CN115002857A

CN115002857A - Cell switching method and device, storage medium, network equipment and terminal equipment

Info

Publication number: CN115002857A
Application number: CN202210625534.8A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 侯佳; 胡春雷; 许晓航; 毛聪杰; 谢伟良
Original assignee: China Telecom Corp Ltd
Current assignee: China Telecom Corp Ltd
Priority date: 2022-06-02
Filing date: 2022-06-02
Publication date: 2022-09-02
Anticipated expiration: 2042-06-02
Also published as: CN115002857B

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a cell switching method, a cell switching apparatus, a storage medium, a network device, and a terminal device, where the cell switching method includes: receiving a first signal strength of a serving cell and a second signal strength of a target cell measured by the terminal equipment; when a first network system of the serving cell is inconsistent with a second network system of the target cell, the first signal strength is greater than a first signal strength threshold value, and the second signal strength is greater than a second signal strength threshold value, determining that the serving cell is in an interference potential area of a boundary of a coverage area of the first network system; and switching the terminal equipment from the serving cell to the target cell when the preset conditions are met. The method and the device can improve the voice call quality of the user and improve the user experience.

Description

Cell switching method and device, storage medium, network equipment and terminal equipment

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a cell switching method, a cell switching apparatus, a computer-readable storage medium, a network device, and a terminal device.

Background

New Voice Over New Radio (VoNR) is the target solution for carrier fifth Generation Mobile Communication Technology (5G) independent networking (Stand Alone, SA) Voice. For a VoNR commercial city, its distributed 5G base stations all turn on the VoNR function. However, for the VoNR non-commercial cities adjacent to the VoNR commercial city, the distributed 5G base stations do not turn on the VoNR function. Therefore, in the boundary area of two cities, there is a scenario of the boundary of the vorr switch (as shown in fig. 1, the 5G network devices distributed in beijing city turn on the vorr function, but the 5G base stations distributed in corridor city do not turn on the vorr function), and this scenario will be ubiquitous for a long time before the VoNR full-network scale is commercialized.

In the boundary area of the VoNR switch, when a user uses the terminal device to perform a 5G Voice call and moves to the boundary of the VoNR enabled area, since the 5G cell that is not enabled or does not support the VoNR around cannot accommodate the terminal device to enable the VoNR function, the cell is changed from the neighboring cell to an co-channel interference source, and if the terminal device is not switched to the neighboring cell in time, Voice call is performed by using (Voice Over Long Term Evolution, VoLTE), which may cause the Voice call quality of the user to be poor, or even cause a Voice drop.

It is to be noted that the information disclosed in the above background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the present disclosure, and thus may include information that does not constitute prior art known to those of ordinary skill in the art.

Disclosure of Invention

An object of the present disclosure is to provide a cell switching method, a cell switching apparatus, a computer-readable storage medium, a network device, and a terminal device, which overcome one or more of the problems due to the limitations and disadvantages of the related art, at least to some extent.

Additional features and advantages of the disclosure will be set forth in the detailed description which follows, or in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the disclosure.

According to a first aspect of the present disclosure, a cell handover method is provided, which is applied to a network device, and includes:

receiving a first signal strength of a serving cell and a second signal strength of a target cell measured by the terminal equipment;

when a first network system of the serving cell is inconsistent with a second network system of the target cell, the first signal strength is greater than a first signal strength threshold value, and the second signal strength is greater than a second signal strength threshold value, determining that the serving cell is in an interference potential area of a boundary of a coverage area of the first network system;

and switching the terminal equipment from the serving cell to the target cell when the preset conditions are met.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, the first signal strength threshold is greater than the second signal strength threshold.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, the meeting of the preset condition includes:

when the first signal strength is smaller than a third signal strength threshold value, sending measurement indication information to the terminal equipment; the third signal strength threshold is smaller than the first signal strength threshold, the measurement indication information comprises an event to be measured and parameters of the event to be measured, and the event to be measured comprises at least one of an A3 event, an A4 event and an A5 event;

if a measurement result returned by the terminal equipment according to the measurement indication information is received, determining that the preset condition is met; the measurement result is generated by the terminal device upon satisfying at least one of an A3 event, an a4 event, and an a5 event according to the parameter measurement of the event to be measured.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, receiving the second signal strength of the target cell measured by the terminal device includes:

receiving second signal strength of the adjacent cell measured by the terminal equipment;

and determining the target cell with the maximum second signal strength from the adjacent cells.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, before determining that the serving cell is located in an interference potential area at the boundary of the coverage area of the first network system, the method further includes:

determining the number of the adjacent cells of which the network systems are the second network systems in the adjacent cells;

determining the first signal strength threshold and the second signal strength threshold according to the number.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, the determining the first signal strength threshold and the second signal strength threshold according to the number comprises:

if the number is smaller than or equal to a first preset number threshold, setting the first signal intensity threshold to be smaller than or equal to a first threshold, and setting the second signal intensity threshold to be larger than or equal to a second threshold;

if the number is greater than the first predetermined number threshold and less than or equal to a second predetermined number threshold, setting the first signal strength threshold to be greater than the first threshold and less than or equal to a third threshold, and setting the second signal strength threshold to be less than the second threshold and greater than or equal to a fourth threshold; wherein the first preset number threshold is smaller than the second preset number threshold, the third threshold is larger than the first threshold, and the fourth threshold is smaller than the second threshold;

