CN114916250B

CN114916250B - Switching method, device and system of non-independent networking and independent networking

Info

Publication number: CN114916250B
Application number: CN202080052347.4A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 李靖; 卢哲军
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2020-12-07
Filing date: 2020-12-07
Publication date: 2024-05-14
Anticipated expiration: 2040-12-07
Also published as: WO2022120524A1; CN114916250A

Abstract

The embodiment of the application provides a switching method, a switching device and a switching system of an independent NSA (non-independent NSA) network and an independent SA network, which are used for solving the problem of lower communication rate caused by time asynchronization between a 4G base station and a 5G base station and guaranteeing smooth switching of a terminal between the NSA network and the SA network. The method mainly comprises the following steps: and for a terminal in a dual-connection EN-DC state of an evolved universal terrestrial radio access (E-UTRA) and a new radio NR, receiving an instruction from an E-UTRA cell to measure a first NR cell and an instruction from an NR cell to measure a second cell, and reporting a measurement report message of the first NR cell according to a measurement result of the second NR cell when the time of the E-UTRA cell and the time of the first NR cell are not synchronous, wherein the first NR cell and the second NR cell are the same cell.

Description

Switching method, device and system of non-independent networking and independent networking

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of communications, and in particular, to a method, an apparatus, and a system for switching between an independent network and a non-independent network.

Background

In the discussion of the fifth generation (5th generation,5G) communication technology, the third generation partnership project (3rd generation partnership project,3GPP) technical specification proposes a 5G and fourth generation (4th generation,4G) communication interoperation scheme including independent (SA) networking and non-independent (NSA) networking based on deployment cost, time, service experience and other factors. The SA networking scheme is that a 5G New Radio (NR) is directly accessed to a 5G core network, control signaling is completely independent of a 4G network, and cooperation of the 5G network and the 4G network is realized through core network interoperation. The NSA networking supports dual connectivity characteristics such as evolved universal terrestrial radio access (evolved universal terrestrial radio access, E-UTRA) and new wireless dual connectivity (E-UTRA NR dual connectivity, EN-DC), and specifically, the NSA networking scheme is to anchor 5G control signaling on a 4G base station, and access an evolved packet core (evolved packet core, EPC) or a next generation core (next generation core, NGC) of a 5G communication system through the 4G base station. In the 5G network construction of the operator, the mixed part network of NSA networking and SA networking is mainly used, and there are many overlapping areas where NSA networking and SA networking are deployed, so that in the actual use process, the user needs to switch between NSA networking and SA networking.

For long term evolution (long term evolution, LTE) base stations of frequency division multiplexing (frequency division duplex, FDD), 4G conventional services except inter-station carrier aggregation and uplink cooperative multipoint (coordinated multipoint) communication can be normally performed without global positioning system (global position system, GPS) signal synchronization time, and part of operators discard to deploy GPS receivers at 4G base stations, that is, part of base stations in a 4G existing network lack of GPS signal synchronization, which results in that part of LTE base stations are not time-synchronized with NR base stations, and a terminal supporting 5G may not be able to switch from NSA networking to SA networking under the condition, so as to affect user experience.

Therefore, the scheme of how to perform the smooth switching between NSA networking and SA networking is worthy of research under the condition that the base stations are not time synchronized.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides a switching method, a switching device and a switching system of NSA networking and SA networking, which are used for guaranteeing smooth switching of terminals between NSA networking and SA networking and communication service quality of the terminals.

It should be understood that the method in the embodiment of the present application may be performed by a wireless communication device, which may be a complete machine of a computing device, or may be a part of a device in the computing device, for example, a chip related to a wireless communication function, such as a system chip or a communication chip. Wherein the system chip is also referred to as a system on chip, or SoC chip. Specifically, the wireless communication device may be a terminal such as a smart phone, or may be a system chip or a communication chip that can be provided in the terminal. The communication chip may include one or more of a radio frequency processing chip and a baseband processing chip. The baseband processing chip is sometimes also referred to as a modem or baseband processor. In a physical implementation, the communication chip may or may not be integrated within the SoC chip. For example, the baseband processing chip is integrated in the SoC chip, and the radio frequency processing chip is not integrated with the SoC chip.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, including:

Receiving a first measurement indication message from a first cell, the first measurement indication message being for instructing a user equipment UE to measure a first new wireless NR cell; receiving a second measurement indication message from a second cell, wherein the second measurement indication message is used for indicating the UE to measure a second NR cell, and the first NR cell and the second NR cell are the same cell; and when the first cell is not time-synchronized with the first NR cell, sending a measurement report message of the first NR cell according to the measurement result of the second NR cell.

It should be understood that, when the UE camps on the first cell and the second cell and the first cell is not time-synchronized with the first NR cell, the measurement interval cannot be aligned with the synchronization signal block of the first NR cell, so that the measurement result of the first NR cell cannot be measured by the terminal with a large probability, and the terminal cannot report the measurement report of the first NR cell and switch to the first NR cell. According to the measurement result of the second NR cell measured in response to the second measurement indication message of the second cell, the measurement report message of the first NR cell is reported, and the measurement result of the first NR cell can be timely reported when the measurement result of the first NR cell meets the reporting condition, so that the communication quality and the communication continuity of the UE are improved.

