CN115348620A

CN115348620A - Cell switching method and device, electronic equipment and storage medium

Info

Publication number: CN115348620A
Application number: CN202110518126.8A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 刘永琪
Original assignee: Beijing Xiaomi Mobile Software Co Ltd
Current assignee: Beijing Xiaomi Mobile Software Co Ltd
Priority date: 2021-05-12
Filing date: 2021-05-12
Publication date: 2022-11-15

Abstract

The disclosure relates to a cell switching method and device, an electronic device and a storage medium. The cell switching method is applied to a terminal, a source cell currently accessed by the terminal is an anchor cell in a dual-connection network, and the method comprises the following steps: in response to a need to perform a specified communication operation, switching from the source cell to a first target cell; in response to the first target cell not being an anchor cell in a dual connectivity network, switching from the first target cell to a second target cell after the designated communication operation is performed; wherein the second target cell is an anchor cell in a dual connectivity network. According to the present disclosure, for a terminal that is switched from an anchor cell to a non-anchor cell in a dual connectivity network in order to perform a specified communication operation, the terminal may return to the anchor cell in time after completing the specified communication operation, so that a new network can be accessed through dual connectivity, a high performance network service is used, and user experience is improved.

Description

Cell switching method and device, electronic equipment and storage medium

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of mobile communications, and in particular, to a cell switching method and apparatus, an electronic device, and a storage medium.

Background

Mobile communication networks are in the process of being developed, and in the early stages of network construction, it may be difficult for the networks to independently provide services to users. In the interim period of this development, it is common to merge an old network and a new network to provide services, and such a networking that merges the old network and the new network may be referred to as an NSA (non-standalone) networking.

In the NSA networking, a terminal may access a cell in a new network by using a cell in an old network as an anchor cell in a dual connectivity manner.

For example, in a fifth generation mobile communication technology 5G NSA networking, a terminal may access to a 5G cell through endec (E-UTRA NR Dual-connectivity, long term evolution, and new air interface Dual connectivity). Specifically, the terminal may be connected to an LTE (Long Term Evolution) cell and a 5G cell at the same time, and the terminal may complete the procedures of adding, releasing, modifying, and the like to the 5G cell through a signaling procedure with the LTE, so that the LTE cell may be referred to as a 5G anchor cell in the dual connectivity network.

However, not all cells in the old network may act as anchor cells for the dual-connectivity network. For example, in the current LTE cell, if the LTE cell does not establish a link with a 5G neighboring cell, the LTE cell cannot be used as an anchor cell of the dual connectivity network. Thus, a cell in the old network that is not the anchor cell cannot provide a high performance network service, so that the user experience of accessing the cell is poor.

Disclosure of Invention

The present disclosure provides a cell switching method and apparatus, an electronic device, and a storage medium to solve technical problems in the related art.

According to a first aspect of the present disclosure, a cell switching method is provided, which is applied to a terminal, where a source cell currently accessed by the terminal is an anchor cell in a dual connectivity network; the method comprises the following steps:

in response to a need to perform a specified communication operation, switching from the source cell to a first target cell;

in response to the first target cell not being an anchor cell in a dual connectivity network, switching from the first target cell to a second target cell after the designated communication operation is performed; wherein the second target cell is an anchor cell in a dual connectivity network.

According to a second aspect of the present disclosure, a cell switching apparatus is provided, which is applied to a terminal, where a source cell currently accessed by the terminal is an anchor cell in a dual connectivity network;

the device comprises:

a first handover module configured to handover from the source cell to a first target cell in response to a need to perform a specified communication operation;

a second handover module configured to, in response to the first target cell not being an anchor cell in a dual connectivity network, handover from the first target cell to a second target cell after the specified communication operation is performed; wherein the second target cell is an anchor cell in a dual connectivity network.

According to a third aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided an electronic apparatus comprising:

a processor;

a memory for storing processor-executable instructions;

wherein the processor implements the method of the first aspect by executing the executable instructions.