if the number is greater than the second pre-number threshold, setting the first signal strength threshold to be greater than the third threshold, and setting the second signal strength threshold to be less than the fourth threshold.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, before receiving the first signal strength of the serving cell and the second signal strength of the target cell measured by the terminal device, the method further includes:

acquiring the signal-to-noise ratio of the serving cell;

and determining the first signal strength threshold value and the second signal strength threshold value according to the signal-to-noise ratio.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, the determining the first signal strength threshold and the second signal strength threshold according to the signal-to-noise ratio comprises:

if the signal-to-noise ratio is greater than or equal to a first preset signal-to-noise ratio threshold value, setting the first signal intensity threshold value to be less than or equal to a first threshold value, and setting the second signal intensity threshold value to be greater than or equal to a second threshold value;

if the signal-to-noise ratio is smaller than the first preset signal-to-noise ratio threshold and is larger than or equal to a second preset signal-to-noise ratio threshold, setting the first signal intensity threshold to be larger than the first threshold and smaller than or equal to a third threshold, and setting the second signal intensity threshold to be smaller than the second threshold and larger than or equal to a fourth threshold; wherein the first preset signal-to-noise ratio threshold is greater than the second preset signal-to-noise ratio threshold, the third threshold is greater than the first threshold, and the fourth threshold is less than the second threshold;

if the signal-to-noise ratio is smaller than the second preset signal-to-noise ratio threshold, setting the first signal intensity threshold to be larger than the third threshold, and setting the second signal intensity threshold to be smaller than the fourth threshold.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, the obtaining the signal-to-noise ratio of the serving cell includes:

and acquiring the downlink signal-to-noise ratio of the serving cell measured by the terminal equipment and/or the uplink signal-to-noise ratio of the serving cell measured by the network equipment.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, after receiving the first signal strength of the serving cell and the second signal strength of the target cell measured by the terminal device, the method further includes:

determining a first network type of the serving cell according to a Physical Cell Identity (PCI) of the serving cell;

and determining a second network type of the target cell according to the PCI of the target cell.

According to a second aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a cell switching method applied to a terminal device, including:

measuring a first signal strength of a serving cell and a second signal strength of a neighboring cell;

and sending the first signal strength of the serving cell and the second signal strength of the adjacent cell to network equipment, so that the network equipment determines a target cell in the adjacent cell according to the second signal strength of the adjacent cell, determines an interference potential area of the serving cell at the boundary of a coverage area of the first network system when the first network system of the serving cell is inconsistent with the second network system of the target cell, the first signal strength is greater than a first signal strength threshold value and the second signal strength is greater than a second signal strength threshold value, and switches the terminal equipment from the serving cell to the target cell when a preset condition is met.

In an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure, after the sending the first signal strength of the serving cell and the second signal strengths of the several neighboring cells to the network device, the method further includes:

receiving measurement indication information sent by the network equipment; the measurement indication information is sent by the network equipment to the terminal equipment when the first signal strength is smaller than a third signal strength threshold value, the third signal strength threshold value is smaller than the first signal strength threshold value, the measurement indication information comprises an event to be measured and parameters of the event to be measured, and the event to be measured comprises at least one of an A3 event, an A4 event and an A5 event;

and after at least one of an A3 event, an A4 event and an A5 event is met according to the parameter measurement of the event to be measured, generating a measurement result and sending the measurement result to the network equipment.

According to a third aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a cell switching apparatus, applied to a network device, including:

a signal receiving module, configured to receive a first signal strength of a serving cell and a second signal strength of a target cell measured by the terminal device;

a cell location determining module, configured to determine that the serving cell is in an interference potential area at a boundary of a coverage area of the first network system when a first network system of the serving cell is inconsistent with a second network system of the target cell, and the first signal strength is greater than a first signal strength threshold and the second signal strength is greater than a second signal strength threshold;

and the cell switching module is used for switching the terminal equipment from the serving cell to the target cell when the preset conditions are met.

According to a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a cell switching apparatus, applied to a terminal device, including:

a signal measurement module, configured to measure a first signal strength of a serving cell and a second signal strength of an adjacent cell;

a signal sending module, configured to send a first signal strength of the serving cell and a second signal strength of the neighboring cell to a network device, so that the network device determines a target cell in the neighboring cell according to the second signal strength of the neighboring cell, determines that the serving cell is in an interference potential area at a boundary of a coverage area of a first network standard when a first network standard of the serving cell is inconsistent with a second network standard of the target cell, and the first signal strength is greater than a first signal strength threshold and the second signal strength is greater than a second signal strength threshold, and switches the terminal device from the serving cell to the target cell when a preset condition is met.

According to a fifth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer readable storage medium having stored thereon a computer program which, when executed by a processor, performs the steps of the method of any one of the first aspects or the steps of the method of any one of the second aspects.

According to a sixth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a network device comprising:

a processor; and

a memory for storing executable instructions of the processor;

wherein the processor is configured to perform the steps of the method of any one of the first aspect via execution of the executable instructions.

According to a seventh aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a terminal device comprising:

a processor; and

a memory for storing executable instructions of the processor;

wherein the processor is configured to perform the steps of the method of any one of the second aspects via execution of the executable instructions.

