CN115189747A

CN115189747A - Satellite communication method, device and system

Info

Publication number: CN115189747A
Application number: CN202110358406.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 吴烨丹; 耿婷婷; 唐珣
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2021-04-01
Filing date: 2021-04-01
Publication date: 2022-10-14
Also published as: WO2022206891A1

Abstract

The embodiment of the application provides a satellite communication method, a satellite communication device and a satellite communication system. The method comprises the following steps: determining second information according to the first information, wherein the first information comprises ephemeris information, the second information is used for indicating first configuration information, the first configuration information comprises configuration information for discontinuous reception, and the first configuration information has an association relation with satellite coverage information; and sending the second information to the terminal. By adopting the method, the performance of discontinuous reception can be improved, the second information is determined according to the ephemeris information, the second information is interacted between the network equipment and the terminal, and wireless communication is carried out according to the second information, so that the matching degree of discontinuous reception configuration and network equipment coverage information can be improved at least according to the ephemeris information, specifically, the waking time of the terminal and the time of the satellite for covering the terminal can be more fit, the waste of electric quantity and signaling is reduced, and the communication performance is improved.

Description

Satellite communication method, device and system

Technical Field

The embodiment of the application relates to the technical field of communication, in particular to a satellite communication method, device and system.

Background

With the introduction of the communication concept of "any time and any place", satellite communication, that is, non-terrestrial communication (NTN), has been popular in the research field from the 19 th century, the 60 th era to the present time due to the characteristics of wide communication range, high reliability, multiple access, and the like. Generally speaking, the higher the orbit of a satellite, the larger its coverage area, but the longer the time delay of the communication.

In general, the orbit of a satellite can be classified into:

(1) Low orbit (LEO): the height of the track is 160-2000 km;

(2) Medium orbit (MEO): the height of the track is 2 000-35786 km;

(3) Geosynchronous orbit (GEO) or stationary orbit: the height of the orbit is 35786km, and the relative position of the satellite running in the orbit and the earth is not influenced by the rotation of the earth.

The LEO satellite is close to the ground, the communication time delay is short, the data transmission rate is high, the weight and the size of the mobile terminal are almost the same as those of personal mobile equipment, and the LEO satellite is more suitable for mass market popularization and becomes a hotspot of current industrial development.

In an LEO cell, the speed of LEO is close to 7km/s because LEO is flying around the earth at high speed. Generally, there are two modes of projection of LEO satellites into terrestrial cells:

1. mobile cells (moving cells), i.e. cells that project onto the ground, move with the satellite, typically when the antenna of the LEO satellite is always perpendicular to the ground. The LEO, whether it is a standalone base station or a relay base station, moves with the LEO satellite and the relative distance between the LEO and the UE changes all the time, and the signal of the LEO may not cover the UE after a while.

2. Fixed cells (fixed cells), that is, cells projected to the ground are stationary relative to the ground, and an above-ground LEO satellite completes coverage of the same position on the ground by adjusting an antenna angle, and is replaced by another LEO satellite when the LEO satellite cannot cover the ground.

Compared with terrestrial communication, satellite communication has a long communication distance, and the coverage area is strongly related to the satellite orbit, so that higher requirements are imposed on the continuity of the coverage area for the transmission power of the terminal. For example, in a scenario where only a few satellites are operated and the ground coverage is discontinuous, the characteristics of limited coverage time, time-division coverage, large time delay, and high power consumption of terminal transmission power may occur.

How to reduce the communication distance of satellite communication is far, and the influence of strong correlation between the coverage and the satellite orbit on the communication performance is a problem which needs to be solved urgently at present.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the application provides a satellite communication method, a satellite communication device and a satellite communication system, which are used for reducing the influence of the long communication distance of satellite communication and the strong correlation between the coverage range and the satellite orbit on the communication performance.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a satellite communication method, which may be performed by a network device or a component (e.g., a processor, a chip, or a system-on-chip) of the network device, including: determining second information according to the first information, wherein the first information comprises ephemeris information, the second information is used for indicating first configuration information, the first configuration information comprises configuration information for discontinuous reception, and the first configuration information has an association relation with satellite coverage information; and sending the second information to the terminal.

In the method, when the first configuration information is configured, according to or with reference to the ephemeris information, a matching degree between the first configuration information (such as discontinuous reception configuration) and the coverage information of the network device is improved. For example, the time when the terminal wakes up and the time when the satellite covers the terminal can be more matched, and the communication performance is improved.

In one possible implementation, the associating the first configuration information with the satellite coverage information includes: the terminal is caused to wake up by the first configuration information at a time matching the satellite coverage information.

Optionally, the configuration information that includes configuration information for discontinuous reception includes:

the first configuration information includes first discontinuous reception configuration information, and the first discontinuous reception configuration information includes at least two sets of discontinuous reception configurations.

Optionally, the time period for the terminal to monitor the data includes a monitoring time period corresponding to the at least two sets of discontinuous reception configurations.

Optionally, the at least two sets of discontinuous reception configurations are at least two different sets of discontinuous reception configurations. Optionally, at least one of the plurality of parameters, such as the period, the time offset, the reception time window, and the like, included between the at least two sets of discontinuous reception configurations is different.

Optionally, the associating relationship between the first configuration information and the satellite coverage information includes: the discontinuous reception configuration is associated with at least one satellite.

Through the implementation mode, the monitoring time periods corresponding to the sets of discontinuous reception configurations included in the first configuration information determined according to the ephemeris information can be partially or completely overlapped with the satellite coverage time, so that the matching degree of the first configuration information and the coverage information is improved.

In a possible approach, the first information further includes assistance information, the assistance information including at least one of: the location information of the terminal, the time information, the serving cell coverage information of the terminal or the DRX configuration information suggested by the terminal.

Optionally, the auxiliary information is received from the terminal.

In this way, the time when the terminal wakes up and the time when the satellite covers the terminal are more coincident due to the combination of auxiliary information (such as the positioning of the terminal), so that the terminal can obtain better signal coverage opportunity, and can send data and listen to data and page in time.

In one possible implementation, the associating the first configuration information with the satellite coverage information includes: an enablement status of the first configuration is determined from the satellite coverage information, wherein the enablement status includes activation or deactivation.

Optionally, the determining the enabling state of the first configuration according to the satellite coverage information includes:

the terminal deactivates the first configuration under the condition that no satellite coverage is determined;

the terminal activates a first configuration in case it is determined that there is satellite coverage.

Optionally, the network device indicates the information for determining the enabling state of the first configuration according to the configuration information to the terminal. Optionally, this information is pre-configured or predefined.

Through the implementation mode, the starting state of the first configuration is determined according to the satellite coverage information, so that the use of the first configuration is more matched with the state of the terminal, and the flexible use configuration of the terminal is realized.

In a second aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a satellite communication method, which may be executed by a terminal or a component (e.g., a processor, a chip, or a system-on-chip) of the terminal, including: receiving second information, wherein the second information is used for indicating first configuration information, the first configuration information comprises configuration information for discontinuous reception, the first configuration information has an association relation with satellite coverage information, the second information is determined according to the first information, and the first information comprises ephemeris information; and communicating according to the second information.

In the method, the first configuration information is determined at least according to or with reference to the ephemeris information, which improves the matching degree between the first configuration information (such as discontinuous reception configuration) and the coverage information of the network device. Illustratively, the time of the terminal waking up and the time of the satellite covering the terminal can be more matched, and the communication performance is improved.

In one possible implementation, the associating the first configuration information with the satellite coverage information includes: and enabling the terminal to wake up at the time to be matched with the satellite coverage information through the first configuration information.

Optionally, the first configuration information including configuration information for discontinuous reception includes:

In one possible approach, the first information further includes auxiliary information, the auxiliary information including at least one of: the location information of the terminal, the time information, the serving cell coverage information of the terminal or the DRX configuration information suggested by the terminal.

Optionally, the auxiliary information is sent to a network device.

In one possible implementation, the associating the first configuration information with the satellite coverage information includes: an enabling state of the first configuration is determined from the satellite coverage information, wherein the enabling state includes activation or deactivation.

in the case of determining that there is no satellite coverage, the terminal deactivates the first configuration;

in case it is determined that there is satellite coverage, the terminal activates a first configuration.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a satellite communication method, which may be executed by a terminal or a component (e.g., a processor, a chip, or a system of chips) of the terminal, and includes: determining coverage information; determining a first operation based on the coverage information, wherein the first operation is associated with one or more of cell information, measurement information, a run mode, or configuration application information.

Optionally, the cell information includes information of a cell or a cell group used for access, or further includes information of a cell or a cell group prohibited from access.

Optionally, the measurement information includes information related to a measurement mode, measurement content, or a measurement object.

Optionally, the operation mode includes a power saving type or power saving mode information.

Optionally, the configuration application information includes information about a manner of using the configuration, for example, the configuration application information includes activation or deactivation operation of the configuration, configuration update or switching operation.

The satellite coverage information (such as whether coverage exists, whether coverage is connected or not, coverage quality and the like) has a large influence on the communication strategy of the terminal and the network equipment.

Optionally, determining the first operation according to the coverage information includes: entering a power saving mode if it is determined that there is no coverage; in case it is determined that there is coverage, a discontinuous reception configuration is used.

Optionally, the determining the first operation according to the coverage information includes: in case it is determined that there is no coverage, the measurement is disabled. In case it is determined that there is coverage, cell measurements are made.

Optionally, prohibiting measurement comprises prohibiting cell measurement. Optionally, performing cell measurements comprises performing measurements in the first cell. Optionally, performing cell measurement includes performing measurement in the first cell and prohibiting measurement in the second cell. The list information corresponding to the first cell and/or the second cell is indicated or preconfigured by the network device.

Optionally, the determining the first operation according to the coverage information includes: in case it is determined that there is no coverage, monitoring of the physical downlink control channel is prohibited, or cell selection is prohibited after radio link failure. And under the condition that coverage is determined, after the radio link fails, prohibiting to perform an RRC reestablishment flow and performing random access.

Optionally, the determining coverage information includes: determining the coverage information according to the ephemeris information; or receiving indication information for indicating the coverage information.

Optionally, the first operation is a single operation, or the first operation may be a combination of multiple operations, for example, a combination of operations including one or more of cell information, measurement information, operation mode, or configuration application information.

By the method, the first operation is determined according to the coverage information, so that the influence of the coverage information on the communication performance is reduced, and the communication quality is improved. Illustratively, when the first operation includes the configured enabling state, the enabling state of the corresponding configuration may be determined according to the coverage information associated with the terminal, so that the terminal may use the configuration flexibly, and the resource utilization efficiency is improved.

In a fourth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a satellite communication method, which may be executed by a terminal or a component (e.g., a processor, a chip, or a system-on-chip) of the terminal, including: carrying out random access; and sending a random access report meeting a first condition to the network equipment, wherein the first condition is associated with one or more of beam quality information, random access type information, a random access attempt number threshold value, random access attempt failure reason information and random access success associated information.

Optionally, sending a random access report meeting the first condition to the network device, where the sending of the random access report meeting the first condition includes: and sending a random access record meeting the first condition to network equipment, wherein the random access record is used for recording the record associated with the access attempt in the random access process.

By the method, the random access report meeting the first condition is reported to the network equipment, so that the redundancy of the recorded information and the total amount of the information in the random access report are reduced, the signaling overhead is saved, and the utilization rate of communication resources is improved.

Optionally, the associating the first condition with the beam quality information includes:

the first condition comprises a beam quality information condition associated with first beam quality information and/or second beam quality information; the first beam quality information is corresponding beam quality information when random access is successful, and the second beam quality information is corresponding beam quality information meeting one or more conditions of a beam quality threshold, a threshold or a sequencing ratio in at least one random access attempt process associated with the random access attempt time threshold.

Optionally, the associating the first condition with the random access attempt failure cause information includes: the first condition comprises a random access attempt failure cause condition associated with no detected contention failure information.

Optionally, the sending the random access report satisfying the first condition includes: transmitting the first beam quality information and/or the second beam quality information.

Optionally, the sending the random access report satisfying the first condition includes: transmitting the first beam quality information and/or the second beam quality information satisfying the random access attempt failure cause condition.

Optionally, a first access configuration is received, where the first access configuration includes information indicating the type of random access, and the information indicating the type of random access.

In a possible implementation manner, the performing random access includes: performing a first type of random access attempt according to the configuration information; the first type of random access attempt is successful;

the sending the random access report satisfying the first condition includes: and sending the corresponding beam quality information when the random access attempt of the first type is successful.

In a possible implementation manner, the performing random access includes: performing a first type of random access attempt according to the configuration information; when the number of the random access attempts of the first type reaches the threshold value of the number of the random access attempts, performing random access attempts of a second type; the second type of random access attempt is successful;

the sending the random access report satisfying the first condition includes: transmitting the one or more of the following:

the beam quality information corresponding to the second type of random access attempt when the random access attempt is successful, and the beam quality information satisfying one or more conditions of a beam quality threshold, a reason for failure of the random access attempt or a rank-based rank ratio in the first type of random access attempt.

Optionally, the sorting ratio includes: the occupancy of the beam quality information in the first type of random access attempt is greater than a threshold.

By the method, the terminal reports the random access measurement report meeting the first condition, wherein the first condition is used for screening information which is beneficial to the network equipment to carry out random access strategy optimization in a plurality of pieces of random access process information, and the first condition can also be understood as being used for screening part of useful information from redundant information.

