specifically determined may refer to the analysis process of example 6.

Example 10

In this example, the data priority rule configured on the network device 10 may be a priority of the selected channel, as shown in the application scenario of fig. 8a, it is assumed that one or more channels are included on the carrier 1, for example, the carrier 1 includes channel 1 and channel 2, and the carrier 2 also includes one or more channels, for example, the carrier 2 includes channel 3 and channel 4, and the channels of the carrier 1 and the carrier 2 are respectively set with different priorities, for example, the priorities of the channel 1 and the channel 2 on the carrier 1 are respectively 1 and 3, and the priorities of the channel 3 and the channel 4 are respectively 2 and 4. It should be noted that the higher the value of the priority, the higher the priority, the highest priority channel among the channels 1 to 4 is the channel 4.

The data priority rule configured on the network device 10 to prioritize the selected channel may mean that, if the priority of the carrier is not set or the selected carrier is not set, the selected channel may be determined according to the priority of the channel, and the data of the selected channel is transmitted preferentially. In this example, the selected channel may be a channel with a high priority. For example, when channel 2 of carrier 1 is transmitting data and carrier 1 is to be switched to carrier 2, channel 3 of carrier 2 is transmitting data, and the selected channel is channel 2, the transmission of data on channel 2 (carrier 1) is guaranteed preferentially when carrier switching is performed. If carrier 1 is switched to carrier 2, channel 4 of carrier 2 needs to transmit data, and the selected channel is channel 4, and data transmission on channel 4 (carrier 2) needs to be guaranteed preferentially when carrier switching is performed.

Fig. 18a and 18b respectively show schematic diagrams of carrier switching according to some embodiments of the present application. Assuming that in the example shown in fig. 18a and 18b, the switching time is located in the previous carrier, the data priority principle is that the selected channel takes precedence.

As shown in fig. 18a, channel 2 of carrier 1 is transmitting data, carrier 1 is to be switched to carrier 2, channel 3 of carrier 2 is to transmit data, and assuming that channel 3 has higher priority than channel 2, the selected channel is channel 2, and in the example shown in fig. 18a, TA1 < TA 2. The time for which carrier 1 (channel 2) at the lower part of the boundary is shifted to the left with respect to carrier 1 (channel 2) at the upper part of the boundary is TA1, the time for which carrier 2 (channel 3) at the lower part of the boundary is shifted to the left with respect to carrier 2 (channel 3) at the upper part of the boundary is TA2, and since TA1 < TA2, carrier 2 (channel 3) is shifted to the left for a large amount of time, which is shown in fig. 18a as the length for which carrier 2 is shifted to the left with respect to carrier 1 is larger. If channel 2 of carrier 1 is switched to channel 3 of carrier 2, the switching time of carrier 1 will occupy the transmission of the header data of channel 3 of carrier 2 because carrier 2 is shifted to the left for a long time, but channel 2 of carrier 1 is the selected channel, and therefore the switching time occupies the speaking time of the partial header data of channel 3 of carrier 2, and the occupied time length is TA2-TA 1.

As shown in fig. 18b, channel 2 of carrier 1 is transmitting data, and if carrier 1 is switched to carrier 2, channel 4 of carrier 2 is transmitting data, and the selected channel is channel 4. In the example shown in fig. 18b, TA1 < TA2, carrier 2 (channel 4) is shifted to the left for a long time, and the switching time of carrier 1 will occupy the transmission of the header data of channel 4 of carrier 2, but channel 4 of carrier 2 is the selected channel, so the switching time occupies the talk-around time of the partial trailer data of channel 2 of carrier 1, and the occupied time length is TA2-TA 1.