The technical scheme provided by the embodiment of the disclosure can have the following beneficial effects:

in summary, the method provided by the present disclosure can receive the first signal strength of the serving cell and the second signal strength of the target cell measured by the terminal device; when a first network system of the serving cell is inconsistent with a second network system of the target cell, the first signal strength is greater than a first signal strength threshold value, and the second signal strength is greater than a second signal strength threshold value, determining that the serving cell is in an interference potential area of a boundary of a coverage area of the first network system; when the preset conditions are met, the terminal equipment is switched from the serving cell to the target cell, when the first network system of the serving cell is a VoNR service and the second network system of the target cell is a non-VoNR service, the terminal equipment in the serving cell is switched from the serving cell to the target cell in time, and voice communication is carried out by adopting VoLTE, so that the voice communication quality of a user can be effectively maintained, and the user experience is improved.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the disclosure.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments consistent with the present disclosure and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the disclosure. It is to be understood that the drawings in the following description are merely exemplary of the disclosure, and that other drawings may be derived from those drawings by one of ordinary skill in the art without the exercise of inventive faculty.

Fig. 1 schematically illustrates a first schematic diagram of a VoNR switch boundary scenario in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 2 schematically shows a first flowchart of a cell handover method in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 schematically illustrates a second schematic diagram of a VoNR switch boundary scenario in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 4 schematically illustrates a flow chart of a target cell determination method in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 5 schematically illustrates a first flowchart of a signal strength threshold determination method in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 6 schematically illustrates a second flowchart of a signal strength threshold determination method in an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure;

fig. 7 schematically illustrates a flowchart of a network type determination method in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 8 schematically illustrates a second flowchart of a cell handover method in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 9 schematically shows a signaling interaction diagram of a cell handover method in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 10 schematically shows a first block diagram of a cell switching apparatus in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 11 schematically illustrates a second block diagram of a cell switching apparatus in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 12 schematically illustrates a block diagram of a network device in an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure;

fig. 13 schematically shows a block diagram of a terminal device in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

In the drawings, the same or corresponding reference numerals indicate the same or corresponding parts.

Detailed Description

The principles and spirit of the present invention will be described with reference to a number of exemplary embodiments. It is understood that these embodiments are given solely for the purpose of enabling those skilled in the art to better understand and to practice the invention, and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention in any way. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the disclosure to those skilled in the art.

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, embodiments of the present invention may be embodied as a system, apparatus, device, method, or computer program product. Accordingly, the present disclosure may be embodied in the form of: entirely hardware, entirely software (including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.), or a combination of hardware and software.

In the VoNR switch boundary scenario, the present network test finds the following problems: in the boundary area of the VoNR switch, when a user uses a terminal device that is enabled with the VoNR function to perform voice call and moves to the boundary of the VoNR enabled area, since a 5G cell that is not enabled or does not support the VoNR function cannot accommodate the terminal device to enable the VoNR function, the cell is changed from an adjacent cell to an co-frequency interference source, and if the terminal device is not timely switched to the adjacent cell, voice call is performed by using VoLTE, which may cause the voice quality of the user to be poor, and even cause voice call drop.

In the prior art, when the measurement of the terminal device reaches the A3 event threshold, the terminal device sends the measurement result of the A3 event to the source base station of the serving cell. After receiving the measurement result, the source base station initiates a handover attempt to the target base station of the target cell. However, since the target base station does not support the VoNR bearer, a failure occurs in the handover preparation stage. At this time, the terminal device has a probability that the New Radio, NR) -Long Term Evolution (LTE) a2 event inter-system start test threshold is not reached, and at this time, the target cell will continuously interfere with the VoNR call in the serving cell, so that the signal-to-noise ratio is continuously deteriorated, and finally the call is dropped out of step.

Using the prior art, the measurement results of Mean Opinion Score (MOS), packet loss rate, Reference Signal Receiving Power (RSRP), Signal to Noise Ratio (SINR) before and after cell handover are shown in table 1.

TABLE 1

As shown in table 1, with the prior art, MOS values before and after cell handover are small, which affects call quality, and packet loss rate during handover exceeds 4%.

In view of the above-mentioned defects in the prior art, the exemplary embodiment first provides a cell switching method, which can be applied to each network device in a coverage area of a VoNR service, executed by the network device, and can switch a terminal device in a 5G voice call from a serving cell to a target cell in time in a boundary scene of a VoNR switch, and perform the voice call by using VoLTE, so that the voice call quality of a user can be effectively improved, and user experience is improved. For example, the network device may be a 5G base station, or a later-version base station, or a base station in another communication system, or referred to as a node B, an evolved node B, or a Transmission Reception Point (TRP), or an Access Point (AP), or other words in the field, and the network device is not limited to a specific technical word as long as the same technical effect is achieved.

Referring to fig. 2, the cell switching method may include the following steps:

and S21, receiving the first signal strength of the serving cell and the second signal strength of the target cell measured by the terminal equipment.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, a target network device (base station of a serving cell) in a VoNR service coverage area may receive a first signal strength of the serving cell and a second signal strength of the target cell measured by the terminal device, and the target network device may be any network device in the VoNR service coverage area. The serving cell is a cell covered by the target network device, and the target cell is a cell adjacent to the serving cell.