In one possible embodiment, the method further comprises: receiving a second RRC connection reconfiguration message, the second RRC connection reconfiguration being for instructing the UE to release the secondary cell group; releasing the secondary cell group; and receiving a switching message, wherein the switching message is used for indicating the UE to switch to the first NR cell.

In one possible embodiment, the method further comprises: the UE camps on the first NR cell.

It should be understood that, when the terminal receives the above RRC release message and the second RRC reconfiguration message, the dual connectivity state where the terminal resides in the first cell and the second cell may be switched to the single connectivity state where the terminal resides in the first NR cell, i.e. switched from NSA networking to SA networking.

In one possible implementation, the first measurement indication message is an RRC connection reconfiguration message and the second test indication message is an RRC reconfiguration message.

In a possible implementation manner, the first measurement indication message is further used to indicate that the reporting configuration of the first NR cell is a B1 event or a B2 event.

In one possible implementation, the second measurement indication message is further used to indicate that the reporting configuration of the second NR cell is one of an A1 event, an A2 event, an A3 event, an A4 event, and an A5 event.

In one possible implementation, the first cell is an evolved universal terrestrial radio access, E-UTRA, cell and the second cell is an NR cell.

It should be understood that, for the terminal in the EN-DC state, the NSA networking environment is moved to the SA networking environment, by using the method, when the LTE base station and the NR base station are not synchronous, the terminal can be guaranteed to report the measurement report of the NR cell to be switched in time, so that smooth switching between NSA networking and SA networking is guaranteed, and long-term retention in NSA networking is avoided, and finally, the LTE single connection state is returned.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a wireless communication apparatus, including: a receiving unit and a transmitting unit;

the receiving unit is configured to receive a first measurement indication message from a first cell, where the first measurement indication message is configured to instruct a user equipment UE to measure a first new wireless NR cell; the receiving unit is further configured to receive a second measurement indication message from a second cell, where the second measurement indication message is used to instruct the UE to measure a second NR cell, and the first NR cell and the second NR cell are the same cell; the sending unit is configured to send a measurement report message of the first NR cell according to a measurement result of the second NR cell when the first cell is time-unsynchronized with the first NR cell.

In a possible implementation manner, the communication apparatus further includes a processing unit, where the receiving unit is further configured to receive a second RRC connection reconfiguration message, where the second RRC connection reconfiguration is configured to instruct the UE to release the secondary cell group; the processing unit is further configured to release the secondary cell group; the receiving unit is further configured to receive a handover message, where the handover message is configured to instruct the UE to handover to the first NR cell.

In a third aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a computer readable storage medium having stored therein program code which, when executed by a terminal or a processor in a terminal, implements a method as any one of the first to second aspects or any possible implementation of any one of the aspects.

In a fourth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a computer program product comprising program code which, when executed by a processor in a terminal, implements a method as any one of the first to second aspects or any one of the possible implementation manners of any one of the aspects.

In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication system, including: a wireless network device comprising a wireless communication apparatus as in the third aspect or any of the possible embodiments of the third aspect.

Wherein the wireless network device may be a wireless network device of an E-UTRA cell.

It should be understood that details and technical effects of technical solutions related to any possible implementation manners of the second aspect to the fifth aspect or any possible implementation manners of the first aspect may refer to details and technical effects of technical aspects related to any possible implementation manners of the first aspect, and a detailed description is not repeated.

Drawings

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

fig. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a non-independent networking according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 3 is a schematic flow chart of switching from a non-independent networking to an independent networking according to an embodiment of the present application;

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a terminal measurement configuration when a long term evolution base station and a new radio base station are time synchronized according to an embodiment of the present application;

Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of a terminal measurement configuration when a long term evolution base station and a new radio base station are not time synchronized according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 is a schematic flow chart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6 is a schematic flow chart of a communication method for switching between independent networking and independent networking according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

Fig. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of a wireless communication device according to an embodiment of the present application.

It should be understood that in the foregoing structural schematic diagrams, the sizes and forms of the respective block diagrams are for reference only and should not constitute an exclusive interpretation of the embodiments of the present application. The relative positions and inclusion relationships between the blocks presented by the structural diagrams are merely illustrative of structural relationships between the blocks, and are not limiting of the physical connection of embodiments of the present application.

Detailed Description

The technical scheme provided by the application is further described below by referring to the accompanying drawings and examples. It should be understood that the system structure and the service scenario provided in the embodiments of the present application are mainly for illustrating possible implementation manners of the technical solutions of the present application, and should not be interpreted as the only limitation to the technical solutions of the present application. As one of ordinary skill in the art can know, with the evolution of the system structure and the appearance of new service scenarios, the technical scheme provided by the application is applicable to similar technical problems.

It should be understood that the embodiment of the application provides a switching method, a switching device and a switching system of non-independent networking and independent networking, so that the service quality of terminal communication under NSA networking and SA networking is ensured.

Because the principles of solving the problems in these technical solutions are the same or similar, in the following description of the specific embodiments, some repetition is not described in detail, but it should be considered that these specific embodiments have mutual references and can be combined with each other.

Fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication system according to an embodiment of the present application. Referring to fig. 1, in a communication system 00, there are one or more terminals 01 in communication with a radio access network (radio acess network, RAN). The RAN includes one or more network devices 02. It should be understood that for clarity, fig. 1 shows only one network device and one terminal. Alternatively, the communication system may further include a core network (core network) that may communicate with the RAN, where the core network may be an EPC of a 4G communication system, or an NGC of a 5G communication system. Further optionally, the communication system may further comprise one or more external networks (external networks) interconnected with the core network. Such as the internet, the public switched telephone network (public switched telephone network), etc.

It should be appreciated that the communication system may be used as an example of a mobile communication system based on the 3GPP technical specifications, and may also cover wireless communication systems based on other wireless communication standards, such as the 802 series of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) ELECTRICAL AND electronics engineers, such as the wireless communication standards of 802.11, 802.15, 802.20, etc.

The terminal 01 may also be referred to as a User Equipment (UE), a Mobile Station (MS) or a Subscriber Unit (SU), and in the description of the embodiment of the present application, no distinction is made between the terminal and the UE. The terminal may be, but is not limited to, a mobile phone, a tablet computer (tablet computer), a laptop (laptop computer), a wearable device (smart watch, smart bracelet, smart helmet, smart glasses, etc.), and other communication devices with wireless access capability, such as various internet of things devices including smart home devices (smart meters, smart appliances, etc.), smart vehicles, etc. The network device 02 is a computing device having wireless communication capabilities, it being understood that the network device 02 may be a radio access network device such as a base station. The base station may specifically be an evolved Node B (eNB or eNodeB) of a 4G communication system, or a next generation Node B (next generation Node B, gNodeB or gNB) of a 5G communication system, or a base station in other possible radio access technologies. The physical form and transmit power of the base station may also be varied, such as macro base station (macro base station) or micro base station (micro base station).

Fig. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a non-independent networking according to an embodiment of the present application. Referring to fig. 2, in NSA networking, a Long Term Evolution (LTE) evolved node B (LTE eNB) and a next generation node B (gNB) are both connected to a core network Evolved Packet Core (EPC) of a 4G communication system. Here, the LTE eNB is connected to the EPC at the control plane as a master node (master node), and the gNB is a secondary node (secondary node). In other words, the control plane signaling is anchored on the LTE eNB, and the user plane may be independently served by the LTE eNB or the gNB, or may be simultaneously served by the LTE eNB and the gNB. The serving cell associated with the primary node is referred to as a primary cell group (MASTER CELL groups, MCG) and the serving cell associated with the secondary node is referred to as a secondary cell group (secondary cell group, SCG). Typically, the network will configure the terminals with MCGs, and zero or one SCGs. After the terminal is accessed to the LTE network, the LTE eNB configures a measurement event for the terminal to trigger the measurement of the terminal to the NR neighbor cell, and the LTE eNB selects the NR neighbor cell meeting the condition to be added into the SCG according to the measurement result reported by the terminal.

It should be appreciated that the network device may configure the terminal to make different types of measurements, such as NR measurements, inter-radio access technology (Inter radio access technology, inter-RAT) measurements (also called Inter-system measurements) of E-UTRA frequencies, with reference to 3GPP technical specifications (e.g. 3GPP TS38.133 V16.5.0), for a UE in an intra-band (intra-band) EN-DC state, when the E-UTRA primary cell (PRIMARY CELL, PCell) and secondary primary cell (primary secondary cell, PSCell) configure the same NR carrier frequency layer as the UE listens (monitor), the NR carrier frequency layer should only count the total number of active NR carrier frequency layers once as long as the system frame number (SYSTEM FRAME number, SFN) is aligned with the slot boundary unless the configured NR carrier frequency layer to be listened to has:

(1) Different received signal strength indicators (RECEIVED SIGNAL STRENGTH indicators, RSSI) measurement resources (measurement resource); or (b)

(2) Different derived synchronization signal blocks (synchronization signal block, SSB) from cells (deriveSSB-IndexFromCell); or (b)

(3) Different SSB measurement timing configurations (SSB measurement timing configuration, SMTC); or (b)

(4) Cell list of SSB locations QCL (SSB-PositionQCL) on NR carrier frequency layer with consecutive carrier aggregation (contiguous carrier aggregation, CCA) or indicated by different Common SSB locations quasi co-located (quasi-colocation, QCL) (e.g., SSB-PositionQCL-Common-r 16); or (b)

(5) The RSSI measurement time configuration (RSSI measurement timing configuration, RMTC) configuration (rmtc-Config) of different CCA-enabled NR carrier frequency layers.

That is, for a UE under NSA networking, if the E-UTRA base station and the NR base station configure them to perform the same NR frequency point measurement, measurement combining may be performed only when the following condition is satisfied:

(1) The carrier frequency of LTE and the carrier frequency of NR belong to the same frequency band;

(2) The LTE side performs time synchronization with the NR side;

(3) RSSI measurement resources are the same;

(4) Derived SSB (deriveSSB-IndexFromCell) from the cell indicates the same;

(5) SMTC is the same;

(6) The common SSB location QCL indication is the same as the cell list of SSB location QCL (SSB-PositionQCL) on CCA-attached NR carrier frequency layer

(7) The RMTC configuration indication of the CCA-covered NR carrier frequency layer is the same.

If the above conditions are not satisfied, measurement combination cannot be performed, and it is necessary to separately configure two measurements for NR measurement and E-UTRA frequency different system measurement. The network device may configure the UE to perform SSB-based measurements and report the measurement results.