In a fifth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a satellite communication method, which may be executed by a network device or a component (e.g., a processor, a chip, or a system of chips) of the network device, and includes: sending a first access configuration, wherein the first access configuration comprises information for indicating a random access type, and the random access type information is used for indicating a type of random access; receiving a random access report from a terminal satisfying a first condition, wherein the first condition is associated with one or more of beam quality information, random access type information, a threshold of random access attempt times, random access attempt failure reason information and random access success associated information.

By the method, under the condition that the network equipment can carry out configuration optimization according to the random access report, the redundancy of the recorded information and the total amount of the information in the random access report are reduced, the signaling overhead is saved, and the utilization rate of communication resources is improved.

Optionally, the first access configuration is updated according to the random access report, and the first access configuration further includes a threshold configuration, where the threshold configuration is used to configure a threshold associated with random access.

Optionally, the threshold associated with random access includes: a beam quality threshold and/or a 2-step access threshold.

In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a satellite communication method, which may be executed by a network device or a core network device, and may also be executed by a component (e.g., a processor, a chip, or a system-on-chip) of the network device or the core network device, where the method includes: determining a paging message, wherein the paging message comprises time information and/or position information, the time information comprises time information used for indicating paging starting and/or time information used for stopping paging, and the position information comprises position information associated with a paged terminal; and sending the paging message.

In the method, the paging message sent by the core network device or the access network device carries the location information and/or the time information, and the network device (such as the second network device) for receiving the paging message determines the time information for sending the paging message to the terminal, so that the utilization rate of the paging resource is optimized.

Optionally, the determining the paging message includes: and determining the paging message according to the position information.

Optionally, the sending the paging message includes: and sending the paging message to network equipment, wherein the position information of the network equipment is associated with the position information.

In this way, by sending the paging message to the second network device associated with the terminal location, rather than sending the paging message to all network devices in the list, the paging resource cost of the interface and the air interface is saved.

In a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a satellite communication method, which may be executed by a network device, or may be executed by a component (e.g., a processor, a chip, or a system-on-chip) of the network device, and includes: receiving a paging message, wherein the paging message comprises time information and/or position information, the time information comprises start time information and/or end time information for indicating paging to be sent to a terminal, and the position information comprises position information associated with the terminal; and paging according to the paging message.

Optionally, the paging according to the paging message includes: a start time and/or an end time for sending a page to the terminal is determined.

Optionally, the determining a start time and/or an end time for sending a page to the terminal includes: determining the starting time and/or the ending time of sending paging to the terminal according to the ephemeris information and the position information; or determining the starting time and/or the ending time for sending the paging to the terminal according to the time information.

In an eighth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a satellite communication method, which may be executed by a terminal or a component (e.g., a processor, a chip, or a system-on-chip) of the terminal, and includes: determining a first cell; and accessing or receiving and sending data in the first cell, and forbidding accessing or receiving and sending data in a second cell, wherein the second cell is a cell except the first cell.

Optionally, the prohibiting accessing or data transceiving in the second cell includes: forbidding cell switching; alternatively, cell reselection is prohibited.

Optionally, the method further includes: and measuring the first cell and forbidding measuring the second cell.

Optionally, the accessing or receiving and sending data in the first cell includes: and under the condition that the coverage of the first cell is determined to be absent, prohibiting monitoring a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) of the first cell, or prohibiting cell selection after a radio link fails.

Optionally, the accessing or receiving and sending data in the first cell includes: and under the condition that the coverage of the first cell is determined, after a radio link fails, prohibiting an RRC (radio resource control) reestablishment process in the first cell, and performing random access.

Optionally, the coverage information of the first cell is determined according to the position information and the ephemeris information.

Optionally, the determining the first cell includes: receiving second indication information for indicating the first cell from a network device; alternatively, the first cell is predefined or preconfigured.

Optionally, the first cell uses a CGI identifier or uses a frequency point and a PCI identifier.

Optionally, the measuring the first cell and the prohibiting measuring the second cell include: and when the measurement times do not reach a first threshold value or the timer does not time out, measuring the first cell and forbidding measuring the second cell.

Optionally, third indication information is received, where the third indication information is used to indicate that data is accessed or transmitted and received in the first cell, and data is prohibited from being accessed or transmitted and received in the second cell.

Through the implementation mode, under the condition that no signal coverage is presumed, the terminal skips the steps of cell selection, cell reselection, neighbor cell measurement and the like, so that the terminal saves a large amount of electric quantity. And an exception handling mechanism is introduced to ensure that the terminal can keep connection with the network when the terminal cannot detect a specific cell.

In a ninth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a satellite communication method, which may be executed by a network device, or may be executed by a component (e.g., a processor, a chip, or a system-on-chip) of the network device, and includes: determining third indication information, wherein the third indication information is used for indicating that data is accessed or transmitted and received in a first cell and prohibiting data from being accessed or transmitted and received in a second cell, and the second cell is a cell except the first cell; and sending the third indication information to the terminal.

Optionally, second indication information indicating the first cell is sent to the terminal.

Through the implementation mode, the network equipment indicates the terminal to skip the steps of cell selection, cell reselection, neighbor cell measurement and the like under the condition that no signal coverage is presumed, so that the terminal saves a large amount of electric quantity.

In a tenth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a satellite communication method, which may be executed by a terminal or a component (e.g., a processor, a chip, or a system of chips) of the terminal, and includes: determining a first condition, the first condition being associated with one or more of time information, location information, or signal quality information; when the first condition is satisfied, determining to enter an idle state or an inactive state from a connected state.

Optionally, the determining the first condition includes: receiving fourth indication information indicating the first condition from a network device; alternatively, the first condition is predefined or preconfigured.

Optionally, the time information includes absolute time information or relative time information; the position information comprises absolute position information or relative distance information; the signal quality information includes one or more of reference signal received power information, reference signal received quality information, or signal to interference plus noise ratio information.

Optionally, the satisfying the first condition includes: one or more of the time information, location information, or signal quality information satisfies a threshold condition.

Through the implementation mode, the terminal enters the idle state or the non-active state from the connected state into the RRC idle state or the non-active state when the first condition (such as specific time/position/signal quality) is met, the terminal can enter the RRC idle state or the non-active state in time, and data is prevented from being still sent to a network when no signal coverage exists.

In an eleventh aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a satellite communication method, which may be executed by a network device or a component (e.g., a processor, a chip, or a system of chips) of the network device, and the method includes: determining fourth indication information indicating a first condition, the first condition being associated with one or more of time information, location information, or signal quality information; and sending the fourth indication information to a terminal, wherein the fourth indication information is used for indicating that the terminal enters an idle state or an inactive state from a connected state when the first condition is met.

Through the implementation mode, the terminal is instructed to enter the idle state or the non-active state from the connected state into the RRC idle state or the non-active state when a first condition (such as specific time/position/signal quality) is met, so that the terminal can enter the RRC idle state or the non-active state in time, and data is prevented from being still sent to a network when no signal is covered.

In a twelfth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication apparatus, where the apparatus may be a network device and may also be a chip for a network device. In one possible design, the apparatus has a function of implementing the first aspect or each possible implementation method of the first aspect. The function can be realized by hardware, and can also be realized by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the functions described above. In one possible design, the apparatus may include a transceiver unit and a processing unit. Exemplarily, the following steps are carried out:

the processing unit is used for determining second information according to the first information, the first information comprises ephemeris information, the second information is used for indicating first configuration information, the first configuration information comprises configuration information used for discontinuous reception, and the first configuration information and the satellite coverage information have an association relation;

and the transceiving unit is used for sending the second information to the terminal.

Optionally, the transceiver unit is further configured to receive the auxiliary information from the terminal.

In a thirteenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication apparatus, which may be a terminal or a chip for a terminal. In one possible design, the apparatus has the function of implementing the second aspect described above, or each possible implementation method of the second aspect. The function can be realized by hardware, and can also be realized by executing corresponding software by hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the functions described above. In one possible design, the apparatus may include a transceiver unit and a processing unit. By way of example:

a transceiver unit, configured to receive second information, where the second information is used to indicate first configuration information, the first configuration information includes configuration information for discontinuous reception, the first configuration information has an association relationship with satellite coverage information, the second information is determined according to the first information, and the first information includes ephemeris information;

and the processing unit is used for carrying out communication according to the second information.

Optionally, the transceiver unit is further configured to send the auxiliary information to a network device.

In a fourteenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication apparatus, which may be a terminal, and may also be a chip for a terminal. In one possible design, the apparatus has a function of implementing the third aspect or each possible implementation method of the third aspect. The function can be realized by hardware, and can also be realized by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the functions described above. In one possible design, the apparatus may include a transceiver unit and a processing unit. By way of example:

a processing unit for determining coverage information;

the processing unit is further configured to determine a first operation according to the coverage information, wherein the first operation is associated with one or more of cell information, measurement information, a running mode, or configuration application information.

Optionally, the processing unit is further configured to enter a power saving mode if it is determined that there is no coverage; in case it is determined that there is coverage, a discontinuous reception configuration is used.

In a fifteenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication apparatus, which may be a terminal, and may also be a chip for a terminal. In one possible design, the apparatus has a function of implementing the fourth aspect described above, or each possible implementation method of the fourth aspect. The function can be realized by hardware, and can also be realized by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the functions described above. In one possible design, the apparatus may include a transceiver unit and a processing unit. Exemplarily, the following steps are carried out:

a processing unit, configured to perform random access;

a transceiver unit, configured to send a random access report meeting a first condition to a network device, where the first condition is associated with one or more of beam quality information, random access type information, a threshold of random access attempts, random access attempt failure reason information, and random access success association information.

Optionally, the transceiver unit is further configured to send the first beam quality information and/or the second beam quality information.

In a sixteenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication apparatus, where the apparatus may be a network device and may also be a chip for a network device. In one possible design, the apparatus has the function of implementing the fifth aspect or each possible implementation method of the fifth aspect. The function can be realized by hardware, and can also be realized by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the functions described above. In one possible design, the apparatus may include a transceiver unit and a processing unit. Exemplarily, the following steps are carried out:

a transceiver unit, configured to send a first access configuration, where the first access configuration includes information indicating a random access type, and the random access type information is used to indicate a type of random access;

the transceiver unit is further configured to receive a random access report from a terminal, where the random access report satisfies a first condition, and the first condition is associated with one or more of beam quality information, random access type information, a threshold of random access attempts, random access attempt failure cause information, and random access success association information.

A processing unit, configured to update the first access configuration according to the random access report, where the first access configuration further includes a threshold configuration, and the threshold configuration is used to configure a threshold associated with random access.

In a seventeenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication apparatus, where the apparatus may be a network device and may also be a chip for a network device. In one possible design, the apparatus has a function of implementing the sixth aspect or each possible implementation method of the sixth aspect. The function can be realized by hardware, and can also be realized by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the functions described above. In one possible design, the apparatus may include a transceiver unit and a processing unit. By way of example:

a processing unit, configured to determine a paging message, where the paging message includes time information and/or location information, the time information includes time information for indicating a start of paging and/or time information for stopping paging, and the location information includes location information associated with a paged terminal;

and the receiving and sending unit is used for sending the paging message.

Optionally, the transceiver unit is configured to send the paging message to a network device, where the location information of the network device is associated with the location information.

In an eighteenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication apparatus, where the apparatus may be a network device, and may also be a chip for a network device. In one possible design, the apparatus has a function of implementing the seventh aspect or each possible implementation method of the seventh aspect. The function can be realized by hardware, and can also be realized by executing corresponding software by hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the functions described above. In one possible design, the apparatus may include a transceiver unit and a processing unit. Exemplarily, the following steps are carried out:

a transceiving unit, configured to receive a paging message, where the paging message includes time information and/or location information, the time information includes start time information and/or end time information for indicating to send a page to a terminal, and the location information includes location information associated with the terminal;

and the processing unit is used for paging according to the paging message.

In a nineteenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication apparatus, where the apparatus may be a network device, and may also be a chip for a network device. In one possible design, the apparatus has a function of implementing each possible implementation method of the above-mentioned eighth aspect or eighth aspect. The function can be realized by hardware, and can also be realized by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the functions described above. In one possible design, the apparatus may include a transceiver unit and a processing unit. Exemplarily, the following steps are carried out:

a processing unit for determining a first cell;

and the processing unit is further configured to perform access or data transceiving in the first cell, and prohibit performing access or data transceiving in a second cell, where the second cell is a cell other than the first cell.

Optionally, the processing unit is further configured to measure the first cell and prohibit measuring the second cell.

In a twentieth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication apparatus, which may be a network device and may also be a chip for a network device. In one possible design, the apparatus has a function of implementing each possible implementation method of the ninth aspect or the ninth aspect. The function can be realized by hardware, and can also be realized by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the functions described above. In one possible design, the apparatus may include a transceiver unit and a processing unit. Exemplarily, the following steps are carried out:

a processing unit, configured to determine third indication information, where the third indication information is used to indicate that data is accessed or transmitted or received and is forbidden to be accessed or transmitted or received in a second cell, where the second cell is a cell other than the first cell;

and the transceiving unit is used for sending the third indication information to the terminal.

In a twenty-first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication apparatus, which may be a terminal, and may also be a chip for a terminal. In one possible design, the apparatus has a function of implementing each possible implementation method of the tenth aspect or the tenth aspect. The function can be realized by hardware, and can also be realized by executing corresponding software by hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the functions described above. In one possible design, the apparatus may include a transceiver unit and a processing unit. By way of example:

a processing unit to determine a first condition, the first condition being associated with one or more of time information, location information, or signal quality information;

and the processing unit is further used for determining to enter an idle state or an inactive state from a connection state when the first condition is met.