According to a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer readable storage medium having stored thereon computer instructions which, when executed by a processor, implement the steps of the method according to the first aspect.

In the technical scheme of the disclosure, for a terminal that is switched from an anchor cell to a non-anchor cell in a dual connectivity network in order to perform a specified communication operation, the terminal may return to the anchor cell in time after completing the specified communication operation, so that a new network (e.g., a 5G network) can be accessed through dual connectivity, a high-performance network service is used, and user experience is improved.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments consistent with the present disclosure and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the disclosure.

Fig. 1 is a schematic flowchart illustrating a cell handover method according to an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure.

Fig. 2 is a schematic flow chart of another cell handover method according to an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure.

Fig. 3 is a schematic flow chart of another cell handover method according to an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure.

Fig. 4 is a schematic flow chart of another cell handover method according to an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure.

Fig. 5 is a schematic flow chart of another cell handover method according to an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure.

Fig. 6 is a schematic flow chart of another cell handover method according to an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure.

Fig. 7 is a schematic flow chart of another cell handover method according to an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure.

Fig. 8 is a schematic flow chart of another cell handover method according to an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure.

Fig. 9 is a schematic block diagram of a cell switching apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure.

Fig. 10 is a schematic block diagram of an apparatus for cell handover in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

Reference will now be made in detail to the exemplary embodiments, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. The following description refers to the accompanying drawings in which the same numbers in different drawings represent the same or similar elements unless otherwise indicated. The implementations described in the exemplary embodiments below do not represent all implementations consistent with the present disclosure. Rather, they are merely examples of apparatus and methods consistent with certain aspects of the disclosure, as detailed in the appended claims.

The terminology used in the disclosure is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the disclosure. As used in this disclosure and the appended claims, the singular forms "a", "an", and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It should also be understood that the term "and/or" as used herein refers to and encompasses any and all possible combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

It is to be understood that although the terms first, second, third, etc. may be used herein to describe various information, such information should not be limited to these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one type of information from another. For example, first information may also be referred to as second information, and similarly, second information may also be referred to as first information, without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. The word "if" as used herein may be interpreted as "at" \8230; "or" when 8230; \8230; "or" in response to a determination ", depending on the context.

Fig. 1 is a schematic flowchart illustrating a cell handover method according to an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure. The cell switching method shown in this embodiment may be applied to a terminal, where the terminal includes but is not limited to a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a wearable device, a sensor, an internet of things device, and other electronic devices. The terminal may communicate with the base station and the core network as user equipment.

As shown in fig. 1, the method may include the steps of:

step S101: and responding to the requirement of executing the specified communication operation, and switching from the source cell to the first target cell.

In one embodiment, the source cell currently accessed by the terminal is an anchor cell in the dual connectivity network.

For example, the anchor cell in the dual connectivity network may be a 5G anchor cell in an endec dual connectivity network. For example, the terminal may simultaneously access an LTE cell and a 5G cell through the endec, where the LTE cell is an anchor cell in the dual connectivity network, and a communication link is established between the anchor cell and the 5G cell, so that the terminal may complete operations related to addition, deletion, and the like of the 5G cell through a signaling procedure with the LTE.

It should be noted that, in the foregoing embodiment, the 5G anchor cell in the enic dual connectivity network is only an exemplary illustration, and in practical application, the anchor cell may also be an anchor cell in another dual connectivity network, for example, a 6G anchor cell, and the like, which is not limited in this embodiment. In addition, the network architecture of the dual connectivity network may be of various types, and this embodiment is not limited thereto.

In one embodiment, the terminal may be handed over from the source cell to the first target cell when the voice call service needs to be performed. For example, the terminal may be handed over from the source cell to the first target cell while performing at least one of a voice over long term evolution, voLTE, based call service and a circuit switched fallback, CSFB, based call service.

Alternatively, the terminal may also be handed over from the source cell to the first target cell when other specified communication operations need to be performed, which is not limited in this embodiment.