Example 11

The network device 10 may be configured with various types of data priority principles, for example, a combination of two or more of header data priority, selected carrier priority or selected channel priority is configured on the network device 10. The network device 10 may determine the data priority rule corresponding to the data transmission requirement according to the data transmission requirement and the decision mechanism. The data transmission requirement may be a requirement for indicating data that needs to be guaranteed for transmission preferentially, the base station or the UE may perform flexible scheduling of antennas or videos according to an actual data transmission requirement, and the decision mechanism may be a mechanism for determining a data priority principle corresponding to the data transmission requirement. For example, when the data transmission requirement is to ensure basic transmission of two paths of carriers, the corresponding data priority principle is that the head data is prioritized; when the data transmission requirement is that the data transmission of carrier 1 needs to be preferentially guaranteed, the corresponding data priority principle is that the selected carrier is preferred, and the selected carrier is set as carrier 1, for example, carrier 1 transmits a control signaling, and carrier 2 transmits data, and in order to guarantee the transmission of the control signaling, the data transmission of carrier 1 needs to be preferentially guaranteed, so that the data priority principle can be determined as that the selected carrier is preferred, and the selected carrier is carrier 1.

After determining the data priority principle corresponding to the data transmission requirement, the first switching time parameter may be determined according to the corresponding manner in examples 1 to 5, and the determined first switching time parameter is issued to the terminal device, and when the terminal device receives the scheduling information issued by the network device, the first switching time parameter may be obtained, and carrier switching is implemented according to the first switching time parameter.

The carrier switching method of the embodiment of the present application may also be applied to a terminal device in a communication system, as shown in fig. 8a and fig. 19, a UE30 sends a random access preamble to a network device 10 and a network device 30, after the network device 10 estimates a TA1 of a carrier 1 according to the random access preamble sent by a UE30, the random access preamble may be indicated to a TA1 of a carrier 1 of a UE30, and after the network device 20 estimates a TA2 of a carrier 2 according to the random access preamble sent by a UE30, the random access response may be indicated to a TA2 of a carrier 2 of a UE 30. UE30 may obtain TA1 for carrier 1 and TA2 for carrier 2. The UE30 may be configured with a handover time and data priority rule, and the UE may perform steps S61 and S62, determine a first handover time parameter according to the TAs of the multiple carriers, the handover time and the data priority rule, and perform carrier handover according to the first handover time parameter.

For the specific process of step S61, see example 6 to example 11 above, which are not described in detail.

In the embodiment of the present application, after determining the first handover time parameter, the terminal device UE30 may further report to the network device 10 to synchronize the uplink carrier resource used by the UE30 and the data transmission condition to the network device 10. The network device 10 may process the uplink data sent by the UE30 according to the first handover time parameter. In a possible implementation manner, the terminal device may report the first handover time parameter to the network device through RRC signaling, such as UE capability, UE assistance information, or dedicated handover information, or may dynamically report the first handover time parameter through mac ce or a Universal Communications identifier (Universal Communications identifier).

The carrier switching method of the embodiment of the present application may also be applied to a terminal device and a network device in a communication system at the same time, as shown in fig. 8a and fig. 20, a UE30 sends a random access preamble to a network device 10 and a network device 30, and after the network device 10 estimates a TA1 of a carrier 1 according to the random access preamble sent by a UE30, the random access preamble may indicate to a TA1 of the carrier 1 of a UE30 through a random access response; after estimating TA2 of carrier 2 from the random access preamble sent by UE30, network device 20 may indicate TA2 of carrier 2 to UE30 through a random access response; UE30 may obtain TA1 for carrier 1 and TA2 for carrier 2. Network device 20 may also report TA2 to network device 10, and network device 10 may obtain TA1 for carrier 1 and TA2 for carrier 2.

The network device 10 and the terminal device UE30 may be configured with a handover time and data priority rule, and the network device 10 and the terminal device UE30 determine the first handover time parameter according to the TAs of the multiple carriers, the handover time and the data priority rule. The UE30 may perform carrier switching according to the first switching time parameter, and the network device 10 may determine whether to schedule the terminal device UE30 according to the first switching time parameter, and process uplink data transmitted by the UE30 according to the first switching time parameter.