In a twenty-second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication apparatus, which may be a network device and may also be a chip for a network device. In one possible design, the apparatus has the function of implementing the eleventh aspect or each possible implementation method of the eleventh aspect. The function can be realized by hardware, and can also be realized by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the functions described above. In one possible design, the apparatus may include a transceiver unit and a processing unit. Exemplarily, the following steps are carried out:

a processing unit for determining fourth indication information indicating a first condition, the first condition being associated with one or more of time information, location information or signal quality information;

and the transceiver unit is configured to send the fourth indication information to a terminal, where the fourth indication information is used to indicate that the terminal enters an idle state or an inactive state from a connected state when the first condition is met.

In a twenty-third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication apparatus, including a processor and a memory; the memory is configured to store computer executable instructions, and when the apparatus runs, the processor executes the computer executable instructions stored by the memory to cause the apparatus to perform the method of the first aspect, the fifth aspect to the seventh aspect, the ninth aspect, and the eleventh aspect, and any of the possible implementations of the first aspect, the fifth aspect to the seventh aspect, the ninth aspect, and the eleventh aspect.

In a twenty-fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication apparatus, including a processor and a memory; the memory is used for storing computer executable instructions, and when the apparatus runs, the processor executes the computer executable instructions stored by the memory to cause the apparatus to perform the method of the second aspect to the fourth aspect, the eighth aspect and the tenth aspect, and any of the possible implementation manners of the second aspect to the fourth aspect, the eighth aspect and the tenth aspect.

In a twenty-fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communications apparatus, including a processor and a memory; the memory is configured to store computer executable instructions, which when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to perform the method of the sixth aspect and any of the possible implementations of the sixth aspect.

A twenty-sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication apparatus, including means or means (means) for performing the method of the first aspect, the fifth aspect to the seventh aspect, the ninth aspect, or the eleventh aspect, or each step of any method in each possible implementation method of the first aspect, the fifth aspect to the seventh aspect, the ninth aspect, or the eleventh aspect.

Twenty-seventh aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a communication apparatus, including means or means (means) for performing the method of the second to fourth aspects, the eighth aspect, or the tenth aspect, or each step of any of the possible implementation methods of the second to fourth aspects, the eighth aspect, or the tenth aspect.

In a twenty-eighth aspect, the present application provides a communication device, which includes means or units (means) for performing the method of the sixth aspect, and the steps of any of the possible implementation methods of the sixth aspect.

In a twenty-ninth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, including a processor and an interface circuit, where the processor is configured to communicate with other devices through the interface circuit, and execute the method of the first aspect to the eleventh aspect, and any method of the possible implementation methods of the first aspect to the eleventh aspect. The processor includes one or more.

Thirty-first, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication apparatus, including a processor, configured to connect to a memory, and configured to call a program stored in the memory to perform the method of the first aspect to the eleventh aspect, or any of the possible implementation methods of the first aspect to the eleventh aspect. The memory may be located within the device or external to the device. And the processor includes one or more.

In a thirty-first aspect, the present embodiments further provide a computer-readable storage medium, where instructions are stored, and when the instructions are executed on a computer, a processor is caused to execute the method of the first aspect to the eleventh aspect, or any of the possible implementation methods of the first aspect to the eleventh aspect.

In a thirty-second aspect, the present embodiments further provide a computer program product, where the computer program product includes a computer program that, when executed, causes the method of the first aspect to the eleventh aspect, or any of the possible implementation methods of the first aspect to the eleventh aspect, to be performed.

In a thirty-third aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a chip system, including: a processor configured to perform any of the methods of the first to eleventh aspects, and possible implementations of the first to eleventh aspects.

In a fourteenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a communication system, including: including the terminal in any of the possible designs of the second aspect to the fourth aspect, the eighth aspect, and the tenth aspect described above and the network device in any of the possible designs of the first aspect, the fifth aspect to the seventh aspect, the ninth aspect, and the eleventh aspect described above.

Optionally, the communication system may further include a core network device in any one of the possible designs of the sixth aspect.

For technical effects brought by any design manner in the twelfth aspect to the thirty-fourth aspect, reference may be made to technical effects brought by any possible design manner of the satellite communication method in any aspect, and details are not repeated.

Drawings

Fig. 1A is a schematic diagram of a network architecture according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 1B is a schematic diagram of another network architecture applicable to the embodiment of the present application;

fig. 2A is a schematic diagram of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 2B is a schematic diagram illustrating satellite coverage information according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 3 to fig. 10 are schematic diagrams of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 12 is a schematic diagram of another communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 13 is a schematic structural diagram of a terminal according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

First, some terms in the embodiments of the present application are explained to facilitate understanding by those skilled in the art.

(1) Discontinuous reception: or discontinuous reception, is used to save power consumption of the terminal. The terminal and the network device negotiate the data transmission stage, and at other times, the terminal can turn off the receiver and enter a low-power state, so as to achieve the purpose of saving power of the terminal. Illustratively, with the occurrence of different scenarios, the discontinuous reception may be mainly classified into discontinuous reception, enhanced discontinuous reception, discontinuous reception of paging, and the like.

(2) Discontinuous Reception (DRX): the method mainly refers to configuring a Radio Resource Control (RRC) connected terminal with a DRX cycle (DRX cycle), where the DRX cycle includes a first time period (e.g., on Duration) and a second time period (e.g., opportunity for DRX). In a first time period, the terminal monitors and receives data (e.g., a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH)); during the second period, the terminal does not receive the PDCCH to reduce power consumption.

(3) Enhanced discontinuous reception (eDRX): the method mainly refers to an energy-saving characteristic introduced for a terminal in an RRC idle or inactive state, receives a paging message in an active period of the terminal, and generally needs to control the paging message aiming at the terminal to be issued in the active period of the terminal. In a possible manner, the terminal calculates a starting position of a Paging Time Window (PTW) according to a terminal identifier and an eDRX cycle of the terminal, and a paging message needs to be sent to the terminal between a PTW starting time and a PTW ending time. Generally, the paging request indicates the eDRX cycle and the PTW duration of the terminal, and the network device needs to buffer the received paging request and then issue the paging request until the PTW start time. Therefore, the general eDRX needs the core network and the network device to keep time synchronization, and ensures that the time when the core network issues the paging request is close to the PTW window of the terminal.

(4) Discontinuous reception (paging DRX): mainly used for indicating the time interval for paging the terminal.

The terms "system" and "network" in the embodiments of the present application may be used interchangeably. "at least one" means one or more, "a plurality" means two or more. "and/or" describes the association relationship of the associated objects, meaning that there may be three relationships, e.g., a and/or B, which may mean: a alone, A and B together, and B alone, wherein A and B may be singular or plural. The character "/" generally indicates that the former and latter associated objects are in an "or" relationship. "at least one of the following" or similar expressions refer to any combination of these items, including any combination of the singular or plural items. For example, "at least one of A, B, and C" includes A, B, C, AB, AC, BC, or ABC.

And, unless specifically stated otherwise, the embodiments of the present application refer to the ordinal numbers "first", "second", etc., for distinguishing between a plurality of objects, and do not limit the order, sequence, priority, or importance of the plurality of objects. For example, the first information and the second information are different information only for distinguishing them, and do not indicate a difference in priority, importance, or the like between the two information.

In order to more clearly and completely describe the technical solution of the present application, some embodiments of the present application are described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1A is a schematic diagram of a network architecture 100 according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 1A, a terminal (terminal 110 is shown) may access or communicate with a wireless network to obtain services of an external network (e.g., the internet) over the wireless network. The wireless network includes a network device (or Radio Access Network (RAN) device, shown as network device 120), where network device 120 is used to access terminal 110 to the wireless network. Alternatively, network device 120 may be a satellite or a satellite device. Alternatively, terminal 110 may communicate with network device 120 via a wireless interface (e.g., uu port).

It should be understood that the number of each device in the communication system shown in fig. 1A is only an illustration, and the embodiment of the present application is not limited thereto, and in practical applications, the communication system may further include more terminals 110, more RAN devices, and may further include other devices. For example, although not shown, the network architecture 100 shown in fig. 1A may include other functional entities in addition to the network functional entities shown in fig. 1A, such as: core network elements, etc., without limitation.

The terminal device (or simply terminal) in fig. 1A may be a wireless terminal device capable of receiving network device scheduling and indication information, and the wireless terminal device may be a device providing voice and/or data connectivity to a user, or a handheld device having wireless connection capability, or other processing device connected to a wireless modem. The terminal device may communicate with one or more core networks or the internet via a Radio Access Network (RAN), and the terminal device may be a User Equipment (UE). The terminal equipment may also be mobile terminal equipment such as mobile telephones (or so-called "cellular" telephones), computers and data cards, for example, which may be portable, pocket, hand-held, computer-included or vehicle-mounted mobile devices that exchange language and/or data with a radio access network. A wireless terminal may also be referred to as a system, a mobile station (mobile station), a Mobile Station (MS), a remote station (remote station), an Access Point (AP), a remote terminal (remote terminal), an access terminal (access terminal), a user terminal (user terminal), a user agent (user agent), a subscriber station (subscriber station, SS), a Customer Premises Equipment (CPE), a terminal (terminal), a User Equipment (UE), a Mobile Terminal (MT), etc. The terminal device may also be a wearable device (smart watch, smart bracelet, etc.), and may also be a smart furniture (or home appliance), an automobile in an internet of vehicles, a mechanical arm in an industrial internet, an intelligent refueling device, etc., and a next-generation communication system, for example, a terminal device in a fifth generation (5 g) communication system or a terminal device in a Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) that is evolved in the future, etc. The relay device may also be a roadside infrastructure.

The network device in fig. 1A may be a device in a wireless network, for example, the network device may be a Radio Access Network (RAN) node (or device) for accessing a terminal to the wireless network, and may also be referred to as a base station. Currently, some examples of RAN equipment are: a new generation base station (gnnodeb), a Transmission Reception Point (TRP), an evolved Node B (eNB), a Node B (NB), a home base station (e.g., home evolved Node B, or home Node B, HNB), a Base Band Unit (BBU), or a wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) Access Point (AP) in a 5G communication system. In addition, in one network configuration, the network device may include a Centralized Unit (CU) node, or a Distributed Unit (DU) node, or a RAN device including a CU node and a DU node. Furthermore, the network device may be other means for providing wireless communication functionality for the terminal device, where possible. For example, the network device may be a satellite. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific technologies and the specific device forms used by the network devices. For convenience of description, in the embodiments of the present application, a device that provides a wireless communication function for a terminal device is referred to as a network device or an access network device.

The network architecture illustrated in fig. 1A may be applied to communication systems of various radio access technologies, for example, a Long Term Evolution (LTE) communication system, a 5G (or referred to as a New Radio (NR) communication system, or a transition system between the LTE communication system and the 5G communication system, which may also be referred to as a 4.5G communication system, or certainly may be a future communication system.

It should be noted that the names of the network elements, the interfaces between the network elements, and the names of the protocol stacks in the architecture of fig. 1A are only an example, and the names of the interfaces between the network elements and the protocol stacks in the specific implementation can be other names, which is not specifically limited in this embodiment of the present application.

The following is an exemplary listing of several possible system architectures or scenarios.

Fig. 1B is a schematic diagram of a network architecture applicable to the embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 1B, under the transparent architecture (RAN architecture with transparent satellite), the satellite implements frequency conversion and radio frequency amplifiers on the uplink and downlink. The satellite repeats the NR-Uu radio interface from the feedback link (between the NTN gateway and the satellite) to the traffic link (between the satellite and the UE) and vice versa. The satellite is mainly used as a layer 1 relay (L1 relay) to regenerate the physical layer signal, and the high layer is invisible. Different transparent (transparent) satellites may be terrestrially connected to the same access network device (e.g., base station), and multiple base stations may also access the same transparent satellite.

The network architecture applicable to the embodiment of the present application may also be a satellite regeneration architecture, a regeneration architecture with a star link, a regeneration architecture in which a satellite is a distributed unit, or the like, and the embodiment of the present application is not limited.

Fig. 2A is a satellite communication method 200 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, for reducing the influence on communication performance caused by the long communication distance and the strong correlation between the coverage and the satellite orbit of the satellite communication. The method may be performed interactively between devices, modules or units. For example, the method may be performed interactively between a first module and a second module or between a first module and a first unit, or between a first unit and a second unit. The method may also be performed by the network device and the terminal interactively, or may of course be performed by components of the network device and the terminal interactively, such as modules, units, chips or chip systems. Illustratively, the network device is a radio access network device, and a radio communication interface, such as an LTE air interface or an NR air interface, is established between the terminal and the radio access network device. For convenience of introduction, hereinafter, the method is executed by a network device or a terminal as an example, and as shown in fig. 2A, the method 200 may include the following steps:

s210: and determining second information according to the first information, wherein the first information comprises ephemeris information, the second information is used for indicating first configuration information, and the first configuration information comprises configuration information for discontinuous reception.

Optionally, the first configuration information has an association relationship with satellite coverage information.

It is easily understood that, in the embodiment of the present application, the implementation manner in which the second information is used to indicate the first configuration information may be that the second information carries or includes the first configuration information. The second information may include indication information indicating the first configuration information, for example, the indication information may be identification information of the first configuration. The embodiment of the present application is not limited, and the first configuration information may be determined by the second information.

It will be readily appreciated that determining the second information from the first information may be understood as determining at least satellite coverage information from ephemeris information in the first information, and then determining the second information with reference to at least the satellite coverage information. For the manner of determining the coverage information, reference may be made to related descriptions in other methods in the present application, for example, reference may be made to related descriptions in step S620, which is not described again.