S22, when the first network standard of the serving cell is not consistent with the second network standard of the target cell, and the first signal strength is greater than a first signal strength threshold and the second signal strength is greater than a second signal strength threshold, determining that the serving cell is in an interference potential area at the boundary of a coverage area of the first network standard.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, the first network standard of the serving cell is 5G and supports VoNR, that is, the base station of the serving cell is a 5G base station that opens VoNR service. The second network standard of the target cell is 5G but does not support VoNR, namely the base station of the target cell is a 5G base station which does not open the VoNR service.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, the first signal strength threshold is greater than the second signal strength threshold. The first signal strength is greater than the first signal strength threshold value, which indicates that the network coverage of the serving cell is good, and when the user uses the terminal device to perform voice call, the call quality under the network coverage of the serving cell is good, and call drop cannot occur. When the second signal strength is greater than the second signal strength threshold, it indicates that the target cell potentially interferes with the serving cell. Therefore, it is determined that the serving cell is in the interference potential area at the boundary of the coverage area of the VoNR service, that is, the target base station is in the interference potential area at the boundary of the coverage area of the VoNR service, and 5G base stations which do not open the VoNR service are distributed around the target base station. And because the first signal strength threshold is greater than the second signal strength threshold, the target cell will cause potential interference to the serving cell, but will not affect the call quality of the user, and thus a call drop will not occur.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, after performing step S22, each network device in the VoNR service coverage area can determine whether it is in an interference potential area at the boundary of the VoNR service coverage area. For example, as shown in fig. 3, base station 1 and base station 2 in the VoNR service coverage area are in the interference potential area at the boundary of the VoNR service coverage area, and the rest of the base stations are in the VoNR service coverage area.

And S23, switching the terminal equipment from the serving cell to the target cell when the preset conditions are met.

In summary, the cell handover method according to the exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure can receive the first signal strength of the serving cell and the second signal strength of the target cell measured by the terminal device; and when the first network system of the serving cell is inconsistent with the second network system of the target cell, the first signal strength is greater than a first signal strength threshold value, and the second signal strength is greater than a second signal strength threshold value, determining that the serving cell is in an interference potential area of the boundary of the coverage area of the first network system. When the preset conditions are met, the terminal equipment is switched to the target cell from the serving cell, the terminal equipment which is carrying out 5G voice call can be switched to the target cell in time in the boundary area of the VoNR switch when the network coverage of the serving cell is good and the target cell has potential interference on the serving cell, and the voice call is carried out by adopting VoLTE, so that the voice call drop can be effectively avoided, the voice call quality of a user is improved, and the user experience is improved.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, the receiving the second signal strength of the target cell measured by the terminal device, specifically as shown in fig. 4, may include:

s211, receiving second signal strength of the adjacent cell measured by the terminal equipment;

s212, the target cell with the maximum second signal strength is determined from the adjacent cells.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, the Signal strength may be characterized by Reference Signal Receiving Quality (RSRQ), Reference Signal Receiving Power (RSRP), or other parameters measured by the terminal device, and an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure is not particularly limited herein.

By determining the target cell with the maximum second signal strength from the adjacent cells, the adjacent cell with the maximum interference to the target cell can be accurately determined.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, the determining that the preset condition is met may specifically include:

s231, when the first signal strength is smaller than a third signal strength threshold value, sending measurement indication information to the terminal equipment; the third signal strength threshold value is smaller than the first signal strength threshold value, the measurement indication information comprises events to be measured and parameters of the events to be measured, and the events to be measured comprise at least one of an A3 event, an A4 event and an A5 event;

s232, if a measurement result returned by the terminal equipment according to the measurement indication information is received, determining that a preset condition is met; the measurement result is generated by the terminal device upon satisfying at least one of an A3 event, an a4 event, and an a5 event according to the parameter measurement of the event to be measured.

For example, the third signal strength threshold is-80 dBm and the first signal strength threshold is-75 dBm. And when the first signal strength is less than-80 dBm, sending measurement indication information to the terminal equipment. In an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure, the measurement indication information is used to instruct the terminal device to initiate an NR-LTE inter-system test on the target cell, specifically including an NR-LTE inter-system event to be measured on the target cell and parameters of the event to be measured, where the event to be measured includes at least one of an A3 event, an a4 event, and an a5 event. The event A3 means that the signal quality of the neighboring cell is higher than a threshold value than that of the serving cell, and is used for performing intra-frequency/inter-frequency coverage-based cell handover on the terminal equipment; the A4 event means that the signal quality of the adjacent cell is higher than an absolute threshold, and can be used for carrying out cell switching based on load on the terminal equipment; the a5 event means that the signal quality of the serving cell is below an absolute threshold of 1 and the signal quality of the neighboring cell is above an absolute threshold of 2, which can be used for intra/inter frequency coverage based cell handover for the terminal device. And if the measurement result returned by the terminal equipment according to the measurement indication information is received, determining that the preset condition is met.

Further, after the base station of the serving cell determines that the preset condition is met, the terminal device is switched from the serving cell to the target cell. The following describes how a terminal device is handed over from a serving cell to a target cell.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, after determining that the preset condition is met, the base station of the serving cell sends a handover request message to the base station of the target cell, requests the base station of the target cell to allocate resources to the terminal device in the target cell, and triggers establishment of an X2 logical link between the base station of the serving cell and the base station of the target cell, for forwarding user data and related signaling cached by the base station of the serving cell.