Step S102: and in response to the first target cell not being an anchor cell in the dual connectivity network, switching from the first target cell to a second target cell after the designated communication operation is completed.

Wherein the second target cell is an anchor cell in a dual connectivity network.

In one embodiment, the terminal may determine whether the first target cell is an anchor cell in a dual connectivity network. Optionally, the terminal may perform the determination before, during, or after the designated communication operation is performed, and this embodiment is not limited.

In one example, the terminal may actively query whether the first target cell is an anchor cell in the dual connectivity network, for example, send a query request to the first target cell, and perform a determination according to a response message of the first target cell.

In an example, a terminal may report a capability of supporting dual connectivity to a first target cell, so that if the first target cell establishes a dual connectivity network for the terminal within a specified time period from when the terminal accesses the first target cell, it is determined that the first target cell is an anchor cell in the dual connectivity network; or, if the first target cell does not establish the dual connectivity network for the terminal within the specified duration, determining that the first target cell is not an anchor cell in the dual connectivity network.

In one embodiment, if the terminal determines that the first target cell is an anchor cell in the dual connectivity network, the terminal continues to camp on the first target cell.

In one embodiment, if the terminal determines that the first target cell is not an anchor cell in the dual connectivity network, the terminal actively disconnects the connection with the first target cell and attempts to access the anchor cell, i.e., the second target cell, in the dual connectivity network.

According to the embodiment shown in fig. 1, for a terminal that is handed over from an anchor cell to a non-anchor cell in a dual connectivity network in order to perform a specified communication operation, the terminal may return to the anchor cell in time after completing the specified communication operation, so that a new network (e.g., a 5G network) can be accessed through the dual connectivity network, and a high performance network service is used, thereby improving user experience.

Fig. 2 is a schematic flow chart of another cell handover method according to an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure. As shown in fig. 2, the switching from the first target cell to the second target cell after the designated communication operation is completed includes:

step S201: and after the preset time length for finishing the execution of the specified communication operation, switching from the first target cell to a second target cell.

In an embodiment, the terminal may determine whether to switch to another cell according to a network instruction within a preset time after the terminal performs the specified communication operation, and may actively switch to the second target cell if the terminal does not switch to another cell, that is, if the terminal still resides in the first target cell.

For example, the terminal may detect through a timer. For example, the terminal may activate a timer with a preset duration after the specified communication operation is performed, where the preset duration may be 5 seconds, 10 seconds, and the like, and after the timer expires, if the terminal is still in the first target cell, the terminal may actively switch to the second target cell.

It should be noted that, after being handed over to the first target cell, the terminal may perform cell handover according to a network instruction, for example, if the network determines that there are other neighboring cells with better communication quality, the terminal may be instructed to perform cell handover. According to the method shown in fig. 2, the terminal does not perform switching immediately after the designated communication operation is completed, but performs switching after the preset time length, that is, time is reserved for cell switching based on network indication, and if cell switching is not performed according to network indication within the preset time length, the terminal can perform active switching, so that the terminal realizes active switching according to actual conditions on the basis of following network indication, thereby ensuring communication reliability.

As shown in fig. 3, the handover from the first target cell to the second target cell includes:

step S301: disconnecting the connection with the first target cell and attempting to access the source cell.

In one embodiment, the second target cell may be a source cell or other cell.

Taking the second target cell as the source cell as an example, before the terminal is switched to the first target cell, the terminal may obtain a cell identifier of the source cell, such as a cell ID, a cell frequency point, and the like. Therefore, the terminal can try to access the source cell according to the cell identification of the source cell after disconnecting from the first target cell.

It should be noted that, if the time for executing the specified communication operation is not long (for example, less than the preset time threshold), the terminal is still within the coverage of the source cell, and therefore, the terminal can preferentially return to the source cell, thereby ensuring the access success rate and efficiency, and avoiding network interruption caused by long-time network search.