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of UE measurement when a long term evolution base station and a new radio base station are time synchronized according to an embodiment of the present application. Referring to fig. 3, for UEs residing in the NSA network, there are shown the distribution of parameters such as a Long Term Evolution (LTE) measurement interval (measurement gap), a synchronization signal block measurement timing configuration (SMTC), a Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) of a New Radio (NR) neighbor group (SCG) cell, and a new radio neighbor synchronization signal block in the time domain, respectively. The LTE base station and the NR base station are in time synchronization, and SSB of an NR SCG cell of the UE and SSB of an NR neighbor cell are synchronized, and the time is the same. The LTE measurement interval is 40 milliseconds (ms) and the measurement duration is 6ms, the smtc period is 20ms and the measurement duration is 5ms. From the figure, it can be seen that LTE measurement overlaps with SSB of NR SCG cell in time domain, SMTC measurement overlaps with SSB of NR neighbor cell in time domain, UE can measure SSB of NR neighbor cell, and can be switched from NSA networking to SA networking.

Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of UE measurement when a long term evolution base station and a new radio base station are not time synchronized according to an embodiment of the present application. Similar to fig. 3, fig. 4 shows the distribution of another long term evolution measurement interval, a synchronization signal block measurement timing configuration, a new radio synchronization signal block of a neighboring cell group cell, a new radio synchronization signal block of a neighboring cell, and the like, in time domain, respectively, for UEs residing in the NSA network. The LTE base station and the NR base station do not perform time synchronization, and SSB of an NR SCG cell of the UE and SSB of an NR neighbor cell are not synchronized and distributed in a staggered manner in a time domain. The LTE measurement interval is 40 milliseconds (ms) and the measurement duration is 6ms, the smtc period is 20ms and the measurement duration is 5ms. From the figure, it can be seen that the LTE measurement is staggered from the SSB of the NR SCG cell in the time domain, the SMTC measurement is staggered from the SSB of the NR neighbor in the time domain, and the NR neighbor cannot be measured normally for the UE that does not support the extended gap.

For a UE camping on an NSA network, the signal quality of the serving cell, the NR SCG cell, and the NR neighbor gradually changes as it moves from the NSA network environment to the SA network environment. However, the UE may not normally measure the NR neighbor cell and the SCG signal is continuously weakened, the communication rate of the UE may be continuously reduced, and the user communication experience is seriously affected. If the UE releases the SCG cell, the UE needs to disconnect EN-DC and return to LTE single mode again. At this time, the UE needs to receive the B1 event measurement configuration sent by the network device, and report the B1 event by extending the measurement interval to trigger switching to the SA network. However, the network device does not issue the B1 event measurement configuration in every measurement configuration message, and the UE may need to wait for a long time to receive the B1 event measurement configuration, which may cause a user to enter the SA networking area and then take a certain time to return to the 5G SA networking.

Therefore, the embodiment of the application provides a communication method for switching NSA networking and SA networking, which is used for solving the problems.

Fig. 5 is a flow chart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application. The communication method may be performed by a wireless communication apparatus, which may be a complete machine (for example, a terminal) of the computing device, or may be a part of a device (for example, a communication chip, a system chip inside the terminal) in the computing device, and the communication method is described below by taking a terminal (for example, a user equipment) as an example. Referring to fig. 5, the method 500 includes:

s501: the user equipment receives a first measurement indication message from a first cell, the first measurement indication message being for instructing the user equipment to measure a first new radio cell.

S502: the user equipment receives a second measurement indication message from a second cell, wherein the second measurement indication message is used for indicating the user equipment to measure a second new wireless cell, and the first new wireless cell and the second new wireless cell are the same cell.

It should be appreciated that the UE camps on the first cell and the second cell, and the network device may instruct the UE to measure the signal quality of the neighbor cell through the air interface message and specify the cell to be measured in the air interface message. The first NR cell and the second NR cell being the same cell may also be understood as the frequency point of the first NR cell and the frequency point of the second NR cell being on the same frequency band.

S503: and the user equipment sends a measurement report message of the first new wireless cell according to the measurement result of the second new wireless cell when the first cell and the first new wireless cell are not time-synchronized.

It should be appreciated that when the first cell is time unsynchronized with the first NR cell, the UE generally cannot obtain the SSB of the first NR cell through measurement intervals of LTE. The UE may configure reporting of the measurement report as event triggered (EVENTTRIGGERED) reporting or periodic (periodic) reporting, etc., depending on the configuration of the network device. If the measurement of the first NR cell is configured to be event-triggered reporting, the UE may not measure the SSB of the first NR cell for a period of time, and the UE may not be able to report the measurement result of the first NR cell. The network device cannot acquire the signal quality of the first NR cell, nor does it instruct the UE to switch from the first cell to the first NR cell. However, since the first NR cell and the second NR cell are the same cell, the corresponding measurement is the same frequency measurement, the UE may obtain the measurement result of the first NR cell through SMTC measurement, and determine whether the measurement result of the first NR cell meets the reporting event requirement according to the measurement result of the second NR cell, and when the reporting event requirement is met, may send a measurement report message of the first NR cell.

Optionally, the method 500 further includes: one or more of S504, S505, S506.