The process of determining the first handover time parameter by the network device 10 and the terminal device UE30 according to the TAs of the multiple carriers, the handover time parameter, and the data priority rule may refer to examples 6 to 11 above, and is not described again.

In the embodiment of the application, the first switching time parameter is determined by the network device and the terminal device according to the TA, the switching time parameter and the data priority principle at the same time, and the process of synchronously reporting or issuing the first switching time parameter is not needed, so that the communication times between the network device and the terminal device can be reduced.

Data priority principle first switching time parameter first switching time parameter first switching time parameter first switching time parameter second switching time parameter second switching time parameter second switching time parameter

The application also provides a carrier switching device, which is applied to the terminal equipment. Fig. 21 is a block diagram of a carrier switching apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 21, the apparatus includes: a first receiving module 210, configured to receive a first timing advance TA of a first carrier and a second TA of a second carrier;

a first determining module 211, configured to determine a first handover time parameter according to the first TA and the second TA, where the first handover time parameter is used to indicate at least one of: a position of a switching time or a length of a switching time for switching from the first carrier to the second carrier, or an adjusted position of a switching time or an adjusted length of a switching time for switching from the first carrier to the second carrier;

a first switching module 212 configured to switch from the first carrier to the second carrier according to the first switching time parameter.

In one possible implementation, the apparatus further includes: a second receiving module, configured to receive data type information or carrier priority information, where the data type information includes a data type of first data of the first carrier and/or a data type of second data of the second carrier, and the carrier priority information includes a priority of the first carrier and/or a priority of the second carrier; the first determining module is further configured to determine, by the terminal device, the first handover time parameter according to the first TA, the second TA, and one or more of the following information: data type information, carrier priority information.

In one possible implementation, the apparatus further includes: a first reporting module, configured to report the first switching time parameter to a network device, and receive a confirmation instruction issued by the network device for the first switching time parameter. The first switching time parameter is determined according to the first TA and the second TA for multiple times, and the determined first switching time parameter is reported to the network equipment for multiple times, so that the method adapts to different scenes and flexibly adjusts the switching time.

In one possible implementation, the first switching time parameter is used to indicate: the first determining module is further configured to determine the first handover time parameter according to the first TA, the second TA, and a second handover time parameter, where the second handover time parameter is a location or a length of a handover time that is used for indicating a handover time for switching from the first carrier to the second carrier, and is determined and reported to the network device by the terminal device before the first handover time parameter is determined; the first switching module is further configured to switch from the first carrier to the second carrier according to the second switching time parameter and the first switching time parameter.

In one possible implementation, the apparatus further includes: a first reporting module, configured to report the first switching time parameter to a network device, and receive a confirmation instruction issued by the network device for the first switching time parameter.

In one possible implementation, the position of the adjustment of the switching time for switching from the first carrier to the second carrier is represented by a subframe symbol of the first carrier or the second carrier, and the length of the adjustment of the switching time for switching from the first carrier to the second carrier is represented by a difference value between the first TA and the second TA or a quantization index of the difference value.

In one possible implementation, the terminal device communicates with the network device through a multi-carrier uplink transmission technology, where the multi-carrier uplink transmission technology is any one or more of carrier aggregation CA, dual connectivity DC, supplemental uplink SUL, or Sidelink.

In one possible implementation, the first carrier and the second carrier are carriers for power amplifier PA link multiplexing.

The application also provides a carrier switching device, the device is applied to the terminal equipment, the device includes:

a second determining module, configured to determine a first handover time parameter according to the data type information or the carrier priority information, where the first handover time parameter is used to indicate at least one of: a position of a switching time or a length of a switching time for switching from a first carrier to a second carrier, or an adjusted position of a switching time or an adjusted length of a switching time for switching from the first carrier to the second carrier; wherein the data type information comprises a data type of first data of the first carrier and/or a data type of second data of the second carrier, and the carrier priority information comprises a priority of the first carrier and/or a priority of the second carrier;

a second switching module configured to switch from the first carrier to the second carrier according to the first switching time parameter.