In a possible implementation manner, the network device determines the second information according to the first information, where for an exemplary introduction of the implementation manner, reference may be made to the relevant description in step S310, and details are not described again.

In a possible implementation manner, the terminal determines the second information according to the first information, where for an exemplary introduction of the implementation manner, reference may be made to the relevant description in step S410, and details are not described again.

The first configuration information includes configuration information for discontinuous reception, which may be understood as that the first configuration information includes configuration information for discontinuous reception of the terminal. Illustratively, the configuration information for discontinuous reception includes one or more of DRX, eDRX, or paging DRX.

In a possible implementation manner, the first configuration information includes first discontinuous reception configuration information and/or second discontinuous reception configuration information.

In a possible implementation manner, the first configuration information includes first discontinuous reception configuration information, where the first discontinuous reception configuration information includes at least two sets of discontinuous reception configurations. That is, the first configuration information includes multiple sets of drx configurations, which can also be understood as multiple sets of drx cycles (e.g., multiple sets of eDRX cycles and PTW windows) included in the first configuration information.

Optionally, the multiple sets of discontinuous reception configurations in the first configuration information are valid for the terminal at the same time. It is understood that the terminals use the multiple sets of discontinuous reception configurations simultaneously, or the multiple sets of discontinuous reception configurations are commonly used.

Optionally, the time period for the terminal to monitor the data includes at least two monitoring time periods corresponding to the discontinuous reception configurations. It can be understood that the terminal monitors data in the monitoring time period corresponding to each set of discontinuous reception configuration, or when it is determined that any set of discontinuous reception configuration corresponds to the monitoring time period, the terminal monitors. Or, the terminal uses the at least two sets of discontinuous reception configurations simultaneously.

Optionally, the at least two sets of discontinuous reception configurations are at least two different sets of discontinuous reception configurations. It is to be understood that at least one of the plurality of parameters, such as the period, the time offset, and the receiving time window (e.g., the paging time window), included between the at least two sets of discontinuous reception configurations is different. Illustratively, the reception time window may be understood as a paging time window when the discontinuous reception configuration is an eDRX configuration.

Optionally, the discontinuous reception configuration is associated with at least one satellite.

By way of example, the embodiment of the present application exemplifies an example of determining the second information according to the first information:

considering factors such as different satellite deployments and different satellite orbit directions, the time intervals of the coverage terminals may be greatly different, and it is easy for the situation that the satellite time intervals of the coverage terminals are irregular or aperiodic to occur, as shown in fig. 2B, a coverage information diagram of the satellite, and as shown in fig. 2B, the interval between the satellite coverage time 2 and the satellite coverage time 2 is greater than the interval between the satellite coverage time 2 and the satellite coverage time 1.

Illustratively, the first configuration information determined according to the ephemeris information includes 3 sets of discontinuous reception configurations (e.g., DRX1; DRX2 and DRX 3), specifically, an on-duration corresponding to DRX1 is associated with satellite coverage time 1, an on-duration corresponding to DRX2 is associated with satellite coverage time 2, and an on-duration corresponding to DRX3 is associated with satellite coverage time 2. For example, the listening period corresponding to DRX1 may be a paging time window or may be in an awake state (e.g., on duration) during the period. That is, the time period for which the terminal listens for data includes satellite coverage time 1, satellite coverage time 2, and satellite coverage time 3. Of course, the time period for the terminal to listen to the data may partially or completely coincide with the satellite coverage time 1, the satellite coverage time 2, and the satellite coverage time 3, and may be adjusted according to specific applications. For example, the satellite coverage time 3 is a time period (e.g., early morning or late night) when the terminal has low requirement on the communication quality, and the listening time periods corresponding to the sets of discontinuous reception configurations included in the first configuration information determined according to the ephemeris information may partially coincide with the coverage time 3. It is easy to understand that the number of configured discontinuous reception configurations is not limited, and the first configuration information determined according to the ephemeris information may also include 2 sets of discontinuous reception cycles (e.g., DRX4 and DRX 5), specifically, the monitored duration corresponding to DRX4 is associated with satellite coverage times 1 and 2, and the monitored duration corresponding to DRX5 is associated with satellite coverage time 3.

S220: and interacting the second information.

Wherein interacting the second information may be understood as aligning or indicating the second information. Such as by way of communication, to notify or indicate the second information.

For example, the second information is aligned or indicated between the network device and the terminal, and in an exemplary case where the second information is determined by the network device, the network device sends the second information to the terminal, and accordingly, the terminal receives the second information. In another possible mode, when the second information is determined by the terminal, the terminal sends the second information to the network device, and correspondingly, the network device receives the second information.

S230: communicating according to or with reference to the second information.

It is understood that the communication is performed according to the first configuration information indicated by the second information. For example, the communication is performed according to the discontinuous reception configuration indicated by the first configuration information.

Illustratively, after the second information is interacted between the network device and the terminal, the network device and the terminal communicate according to or by referring to the second information.

It is to be understood that the first configuration information and the satellite coverage information have an association relationship, and the enabling state of the first configuration is determined according to the satellite coverage information. Wherein the enabled state includes activation or deactivation.

Optionally, in case it is determined that there is no satellite coverage, a power saving mode is entered. For example, it may also be understood that in this case, the first configuration is disabled, or the first configuration is deactivated. The Power Saving Mode PSM (Power Saving Mode) is the most important technology for Saving the battery life of the terminal, and is similar to Power off, the terminal closes the access layer function to save Power, and does not receive any downlink message, including system message and paging message, so the terminal cannot receive any downlink data in the PSM, but the terminal still remains in the attached state in the network, and after the terminal wakes up from the PSM, the attachment process does not need to be executed again. A terminal entering PSM will only exit PSM when the terminal has data to send and needs to perform a scheduling request and periodic tracking area update.

It is to be understood that, in the embodiments of the present application, determining the presence or absence of the satellite coverage may be understood as that the terminal is not under the satellite coverage, or the terminal cannot receive the information transmitted by the satellite, or the terminal cannot communicate through the satellite. Alternatively, determining the presence or absence of satellite coverage may be understood as determining the presence or absence of coverage by a network device (e.g., a terrestrial network device). It is easy to understand that the satellite communication method proposed in the present application can also be applied in a terrestrial communication scenario, that is, the satellite can be replaced by a terrestrial base station.

Alternatively, in the case where it is determined that there is no satellite coverage, a mobile initiated connection only Mode (MICO) is entered. The terminal is in the MICO mode, if the terminal is in the CM-IDLE state, only the terminal can initiate a Service-Req terminal st to establish connection, the AMF does not page the terminal to establish connection when receiving downlink data or messages of a user, and the terminal does not receive the downlink data or messages in the MICO mode. The network can send downlink data or messages to the terminal only if the terminal is in the CM-CONNECTED state.

Optionally, the first configuration is used or activated in case it is determined that there is satellite coverage.

Optionally, step S240: the second information is updated.

Wherein, updating the second information may be understood as updating the first configuration information in the second information, or changing the content or configuration indicated by the second information. For example, the first configuration information is notified or instructed to be changed by means of communication, or new first configuration information is enabled. It is easy and immediate, and the timing of executing step S240 is not limited, and may be, for example, after step S230 or before step S230.

One possible implementation of updating the second information is that the network device sends first indication information to the terminal, where the first indication information indicates a configuration type used by the terminal, or the first indication information is used to indicate the terminal to perform configuration switching, change, or enable a new configuration. For example, the first indication information is used to indicate that the first discontinuous reception configuration information or the second discontinuous reception configuration information is used, and the second discontinuous reception configuration information includes a single-cycle discontinuous reception configuration. Optionally, the first indication information is non-access stratum (NAS) signaling, radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling, medium access control (MAC CE) or physical layer control signaling.

Illustratively, when the network device and the terminal communicate with each other according to the second information, the second information may be determined to be updated according to the communication performance. The updating of the second information may be triggered by the network device or by the terminal. Wherein determining to update the second information according to the communication performance comprises determining to update the second information according to one or more of communication quality and paging performance. For example, the network device determines to update the second information in case of a paging failure.

It is to be understood that the above is an example where the method is performed by a network device or a terminal, and when the method is performed between modules, or between units, or between modules and units, reference may be made to the relevant description where the method is performed by a network device or a terminal, except that the execution subject is changed from the network device or the terminal to the module or the unit. Alternatively, the module or unit may be implemented by hardware and/or software, and the embodiments of the present application are not limited thereto. For example, in one possible manner, when the second information is determined by the second module, the second module sends the second information to the first module, and accordingly, the first module receives the second information.

It should be understood that steps S210 to S240 have no timing relationship, for example, step S210 may be executed first and then step S220 is executed, alternatively, step S210 and step S220 may be executed by different network elements or entities, for example, after the first module (or the first unit) executes step S210, the first module sends or transmits the second information to the second module, and then the second module and the third module execute step S220. Step S220 may be executed first and then step S210 may be executed, for example, when step S220 is executed, step S210 is executed to determine the second information if it is determined that there is no second information, in which case step S210 may be understood as a sub-step of step S220.

It should also be understood that some of the steps S210 to S230 may be optional steps according to different execution subjects or different scene applications. For example, step S210 or step S220 is an optional step.

In the method, the second information is determined according to or by referring to the ephemeris information, the second information is interacted between the network equipment and the terminal, and wireless communication is carried out according to the second information. The second information is determined according to or by referring to the ephemeris information, which is beneficial to assisting the network device or the terminal to improve the matching degree of the discontinuous reception configuration and the network device coverage information, and specifically, the waking time of the terminal and the time of the satellite covering the terminal can be more matched, so that the communication quality is improved.

The following illustrates, in connection with a particular scenario, several possible implementations.

To further illustrate possible implementation manners of the method 200, taking as an example that after the network device determines the second information, the network device interacts the second information with the terminal, the method 200 may be executed by a different entity or network element, and this embodiment of the present application introduces a possible satellite communication method 300, where the method includes:

s310: the network equipment determines second information according to the first information, wherein the first information comprises ephemeris information, the second information is used for indicating first configuration information, and the first configuration information comprises configuration information for discontinuous reception.

Optionally, the first configuration information has an association relationship with the satellite coverage information.

The first configuration information and the satellite coverage information are associated with each other, and it can be understood that the time when the terminal wakes up by the first configuration information matches the network device coverage information (or referred to as satellite coverage information).

For example, the content of the second information used for indicating the implementation of the first configuration information, the definition of the first configuration information, and the inclusion may refer to the relevant description in step S210, and is not described again.

Optionally, the first information further includes auxiliary information, which is used for assisting in determining the second information, for example, auxiliary information related to the terminal, and the auxiliary information includes at least one of the following: the location information of the terminal, the time information, the serving cell coverage information of the terminal, or the discontinuous reception configuration information suggested by the terminal. Or assistance information associated with the network device, such as assistance information including one or more of location information, time information, and coverage information of the network device.

In one possible approach, the network device receives assistance information from the terminal. Correspondingly, the terminal sends or reports the auxiliary information to the network equipment to assist the network equipment to determine the second information. It is to be understood that the auxiliary information may also be referred to as request information, for example, the terminal reports the request information for requesting the network to configure the second information. Optionally, the request information carries the auxiliary information. Optionally, the terminal generates the assistance information according to information such as ephemeris information and terminal position. That is, the network device determines the second information with reference to the ephemeris information and the assistance information. And when the second information is determined, the communication performance is improved by combining the auxiliary information reported by the terminal.

In one possible approach, the network device receives assistance information from other network devices. That is, the auxiliary information is transmitted to the network device by the other network device. Optionally, the other network device may be a core network device or an access network device.

The location information may illustratively be absolute location information or actual physical location information, such as latitude and longitude information. The location information may also be relative location information, e.g. with respect to other network elements or devices. Or coarse-grained location information, such as a virtual cell ID finer than the NTN cell (the NTN cell is divided into sub-cells according to some partitioning means, or called a virtual cell, and each sub-cell is numbered, and the UE can report the sub-cell number).

Illustratively, the time information may be absolute time information or relative time information. For example, the time information may be one or more of serving cell coverage remaining time information, broadcast (e.g., system broadcast) time information, or information related to terminal communication.

Illustratively, the serving cell coverage information is used to reflect information related to the serving cell coverage, e.g., information related to one or more of serving cell coverage, coverage period, coverage strength, or coverage continuity. It is easy to understand that the coverage information is not limited to the serving cell, but may be other cells, for example, the coverage information is related to some or all of the cells that the terminal can perceive.

Illustratively, the discontinuous reception configuration information suggested by the terminal may be understood as discontinuous reception configuration information biased, preferred or preferred by the terminal. Optionally, the terminal determines discontinuous reception configuration information suggested by the terminal according to at least one of ephemeris information, location information, cell coverage information, and the like. The ephemeris information may be derived from a cell system message or preconfigured, and the embodiment of the present application is not limited.

The time when the terminal wakes up and the time when the satellite covers the terminal are more matched by configuring or using multiple sets of DRX, eDRX or paging DRX cycles. Particularly, the terminal proposes the (e) DRX cycle, which combines the assistance information (e.g. the location of the terminal), so that the time when the terminal wakes up and the time when the satellite covers the terminal are more coincident, and the terminal can obtain a better signal coverage opportunity, transmit data and listen to the PDCCH and page in time.

S320: and the network equipment sends the second information to the terminal.

Accordingly, the terminal receives the second information from the network device.