S504 is to receive a second RRC connection reconfiguration message, where the second RRC reconfiguration message is used to instruct the UE to release the secondary cell group.

S505: releasing the secondary cell group in response to the second RRC connection reconfiguration message;

S506: and receiving a switching message, wherein the third RRC reconfiguration message is used for indicating the UE to switch to the first NR cell.

It should be appreciated that, after receiving the measurement report of the first NR cell, the network device may instruct the UE to switch from the first cell to the first NR cell when the measurement result of the first NR cell satisfies the switching condition.

It should be appreciated that for a UE camping on a first cell and a second cell, when moving gradually from the network environments of the first cell and the second cell towards the first NR cell, smoothness of handover of the UE from camping on the first cell to camping on the first NR cell may be ensured.

To aid understanding, a more detailed example is given below.

Fig. 6 is a schematic flow chart of a communication method for switching between independent networking and independent networking according to an embodiment of the present application. The communication method may be performed by a wireless communication apparatus, which may be a complete machine (for example, a terminal) of the computing device, or may be a part of a device in the computing device (for example, a communication chip inside the terminal, a system chip), and the communication method is described below by taking the terminal as an example. Referring to fig. 6, the method 600 includes:

S601: the user equipment receives a first radio resource control connection reconfiguration message from a first cell, wherein the first radio resource control connection reconfiguration message is used for indicating the user equipment to measure a first new wireless cell and reporting according to a first event reporting condition, and the first event is a B1 event or a B2 event.

It should be appreciated that for a UE in EN-DC state, it may camp on a first cell and a second cell. Here, the first cell is an E-UTRA cell, and the second cell is an NR cell. The network device of the first cell (e.g., LTE eNB) may be configured to a UE with a measurement event to trigger measurement of the NR neighbor (e.g., first NR cell) by the terminal.

Specifically, the LTE eNB sends a first radio resource control (radio resource control, RRC) connection reconfiguration (RRCConnectionReconfiguration) message to the terminal, where the first RRC connection reconfiguration message includes a measurement configuration (measConfig) cell and a reporting configuration (ReportConfig) cell, the measurement configuration cell carries a measurement object (MeasObjectNR) field, and the reporting configuration cell carries a reporting type (reportType) field and an event identity (event indentification, eventID) field. The network device may specify the first NR cell that specifically needs to be measured by the measurement object information. In addition, the UE may configure reporting of the measurement report as event triggered reporting or periodic reporting according to configuration of the network device, where a type of event triggered reporting may refer to a 3GPP technical specification (e.g. 3GPP TS38.331 V16.2.0), and table 1 shows examples of types of event triggered reporting. Here, the reporting type corresponding to the first RRC connection reconfiguration message is event triggered, and the event identity is event B1 NR (eventB 1-NR) and/or event B2 NR (eventB-NR).

Table 1 measurement event reporting example

It should be understood that, the UE determines the measurement object according to the measurement configuration in the first RRC connection reconfiguration message, and if the corresponding measurement result meets the reporting standard in the measurement results obtained by the terminal, a measurement report of the corresponding NR cell is reported. Optionally, the signal quality of the NR cell in the present application may be determined according to one or more parameters of reference signal received power (REFERENCE SIGNAL RECEIVING power, RSRP), RSSI, reference signal received quality (REFERENCE SIGNAL RECEIVING quality, RSRQ), and signal-to-interference and noise ratio (signal to interference plus noise ratio, SINR).

S602: the user equipment receives a Radio Resource Control (RRC) reconfiguration message from a second cell, the RRC reconfiguration message being used to instruct the user equipment to measure a second new radio cell, wherein the first new radio cell and the second NR cell are the same cell.

It will be appreciated that for a UE in EN-DC state, the network device of the second cell (e.g. the NR gNB) may be configured to the UE with a measurement event to trigger the measurement of the NR neighbor (e.g. the second NR cell) by the terminal. The first NR cell and the second NR cell are the same cell, i.e. the frequency points of the first NR cell and the second NR cell are in the same frequency band.

Specifically, the NR gNB sends an RRC reconfiguration (RRCReconfiguration) message to the UE, where the RRC reconfiguration message includes a measurement configuration (measConfig) cell and a reporting configuration (ReportConfig) cell, where the measurement configuration cell carries a measurement object (MeasObjectNR) field, and the reporting configuration cell carries a reporting type (reportType) field and an event identity (event indentification, eventID) field. The network device may specify the second NR cell that specifically needs to be measured by the measurement object information. Here, the reporting type corresponding to the RRC reconfiguration message is event triggering, and the event identity is one or more of event A1 (eventA), event A2 (eventA 2), event A3 (eventA 3), event A4 (eventA 4), and event A5 (eventA 5).

S603: and when the time of the first cell is not synchronous with that of the first new wireless cell, the user equipment sends a measurement report message of the first new wireless cell according to the measurement result of the second new wireless cell.