In an example, the second target cell may also be another cell, for example, the terminal may preset another anchor cell and access the preset anchor cell after opening the connection with the first target cell.

In one embodiment, the terminal may disconnect from the first target cell by a variety of methods, and a specific embodiment is described below in conjunction with fig. 4.

As shown in fig. 4, the disconnecting from the first target cell includes:

step S401: and initiating a tracking area location update request TAU Requst to the first target cell, wherein an activation identifier in the TAU Requst is set to be used for requesting the first target cell to release the Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection with the terminal.

Step S402: and entering an RRC idle state in response to the RRC connection being successfully released.

In one embodiment, the terminal may actively request the first target cell to release an RRC (Radio Resource Control) connection. For example, the terminal may initiate a Tracking area update request (TAU request) to the target cell, and set an active _ flag in the TAU request to false. Thus, the first target cell may release the RRC connection with the terminal after receiving the TAU Requst.

In one embodiment, the terminal enters an RRC IDLE state (RRC IDLE) after determining that releasing the RRC connection is successful. For example, the terminal may receive a connection release message returned by the first target cell, and determine that releasing the RRC connection is successful.

In one embodiment, the terminal may further indicate in the TAU requust that the reason for releasing the RRC connection is that the terminal needs to switch to an anchor cell of the dual connectivity network. For example, the terminal may carry a specific identifier, such as a protocol-specified identifier, or a pre-negotiated identifier, where the specific identifier is used to identify that the reason why the terminal requests to release the RRC connection is an anchor cell that needs to be handed over to the dual-connectivity network. Therefore, the first target cell can execute the corresponding action according to the reason reported by the terminal.

In one embodiment, the first target cell may indicate the cell identity of the anchor cell of the dual connectivity network to the terminal in case it is determined that the terminal requests release of the RRC connection due to a need to handover to the anchor cell of the dual connectivity network. For example, the first target cell may carry cell identities of anchor cells of several dual connectivity networks in a returned reply message. For example, if the first target cell records the cell identifier of the anchor cell, the first target cell may send the cell identifier to the terminal, so that the terminal attempts to access the cell indicated by the cell identifier; or, the first target cell may also select, according to the signal quality of the anchor cells, a cell identifier that meets a preset condition (e.g., the signal strength is greater than a threshold, or the signal strength is the highest, etc.) from among the anchor cells, and send the selected cell identifier to the terminal. Thus, the terminal may receive the cell identity transmitted by the first target cell and attempt to access the cell indicated by the cell identity.

For example, the terminal may preferentially attempt to access the source cell, and if the access fails, the terminal attempts to access the cell indicated by the cell identifier returned by the first target cell, which not only improves the access efficiency, but also ensures the access success rate. Or, the terminal may measure the cells indicated by the cell identifiers returned by the source cell and the first target cell, and attempt to access the cell in which the signal strength meets the preset condition, so that the terminal may access the cell with the best signal quality to ensure the communication quality.

According to the embodiment shown in fig. 4, the terminal can release the RRC connection with the first target cell in time through TAU requust, thereby avoiding unnecessary signaling overhead generated by the terminal and the first target cell and saving communication resources.

As shown in fig. 5, the method includes:

step S501: in response to a failure to access the source cell, attempting to access an anchor cell in the cell list based on the cell identity.

In an embodiment, a cell list is preset in the terminal, and cell identifiers of a plurality of anchor cells are recorded in the preset cell list.

In an embodiment, the terminal may attempt to access the source cell according to the method in the embodiment shown in fig. 3 or another method, and if the terminal fails to access the source cell, for example, the terminal cannot search for the source cell or cannot register with the source cell, the terminal may attempt to access an anchor cell recorded in the cell list based on the preset cell list.

In one example, the Cell list may be a list of RUCs (Recently Used cells), and the terminal may record a Recently Used Cell, such as a source Cell, in the Cell list. For example, each entry in the cell list corresponds to a cell, and the entry may record a correspondence between a cell identifier and a cell type. The cell identifier may include a cell ID, a cell frequency point, and the like, and the cell type may indicate whether the cell is an anchor cell in the dual connectivity network.