S330: and the network equipment and the terminal communicate according to the second information.

Optionally, the method further includes an optional step S340: the network equipment sends first indication information to the terminal, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating the configuration type used by the terminal, or the first indication information is used for indicating the terminal to switch, change or enable new configuration. For example, the first indication information is used to indicate that the first discontinuous reception configuration information or the second discontinuous reception configuration information is used, and the second discontinuous reception configuration information includes a single-cycle discontinuous reception configuration. For the related description of the first indication information, reference may be made to the description in step S240, and details are not repeated.

Accordingly, the terminal receives the first indication information.

It will be appreciated that there are many possible ways or conditions for triggering the network device to send the first indication information. In a possible manner, the network device sends the first indication information when it is inferred or determined that the current discontinuous reception configuration is not suitable for the terminal device. For example, when the paging fails, the network device sends first indication information to the terminal, where the first indication information is used to instruct the terminal to update the configuration. The updating of the configuration may include enabling a single-cycle discontinuous reception configuration, and the discontinuous reception configuration may be a long cycle, which may ensure communication between the network device and the terminal on the basis of power saving.

Through the first indication information, the network device may indicate whether the terminal uses the ephemeris-based multiple DRX cycles or the DRX single cycle, and the indication may allow the terminal to flexibly use the ephemeris-based multiple DRX cycles or the general DRX cycle, or indicate to perform DRX configuration update. For example, the ephemeris-based cycle may be biased, and when the network device recognizes that the current DRX cycle is not suitable for the terminal in case of paging failure, etc., the first indication information may be sent to enable the terminal to enable a single eDRX cycle, which may be a long cycle, to save power and ensure that the network device and the terminal can communicate.

Illustratively, the ephemeris information in the embodiment of the present application includes at least one of: satellite position information, satellite flight velocity information, satellite flight direction information, or satellite orbit information. It is to be understood that, the content specifically included in the ephemeris information is not limited in the present application, and information related to satellite coverage may be regarded as the ephemeris information.

It should be understood that the steps in the method 300 do not limit the timing relationship, and it should be further understood that some of the steps from step S310 to step S330 may be optional steps according to different execution subjects or different scene applications. For example, step S310 is an optional step. Illustratively, when step S310 is an optional step, the method further includes the network device obtaining the second information before step S320. There are many implementations of obtaining the second information, for example, the second information may be obtained from a core network device.

Optionally, the terminal updates or adjusts the discontinuous reception configuration when it is determined that the trigger condition is satisfied. For example, the trigger condition may be that the terminal does not monitor the PDCCH or page for N consecutive or cumulative awakenings. The updating or adjusting of the discontinuous reception configuration by the terminal comprises: turn on the search mode (wake up until a signal is received or a PDCCH or page is monitored), wake up randomly ignoring the current eDRX cycle, or change the current cycle mode (e.g., bias is added, adjust the start and end times of wake up forward or backward). It will be readily appreciated that these changes or adjustments may be switched to each other, for example, in the case where the terminal does not listen to data after waking up randomly, the terminal may switch to the continuous listening data mode.

In the method, the network equipment determines the second information according to or by referring to the ephemeris information, the network equipment and the terminal exchange the second information, and wireless communication is carried out according to the second information. Optionally, the network device receives auxiliary information sent by the terminal, and is used to assist in determining the second information. The second information is determined according to or by referring to the ephemeris information, which is beneficial to assisting the network device or the terminal to improve the matching degree between the discontinuous reception configuration and the network device coverage information, and specifically, the wake-up time of the terminal and the time of the satellite covering the terminal can be more matched, so that the communication performance is improved.

The method 200 may be executed by different entities or network elements, and to further illustrate a possible implementation manner of the method 200, taking as an example that after the terminal determines the second information, the network device interacts the second information with the terminal, the embodiment of the present application introduces a possible satellite communication method 400, where the method includes:

s410: the terminal determines second information according to the first information, wherein the first information comprises ephemeris information, the second information is used for indicating first configuration information, the first configuration information comprises configuration information used for discontinuous reception, and the first configuration information has an association relation with satellite coverage information.

For example, the implementation of the second information used for indicating the first configuration information, the definition of the first configuration information, and the content included in the second configuration information may refer to the relevant description in step S210, and are not described again.

For example, several possible ways of determining the second information by the terminal are introduced:

in a possible implementation, the second information is determined according to ephemeris information included in the first information.

Optionally, the ephemeris information is derived from cell system information or is pre-configured or pre-defined. For example, the terminal acquires the ephemeris information in a System Information (SI) broadcast. As another example, the ephemeris information is pre-configured. Alternatively, the ephemeris information or information to assist in determining the second information is received from the network device. The information that assists in determining the second information may be, for example, location information of the network device or deployment information of the network device.

In yet another possible implementation manner, the first information further includes one or more of location information, time information, and coverage information. That is, the terminal determines the second information from the ephemeris information and other assistance information. The relevant contents of the location information, the time information and the coverage information can refer to the relevant introduction of step S310. In this implementation, the information is determined autonomously by the terminal, or the terminal obtains from another network element (e.g., a core network device or an access network device).

S420: and the terminal sends the second information to the network equipment.

Accordingly, the network device receives the second information from the terminal.

S430: and the network equipment and the terminal communicate according to the second information.

As will be readily understood, the related content of the communication according to the second information may refer to the related description in step S330, and will not be described in detail.

It should be understood that the steps in the method 400 do not limit the timing relationship, and it should be further understood that some of the steps from step S410 to step S430 may be optional steps according to different execution subjects or different scene applications. For example, step S410 is an optional step. Illustratively, when step S410 is an optional step, the method further includes the terminal obtaining the second information before step S420. There are many implementations in which the second information is obtained, for example, it may be obtained from other devices (e.g., other terminal devices).

In the method, the terminal determines the second information according to or by referring to the ephemeris information, the network device and the terminal interact the second information, and wireless communication is performed according to the second information. The second information is determined according to or by referring to the ephemeris information, which is beneficial to assisting the network device or the terminal to improve the matching degree of the discontinuous reception configuration and the network device coverage information, and specifically, the waking time of the terminal and the time of the satellite covering the terminal can be more matched, so that the communication performance is improved.

An access network device (such as a base station) receives a paging message sent by a core network device or other base stations, the paging message indicates an eDRX period and a PTW duration of a terminal, and the base station needs to buffer a received paging request and sends the paging request until the PTW starting time. The terminal in the wireless RRC IDLE/active will monitor paging (paging) during the PWT time of eDRX cycle. However, in satellite communication, since the flight speed of the satellite is very fast, different regions can be covered at different times, and it is likely that the base station does not cover the terminal when sending a page, which results in a situation of wasting signaling.

While this embodiment of the present application illustratively describes one possible satellite communication method 500, it should be readily understood that the method described in method 500 may be used in combination with or nested with all or some of the steps of the method described above. The method comprises the following steps:

s510: determining a paging message, wherein the paging message comprises time information and/or position information, the time information comprises time information used for indicating paging starting and/or time information used for stopping paging, and the position information comprises position information associated with a paged terminal device.

Optionally, determining the paging message includes determining the paging message by the access network device or the core network device.

In one possible implementation, determining the paging message includes: and determining the paging message according to the position information.

Optionally, determining the paging message may further include determining the paging message by referring to other associated information. Other associated information includes information to assist in improving paging performance, such as ephemeris information, location information of the network device, and the like.

In one possible approach, the paging message includes location information. That is, the paging message carries the location information of the terminal, so that the network device (e.g., the second network device) receiving the paging message can determine the location information of the terminal. Alternatively, the location information may be coarse-grained location information. After obtaining the location information, the second network device may determine or estimate time information for sending a page to the terminal according to other related information such as the location information, for example, estimate a start time and/or an end time for sending the page to the terminal. By the method, the paging message at the air interface side is more intelligent, and the paging resource is saved.

In one possible approach, the paging message includes time information. The paging message carries a start and/or end time for allowing a network device (e.g., a second network device) receiving the paging message to determine when to send the paging message to the terminal and/or to stop sending the paging message. Optionally, the time information in the paging message is determined according to the location information, and the time information includes start and/or end time information of the paging terminal. It can be understood that, after determining the time information according to the location information, the source base station or the core network device carries the time information in a paging message and sends the paging message to the second network device, so that the second network device pages the terminal according to the paging message.

In one possible approach, the paging message includes time information and location information.

Optionally, the paging message further includes other paging related information. For example, period information, duration information, and the like.

S520: and sending the paging message.

Optionally, sending the paging message includes sending the paging message to a network device (e.g., a second network device) by an access network device (e.g., a first network device) or a core network device. Optionally, the first network device is a source base station of the terminal device.

In one possible implementation, sending the paging message includes sending the paging message to a network device in a Tracking Area Information (TAI) list (list).

In one possible implementation, sending the paging message includes: and sending a paging message to the network equipment, wherein the position information of the network equipment is associated with the position information of the terminal. That is, the paging message may be sent to a network device associated with the terminal location. The association with the terminal position may be understood as that the position relationship between the network device and the terminal satisfies a position condition, where the position condition may be that the distance between the network device and the terminal satisfies a threshold condition or is smaller than a first threshold. It is understood that in this implementation, the paging message is sent to some network devices according to the location information, and not all base stations in the TAI list. This can save a lot of interface and empty paging resources.

And after receiving the paging message, the second network equipment determines a paging sending mode to the terminal according to the information in the paging message.

In one possible approach, the second network device determines or estimates the start and/or end time of sending a page to the terminal based on the location information carried in the paging message.

In a possible manner, the second network device determines the start time and/or the end time of sending the page to the terminal according to the time information carried in the paging message. That is, the start and/or end time of the transmission of the page to the terminal is determined according to the indication of the paging message.

Optionally, when determining or estimating the time information for sending the page to the terminal, the second network device may further include determining the time information for sending the page to the terminal with reference to other associated information, where the other associated information includes information for assisting the second network device in determining the time information, for example, ephemeris information, location information of the network device, and the like.

In the method, the paging message sent by the core network device or the access network device carries the location information and/or the time information, and the network device (such as the second network device) for receiving the paging message determines the time information for sending the paging message to the terminal, so that the utilization rate of the paging resource is optimized. In the optional implementation step, the paging message is sent to the second network device associated with the terminal location, instead of sending the paging message to all network devices in the TAI list, so that the paging resource cost of an interface and an air interface is saved.

For a terminal in a connected state, in a possible implementation manner, when the signal quality of a serving cell is degraded, a new cell is accessed through handover, radio Link Failure (RLF) may be caused when handover is not performed in time, and then the terminal may perform cell selection and perform RRC reestablishment after finding a suitable cell.

For a terminal in an idle state or an inactive state, in one possible implementation, when the signal quality of the serving cell is degraded, the terminal will camp on a new cell through cell reselection. When the terminal has a data transmission requirement or hears paging in a resident cell, the idle terminal performs RRC establishment in the cell, and the non-active terminal performs RRC recovery in the cell and reconnects with the network equipment.

However, in the early deployment of NTN, there is a high possibility that a coverage discontinuity scenario exists, which may result in that the terminal cannot search for a signal for a long time, and in an extreme scenario, there is even a high possibility that only one satellite covering the terminal may be used, and the period of one round around the earth is about 90 minutes according to the estimated flight speed of the satellite at 7km/s after the satellite has one round around the earth when the terminal has a signal next time. That is, there is no signal above the terminal for this 90 minutes. The connected terminal may have no switchable next target cell, and will have RLF, then perform cell selection, and enter RRC idle state after the timer T311 (default value of 30 s) expires. But since there is no signal, the cell selection behavior of 30s is redundant, the terminal always performs cell selection, and the measurement consumes a large amount of power; and after finding that the quality of the serving cell is not good, the terminal in an idle state or an inactive state starts cell reselection, but if the terminal cannot detect a suitable cell, the terminal enters an arbitrary cell selection state (any cell selection state), and in this state, the terminal scans (or measures) all frequency points in all supported systems until a suitable cell is found. Because there is no cell coverage, the terminal may be in any cell selection state all the time, and perform measurement all the time, consuming a large amount of power.

Illustratively, the present application describes a possible satellite communication method 600, which includes:

s610: a first cell is determined.

The method for determining the first cell may be that the network device issues signaling or a protocol specification. Optionally, the terminal determines the first cell.

Optionally, second indication information for indicating the first cell is received from the network device.

In one possible approach, the first cell is predefined or preconfigured.

In one possible approach, the first cell is a single cell.

In one possible approach, the first cell is at least two cells or is referred to as a cell group.

Optionally, the first cell uses a CGI identifier or uses a frequency and PCI identifier. The embodiments of the present application are not limited.

S620: and accessing or transmitting and receiving data in the first cell, and forbidding accessing or transmitting and receiving data in a second cell, wherein the second cell is a cell except the first cell.

It can be understood that the terminal only accesses the first cell, the terminal in the connected state prohibits cell handover, and the terminal in the idle state or the inactive state prohibits cell reselection.

It is to be understood that the prohibition in the embodiments of the present application may be understood as omitting (skip), avoiding (avoid), or not. For example, prohibiting cell handover may be understood as omitting cell handover, not performing cell handover, or avoiding cell handover.

In this embodiment, there are multiple possible ways to trigger the terminal to access only the first cell, and in one possible way, the terminal receives third indication information sent by the network device, where the third indication information indicates that the terminal accesses or receives and transmits data in the first cell, and prohibits accessing or receiving and transmitting data in the second cell. Correspondingly, the terminal receives third indication information from the network equipment. Optionally, the network device prohibits issuing the neighboring measurement configuration to the terminal.