It should be understood that when the time between the first cell and the first NR cell is not synchronous, the UE cannot measure the SSB of the first NR cell through the measurement interval of LTE, and the UE cannot report the measurement result of the first NR cell. The network device cannot acquire the signal quality of the first NR cell, nor does it instruct the UE to switch from the first cell to the first NR cell. However, since the first NR cell and the second NR cell are the same cell, the corresponding measurement is the same frequency measurement, and the UE may obtain the measurement result of the second NR cell through SMTC measurement. The first NR cell and the second NR cell are the same cell, and the measurement method is different, the signal quality of the second NR cell is measured by using the measurement instruction of the second cell through the SMTC, and the obtained measurement result can be used for evaluating the signal quality of the first NR cell. Judging whether the measurement result of the first NR cell meets the requirement of reporting the event according to the measurement result of the second NR cell, and sending a measurement report message of the first NR cell when the measurement result of the first NR cell meets the requirement of reporting the event.

S604: the user equipment receives a second radio resource control connection reconfiguration message, wherein the radio resource control connection reconfiguration message is used for indicating the user equipment to release the auxiliary cell group.

It will be appreciated that the NR configuration (NR-Config) cell in the second RRC connection reconfiguration message is set to indicate that the NR connection is released, e.g. the NR configuration cell is set to carry EN-DC release information, then the UE is considered to be instructed to release SCG.

S605: the user equipment releases the secondary cell group in response to the second radio resource control connection reconfiguration message.

It should be appreciated that the UE releases the SCG and enters the LTE single connection state.

S606: the user equipment receives a handover message for instructing the user equipment to handover to the first new radio cell.

It will be appreciated that the UE receives the handover message and switches from camping on the E-UTRA cell to camping on the first NR cell. The handover message may be an E-UTRA move order (MobilityFromE-UTRACommand) message in which the cell to camp on may be indicated as the first NR cell. For example, by a target radio access technology Type (TARGETRAT-Type) cell indication

S607: the user equipment camps on a first new radio cell.

It should be understood that the steps S601 to S607 are optional and may be performed all or partially.

It should be understood that when the LTE base station and the NR base station of the UE are not synchronous, the SSB of the second NR cell cannot be obtained by measurement at the measurement interval indicated by the network device, and based on time limitation, the measurement interval cannot be prolonged, the UE cannot measure the SSB of the first NR cell at the measurement interval, the UE cannot report measurement report information, and further, the UE signal going from the NSA networking environment to the SA networking environment is worse and worse, even disconnected, by the above scheme, the UE can be switched into the SA networking by the NSA networking as soon as possible when the SA networking environment is detected, thereby improving the communication rate and guaranteeing smooth handover and user experience.

Fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a wireless communication apparatus provided in an embodiment of the present application, where the wireless communication apparatus may be a complete machine (e.g. a terminal) of a computing device, or may be a part of a device in the computing device (e.g. a communication chip inside the terminal, a system chip), and the wireless communication apparatus may be used in the communication apparatus to perform a communication method for switching between independent networking and independent networking provided in an embodiment of the present application, such as a communication method 500 and a communication method 600 related to fig. 5 to 6, and technical details and technical effects may be described in relation to fig. 5 to 6 in each alternative embodiment. The wireless communication device 70 includes: a receiving unit 710, a processing unit 720, and a transmitting unit 730.

The receiving unit 710 is configured to receive a first measurement indication message from a first cell, where the first measurement indication message is configured to instruct a user equipment UE to measure a first new wireless NR cell, and receive a second measurement indication message from a second cell, where the second measurement indication message is configured to instruct the UE to measure a second NR cell, and the first NR cell and the second NR cell are the same cell. The sending unit 730 is configured to send a measurement report message of the first NR cell according to a measurement result of the second NR cell when the first cell is not time-synchronized with the first NR cell.

The receiving unit 710 is further configured to receive a second radio resource control connection reconfiguration message, where the radio resource control connection reconfiguration message is configured to instruct the user equipment to release the secondary cell group. The processing unit 720 is configured to release the secondary cell group.

The receiving unit 710 is further configured to receive a handover message, where the handover message is used to instruct the user equipment to handover to the first new radio cell. The processing unit 720 is configured to camp on the first NR cell.

It should be understood that the wireless communication device according to the embodiments of the present application may be implemented by software, for example, a computer program or instructions having the above functions may be stored in a memory inside the terminal, and the processor reads the corresponding computer program or instructions inside the memory to implement the above functions. Or the wireless communication device in the embodiment of the present application may be implemented by hardware. Wherein the receiving unit 710 is a receiver, the processing unit 720 is a processor, and the transmitting unit 730 is a transmitter. The transmitting unit 730 may be the same or different physical entity as the receiving unit 710 of the terminal. Which are the same physical entities, may be collectively referred to as a transceiver unit or transceiver. Or the wireless communication device in the embodiment of the present application may be implemented by a combination of a processor and software modules.

Fig. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of a wireless communication device according to an embodiment of the present application. The wireless communication apparatus may be a wireless communication apparatus or a terminal in the embodiment of the present application, and may implement the wireless communication method shown in fig. 3 or fig. 8, as well as the above-described alternative embodiments. As shown in fig. 8, the wireless communication apparatus 80 includes: a processor 801, and a memory 802 coupled to the processor 801. It should be appreciated that although only one processor and one memory are shown in fig. 8. The wireless communication device 801 may include other numbers of processors and memory.

Wherein the memory 802 is used to store computer programs or computer instructions. These computer programs or instructions can be divided into two categories depending on the function. One type of computer program or instructions, when executed by the processor 801, causes the wireless communication device 80 to perform the steps of a terminal in a wireless communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention. Such computer programs or instructions may be referred to as terminal function programs. For example, the terminal function program may include program code for implementing the wireless communication method shown in fig. 3.