Or, the cell list may also record only anchor cells in the dual connectivity network, and the terminal only needs to record the cell identifier in the cell list, and does not need to record the cell type.

In one example, the terminal may perform an access attempt on the cell identifier of the anchor cell of the dual connectivity network in the search cell list, and camp in the cell if the access is successful.

In an example, the terminal may update the cell list periodically, for example, the terminal may preset a survival time of each cell in the cell list, that is, a time that each cell is recorded in the cell list is the longest survival time, and if the survival time is exceeded, delete the entry corresponding to the cell.

According to the embodiment shown in fig. 5, the terminal may also access other anchor point cells recorded in advance under the condition that the access to the source cell fails, so that the success rate of cell access is improved, and the user experience is improved.

In one embodiment, the terminal may also delay disconnecting the first target cell in order to ensure communication stability.

In one example, a terminal may attempt to access a second target cell while maintaining a connection with a first target cell.

In one example, the terminal may disconnect from the first target cell immediately after the second target cell is successfully accessed; or the terminal may disconnect the connection with the first target cell after a specified duration of successful access to the second target cell.

For example, the terminal may attempt to access the source cell, other anchor cells recorded in the cell list, and/or a cell indicated by the first target cell, and if the access is successful, disconnect (immediately disconnect or disconnect after a specified time period) the connection with the first target cell.

According to the embodiment, the terminal can avoid the interruption of the terminal network caused by the access attempt, thereby ensuring the stability of communication.

In one embodiment, the terminal may disconnect from the first target cell before switching to the second target cell, for example, by the method in the embodiment shown in fig. 3, and if the switching to the second target cell fails, the terminal returns to the first target cell again, and the specific embodiment is described below with reference to fig. 6.

As shown in fig. 6, the method includes:

step S601: attempting to access the first target cell in response to a failure to handover from the first target cell to the second target cell.

In one embodiment, if the terminal fails to attempt to access the second target cell, the terminal may re-access the first target cell.

For example, before disconnecting from the first target cell, the terminal may record a cell identifier of the first target cell, such as a cell ID, a cell frequency point, and the like. For example, the terminal may record the cell identity and the cell type of the first target cell into a cell list. Therefore, if the terminal cannot successfully access the second target cell, for example, the search fails or the registration fails, the terminal may re-access the first target cell.

It should be noted that, for the recorded cell information, the efficiency of terminal search is generally high. Therefore, the terminal preferentially searches the recorded cells to avoid the influence of the network interruption time process on the user experience.

In one embodiment, the terminal may further record other non-anchor cells in the cell list, so that in case of failure in returning to the first target cell, the terminal may further access to other non-anchor cells recorded in the cell list.

In an embodiment, if the terminal fails to access all the non-anchor cells recorded in the cell list, the terminal may restart the complete network search and access procedure and preferentially access to the anchor cell of the dual connectivity network.

In one embodiment, the designated communication operation may be multiple, and may be, for example, a voice call service. If the anchor cell of the dual network is a 5G anchor cell in the endec network, the specified communication operation may specifically be at least one of a call service based on voice over long term evolution VoLTE and a call service based on circuit switched fallback CSFB. Specific embodiments are described below with reference to fig. 7 and 8.

Fig. 7 is a schematic flow chart of another cell handover method according to an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure. As shown in fig. 7, the handover from the source cell to the first target cell in response to the need to perform the specified communication operation includes:

step S701: and in response to the fact that the VoLTE-based call service needs to be executed and the source cell does not meet the call condition, switching to a first target cell meeting the call condition to execute the call service.

In one embodiment, the terminal switches to a first target cell meeting the call condition to execute the call service in response to the fact that the VoLTE-based call service needs to be executed and the source cell does not meet the call condition. Wherein, the call condition may be that the signal strength of the cell is higher than a preset threshold; or the signal strength of the cell may be higher than that of the neighboring cell.