Further, the base station of the target cell receives the switching request message, performs admission judgment, and if the terminal equipment is allowed to be switched, allocates wireless resources including temporary identifiers and the like to the terminal equipment in the target cell, and sends an indication message of agreeing to switching to the base station of the serving cell to indicate that the switching preparation is successful; meanwhile, the establishment of the X2 logic channel between the base stations is completed. After receiving the indication message agreeing to handover, the base station of the serving cell connects the reconfiguration message to send a handover command to the terminal device through Range Controlled Communication (RCC), and stops sending downlink data to the terminal device, where the message carries resource information allocated to the terminal device by the target cell. After receiving the RCC connection reconfiguration message, the terminal equipment initiates a non-competitive random access process to the base station of the target cell according to the resource information of the switching command, and sends an RCC connection reconfiguration completion message to the base station of the target cell after the access is successful. After receiving the RCC connection reconfiguration complete message, the base station of the target cell sends a path switching request message to a key control node (MME) to request the core network to switch the user plane path, and switches the S1 user plane interface from the base station of the serving cell to the base station of the target cell.

Further, the MME sends a path switch request message to the serving gateway, requesting the serving gateway to switch the user plane path. And after receiving the path switching request message, the serving gateway switches the S1 user interface from the base station of the serving cell to the base station of the target cell, and replies a path switching response message to the MME to indicate that the S1-user interface is successfully switched. So far, the path of the downlink data is: serving gateway- > base station of target cell- > terminal device. And after receiving the path switching response message, the MME sends the path switching response message to the base station of the target cell. And the base station of the target cell sends a connection release message with the terminal equipment to the base station of the target cell after receiving the path switching response message, and indicates the base station of the target cell to delete the terminal equipment, so that the cell switching is successful.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, the parameter of the event to be measured is a threshold of the event to be measured. It should be noted here that the threshold of the event to be measured is set to be relatively low, so that the terminal device measures the event to be measured more often, and then triggers handover more easily, and it is ensured that the terminal device performing voice call is handed over to the target cell before the voice call quality is interfered, so as to ensure the voice call quality.

Based on the above, in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, referring to fig. 5, the method described above may further include:

s501, determining the number of adjacent cells of which the network standard is the second network standard in the adjacent cells;

s502, determining the first signal strength threshold value and the second signal strength threshold value according to the number.

Based on the above, in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, referring to fig. 6, the method described above may further include:

s601, acquiring the signal-to-noise ratio of the service cell.

S602, determining the first signal strength threshold value and the second signal strength threshold value according to the signal-to-noise ratio.

if the signal-to-noise ratio is smaller than the second preset signal-to-noise ratio threshold value, setting the first signal intensity threshold value to be larger than the third threshold value, and setting the second signal intensity threshold value to be smaller than the fourth threshold value.

Based on the above, in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, in an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, as shown with reference to fig. 7, the method described above may further include:

s701, determining a first network type of the serving cell according to a Physical Cell Identity (PCI) of the serving cell;

s702, determining a second network type of the target cell according to the PCI of the target cell.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, a Physical Cell Identifier (PCI) list is stored in the network management system, and the PCI list includes PCIs of each Cell and network formats corresponding to the PCIs. After receiving the first signal intensity of the serving cell and the second signal intensity of the target cell measured by the terminal device, a target network device (a base station of the serving cell) acquires a PCI list from a network management system, searches the PCI list according to the PCI of the serving cell and the PCI of the target cell, and respectively determines a first network type of the serving cell and a second network type of the target cell.

In summary, the cell switching method according to the exemplary embodiment of the disclosure can accurately determine the interference potential area of the boundary of the VoNR switch, and when a network is designed during network planning, the base station of the interference potential area of the boundary of the switch completes cell switching of the terminal device, as a previous method, the cell switching method can effectively avoid the interference problem when a user moves to the VoNR closing area during 5G voice call using the terminal device, improve the voice call quality of the boundary scene of the VoNR switch, and reduce the call drop risk.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, referring to fig. 8, a cell handover method is provided, which may be used for a terminal device, and in particular, may include:

s801, measuring first signal strength of a serving cell and second signal strength of an adjacent cell;

s802, sending the first signal strength of the serving cell and the second signal strength of the adjacent cell to a network device, so that the network device determines a target cell in the adjacent cell according to the second signal strength of the adjacent cell, determines that the serving cell is in an interference potential area at the boundary of a coverage area of a first network system when a first network system of the serving cell is inconsistent with a second network system of the target cell, the first signal strength is greater than a first signal strength threshold and the second signal strength is greater than a second signal strength threshold, and switches the terminal device from the serving cell to the target cell when a preset condition is met.

In summary, the cell handover method according to the exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure can measure the first signal strength of the serving cell and the second signal strength of the neighboring cell; sending a first signal strength of the serving cell and a second signal strength of the adjacent cell to a network device, so that the network device determines a target cell in the adjacent cell according to the second signal strength of the adjacent cell, determines an interference potential area where the serving cell is located at a boundary of a coverage area of a first network system when a first network system of the serving cell is not consistent with a second network system of the target cell and the first signal strength is greater than a first signal strength threshold and the second signal strength is greater than a second signal strength threshold, switches the terminal device from the serving cell to the target cell when a preset condition is met, and timely switches the terminal device in a 5G voice call to the target cell when a VoNR switch boundary area is good in network coverage of the serving cell and the target cell has potential interference with the serving cell, the voice call is carried out by adopting the VoLTE, so that the voice call drop can be effectively avoided, the voice call quality of a user is kept, and the user experience is improved.