In one possible implementation, the apparatus further includes: a third determining module, configured to determine capability information of the terminal device; the second determining module is further configured to determine the first handover time parameter according to one or more of the capability information, the data type information, or carrier priority information.

In one possible implementation, the apparatus further includes: and the second reporting module is used for reporting the first switching time parameter to network equipment and receiving a confirmation instruction which is issued by the network equipment aiming at the first switching time parameter. The carrier switching device can send parameters related to the switching time between the terminal equipment and the network equipment for multiple times, so that the switching time can be flexibly changed according to the change of an application scene during carrier switching.

In a possible implementation manner, the terminal device communicates with the network device through a multi-carrier uplink transmission technology, where the multi-carrier uplink transmission technology is any one or more of carrier aggregation CA, dual connectivity DC, supplemental uplink SUL, or Sidelink.

The application also provides a carrier switching device, which is applied to network equipment. Fig. 22 is a block diagram of a carrier switching apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 22, the apparatus includes:

a fourth determining module 220, configured to determine a first timing advance TA of the first carrier and a second TA of the second carrier;

a fifth determining module 221, configured to determine a first handover time parameter according to the first TA and the second TA, where the first handover time parameter is used to indicate at least one of the following: the position of the switching time or the length of the switching time for the terminal equipment to switch from the first carrier to the second carrier, or the adjusted position of the switching time or the adjusted length of the switching time for the terminal equipment to switch from the first carrier to the second carrier;

a first issuing module 222, configured to issue the first switching time parameter to the terminal device.

In one possible implementation, the apparatus further includes: a sixth determining module, configured to determine data type information or carrier priority information, where the data type information includes a data type of first data of the first carrier and/or a data type of second data of the second carrier, and the carrier priority information includes a priority of the first carrier and/or a priority of the second carrier; the fifth determining module is further configured to determine the first handover time parameter based on the first and second TAs and one or more of the following information: data type information, carrier priority information.

In one possible implementation, the first switching time parameter is used to indicate: the fifth determining module is further configured to determine the first handover time parameter according to the first TA, the second TA, and the second handover time parameter, where the second handover time parameter is a position or a length of a handover time that is determined by the network device before the first handover time parameter is determined and is issued to the terminal device and is used to indicate that the terminal device switches from the first carrier to the second carrier.

In a possible implementation manner, the network device communicates with the terminal device through a multi-carrier uplink transmission technology, where the multi-carrier uplink transmission technology is any one or more of carrier aggregation CA, dual connectivity DC, supplemental uplink SUL, or Sidelink.

In a possible implementation manner, the network device is a main network device in a DC, the DC further includes an auxiliary network device, the main network device communicates with the terminal device through a first carrier, the auxiliary network device communicates with the terminal device through a second carrier, and the fourth determining module is further configured to receive a TA of the second carrier reported by the terminal device or a difference between the TA of the second carrier and the TA of the first carrier, or receive the TA of the second carrier reported by the auxiliary network device.

The present application further provides a carrier switching apparatus, which is applied to a network device, and the apparatus includes: a seventh determining module, configured to determine a first handover time parameter according to the data type information or the carrier priority information, where the first handover time parameter is used to indicate at least one of: the position of the switching time or the length of the switching time for switching the terminal equipment from the first carrier to the second carrier, or the adjusted position of the switching time or the adjusted length of the switching time for switching the terminal equipment from the first carrier to the second carrier; wherein the data type information comprises a data type of first data of the first carrier and/or a data type of second data of the second carrier, and the carrier priority information comprises a priority of the first carrier and/or a priority of the second carrier; and the second issuing module is used for issuing the first switching time parameter to the terminal equipment.