In addition, the wireless communication apparatus 80 may further include: connection 800, transmit circuitry 803, receive circuitry 804, antenna 805, and input/output (I/O) interface 806, etc. Wherein the transmitting circuit and the receiving circuit may be coupled to an antenna and wirelessly connected with other communication devices. The transmitting circuit and the receiving circuit may also be integrated into a transceiver, and the antenna may be a radio frequency antenna supporting multiple frequencies. The I/O interface provides the possibility to interact with other communication devices or users. For example, for a base station, the I/O interface may be a common public radio interface (common public radio interface, CPRI) interface, an ethernet interface, a USB interface, or the like. For terminals, the I/O interface may be a screen, keyboard, microphone, speaker, USB interface, etc. The various components within the wireless communication device 80 may be coupled together by various connection lines, such as a bus system, which may include a power bus, a control bus, a status signal bus, etc., in addition to a data bus. For clarity of illustration, however, the various buses are referred to herein collectively as a bus system.

It will be appreciated that the processor 801 and the memory 802 described above may be implemented instead by a processing unit and a storage unit, which may be implemented by codes having corresponding functions. A storage unit for storing program instructions; and a processing unit, configured to execute the program instructions in the storage unit, so as to implement the wireless communication method related to any one of fig. 5 to fig. 6, and the above-mentioned alternative embodiments.

Fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of a wireless communication device according to an embodiment of the present application. The wireless communication apparatus may be a wireless communication apparatus or a terminal in the embodiment of the present application, and may implement the wireless communication method shown in fig. 3 or fig. 8, as well as the above-described alternative embodiments. As shown in fig. 9, the wireless communication apparatus 90 includes: processor 901, interface circuitry 902 coupled to processor 801. It should be appreciated that although only one processor and one interface circuit are shown in fig. 9. The wireless communication device 801 may include other numbers of processors and interface circuits.

Wherein the interface circuit 902 is configured to communicate with other components of the terminal, such as a memory or other processor. The processor 901 is configured to interact with other components via the interface circuit 902. The interface circuit 902 may be an input/output interface of the processor 901.

For example, the processor 901 reads computer programs or instructions in a memory coupled thereto through the interface circuit 902, and decodes and executes the computer programs or instructions. It should be understood that these computer programs or instructions may include the terminal function programs described above, as well as the function programs of the wireless communication device described above as applied within the terminal. When the corresponding functional program is decoded and executed by the processor 901, the terminal or the wireless communication device within the terminal can be caused to implement the scheme in the wireless communication method provided by the embodiment of the present application.

Optionally, these terminal function programs are stored in a memory external to the wireless communication device 90. When the above-described terminal function program is decoded and executed by the processor 901, part or all of the content of the above-described terminal function program is temporarily stored in the memory.

Optionally, these terminal function programs are stored in a memory internal to the wireless communication device 90. When a terminal function program is stored in a memory inside the wireless communication device 90, the wireless communication device 90 may be provided in a terminal of the wireless communication system of the embodiment of the present invention.

Optionally, part of the contents of these terminal function programs are stored in a memory external to the wireless communication device 90, and the other part of the contents of these terminal function programs are stored in a memory internal to the wireless communication device 90.

It should be understood that the wireless communication devices shown in any of fig. 7-9 may be combined with each other, and that the wireless communication devices shown in any of fig. 7-9 and the design details associated with each alternative embodiment may be referred to each other, and that the wireless communication method shown in any of fig. 5 or 6 and the design details associated with each alternative embodiment may be referred to each other. The description is not repeated here.

The terms "first," "second," "third," "fourth," and the like in the embodiments and in the drawings are used for distinguishing between similar objects and not necessarily for describing a particular sequential or chronological order. Furthermore, the terms "comprise" and "have," as well as any variations thereof, are intended to denote a non-exclusive inclusion, such as a series of steps or elements. The method, system, article, or apparatus is not necessarily limited to only those steps or units listed and may include other steps or units not listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus.

It should be understood that in the present application, "at least one" means one or more, and "a plurality" means two or more. "and/or" for describing the association relationship of the association object, the representation may have three relationships, for example, "a and/or B" may represent: only a, only B and both a and B are present, wherein a, B may be singular or plural. The character "/" generally indicates that the context-dependent object is an "or" relationship. "at least one of" or the like means any combination of these items, including any combination of single item(s) or plural items(s). For example, at least one (one) of a, b or c may represent: a, b, c, "a and b", "a and c", "b and c", or "a and b and c", wherein a, bar b, c may be single or plural.

It should be understood that, in the present application, the sequence number of each process does not mean the sequence of execution sequence, and the execution sequence of each process should be determined by its function and internal logic, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiment of the present application. The term "coupled" as used herein to denote the interconnection or interaction between different components may include direct connection or indirect connection via other components.

In the above-described embodiments of the present application, it may be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, may be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When loaded and executed on a computer, produces a flow or function in accordance with embodiments of the application, in whole or in part. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable apparatus. The computer instructions may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium, for example, the computer instructions may be transmitted from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center by a wired (e.g., coaxial cable, fiber optic, etc.) or wireless (e.g., infrared, radio, microwave, etc.). The computer readable storage medium may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device such as a server, data center, etc. that contains an integration of one or more available media. The usable medium may be a magnetic medium such as a floppy disk, a hard disk, and a magnetic tape; may be an optical medium such as a DVD; and may also be a semiconductor medium, such as a Solid state disk (Solid STATE DISK, SSD).