Based on the above, in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, the method may further include:

s803, receiving measurement indication information sent by the network equipment; the measurement indication information is sent by the network equipment to the terminal equipment when the first signal strength is smaller than a third signal strength threshold value, the third signal strength threshold value is smaller than the first signal strength threshold value, the measurement indication information comprises an event to be measured and parameters of the event to be measured, and the event to be measured comprises at least one of an A3 event, an A4 event and an A5 event;

s804, according to the parameter measurement of the event to be measured, generating a measurement result and sending the measurement result to the network equipment after at least one of an A3 event, an A4 event and an A5 event is met.

In an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure, the measurement indication information is used to instruct the terminal device to initiate an NR-LTE inter-system test on the target cell, specifically including an NR-LTE inter-system event to be measured on the target cell and parameters of the event to be measured, where the event to be measured includes at least one of an A3 event, an a4 event, and an a5 event. In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, the parameter of the event to be measured is a threshold of the event to be measured. It should be noted here that the threshold setting of the event to be measured is low, the terminal device can measure the event to be measured more frequently, and then generate a measurement result more frequently and send the test result to the network device, thereby triggering handover more easily, and ensuring that the terminal device performing voice call is handed over to the target cell before the voice call quality is interfered, so as to ensure the voice call quality.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, referring to fig. 9, for a terminal device, in step S901, a first signal strength of a serving cell and a second signal strength of a neighboring cell are measured; in step S902, sending the first signal strength of the serving cell and the second signal strength of the neighboring cell to a network device; for the network device, in step S903, when the first network type of the serving cell is not consistent with the second network type of the target cell, and the first signal strength is greater than a first signal strength threshold and the second signal strength is greater than a second signal strength threshold, determining that the serving cell is in an interference potential area at a boundary of a coverage area of the first network type; in step S904, when the first signal strength is smaller than a third signal strength threshold, sending measurement indication information to the terminal device; for the terminal device, in step S905, after at least one of an A3 event, an a4 event, and an a5 event is satisfied by measuring parameters of the event to be measured in the measurement indication information, a measurement result is generated and sent to the network device. For the network device, in step S906, if a measurement result returned by the terminal device according to the measurement instruction information is received, it is determined that a preset condition is met, and the terminal device is switched from the serving cell to the target cell.

By adopting the cell switching method provided by the embodiment of the disclosure, the measurement results of the MOS value, the packet loss ratio and the RSRP/SINR before and after cell switching are shown in Table 2.

TABLE 2

As can be seen from table 2, by using the cell handover method provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure, MOS values before, during, and after cell handover are all above 4, the voice call quality is high, and the packet loss rate is within 2%.

In the cell switching method provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure, a terminal device measures a first signal strength of a serving cell and a second signal strength of an adjacent cell, and a network device receives the first signal strength of the serving cell and the second signal strength of a target cell measured by the terminal device; when a first network system of the serving cell is inconsistent with a second network system of the target cell, the first signal strength is greater than a first signal strength threshold value, and the second signal strength is greater than a second signal strength threshold value, determining that the serving cell is in an interference potential area of a boundary of a coverage area of the first network system; when the preset conditions are met, the terminal equipment is switched from the serving cell to the target cell, the terminal equipment which is carrying out 5G voice call can be switched to the target cell in time in the boundary area of the VoNR switch when the network coverage of the serving cell is better and the target cell has potential interference on the serving cell, and the voice call is carried out by adopting VoLTE, so that the voice call drop can be effectively avoided, the voice call quality of a user is improved, and the user experience is improved.

It is to be noted that the above-mentioned figures are only schematic illustrations of the processes involved in the method according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention, and are not intended to be limiting. It will be readily understood that the processes shown in the above figures are not intended to indicate or limit the chronological order of the processes. In addition, it is also readily understood that these processes may be performed synchronously or asynchronously, e.g., in multiple modules.

Further, referring to fig. 10, in an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a cell switching apparatus 100, which may be configured in a network device, where the apparatus 100 includes: a signal receiving module 1001, a cell location determining module 1002, and a cell switching module 1003, wherein:

a signal receiving module 1001, configured to receive a first signal strength of a serving cell and a second signal strength of a target cell measured by the terminal device;

a cell location determining module 1002, configured to determine that the serving cell is in an interference potential area of a boundary of a coverage area of the first network system when a first network system of the serving cell is inconsistent with a second network system of the target cell, and the first signal strength is greater than a first signal strength threshold and the second signal strength is greater than a second signal strength threshold;

a cell switching module 1003, configured to switch the terminal device from the serving cell to the target cell when a preset condition is met.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, the cell switching module includes:

an indication information sending unit, configured to send measurement indication information to the terminal device when the first signal strength is smaller than a third signal strength threshold; the third signal strength threshold is smaller than the first signal strength threshold, the measurement indication information comprises an event to be measured and parameters of the event to be measured, and the event to be measured comprises at least one of an A3 event, an A4 event and an A5 event;

the preset condition judging module is used for determining that the preset condition is met if a measuring result returned by the terminal equipment according to the measuring indication information is received; the measurement result is generated by the terminal device upon satisfying at least one of an A3 event, an a4 event, and an a5 event according to the parameter measurement of the event to be measured.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, a signal receiving module includes:

a neighboring cell signal receiving unit, configured to receive a second signal strength of the neighboring cell measured by the terminal device;

a target cell determining unit, configured to determine a target cell with the largest second signal strength from the neighboring cells.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, the apparatus 100 further includes:

a number-of-neighboring-cell determination module, configured to determine the number of neighboring cells in which the network type in the neighboring cell is the second network type;

a first signal strength threshold determination module to determine the first signal strength threshold and the second signal strength threshold according to the number.