In one possible approach, the terminal triggers access to only the first cell according to the measurement result. For example, the terminal determines that a non-continuous coverage scenario is currently available, or the terminal determines that there is no neighboring cell currently through measurement.

Optionally, an optional step S630 is further included: the first cell is measured and the second cell is prohibited from being measured. It is to be understood that the measurement of the terminal is only for the first cell.

In a possible manner, in the case that it is determined that there is no coverage of the first cell, monitoring of the physical downlink control channel of the first cell is prohibited, or cell selection is prohibited after a radio link failure.

In one possible method, when it is determined that the first cell covers the radio link, after the radio link fails, the RRC reestablishment procedure is prohibited in the first cell, and random access is performed. Optionally, the first timer is prohibited from being started, and the first timer is a timer associated with a cell selection procedure executed by the terminal to select a suitable cell and initiate an RRC reestablishment procedure. Illustratively, the first timer is a T311 timer.

Optionally, satellite coverage information (e.g., including first cell coverage information) is determined from the ephemeris information. For example, when the first cell is a cell covered by a satellite, the satellite coverage information may be determined according to the ephemeris information.

Optionally, the first cell coverage information may also be determined according to other auxiliary information, for example, the auxiliary information includes location information and/or time information. For example, satellite coverage information is determined from ephemeris information and position information. For example, the auxiliary information may be obtained autonomously, for example, by means of measurement, or may be obtained from another network element or device by means of communication or interaction, and the embodiment of the present application is not limited in this application.

In one possible approach, measuring the first cell and prohibiting the measurement of the second cell comprises: and when the measurement times do not reach the first threshold value or the timer does not time out, measuring the first cell and forbidding measuring the second cell.

When coverage is discontinuous in an NTN scene, under the condition that no signal coverage is presumed, the terminal skips the steps of cell selection, cell reselection, neighbor cell measurement and the like, so that a large amount of electric quantity is saved for the terminal. And an exception handling mechanism is introduced to ensure that the terminal can keep connection with the network when the terminal can not detect a specific cell.

For the terminal from the RRC connected state to the idle state or the inactive state, a possible way is to receive an RRC release message sent by the network side, where the message has indication information for indicating whether the UE is in the idle state or the inactive state. Considering that the round trip delay of satellite communication is long and the time for covering the terminal is limited, the problem that the RRC message cannot be received is likely to occur. That is, the RRC signaling sent by the network does not reach the terminal, and thus the terminal is no longer covered, resulting in RLF, and the signal cannot be received and transmitted normally. This results in the terminal still being in the RRC connected state and still sending data to the network, resulting in wasted signaling and power.

Illustratively, the present application describes a possible satellite communication method 700, which includes:

s710: a first condition is determined, the first condition being associated with one or more of time information, location information, or signal quality information.

In one possible approach, fourth indication information indicating the first condition is received from the network device; alternatively, the first condition is predefined or preconfigured. Optionally, the fourth indication information is carried in the RRC release message.

Illustratively, the time information includes absolute time information or relative time information.

The position information includes absolute position information or relative position information.

The quality information includes information reflecting communication quality, wherein the communication quality may be signal quality, for example, the quality information may be one or more of reference signal received power information, reference signal received quality information, or signal to interference plus noise ratio information.

S720: when the first condition is satisfied, it is determined to enter an idle state or an inactive state from a connected state.

Optionally, satisfying the first condition includes: one or more of the time information, the location information, or the signal quality information satisfies a threshold condition.

In the method, the RRC release command with the condition is sent in advance, and the terminal is instructed to enter an idle state or an inactive state from a connected state to enter the RRC idle state or the inactive state when the first condition (such as specific time/position/signal quality) is met, so that the terminal can enter the RRC idle state or the inactive state in time, and data is prevented from being still sent to a network when no signal is covered.

Considering that the round trip delay of satellite communication is long and the time for covering the terminal is limited, the embodiment of the present application introduces a possible satellite communication method 800, which includes:

s810: the network equipment sends release indication information to the terminal, wherein the release indication information is used for indicating the terminal to enter an idle state or an inactive state, and the release indication information is contained in the MAC CE.

Correspondingly, the terminal equipment receives the release indication information from the network equipment.

S820: and the terminal enters an idle state or an inactive state according to the release indication information.

In the method, the terminal is indicated to enter the RRC idle state or the non-activated state in a mode of MAC CE, so that the terminal can enter the RRC idle state or the non-activated state in time, and data is prevented from being still transmitted to a network when no signal is covered.

As can be easily understood, in a satellite communication scenario, satellite coverage information (e.g., whether coverage exists, whether coverage is connected, and coverage quality) has a large impact on communication policies of the terminal and the network device. To reduce the adverse impact of satellite coverage information on communication performance, the present application embodiment introduces a possible satellite communication method 900, including:

s910: coverage information is determined.

The coverage information is used to indicate the coverage of the communication network or communication service, and may be, for example, information related to one or more of coverage, coverage period, coverage strength, or coverage continuity.

It can be understood that, the manner of determining the coverage information may refer to the related introduction in the foregoing method, for example, refer to the related description of step S620, which is not described again.

In one possible approach, the coverage information is determined autonomously, e.g., from ephemeris information and/or assistance information. Optionally, the terminal or the network device determines the coverage information.

In a possible manner, the coverage information sent by other devices is received, for example, the terminal receives the coverage information from the network device or the core network device.

S920: a first operation is determined based on the coverage information.

Wherein the first operation is related to a communication policy, e.g., the communication policy includes one or more of cell information, measurement information, operation mode or configuration application information.

Illustratively, the cell information includes information of a cell or a cell group for access, or further includes information of a cell or a cell group for which access is prohibited.

The measurement information includes information related to a measurement mode, measurement contents, or a measurement object.

The operation mode includes a power saving type or power saving mode information, for example, the operation mode may include a discontinuous reception mode (PSM), a power saving Mode (MICO), and the like.

The configuration application information includes information on the manner in which the configuration is used, for example, the configuration application information includes activation or deactivation operation, configuration update or switching operation of the configuration.

One possible way to determine the first operation from the coverage information is to:

and according to the coverage information, under the condition that no coverage is determined, prohibiting monitoring a physical downlink control channel, or prohibiting cell selection after a radio link fails.

And under the condition that coverage is determined according to the coverage information, after the radio link fails, prohibiting to perform an RRC reestablishment process and performing random access. Optionally, the first timer is prohibited from being started, and the first timer is a timer associated with a cell selection procedure executed by the terminal to select a suitable cell and initiate an RRC reestablishment procedure. Illustratively, the first timer is a T311 timer.

Yet another possible way to determine the first operation according to the coverage information is to:

and in case of determining that there is no coverage according to the coverage information, entering a power saving mode, such as a PSM mode or a MICO mode.

And using eDRX under the condition that coverage is determined according to the coverage information. For example, the eDRX may be a single-cycle eDRX or a multi-cycle eDRX, and the related description about the multi-cycle eDRX may refer to the related description in the method 200.

Illustratively, the method may be performed by a terminal.

in case it is determined from the coverage information that there is no coverage, the measurement is prohibited or not performed. For example, no cell measurements are made.

Based on the coverage information, cell measurements are performed in case it is determined that there is coverage, wherein there are various ways to perform cell measurements, e.g. to define the range of cell measurements.

Illustratively, this approach may be terminal-implemented.

It is easily understood that the above-mentioned first operation is taken as cell information, measurement information or operation mode by way of example only, and the first operation may also be a combination of multiple operations, for example, a combination of operations associated with one or more of cell information, measurement information, operation mode or configuration application information.

For example, another possible way to determine the first operation according to the coverage information is to:

in case it is determined that there is no coverage according to the coverage information, measurements are prohibited or not performed and cell selection is prohibited after radio link failure.

And under the condition that coverage is determined according to the coverage information, cell measurement is carried out, and after the radio link fails, RRC reestablishment flow is forbidden to be carried out, and random access is carried out. Illustratively, the method may be performed by a terminal.

By the method, the first operation is determined according to the coverage information, so that the influence of the coverage information on the communication performance is reduced, and the communication quality is improved.

When a terminal performs random access in a cell in a scene such as handover, the random access type is selected according to network configuration and beam quality information of a current beam (beam). Illustratively, the beam quality information includes: one or more of Reference Signal Receiving Power (RSRP) quality information, reference Signal Receiving Quality (RSRQ) information.

The access types of the terminal are generally as follows:

four steps (or 4 steps) of Contention Based Random Access (CBRA); 2, CBRA;4 steps of non-contention random access (CFRA), 2 steps of CFRA.

It is easy to understand that the difference between CBRA and CFRA is mainly that CBRA uses cell common Random Access (RACH) resource, which may be used by other terminals in the cell at the same time, causing contention collision and finally causing RACH failure. And CFRA uses resources dedicated to the terminal.

In order to enable the network device to better adjust the RACH resources and thus give the terminal a better RACH success rate, the terminal is required to record and report the RACH procedure in a possible manner. For example, the recording of the RACH procedure may let the network know at what signal quality the terminal succeeded or failed the RACH.

In the implementation mode, the terminal is provided to record the downlink beam quality RSRP value before sending the preamble (preamble) each time. Since 100 preambles may be sent each time RACH, which causes redundancy of records, how to reduce redundancy of access records under the condition that it is ensured that network equipment can adjust RACH resources and random access related configuration according to RACH records is an urgent problem to be solved.

Illustratively, an embodiment of the present application describes a possible satellite communication method 1000, which includes:

s1010: and carrying out random access.

It is understood that the terminal or a component in the terminal, such as a chip or a processor, performs random access.

In one possible approach, a first access configuration is received, where the first access configuration includes information indicating a type of random access, and the random access type information indicates a type of random access. For introduction of the random access type, reference may be made to the description of the access type of the terminal, which is not described in detail. It is easily understood that the first access configuration may further include other information for indicating or configuring the random access association, and the embodiments of the present application are not limited thereto.

S1020: and sending a random access report meeting a first condition to the network equipment, wherein the first condition is associated with one or more of beam quality information, random access type information, a random access attempt number threshold value, random access attempt failure reason information and random access success associated information.

Wherein, the random access report satisfying the first condition can be understood as that the first random access record in the random report satisfies the first condition. The first random access record is used for recording the record of access attempt association in the random access process. For example, the first random access record includes one or more of beam quality information, path loss information, information on whether access is successful, and information on failure of the access attempt. It is to be understood that the following description mainly uses the beam quality information as an example, but it is to be understood that the beam quality information may be replaced by the path loss information or by the beam quality information and the path loss information. Illustratively, the path loss information is downlink path loss information.

The associating the first condition with one or more of beam quality information, random access type information, a threshold of random access attempt times, reason information of random access attempt failure, and information of random access success association includes: the first condition is a condition that includes a definition of the one or more information. That is, the first condition may include a single condition (for example, the first condition defines that the beam quality needs to satisfy a certain condition), or may include multiple conditions or be referred to as a combination of conditions (for example, the first condition defines that the beam quality satisfies a certain condition, and the random access type also needs to satisfy a certain condition).

It is easily understood that multiple attempts (e.g., N times, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 1) may be made for random access, and the random access report satisfying the first condition may be understood as a random access procedure satisfying the first condition in the N random access attempts or a corresponding procedure information record in the random access attempt. That is, the random report includes the procedure information record corresponding to j (j is an integer of 1 or more and less than N) random access attempts satisfying the first condition among N times.

Illustratively, the associating the first condition with the beam quality information comprises:

the first condition comprises a beam quality information condition, the beam quality information condition being associated with the first beam quality information and/or the second beam quality information; the first beam quality information is corresponding beam quality information when random access is successful, and the second beam quality information is corresponding beam quality information meeting one or more conditions of a beam quality threshold, a threshold or a sequencing ratio in at least one random access attempt process associated with a random access attempt time threshold.

Wherein, the threshold of the number of random access attempts is used for indicating that when the threshold of the number of random access attempts is reached, switching (switch) of the random access type is performed or the random access type is changed. For example, the terminal performs a first type of random access, and when the number of times of performing the first type of random access attempts reaches a threshold number of random access attempts, the terminal attempts a second type of random access. It will be readily appreciated that the threshold number of random access attempts (which may also be referred to as a maximum number of attempts) may be configured, preconfigured or predefined by the network device. It is easy to understand that the terminal may also have other trigger conditions for random access type handover, and the embodiment of the present application is not limited. For example, the terminal does not find an SSB above the threshold, and the terminal performs a random access type handover.

Illustratively, the associating the first condition with the random access attempt failure cause information includes:

the first condition includes a random access attempt failure cause condition, and the random access attempt failure cause condition is associated with no detection of contention failure information, which is only an example, and other causes capable of indicating a random access attempt failure may also be associated with the cause condition. As will be readily appreciated, the random access attempt failure cause information is used to indicate a reason why no random access was successful when a random access attempt was made. Illustratively, the reason is that no contention failure is detected when RACH fails under the RSRP, i.e., the reason for RACH failure under the RSRP is not contention collision. Alternatively, the reason is poor signal quality.

In one possible implementation, the sending the random access report satisfying the first condition includes:

the first beam quality information and/or the second beam quality information is transmitted. For example, after the maximum number of attempts in the first type of random access is performed, the RSRP value corresponding to the random access attempt with the best RSRP during the unsuccessful access procedure is sent.