The carrier switching device can send parameters related to the switching time between the terminal equipment and the network equipment for multiple times, so that the switching time can be flexibly changed according to the change of an application scene during carrier switching.

In one possible implementation, the apparatus further includes: a third receiving module, configured to receive capability information reported by the terminal device; the seventh determining module is further configured to determine, by the network device, the first handover time parameter according to one or more of the capability information, the data type information, or carrier priority information.

FIG. 23 shows a block diagram of a network device according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 23, the network device may be composed of a processor 801, a memory 802, a transceiver 803, and the like, wherein the processor, the memory, and the transceiver may be previously connected through one or more buses. The functions to be implemented by the sending module 90 or the configuration module 110 may be implemented by the transceiver 803 of the network device, or by the processor 801 controlling the transceiver 803.

The processor 801 is a control center of the network device, connects various parts of the entire network device using various interfaces and lines, and performs various functions of the network device and/or processes data by running or executing software programs and/or modules stored in the memory 802 and calling data stored in the memory. The processor may be composed of Integrated Circuits (ICs), for example, a single packaged IC, or a plurality of packaged ICs connected with the same or different functions. For example, the processor may include only a Central Processing Unit (CPU), or may be a combination of a GPU, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), and a control chip (e.g., a baseband chip) in the transceiver. In the embodiment of the present invention, the CPU may be a single operation core, or may include multiple operation cores.

The transceiver 803 is used for establishing a communication channel through which a network device connects to a receiving device, thereby implementing data transmission between network devices. The transceiver may include a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) module, a bluetooth module, a baseband (base band) module, and other communication modules, and a Radio Frequency (RF) circuit corresponding to the communication module, and is configured to perform wireless local area network communication, bluetooth communication, infrared communication, and/or cellular communication system communication, such as Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) and/or High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA). The transceiver is used to control the communication of the components in the network device and may support direct memory access (direct memory access).

In various embodiments of the present invention, the various transceivers of the transceiver 803 are typically in the form of integrated circuit chips (integrated circuit chips) and may be selectively combined without necessarily including all transceivers and corresponding antenna groups. For example, the transceiver 803 may include only a baseband chip, a radio frequency chip, and a corresponding antenna to provide communication functions in a cellular communication system. The network device may be connected to a cellular network (cellular network) or the internet (internet) via a wireless communication connection established by the transceiver, such as a wireless local area network access or a WCDMA access. In some alternative embodiments of the invention, the communication module, e.g., baseband module, in the transceiver may be integrated into a processor, typically an APQ + MDM family platform as provided by high-pass (qualcomm) corporation. The radio frequency circuit is used for receiving and sending signals in the process of information transceiving or conversation. For example, after receiving the downlink information of the network device, the downlink information is sent to the processor for processing; in addition, the data of the design uplink is sent to the network equipment. Typically, the radio frequency circuitry includes well-known circuitry for performing these functions, including but not limited to an antenna system, a radio frequency transceiver, one or more amplifiers, a tuner, one or more oscillators, a digital signal processor, a codec (codec) chipset, a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card, memory, and so forth. In addition, the radio frequency circuitry may also communicate with networks and other devices via wireless communications. The wireless communication may use any communication standard or protocol, including but not limited to global system for mobile communication (GSM), general packet radio service (gprs), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA), Long Term Evolution (LTE), email, Short Message Service (SMS), and the like.

An embodiment of the present application provides a carrier switching apparatus, including: a processor and a memory for storing processor-executable instructions; wherein the processor is configured to implement the above method when executing the instructions.

Embodiments of the present application provide a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having stored thereon computer program instructions which, when executed by a processor, implement the above-described method.

Embodiments of the present application provide a computer program product comprising computer readable code, or a non-transitory computer readable storage medium carrying computer readable code, which when run in a processor of an electronic device, the processor in the electronic device performs the above method.