It can be understood that the terminal is currently in a 5G anchor cell, which 5G anchor cell belongs to the LTE network. In one example, in the LTE network, the terminal may perform a VoLTE-based call service, such as dialing or receiving a VoLTE phone call.

Generally, the call service generally has high requirements on the network, for example, the communication delay and the error rate are required to be low, and therefore, the terminal generally needs to select a cell with higher signal strength for the call service. If the call condition is not satisfied by the source cell, for example, the signal strength is not higher than a preset threshold, or there is a neighboring cell with the signal strength higher than the source cell, the terminal may switch to the first target cell to execute the VoLTE-based call service.

In an example, the terminal may receive a neighboring cell measurement configuration sent by the network during a call service initiation process or during a call process, so that the terminal may perform measurement and report a measured LTE neighboring cell measurement result to the network, where the measurement result may include a neighboring cell Signal strength RSRP (Reference Signal Receiving Power), for example.

In one example, if the network determines that the signal strength of the source cell currently accessed by the terminal is not higher than a preset threshold and the signal strength of the neighbor cell is higher than the preset threshold; or, if the network determines that the signal strength of the neighboring cell is higher than the source cell to which the terminal is currently accessed, the network may instruct the terminal to switch to the neighboring cell. Of course, the network may instruct the terminal to perform one or more handovers, so that the terminal is eventually handed over to the first target cell.

In one example, the terminal may determine whether the first target cell is a 5G anchor cell and switch to the 5G anchor cell (i.e., the second target cell) if it is determined that the first target cell is a non-5G anchor cell. For a specific method, reference may be made to the foregoing embodiments, which are not described herein again.

Fig. 8 is a schematic flow chart of another cell handover method according to an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure. As shown in fig. 8, the handover from the source cell to the first target cell in response to the need to perform the specified communication operation includes:

step S801: and responding to the need of executing the CSFB-based call service, and falling back from the source cell to the temporary cell to execute the call service.

It can be understood that the terminal is currently in a 5G anchor cell, which belongs to the LTE network.

In an example, if the source cell does not support the VoLTE-based call service, the network may instruct the terminal to fall back to the network in the CS domain for a voice call based on the CSFB method, for example, the network may instruct the terminal to fall back to a cell of a 2G network or a cell of a 3G network, where the 2G cell or the 3G cell may be referred to as a temporary cell.

Thereby, the terminal can perform a call service in the temporary cell.

Step S802: and responding to the end of the call service, and switching from the temporary cell to the first target cell.

In one example, based on the CSFB approach, the terminal may return to the LTE cell after completing the call service. For example, after the call service is completed, the temporary cell may redirect the terminal back to the LTE cell, which may be the source cell or may also be another LTE cell, i.e., the first target cell.

In one example, the terminal may determine whether the first target cell is a 5G anchor cell and switch to the 5G anchor cell (i.e., the second target cell) if it is determined that the first target cell is a non-5G anchor cell. For a specific method, reference may be made to the foregoing embodiments, which are not described in detail herein.

According to the embodiments shown in fig. 7 to 8, when the source cell currently accessed is the 5G anchor cell in the endec network, the terminal is switched to the first target cell to ensure normal operation of the call service, and after the call service is finished, the terminal may be timely re-switched to the 5G anchor cell, so that the high-performance service of the 5G network may be used, and the user experience may be improved.

It should be noted that, here, only the specified communication operation is taken as a voice call service as an example, in an actual application, the terminal may also be handed over from the source cell to the first target cell when performing other related communication operations, and this embodiment is not particularly limited.

Corresponding to the embodiment of the cell switching method, the disclosure also provides an embodiment of a cell switching device.

Fig. 9 is a schematic block diagram of a cell switching apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure. The cell switching method shown in this embodiment may be applied to a terminal, where the terminal includes but is not limited to a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a wearable device, a sensor, an internet of things device, and other electronic devices. The terminal may communicate with the base station and the core network as user equipment.