Optionally, the second beam quality information further satisfies a random access attempt failure cause condition. That is, the first beam quality information and/or the second beam quality information satisfying the random access attempt failure cause condition is transmitted. For example, after the maximum number of attempts in the first type of random access is performed and no successful access is performed, the RSRP value corresponding to the random access attempt with the best RSRP and without contention failure is detected.

Optionally, the terminal determines to send the random access report meeting the first condition according to the indication information of the network device, and it may be understood that the first condition may be indicated by the network device. By the method, the network equipment instructs the terminal to report the random access record meeting the first condition in the random access report.

For example, the embodiments of the present application provide several possible implementations for reporting a random access report that satisfies a first condition:

in a possible implementation manner, the terminal performs a first type of random access attempt according to the configuration information; the first type of random access attempt is successful; and the terminal sends the beam quality information corresponding to the first type of successful random access attempt to the network equipment. Illustratively, the first type of random access may be a 2-step CBRA, and the terminal performs the 2-step CBRA and succeeds. And the terminal records and carries the successful wave beam RSRP value in the random access report, and is used for indicating that the terminal can successfully complete the 2-step CBRA under the RSRP value. It is easy to understand that the first type of random access may also be other random access types such as 4-step CFRA, and the embodiments of the present application are not limited thereto.

By the mode, the terminal can only carry the RSRP value of the successful beam, and under the condition that the network equipment is ensured to be capable of carrying out configuration optimization according to the random access report, the redundancy of the recorded information and the total amount of the information in the random access report are reduced, the signaling overhead is saved, and the utilization rate of communication resources is improved.

In a possible implementation manner, the terminal performs a random access attempt of a first type according to the configuration information; optionally, the terminal determines to perform random access type handover, for example, the terminal does not find an SSB higher than the threshold, switches to the second type of random access type, and performs a random access attempt of the second type and succeeds. And the terminal sends the corresponding beam quality information when the random access attempt of the second type is successful to the network equipment. Illustratively, the first type is a 2-step CBRA and the second type is a 4-step CBRA. Alternatively, the first type is a 4-step CFRA and the second type is a 4-step CBRA.

In a possible implementation manner, the terminal performs a random access attempt of a first type according to the configuration information; when the number of the random access attempts of the first type reaches a threshold value of the number of the random access attempts, performing random access attempts of a second type; if the second type of random access attempt is successful, the terminal sends one or more of the following information to the network device: the beam quality information corresponding to the successful random access attempt of the second type, and the beam quality information meeting one or more conditions of a beam quality threshold, a reason for failure of the random access attempt or a ranking ratio in the random access attempt of the first type. Optionally, the ranking proportion includes: the beam quality information is preferably or ordered to be greater than a threshold in the first type of random access attempt (e.g., beam quality information ranked 30% before, or top 3-high beam quality information). That is, the terminal may transmit, to the network device, beam quality information corresponding to the random access attempt of the first type for which the beam quality information is the best. Illustratively, the first type is a 2-step CBRA and the second type is a 4-step CBRA. Alternatively, illustratively, the first type is a 2-step CFRA and the second type is a 4-step CBRA.

By the method, the terminal reports the random access measurement report meeting the first condition, wherein the first condition is used for screening information which is beneficial to the network equipment to carry out random access strategy optimization in a plurality of pieces of random access process information, and the first condition can also be understood as being used for screening part of useful information from redundant information. By the method, under the condition that the network equipment can carry out configuration optimization according to the random access report, the redundancy of the recorded information and the total amount of the information in the random access report are reduced, the signaling overhead is saved, and the utilization rate of communication resources is improved.

The foregoing mainly introduces the solution provided in the embodiment of the present application from the perspective of interaction between a network device and a terminal. The method may be performed interactively between a first module and a second module or between a first module and a first unit or between a first unit and a second unit. It is understood that, in order to implement the above functions, the network device, the terminal, the module (e.g. the first module) or the unit (e.g. the first unit) may include a corresponding hardware structure and/or a software module for performing the respective functions. Those of skill in the art will readily appreciate that the various illustrative components and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as hardware or combinations of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is performed in hardware or computer software drives hardware depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the solution. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present application.

In the embodiment of the present application, the terminal, the module, and the network device may be divided according to the above method examples, for example, each functional unit may be divided corresponding to each function, or two or more functions may be integrated into one unit. The integrated unit may be implemented in the form of hardware, or may also be implemented in the form of a software functional unit.

As shown in fig. 11, yet another embodiment of the present application provides an apparatus 1100. The apparatus may be a terminal or a network device, or may be a component (e.g., an integrated circuit, a chip, etc.) of a terminal or a network device. The apparatus may also be another communication module, which is configured to implement the method in the embodiment of the method of the present application. The apparatus 1100 may include: a processing module 1102 (or referred to as a processing unit). Optionally, the device may further include a transceiver module 1101 (or referred to as a transceiver unit or a communication interface) and a storage module 1103 (or referred to as a storage unit).

In one possible design, one or more of the modules in fig. 11 may be implemented by one or more processors or by one or more processors and memory; or by one or more processors and transceivers; or by one or more processors, memories, and transceivers, which are not limited in this application. The processor, the memory and the transceiver can be arranged independently or integrated.

The apparatus has a function of implementing the terminal described in the embodiment of the present application, for example, the apparatus includes a module or a unit or means (means) corresponding to the terminal performing the terminal related steps described in the embodiment of the present application, and the function or the unit or the means (means) may be implemented by software, or implemented by hardware executing corresponding software, or implemented by a combination of software and hardware. Or, the apparatus has a function of implementing the network device described in the embodiment of the present application, for example, the apparatus includes a module, a unit, or a means (means) corresponding to the step of executing the network device described in the embodiment of the present application by the network device, and the function, the unit, or the means (means) may be implemented by software, or by hardware executing corresponding software, or by a combination of software and hardware. Reference may be made in detail to the respective description of the corresponding method embodiments hereinbefore.

Optionally, each module in the apparatus 1100 in the embodiment of the present application may be configured to perform the method described in fig. 2 to fig. 10 in the embodiment of the present application.

Specifically, in an embodiment, the transceiving unit 1101 is configured to:

a processing unit 1102, configured to determine second information according to first information, where the first information includes ephemeris information, the second information is used to indicate first configuration information, the first configuration information includes configuration information for discontinuous reception, and the first configuration information has an association relationship with satellite coverage information;

a transceiving unit 1101, configured to send the second information to the terminal.

Optionally, the transceiver unit 1101 is further configured to receive the auxiliary information from the terminal.

Specifically, in an embodiment, the transceiver 1101 is configured to receive second information, where the second information is used to indicate first configuration information, the first configuration information includes configuration information for discontinuous reception, the first configuration information has an association relationship with satellite coverage information, the second information is determined according to the first information, and the first information includes ephemeris information;

and a processing unit 1102 configured to perform communication according to the second information.

Optionally, the transceiver 1101 is further configured to send the auxiliary information to a network device.

Specifically, in an embodiment, the processing unit 1102 is configured to determine coverage information;

the processing unit 1102 is further configured to determine a first operation according to the coverage information, where the first operation is associated with one or more of cell information, measurement information, operation mode, or configuration application information.

Optionally, the processing unit 1102 is further configured to enter a power saving mode if it is determined that there is no coverage; in case coverage is determined, a discontinuous reception configuration is used.

Specifically, in an embodiment, the processing unit 1102 is configured to perform random access;

a transceiving unit 1101, configured to send a random access report satisfying a first condition to a network device, where the first condition is associated with one or more of beam quality information, random access type information, a threshold of random access attempts, random access attempt failure reason information, and random access success association information.

Optionally, the transceiver 1101 is further configured to transmit the first beam quality information and/or the second beam quality information.

Specifically, in an embodiment, the transceiver unit 1101 is configured to send a first access configuration, where the first access configuration includes information indicating a type of random access, and the random access type information indicates a type of random access;

the transceiver unit 1101 is further configured to receive a random access report from a terminal, where the random access report satisfies a first condition, and the first condition is associated with one or more of beam quality information, random access type information, a threshold of random access attempts, random access attempt failure reason information, and random access success association information.

A processing unit 1102, configured to update the first access configuration according to the random access report, where the first access configuration further includes a threshold configuration, and the threshold configuration is used to configure a threshold associated with random access.

Specifically, in an embodiment, the processing unit 1102 is configured to determine a paging message, where the paging message includes time information and/or location information, the time information includes time information for indicating to start paging and/or time information for stopping paging, and the location information includes location information associated with a paged terminal;

a transceiving unit 1101, configured to send the paging message.

Optionally, the transceiver 1101 is configured to send the paging message to a network device, where location information of the network device is associated with the location information.

Specifically, in an embodiment, the transceiver unit 1101 is configured to receive a paging message, where the paging message includes time information and/or location information, the time information includes start time information and/or end time information used for indicating that a page is sent to a terminal, and the location information includes location information associated with the terminal;

a processing unit 1102, configured to perform paging according to the paging message.

Specifically, in one embodiment, the processing unit 1102 is configured to determine a first cell;

the processing unit 1102 is further configured to perform access or receive and transmit data in the first cell, and prohibit performing access or receive and transmit data in a second cell, where the second cell is a cell other than the first cell.

Optionally, the processing unit 1102 is further configured to measure the first cell and prohibit measuring the second cell.

Specifically, in an embodiment, the processing unit 1102 is configured to determine third indication information, where the third indication information is used to indicate that data is accessed or transmitted or received in a first cell, and prohibit data from being accessed or transmitted or received in a second cell, where the second cell is a cell other than the first cell;

a transceiving unit 1101, configured to send the third indication information to the terminal.

Specifically, in one embodiment, the processing unit 1102 is configured to determine a first condition, where the first condition is associated with one or more of time information, location information, or signal quality information;

the processing unit 1102 is further configured to determine to enter an idle state or an inactive state from a connected state when the first condition is met.

Specifically, in one embodiment, the processing unit 1102 is configured to determine fourth indication information indicating a first condition, where the first condition is associated with one or more of time information, location information, or signal quality information;

a transceiving unit 1101, configured to send the fourth indication information to a terminal, where the fourth indication information is used to indicate that the terminal enters an idle state or an inactive state from a connected state when the first condition is met.

For convenience and simplicity of description, a person of ordinary skill in the art may refer to a corresponding process in the foregoing method embodiments for a specific working process and a corresponding beneficial effect of the system, the apparatus, and the unit described above, which are not described herein again.

Fig. 12 shows a schematic of the structure of an apparatus. The apparatus 1200 may be a network device or a terminal, a server, or a centralized controller, or may be a chip, a system on a chip, or a processor, which supports the network device, the terminal, the server, or the centralized controller to implement the foregoing method. The apparatus may be configured to implement the method described in the foregoing method embodiment, and specific reference may be made to the description in the foregoing method embodiment.

The apparatus 1200 may include one or more processors 1201, where the processors 1201 may also be referred to as processing units and may implement certain control functions. The processor 1201 may be a general purpose processor, a special purpose processor, or the like. For example, a baseband processor or a central processor. The baseband processor may be configured to process communication protocols and communication data, and the central processor may be configured to control a communication device (e.g., a base station, a baseband chip, a terminal chip, a DU or CU, etc.), execute a software program, and process data of the software program.

In an alternative design, the processor 1201 may also have instructions and/or data 1203 stored therein, and the instructions and/or data 1203 may be executed by the processor, so that the apparatus 1200 performs the method described in the method embodiment.

In another alternative design, the processor 1201 may include a transceiver unit to perform receive and transmit functions. The transceiving unit may be, for example, a transceiving circuit, or an interface circuit, or a communication interface. The transceiver circuitry, interface or interface circuitry for implementing the receive and transmit functions may be separate or integrated. The transceiver circuit, the interface circuit or the interface circuit may be used for reading and writing code/data, or the transceiver circuit, the interface circuit or the interface circuit may be used for transmitting or transferring signals.

In yet another possible design, apparatus 1200 may include circuitry that may perform the functions of transmitting or receiving or communicating in the foregoing method embodiments.

Optionally, the apparatus 1200 may include one or more memories 1202 having instructions 1204 stored thereon, which are executable on the processor, so that the apparatus 1200 performs the methods described in the above method embodiments. Optionally, the memory may further store data therein. Optionally, instructions and/or data may also be stored in the processor. The processor and the memory may be provided separately or may be integrated together. For example, the correspondence described in the above method embodiments may be stored in a memory or in a processor.

Optionally, the apparatus 1200 may further include a transceiver 1205 and/or an antenna 1206. The processor 1201, which may be referred to as a processing unit, controls the apparatus 1200. The transceiver 1205 may be referred to as a transceiving unit, a transceiver, a transceiving circuit, a transceiving device, or a transceiving module, etc., for implementing transceiving functions.

Optionally, the apparatus 1200 in this application embodiment may be used to perform the method described in fig. 2 or fig. 3 in this application embodiment.

The processors and transceivers described herein may be implemented on Integrated Circuits (ICs), analog ICs, radio Frequency Integrated Circuits (RFICs), mixed signal ICs, application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), printed Circuit Boards (PCBs), electronic devices, and the like. The processor and transceiver may also be fabricated using various IC process technologies, such as Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS), N-type metal oxide semiconductor (NMOS), P-type metal oxide semiconductor (PMOS), bipolar Junction Transistor (BJT), bipolar CMOS (BiCMOS), silicon germanium (SiGe), gallium arsenide (GaAs), and the like.