The computer readable storage medium may be a tangible device that can hold and store the instructions for use by the instruction execution device. The computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, semiconductor memory device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the computer readable storage medium would include the following: a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a Random Access Memory (RAM), a Read-Only Memory (ROM), an erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EPROM or flash Memory), a Static Random Access Memory (SRAM), a portable Compact Disc Read-Only Memory (CD-ROM), a Digital Versatile Disc (DVD), a Memory stick, a floppy disk, a mechanical coding device, a punch card or in-groove protrusion structure, for example, having instructions stored thereon, and any suitable combination of the foregoing.

The computer readable program instructions or code described herein may be downloaded to the respective computing/processing device from a computer readable storage medium, or to an external computer or external storage device via a network, such as the internet, a local area network, a wide area network, and/or a wireless network. The network may include copper transmission cables, fiber optic transmission, wireless transmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers and/or edge servers. The network adapter card or network interface in each computing/processing device receives computer-readable program instructions from the network and forwards the computer-readable program instructions for storage in a computer-readable storage medium in the respective computing/processing device.

The computer program instructions for carrying out operations of the present application may be assembler instructions, Instruction Set Architecture (ISA) instructions, machine-related instructions, microcode, firmware instructions, state setting data, or source code or object code written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including an object oriented programming language such as Smalltalk, C + + or the like and conventional procedural programming languages, such as the "C" programming language or similar programming languages. The computer-readable program instructions may execute entirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server. In the case of a remote computer, the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through any type of Network, including a Local Area Network (LAN) or a Wide Area Network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet service provider). In some embodiments, the electronic circuitry can execute computer-readable program instructions to implement various aspects of the present application by utilizing state information of the computer-readable program instructions to personalize custom electronic circuitry, such as Programmable Logic circuitry, Field-Programmable Gate arrays (FPGAs), or Programmable Logic Arrays (PLAs).

Various aspects of the present application are described herein with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems) and computer program products according to embodiments of the application. It will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer-readable program instructions.

These computer-readable program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks. These computer-readable program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable storage medium that can direct a computer, programmable data processing apparatus, and/or other devices to function in a particular manner, such that the computer-readable medium storing the instructions comprises an article of manufacture including instructions which implement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

The computer readable program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other devices to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer, other programmable apparatus or other devices to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer, other programmable apparatus or other devices implement the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the figures illustrate the architecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementations of apparatus, systems, methods and computer program products according to various embodiments of the present application. In this regard, each block in the flowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portion of instructions, which comprises one or more executable instructions for implementing the specified logical function(s). In some alternative implementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality involved.

It is also noted that each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implemented by hardware (e.g., a Circuit or an ASIC) for performing the corresponding function or action, or by combinations of hardware and software, such as firmware.

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

The foregoing description, as well as the description of the embodiments of the present application, is exemplary, not exhaustive, and not limited to the disclosed embodiments. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope of the described embodiments. The terms used herein were chosen in order to best explain the principles of the embodiments, the practical application, or improvements made to the technology in the marketplace, or to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the embodiments disclosed herein.

Claims

1. A method for carrier switching, the method comprising:

the terminal equipment receives a first timing advance TA of a first carrier and a second TA of a second carrier;

the terminal equipment determines a first switching time parameter according to the first TA and the second TA, wherein the first switching time parameter is used for indicating at least one of the following items: a position of a switching time or a length of a switching time for switching from the first carrier to the second carrier, or an adjusted position of a switching time or an adjusted length of a switching time for switching from the first carrier to the second carrier;

and the terminal equipment is switched from the first carrier to the second carrier according to the first switching time parameter.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

the terminal equipment receives data type information or carrier priority information, wherein the data type information comprises a data type of first data of the first carrier and/or a data type of second data of the second carrier, and the carrier priority information comprises a priority of the first carrier and/or a priority of the second carrier;

the terminal equipment determines a first switching time parameter according to the first TA and the second TA, and the method comprises the following steps:

the terminal equipment determines the first switching time parameter according to the first TA, the second TA and one or more of the following information: data type information, carrier priority information.