In one embodiment, the source cell currently accessed by the terminal is an anchor cell in a dual connectivity network.

As shown in fig. 9, the apparatus may include:

a first handover module 901 configured to handover from the source cell to a first target cell in response to a need to perform a specified communication operation;

a second handover module 902 configured to, in response to the first target cell not being an anchor cell in a dual connectivity network, handover from the first target cell to a second target cell after the specified communication operation is performed; wherein the second target cell is an anchor cell in a dual connectivity network.

In one embodiment, the anchor cell in the dual connectivity network is a 5G anchor cell in a long term evolution and new air interface dual connectivity endec network.

In an embodiment, the second handover module 902 is specifically configured to handover from the first target cell to a second target cell after a preset time period after the specified communication operation is completed.

In one embodiment, the second handover module 902 is specifically configured to disconnect the first target cell and attempt to access the source cell.

In an embodiment, the second handover module 902 is specifically configured to initiate a tracking area location update request TAU Requst to the first target cell, where an active identifier in the TAU Requst is set to be used for requesting the first target cell to release a radio resource control, RRC, connection with the terminal; and entering an RRC idle state in response to successful release of the RRC connection.

In one embodiment, a cell list preset in the terminal records cell identifiers of a plurality of anchor cells; the second switching module 902 is further configured to:

in response to a failure to access the source cell, attempting to access an anchor cell in the cell list based on the cell identity.

In one embodiment, the specified communication operation includes at least one of: a call service based on the long-term evolution voice over lte, and a call service based on the circuit switched fallback CSFB.

In an embodiment, the first switching module 901 is specifically configured to: and in response to the fact that the VoLTE-based call service needs to be executed and the source cell does not meet the call condition, switching to a first target cell meeting the call condition to execute the call service.

In an embodiment, the first switching module 901 is specifically configured to: in response to a need to perform the CSFB-based call service, performing the call service from a source cell back to a temporary cell; and responding to the end of the call service, and switching from the temporary cell to the first target cell.

In one embodiment, the apparatus further comprises:

a third switching module 903 configured to: attempting to access the first target cell in response to a failure to handover from the first target cell to the second target cell.

For the device embodiments, since they substantially correspond to the method embodiments, reference may be made to the partial description of the method embodiments for relevant points. The above-described embodiments of the apparatus are merely illustrative, and 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 place, or may be distributed on a plurality of network units. Some or all of the modules can be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the disclosed solution. One of ordinary skill in the art can understand and implement it without inventive effort.

Correspondingly, the present disclosure also provides an electronic device, comprising: a processor; a memory for storing processor-executable instructions; wherein the processor executes the executable instructions to implement the cell handover method in any of the above embodiments.

Accordingly, the present disclosure also provides a computer-readable storage medium, on which computer instructions are stored, and the instructions, when executed by a processor, implement the cell handover method in any of the above embodiments.

Fig. 10 is a schematic block diagram of an apparatus for cell handover in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. For example, the apparatus 1000 may be a mobile phone, a computer, a digital broadcast terminal, a messaging device, a game console, a tablet device, a medical device, an exercise device, a personal digital assistant, and the like.

Referring to fig. 10, the apparatus 1000 may include one or more of the following components: processing components 1002, memory 1004, power components 1006, multimedia components 1008, audio components 1010, input/output (I/O) interfaces 1012, sensor components 1014, and communication components 1016.

The processing component 1002 generally controls the overall operation of the device 1000, such as operations associated with display, telephone calls, data communications, camera operations, and recording operations. The processing component 1002 may include one or more processors 1020 to execute instructions to perform all or a portion of the steps of the cell handover methods described above. Further, processing component 1002 may include one or more modules that facilitate interaction between processing component 1002 and other components. For example, the processing component 1002 may include a multimedia module to facilitate interaction between the multimedia component 1008 and the processing component 1002.