In the embodiment of the application, the memory refers to a device or a circuit with data or information storage capacity, and can provide instructions and data for a processor. The Memory includes a Read-Only Memory (ROM), a random access Memory (RAM, random Access Memory), a non-volatile random access Memory (NVRAM), a programmable Read-Only Memory or an electrically erasable programmable Memory, a register, or the like.

The above is only a specific embodiment of the present application, but the protection scope of the present application is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art can easily think about changes or substitutions within the technical scope of the present application, and the changes and substitutions are intended to be covered by the protection scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A method of communication, comprising:

receiving a first radio resource control, RRC, connection reconfiguration message from a first cell, the first RRC connection reconfiguration message being for instructing the user equipment, UE, to measure a first new wireless NR cell;

Receiving an RRC reconfiguration message from a second cell, the RRC reconfiguration message being used to instruct the UE to measure a second NR cell, wherein the first NR cell and the second NR cell are the same cell;

And when the time of the first cell is not synchronous with that of the first NR cell, sending a measurement report message of the first NR cell according to the measurement result of the second NR cell.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

Receiving a second RRC connection reconfiguration message, the second RRC connection reconfiguration being for instructing the UE to release the secondary cell group;

releasing the secondary cell group;

and receiving a switching message, wherein the switching message is used for indicating the UE to switch to the first NR cell.

3. The communication method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the first RRC connection configuration message is further used to indicate that the reporting configuration of the first NR cell is a B1 event or a B2 event.

4. The communication method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the first RRC connection reconfiguration message includes a measurement configuration cell and a reporting configuration cell, the measurement configuration cell carries measurement object information, the measurement object information is a first NR cell, the reporting configuration cell carries event identity information, and the event identity information is a B1 event or a B2 event.

5. The communication method according to claim 1, wherein the RRC reconfiguration message is used to instruct the UE to measure that the reporting of the second NR cell is configured as one of an A1 event, an A2 event, an A3 event, an A4 event and an A5 event.

6. The communication method according to claim 1, wherein the RRC reconfiguration message includes a measurement configuration cell and a reporting configuration cell, the measurement configuration cell carrying measurement object information, the measurement object information being a second NR cell, the reporting configuration cell carrying event identity information, the event identity information being one of an A1 event, an A2 event, an A3 event, an A4 event and an A5 event.

7. The communication method of claim 1, wherein the first cell is an evolved universal terrestrial radio access, E-UTRA, cell and the second cell is an NR cell.

8. A communication device, comprising:

A receiving unit and a transmitting unit;

the receiving unit is configured to receive a first radio resource control, RRC, connection reconfiguration message from a first cell, the first RRC connection reconfiguration message being configured to instruct a user equipment, UE, to measure a first new wireless NR cell;

The receiving unit is further configured to receive an RRC reconfiguration message from a second cell, where the RRC reconfiguration message is configured to instruct the UE to measure a second NR cell, and the first NR cell and the second NR cell are the same cell;

the sending unit is configured to send a measurement report message of the first NR cell according to a measurement result of the second NR cell when the time of the first cell and the time of the first NR cell are not synchronized.

9. The communication device of claim 8, further comprising a processing unit;

the receiving unit is further configured to receive a second RRC connection reconfiguration message, where the second RRC connection reconfiguration is configured to instruct the UE to release the secondary cell group;

The processing unit is used for processing the auxiliary cell group;

the receiving unit is further configured to receive a handover message, where the handover message is configured to instruct the UE to handover to the first NR cell.

10. The communications apparatus of claim 8, wherein the first RRC connection configuration message is further configured to indicate that reporting of the first NR cell is configured as a B1 event or a B2 event.

11. The communication apparatus of claim 8, wherein the first RRC connection reconfiguration message includes a measurement configuration cell and a reporting configuration cell, the measurement configuration cell carrying measurement object information, the measurement object information being a first NR cell, the reporting configuration cell carrying event identity information, the event identity information being a B1 event or a B2 event.

12. The communication apparatus according to any of claims 8 to 11, wherein the RRC reconfiguration message is configured to instruct the UE to measure that the reporting of the second NR cell is configured as one of an A1 event, an A2 event, an A3 event, an A4 event and an A5 event.

13. The communication apparatus according to any one of claims 8 to 11, wherein the RRC reconfiguration message includes a measurement configuration cell and a reporting configuration cell, the measurement configuration cell carrying measurement object information, the measurement object information being the second NR cell, the reporting configuration cell carrying event identity information, the event identity information being one of an A1 event, an A2 event, an A3 event, an A4 event and an A5 event.

14. The communications apparatus of claim 8, wherein the first cell is an evolved universal terrestrial radio access, E-UTRA, cell and the second cell is an NR cell.

15. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized by:

the computer readable storage medium having stored therein a program code which, when executed by a terminal or a processor in the terminal, implements the method of any of claims 1 to 7.

16. A communication system, comprising: wireless network device and terminal comprising a communication apparatus according to any of claims 8 to 14.

17. A terminal comprising a communication device according to any of claims 8 to 14.