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

and the terminal equipment reports the first switching time parameter to network equipment and receives a confirmation instruction which is issued by the network equipment aiming at the first switching time parameter.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first handover time parameter is used to indicate: a location of an adjustment of a switching time or a length of a switching time adjustment to switch from the first carrier to the second carrier,

the terminal device determines the first switching time parameter according to the first TA, the second TA and a second switching time parameter, wherein the second switching time parameter is a position or a length of switching time, which is used for indicating switching time for switching from the first carrier to the second carrier, of a network device, and is determined and reported by the terminal device before the first switching time parameter is determined;

the terminal equipment is switched from the first carrier to the second carrier according to the first switching time parameter, and the switching method comprises the following steps:

and the terminal equipment is switched from the first carrier to the second carrier according to the second switching time parameter and the first switching time parameter.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

6. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that the adjusted position of the switching time for switching from the first carrier to the second carrier is represented by a subframe symbol of the first carrier or the second carrier,

the length of the adjustment of the switching time for switching from the first carrier to the second carrier is represented by a difference value of the first TA and the second TA or a quantization index of the difference value.

7. The method according to any of claims 1-6, wherein the terminal device communicates with the network device via a multi-carrier uplink transmission technique, wherein the multi-carrier uplink transmission technique is any one or more of carrier aggregation, CA, dual connectivity, DC, supplemental uplink, SUL, or Sidelink.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the multiple carriers in the multi-carrier uplink transmission technique are Time Division Multiplexing (TDM).

9. The method according to any of claims 1-6, wherein the first carrier and the second carrier are power amplifier, PA, link multiplexed carriers.

10. A method for carrier switching, the method comprising:

the terminal equipment determines a first switching time parameter according to the data type information or the carrier priority information, wherein the first switching time parameter is used for indicating at least one of the following items: a position of a switching time or a length of a switching time for switching from a first carrier to a second carrier, or an adjusted position of a switching time or an adjusted length of a switching time for switching from the first carrier to the second carrier; wherein the data type information comprises a data type of first data of the first carrier and/or a data type of second data of the second carrier, and the carrier priority information comprises a priority of the first carrier and/or a priority of the second carrier;

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

the terminal equipment determines the capability information of the terminal equipment;

the terminal equipment determines a first switching time parameter according to the data type information or the carrier priority information, and the method comprises the following steps:

and the terminal equipment determines the first switching time parameter according to one or more items of the capability information, the data type information or the carrier priority information.

12. The method according to claim 10 or 11, characterized in that the method further comprises:

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the terminal device communicates with the network device via a multi-carrier uplink transmission technique, and wherein the multi-carrier uplink transmission technique is any one or more of Carrier Aggregation (CA), Dual Connectivity (DC), Supplemental Uplink (SUL), or Sidelink.

14. A method for carrier switching, the method comprising:

the network equipment determines a first timing advance TA of a first carrier and a second TA of a second carrier;

the network device determines a first handover time parameter according to the first TA and the second TA, wherein the first handover time parameter is used for indicating at least one of the following: a position of a switching time or a length of the switching time for the terminal device to switch from the first carrier to the second carrier, or an adjusted position of a switching time or an adjusted length of the switching time for the terminal device to switch from the first carrier to the second carrier;

and the network equipment transmits the first switching time parameter to the terminal equipment.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

the network equipment determines data type information or carrier priority information, wherein the data type information comprises a data type of first data of the first carrier and/or a data type of second data of the second carrier, and the carrier priority information comprises a priority of the first carrier and/or a priority of the second carrier;

the network device determines a first handover time parameter according to the first TA and the second TA, and includes:

the network device determines the first handover time parameter from the first and second TAs and one or more of the following information: data type information, carrier priority information.