The apparatus in the above description of the embodiment may be a network device or a terminal, but the scope of the apparatus described in the present application is not limited thereto, and the structure of the apparatus may not be limited by fig. 12. The apparatus may be a stand-alone device or may be part of a larger device. For example, the apparatus may be:

(1) A stand-alone integrated circuit IC, or chip, or system-on-chip or subsystem;

(2) A set of one or more ICs, which optionally may also include storage components for storing data and/or instructions;

(3) An ASIC, such as a modem (MSM);

(4) A module that may be embedded within other devices;

(5) Receivers, terminals, smart terminals, cellular phones, wireless devices, handsets, mobile units, in-vehicle devices, network devices, cloud devices, artificial intelligence devices, machine devices, home devices, medical devices, industrial devices, and the like;

(6) Others, and so forth.

Fig. 13 provides a schematic structural diagram of a terminal. The terminal may be adapted to the scenario shown in fig. 1. For convenience of explanation, fig. 13 shows only main components of the terminal. As shown in fig. 13, terminal 1300 includes a processor, memory, control circuitry, an antenna, and input-output devices. The processor is mainly used for processing communication protocols and communication data, controlling the whole terminal, executing software programs and processing data of the software programs. The memory is used primarily for storing software programs and data. The radio frequency circuit is mainly used for converting baseband signals and radio frequency signals and processing the radio frequency signals. The antenna is mainly used for receiving and transmitting radio frequency signals in the form of electromagnetic waves. Input and output devices, such as touch screens, display screens, keyboards, etc., are used primarily for receiving data input by a user and for outputting data to the user.

When the terminal is started, the processor can read the software program in the storage unit, analyze and execute the instruction of the software program, and process the data of the software program. When data needs to be sent wirelessly, the processor carries out baseband processing on the data to be sent and then outputs baseband signals to the radio frequency circuit, and the radio frequency circuit processes the baseband signals to obtain radio frequency signals and sends the radio frequency signals to the outside in an electromagnetic wave mode through the antenna. When data is transmitted to the terminal, the radio frequency circuit receives a radio frequency signal through the antenna, the radio frequency signal is further converted into a baseband signal and the baseband signal is output to the processor, and the processor converts the baseband signal into the data and processes the data.

For ease of illustration, only one memory and processor are shown in FIG. 13. In an actual terminal, there may be multiple processors and memories. The memory may also be referred to as a storage medium or a storage device, and the like, which is not limited in this respect in the embodiment of the present invention.

As an alternative implementation manner, the processor may include a baseband processor and a central processing unit, where the baseband processor is mainly used to process a communication protocol and communication data, and the central processing unit is mainly used to control the whole terminal, execute a software program, and process data of the software program. The processor in fig. 13 integrates the functions of the baseband processor and the central processing unit, and those skilled in the art will understand that the baseband processor and the central processing unit may also be independent processors, and are interconnected through a bus or the like. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the terminal may include a plurality of baseband processors to accommodate different network formats, the terminal may include a plurality of central processors to enhance its processing capability, and various components of the terminal may be connected by various buses. The baseband processor can also be expressed as a baseband processing circuit or a baseband processing chip. The central processing unit can also be expressed as a central processing circuit or a central processing chip. The function of processing the communication protocol and the communication data may be built in the processor, or may be stored in the storage unit in the form of a software program, and the processor executes the software program to realize the baseband processing function.

In one example, the antenna and the control circuit with transceiving functions can be considered as a transceiving unit 1311 of the terminal 1300, and the processor with processing functions can be considered as a processing unit 1312 of the terminal 1300. As shown in fig. 13, terminal 1300 includes a transceiving unit 1311 and a processing unit 1312. A transceiver unit may also be referred to as a transceiver, a transceiving device, etc. Optionally, a device for implementing the receiving function in the transceiver 1311 may be regarded as a receiving unit, and a device for implementing the transmitting function in the transceiver 1311 may be regarded as a transmitting unit, that is, the transceiver 1311 includes a receiving unit and a transmitting unit. For example, the receiving unit may also be referred to as a receiver, a receiving circuit, etc., and the sending unit may be referred to as a transmitter, a transmitting circuit, etc. Optionally, the receiving unit and the sending unit may be integrated into one unit, or may be multiple units independent of each other. The receiving unit and the transmitting unit can be in one geographical position or can be dispersed in a plurality of geographical positions.

It is understood that some optional features in the embodiments of the present application may be implemented independently without depending on other features in some scenarios, such as a currently-based solution, to solve corresponding technical problems and achieve corresponding effects, or may be combined with other features according to requirements in some scenarios. Accordingly, the apparatuses provided in the embodiments of the present application may also implement these features or functions, which are not described herein again.

Those skilled in the art will also appreciate that the various illustrative logical blocks and steps (step) set forth in the embodiments of the present application may be implemented in electronic hardware, computer software, or combinations of both. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design requirements of the overall system. Those skilled in the art can implement the described functions in various ways for corresponding applications, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the embodiments of the present application.

It is understood that the processor in the embodiment of the present application may be an integrated circuit chip having signal processing capability. In implementation, the steps of the above method embodiments may be performed by integrated logic circuits of hardware in a processor or by instructions in the form of software. The processor may be a general purpose processor, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic device, or discrete hardware components.

It will be appreciated that the memory in the embodiments of the subject application can be either volatile memory or nonvolatile memory, or can include both volatile and nonvolatile memory. The non-volatile memory may be a read-only memory (ROM), a Programmable ROM (PROM), an Erasable PROM (EPROM), an electrically Erasable EPROM (EEPROM), or a flash memory. Volatile memory can be Random Access Memory (RAM), which acts as external cache memory. By way of example, and not limitation, many forms of RAM are available, such as Static Random Access Memory (SRAM), dynamic random access memory (dynamic RAM, DRAM), synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory (SDRAM), double data rate SDRAM (DDR SDRAM), enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), SLDRAM (synchronous DRAM), and direct rambus RAM (DR RAM). It should be noted that the memory of the systems and methods described herein is intended to comprise, without being limited to, these and any other suitable types of memory.

The present application also provides a computer-readable medium having stored thereon a computer program which, when executed by a computer, performs the functions of any of the method embodiments described above.

The present application also provides a computer program product which, when executed by a computer, implements the functionality of any of the above-described method embodiments.

In the above embodiments, all or part of the implementation may be realized 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, cause the processes or functions described in accordance with the embodiments of the application to occur, in whole or in part. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a network of computers, or other programmable device. The computer 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 via wire (e.g., coaxial cable, fiber optic, digital Subscriber Line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.). The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device, such as a server, a data center, etc., that includes one or more available media. The usable medium may be a magnetic medium (e.g., a floppy disk, a hard disk, a magnetic tape), an optical medium (e.g., a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), or a semiconductor medium (e.g., a Solid State Disk (SSD)), among others.

It should be appreciated that reference throughout this specification to "an embodiment" means that a particular feature, structure or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present application. Thus, the various embodiments are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment throughout the specification. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. It should be understood that, in the various embodiments of the present application, the sequence numbers of the above-mentioned processes do not mean the execution sequence, and the execution sequence of each process should be determined by its function and inherent logic, and should not constitute any limitation to the implementation process of the embodiments of the present application. It is understood that in this application, "when 8230, if" and "if" all refer to a device that performs the corresponding process in an objective manner, and are not intended to be limiting in time, nor do they require certain judgment actions to be taken in the implementation of the device, nor do they imply other limitations.

It is understood that in the embodiments of the present application, "B corresponding to a" means that B is associated with a, from which B can be determined. It should also be understood that determining B from a does not mean determining B from a alone, but may be determined from a and/or other information.

Predefinition in this application may be understood as defining, predefining, storing, pre-negotiating, pre-configuring, curing, or pre-firing.

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

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

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

The functions may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium if they are implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as separate products. Based on such understanding, the technical solution of the present application or portions thereof that substantially contribute to the prior art may be embodied in the form of a software product stored in a storage medium and including instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device) to execute all or part of the steps of the method according to the embodiments of the present application. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: various media capable of storing program codes, such as a usb disk, a removable hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM), a magnetic disk, or an optical disk.

The same or similar parts between the various embodiments in this application may be referred to each other. In the embodiments and the implementations/implementation methods in the embodiments in the present application, unless otherwise specified or conflicting in terms of logic, terms and/or descriptions between different embodiments and between the implementations/implementation methods in the embodiments have consistency and may be mutually cited, and technical features in different embodiments and implementations/implementation methods in the embodiments may be combined to form a new embodiment, implementation method, or implementation method according to the inherent logic relationship. The above-described embodiments of the present application do not limit the scope of the present application.

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

Claims

1. A satellite communication method, comprising:

receiving second information, wherein the second information is used for indicating first configuration information, the first configuration information comprises configuration information for discontinuous reception, the first configuration information has an association relation with satellite coverage information, the second information is determined according to the first information, and the first information comprises ephemeris information;

and communicating according to the second information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein associating the first configuration information with satellite coverage information comprises:

and enabling the terminal to wake up at the time matched with the satellite coverage information through the first configuration information.

3. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the first configuration information comprising configuration information for discontinuous reception comprises:

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the time period for the terminal to listen to the data includes listening time periods corresponding to the at least two sets of discontinuous reception configurations.

5. The method of claim 3 or 4, wherein the at least two sets of discontinuous reception configurations are at least two different sets of discontinuous reception configurations.

6. The method according to any one of claims 3 to 5, wherein the associating the first configuration information with the satellite coverage information comprises:

the discontinuous reception configuration is associated with at least one satellite.

7. The method according to any of claims 1 to 6, wherein the first information further comprises auxiliary information, the auxiliary information comprising at least one of: location information, serving cell coverage information or suggested DRX configuration information.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

and sending the auxiliary information to a network device.

9. The method according to claim 7 or 8, characterized in that the method further comprises:

determining the assistance information according to one or more of the ephemeris information, location information, serving cell coverage information.

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

receiving first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate that the first discontinuous reception configuration information or the second discontinuous reception configuration information is used, and the second discontinuous reception configuration information includes a single-period discontinuous reception configuration.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein associating the first configuration information with satellite coverage information comprises:

determining an enabling state of the first configuration according to the satellite coverage information, wherein the enabling state comprises activation or deactivation.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the determining the enabling state of the first configuration according to the satellite coverage information comprises:

deactivating the first configuration in the event that no satellite coverage is determined;

in case it is determined that there is satellite coverage, a first configuration is activated.

13. A satellite communication method, comprising:

determining coverage information;

determining a first operation based on the coverage information, wherein the first operation is associated with one or more of cell information, measurement information, a run mode, or configuration application information.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the determining the first operation according to the coverage information comprises:

entering a power saving mode if it is determined that there is no coverage;

in case it is determined that there is coverage, a discontinuous reception configuration is used.

15. The method according to claim 13 or 14, wherein the determining a first operation according to the coverage information comprises:

in case it is determined that there is no coverage, the measurement is disabled.

In case coverage is determined, cell measurements are made.

16. The method according to any of claims 13 to 15, wherein the determining a first operation according to the coverage information comprises:

in case it is determined that there is no coverage, monitoring of the physical downlink control channel is prohibited, or cell selection is prohibited after radio link failure.

And under the condition that coverage is determined, after the radio link fails, prohibiting to perform an RRC reestablishment flow and performing random access.

17. The method according to any of claims 13 to 16, wherein the determining coverage information comprises:

determining the coverage information according to the ephemeris information; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

receiving indication information for indicating the coverage information.

18. A satellite communication method, comprising:

carrying out random access;

sending a random access report satisfying a first condition to a network device, the sending a random access report satisfying the first condition comprising:

sending a random access record meeting the first condition to network equipment, wherein the random access record is used for recording a record associated with an access attempt in a random access process;

the first condition is associated with one or more of beam quality information, random access type information, a threshold of random access attempt times, reason information of random access attempt failure, and information of random access success association.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein associating the first condition with the beam quality information comprises:

20. The method according to claim 18 or 19, wherein the associating the first condition with the random access attempt failure cause information comprises:

the first condition comprises a random access attempt failure cause condition associated with no detected contention failure information.

21. The method according to any of claims 18 to 20, wherein said sending a random access report fulfilling a first condition comprises:

transmitting the first beam quality information and/or the second beam quality information.

22. The method according to any of claims 18 to 20, wherein said sending a random access report satisfying a first condition comprises:

transmitting the first beam quality information and/or the second beam quality information satisfying the random access attempt failure cause condition.

23. The method of any one of claims 18 to 22, further comprising:

receiving a first access configuration, wherein the first access configuration comprises information for indicating the random access type, and the random access type information is used for indicating the type of random access.

24. The method according to any of claims 18 to 23, wherein said performing random access comprises:

performing a first type of random access attempt according to the configuration information;

the first type of random access attempt is successful;

the transmitting the random access report satisfying the first condition includes:

and sending the corresponding beam quality information when the random access attempt of the first type is successful.

25. The method according to any of claims 18 to 23, wherein said performing random access comprises:

when the number of the random access attempts of the first type reaches the threshold value of the number of the random access attempts, performing random access attempts of a second type;

the second type of random access attempt is successful;

transmitting the one or more of the following:

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the rank-based weighting comprises:

the occupancy of the beam quality information in the first type of random access attempt is greater than a threshold.

27. A communication apparatus, characterized in that it comprises means for implementing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 26.

28. A communications apparatus, comprising: a processor coupled with a memory, the memory to store a program or instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to perform the method of any of claims 1 to 26.

29. A computer readable medium having stored thereon a computer program or instructions, which when executed cause a computer to perform the method of any of claims 1 to 26.

30. A computer program product containing instructions which, when executed, cause the method of any of claims 1-26 to be performed.

31. A communication system comprising the communication apparatus of claim 28.