In an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure, the signal strength threshold determination unit is specifically configured to:

a signal-to-noise ratio acquisition module, configured to acquire a signal-to-noise ratio of the serving cell;

a second signal strength threshold determination module, configured to determine the first signal strength threshold and the second signal strength threshold according to the signal-to-noise ratio.

In an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure, the second signal strength threshold determination module is specifically configured to:

In an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure, the signal-to-noise ratio obtaining module is specifically configured to:

a network type determining module, configured to determine a first network type of the serving cell according to a physical cell identity PCI of the serving cell; and determining a second network type of the target cell according to the PCI of the target cell.

Further, referring to fig. 11, another communication apparatus 110 is provided in this exemplary embodiment, which may be configured in a terminal device, where the apparatus 110 includes: a signal measurement module 1101 and a signal transmission module 1102. Wherein:

a signal measurement module 1101 for measuring a first signal strength of a serving cell and a second signal strength of a neighboring cell;

a signal sending module 1102, configured to send a first signal strength of the serving cell and a second signal strength of the neighboring cell to a network device, so that the network device determines a target cell in the neighboring cell according to the second signal strength of the neighboring cell, determines that the serving cell is in an interference potential area of a boundary of a coverage area of a first network standard when a first network standard of the serving cell is inconsistent with a second network standard of the target cell, and the first signal strength is greater than a first signal strength threshold and the second signal strength is greater than a second signal strength threshold, and switches the terminal device from the serving cell to the target cell when a preset condition is met.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, the apparatus 110 further includes:

a measurement indication information receiving module, configured to receive measurement indication information sent by the network device; the measurement indication information is sent by the network equipment to the terminal equipment when the first signal strength is smaller than a third signal strength threshold value, the third signal strength threshold value is smaller than the first signal strength threshold value, the measurement indication information comprises an event to be measured and parameters of the event to be measured, and the event to be measured comprises at least one of an A3 event, an A4 event and an A5 event;

and the measurement result sending module is used for generating a measurement result and sending the measurement result to the network equipment after at least one of an A3 event, an A4 event and an A5 event is met according to the parameter measurement of the event to be measured.

Further, referring to fig. 12, in an embodiment of the present example, a network device 120 is further provided, including: a processor 1201; and a memory 1202 for storing executable instructions for the processor; wherein the processor is configured to execute the cell switching method applied to the network device according to the above embodiment through executing the executable instruction.

The details of the modules in the network access apparatus 100, the network access apparatus 110, and the network device 120 are already described in detail in the corresponding network access method, and therefore are not described herein again.

It should be noted that although in the above detailed description several modules or units of the device for action execution are mentioned, such a division is not mandatory. Indeed, the features and functions of two or more modules or units described above may be embodied in one module or unit, according to embodiments of the present disclosure. Conversely, the features and functions of one module or unit described above may be further divided into embodiments by a plurality of modules or units.

Figure 13 shows a schematic diagram of a terminal device suitable for use in implementing an embodiment of the invention.

It should be noted that the terminal device 1300 shown in fig. 13 is only an example, and should not bring any limitation to the functions and the scope of use of the embodiments of the present disclosure.

As shown in fig. 13, the terminal device 1300 includes a Central Processing Unit (CPU)1301 that can perform various appropriate actions and processes in accordance with a program stored in a Read-Only Memory (ROM) 1302 or a program loaded from a storage portion 1308 into a Random Access Memory (RAM) 1303. In the RAM 1303, various programs and data necessary for system operation are also stored. The CPU 1001, ROM 1302, and RAM 1303 are connected to each other via a bus 1304. An Input/Output (I/O) interface 1305 is also connected to bus 1304.

The following components are connected to the I/O interface 1305: an input portion 1306 including a keyboard, a mouse, and the like; an output section 1307 including a Cathode Ray Tube (CRT), a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), and the like, a speaker, and the like; a storage portion 1308 including a hard disk and the like; and a communication section 1309 including a Network interface card such as a Local Area Network (LAN) card, a modem, and the like. The communication section 1309 performs communication processing via a network such as the internet. A drive 1310 is also connected to the I/O interface 1305 as needed. A removable medium 1311 such as a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a semiconductor memory, or the like is mounted on the drive 1310 as needed, so that the computer program read out therefrom is mounted in the storage section 1308 as needed.

In particular, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the processes described below with reference to the flowcharts may be implemented as computer software programs. For example, embodiments of the invention include a computer program product comprising a computer program embodied on a computer-readable medium, the computer program comprising program code for performing the method illustrated by the flow chart. In such embodiments, the computer program may be downloaded and installed from a network via communications component 1309 and/or installed from removable media 1311. When the computer program is executed by a Central Processing Unit (CPU)1301, various functions defined in the system of the present application are executed.

Specifically, the terminal device may be an intelligent mobile terminal device such as a mobile phone, a tablet computer, or a notebook computer. Alternatively, the terminal device may be an intelligent terminal device such as a desktop computer.