16. The method of claim 14,

the first switching time parameter is used for indicating that: an adjusted position of a switching time or a length of a switching time adjustment for the terminal to switch from the first carrier to the second carrier,

the network device determines the first switching time parameter according to the first TA, the second TA and a second switching time parameter, where the second switching time parameter is a position of switching time or a length of switching time, which is determined by the network device before determining the first switching time parameter and is issued to the terminal device, for indicating that the terminal device switches from the first carrier to the second carrier.

17. The method of claim 16,

the adjusted position of the switching time for switching from the first carrier to the second carrier is represented by a subframe symbol of the first carrier or the second carrier,

18. The method according to any of claims 14-17, wherein the network device communicates with the terminal device via a multi-carrier uplink transmission technique, wherein the multi-carrier uplink transmission technique is any one or more of carrier aggregation, CA, dual connectivity, DC, supplemental uplink, SUL, or Sidelink.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the multiple carriers in the multi-carrier uplink transmission technique are Time Division Multiplexing (TDM).

20. The method of any of claims 14-17, wherein the network device is a primary network device in a DC, the DC further comprising a secondary network device, wherein the primary network device communicates with the terminal device over a first carrier, wherein the secondary network device communicates with the terminal device over a second carrier,

the network equipment determines a first Timing Advance (TA) of a first carrier and a second TA of a second carrier, and comprises the following steps:

the network device receives the TA of the second carrier or the difference between the TA of the second carrier and the TA of the first carrier reported by the terminal device, or the network device receives the TA of the second carrier reported by the auxiliary network device.

21. A method for carrier switching, the method comprising:

the network equipment determines a first switching time parameter according to the data type information or the carrier priority information, wherein the first switching time parameter is used for indicating at least one of the following items: the position of the switching time or the length of the switching time for switching the terminal equipment from the first carrier to the second carrier, or the adjusted position of the switching time or the adjusted length of the switching time for switching the terminal equipment from the first carrier to the second carrier;

wherein the data type information comprises a data type of first data of the first carrier and/or a data type of second data of the second carrier, and the carrier priority information comprises a priority of the first carrier and/or a priority of the second carrier;

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

the network equipment receives the capability information reported by the terminal equipment;

the network equipment determines a first switching time parameter according to the data type information or the carrier priority information, and comprises the following steps:

the network device determines the first handover time parameter according to one or more of the capability information, the data type information, or carrier priority information.

23. The method according to claim 21 or 22, wherein the network device communicates with the terminal device via a multi-carrier uplink transmission technique, wherein the multi-carrier uplink transmission technique is any one or more of carrier aggregation, CA, dual connectivity, DC, supplemental uplink, SUL, or Sidelink.

24. An electronic device, comprising:

a processor;

a memory for storing processor-executable instructions;

wherein the processor is configured to carry out the instructions when executing the method of any one of claims 1 to 9 or the method of any one of claims 10 to 13.

25. A network device, comprising:

a processor;

a memory for storing processor-executable instructions;

wherein the processor is configured to carry out the instructions when executing the method of any one of claims 14 to 20 or the method of any one of claims 21 to 23.

26. A computer program product comprising computer readable code, or a non-transitory computer readable storage medium carrying computer readable code, which when run in an electronic device, a processor in the electronic device performs the method of any of claims 1-9, or the method of any of claims 10-13.

27. A computer program product comprising computer readable code, or a non-transitory computer readable storage medium carrying computer readable code, which when run in an electronic device, a processor in the electronic device performs the method of any of claims 14-20, or the method of any of claims 21-23.

28. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having stored thereon computer program instructions, wherein the computer program instructions, when executed by a processor, implement the method of any of claims 1-9 or the method of any of claims 10-13.

29. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having stored thereon computer program instructions, wherein the computer program instructions, when executed by a processor, implement the method of any of claims 14-20 or the method of any of claims 21-23.