It should be noted that the computer readable medium shown in the embodiment of the present invention may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium or any combination of the two. A computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any combination of the foregoing. More specific examples of the computer readable storage medium may include, but are not limited to: an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a Random Access Memory (RAM), a Read-Only Memory (ROM), an Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EPROM), a flash Memory, an optical fiber, a portable Compact Disc Read-Only Memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. In the context of the present invention, a computer readable storage medium may be any tangible medium that can contain, or store a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. In contrast, in the present invention, a computer readable signal medium may include a propagated data signal with computer readable program code embodied therein, for example, in baseband or as part of a carrier wave. Such a propagated data signal may take many forms, including, but not limited to, electro-magnetic, optical, or any suitable combination thereof. A computer readable signal medium may also be any computer readable medium that is not a computer readable storage medium and that can communicate, propagate, or transport a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. Program code embodied on a computer readable medium may be transmitted using any appropriate medium, including but not limited to: wireless, wired, etc., or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the figures illustrate the architecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementations of systems, methods and computer program products according to various embodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in the flowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portion of code, which comprises one or more executable instructions for implementing the specified logical function(s). It should also be noted that, 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 will also be noted that each block of the block diagrams or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams or flowchart illustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-based systems which perform the specified functions or acts, or combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions.

The units described in the embodiments of the present invention may be implemented by software or hardware, and the described units may also be disposed in a processor. Wherein the names of the elements do not in some way constitute a limitation on the elements themselves.

It should be noted that, as another aspect, the present application also provides a computer-readable medium, which may be included in an electronic device; or may exist separately without being assembled into the electronic device. The computer readable medium carries one or more programs which, when executed by an electronic device, cause the electronic device to implement the method as described in the embodiments below. For example, the electronic device may implement the steps shown in fig. 1.

Furthermore, the above-described figures are merely schematic illustrations of processes involved in methods according to exemplary embodiments of the invention, and are not intended to be limiting. It will be readily understood that the processes shown in the above figures are not intended to indicate or limit the chronological order of the processes. In addition, it is also readily understood that these processes may be performed synchronously or asynchronously, e.g., in multiple modules.

Other embodiments of the disclosure will be apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of the specification and practice of the invention disclosed herein. This application is intended to cover any variations, uses, or adaptations of the disclosure following, in general, the principles of the disclosure and including such departures from the present disclosure as come within known or customary practice within the art to which the disclosure pertains. It is intended that the specification and examples be considered as exemplary only, with a true scope and spirit of the disclosure being indicated by the following claims.

It will be understood that the present disclosure is not limited to the precise arrangements that have been described above and shown in the drawings, and that various modifications and changes may be made without departing from the scope thereof. The scope of the present disclosure is to be limited only by the terms of the appended claims.

Claims

1. A cell switching method is applied to network equipment and comprises the following steps:

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first signal strength threshold is greater than the second signal strength threshold.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the meeting of the preset condition comprises:

when the first signal strength is smaller than a third signal strength threshold value, sending measurement indication information to the terminal equipment; the third signal strength threshold value is smaller than the first signal strength threshold value, the measurement indication information comprises events to be measured and parameters of the events to be measured, and the events to be measured comprise at least one of an A3 event, an A4 event and an A5 event;

4. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the second signal strength of the target cell measured by the terminal device comprises:

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the determining that the serving cell is in the interference potential area at the boundary of the coverage area of the first network system further comprises:

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the determining the first signal strength threshold and the second signal strength threshold according to the number comprises:

7. The method of claim 1, wherein before receiving the first signal strength of the serving cell and the second signal strength of the target cell measured by the terminal device, the method further comprises:

acquiring the signal-to-noise ratio of the serving cell;

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the determining the first signal strength threshold and the second signal strength threshold based on the signal-to-noise ratio comprises:

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the obtaining the signal-to-noise ratio of the serving cell comprises:

10. The method of claim 1, wherein after receiving the first signal strength of the serving cell and the second signal strength of the target cell measured by the terminal device, the method further comprises:

11. A cell switching method is applied to a terminal device and comprises the following steps:

12. The method of claim 11, wherein after sending the first signal strength of the serving cell and the second signal strengths of the neighboring cells to a network device, the method further comprises:

13. A cell switching device applied to a network device includes:

a cell location determining module, configured to determine that the serving cell is in an interference potential area of a coverage area boundary of the first network system when a first network system of the serving cell is inconsistent with a second network system of the target cell, the first signal strength is greater than a first signal strength threshold, and the second signal strength is greater than a second signal strength threshold;

14. A cell switching device is applied to a terminal device, and comprises:

a signal sending module, configured to send a first signal strength of the serving cell and a second signal strength of the neighboring cell to a network device, so that the network device determines a target cell in the neighboring cell according to the second signal strength of the neighboring cell, and when a first network type of the serving cell is inconsistent with a second network type of the target cell, and the first signal strength is greater than a first signal strength threshold and the second signal strength is greater than a second signal strength threshold, determines that the serving cell is in an interference potential area at a boundary of a coverage area of the first network type, and when a preset condition is met, switches the terminal device from the serving cell to the target cell.

15. A computer-readable storage medium, on which a computer program is stored which, when being executed by a processor, carries out the steps of the method of any one of claims 1 to 10 or the steps of the method of any one of claims 11 and 12.

16. A network device, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory for storing executable instructions of the processor;

wherein the processor is configured to perform the steps of the method of any one of claims 1 to 10 via execution of the executable instructions.

17. A terminal device, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory for storing executable instructions of the processor;

wherein the processor is configured to perform the steps of the method or any of claims 11 and 12 via execution of the executable instructions.