The memory 1004 is configured to store various types of data to support operations at the apparatus 1000. Examples of such data include instructions for any application or method operating on device 1000, contact data, phonebook data, messages, pictures, videos, and so forth. The memory 1004 may be implemented by any type or combination of volatile or non-volatile memory devices, such as Static Random Access Memory (SRAM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), read-only memory (ROM), magnetic memory, flash memory, magnetic or optical disks.

The power supply component 1006 provides power to the various components of the device 1000. The power components 1006 may include a power management system, one or more power supplies, and other components associated with generating, managing, and distributing power for the device 1000.

The multimedia component 1008 includes a screen that provides an output interface between the device 1000 and a user. In some embodiments, the screen may include a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) and a Touch Panel (TP). If the screen includes a touch panel, the screen may be implemented as a touch screen to receive an input signal from a user. The touch panel includes one or more touch sensors to sense touch, slide, and gestures on the touch panel. The touch sensor may not only sense the boundary of a touch or slide action, but also detect the duration and pressure associated with the touch or slide operation. In some embodiments, the multimedia component 1008 includes a front facing camera and/or a rear facing camera. The front camera and/or the rear camera may receive external multimedia data when the device 1000 is in an operating mode, such as a shooting mode or a video mode. Each front camera and rear camera may be a fixed optical lens system or have a focal length and optical zoom capability.

Audio component 1010 is configured to output and/or input audio signals. For example, audio component 1010 includes a Microphone (MIC) configured to receive external audio signals when apparatus 1000 is in an operational mode, such as a call mode, a recording mode, and a voice recognition mode. The received audio signal may further be stored in the memory 1004 or transmitted via the communication component 1016. In some embodiments, audio component 1010 also includes a speaker for outputting audio signals.

I/O interface 1012 provides an interface between processing component 1002 and peripheral interface modules, which may be keyboards, click wheels, buttons, etc. These buttons may include, but are not limited to: a home button, a volume button, a start button, and a lock button.

The sensor assembly 1014 includes one or more sensors for providing various aspects of status assessment for the device 1000. For example, sensor assembly 1014 may detect an open/closed state of device 1000, the relative positioning of components, such as a display and keypad of device 1000, the change in position of device 1000 or a component of device 1000, the presence or absence of user contact with device 1000, the orientation or acceleration/deceleration of device 1000, and the change in temperature of device 1000. The sensor assembly 1014 may include a proximity sensor configured to detect the presence of a nearby object without any physical contact. The sensor assembly 1014 may also include a light sensor, such as a CMOS or CCD image sensor, for use in imaging applications. In some embodiments, the sensor assembly 1014 may also include an acceleration sensor, a gyroscope sensor, a magnetic sensor, a pressure sensor, or a temperature sensor.

The communications component 1016 is configured to facilitate communications between the apparatus 1000 and other devices in a wired or wireless manner. The device 1000 may access a wireless network based on a communication standard, such as WiFi,2G or 3g,4g LTE, 5G NR, or a combination thereof. In an exemplary embodiment, the communication component 1016 receives a broadcast signal or broadcast related information from an external broadcast management system via a broadcast channel. In an exemplary embodiment, the communications component 1016 further includes a Near Field Communication (NFC) module to facilitate short-range communications. For example, the NFC module may be implemented based on Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology, infrared data association (IrDA) technology, ultra Wideband (UWB) technology, bluetooth (BT) technology, and other technologies.

In an exemplary embodiment, the apparatus 1000 may be implemented by one or more Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), digital Signal Processors (DSPs), digital Signal Processing Devices (DSPDs), programmable Logic Devices (PLDs), field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), controllers, micro-controllers, microprocessors, or other electronic components for performing the above-described cell switching methods.

In an exemplary embodiment, a non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising instructions, such as the memory 1004 comprising instructions, executable by the processor 1020 of the apparatus 1000 to perform the cell handover method described above is also provided. For example, the non-transitory computer readable storage medium may be a ROM, a Random Access Memory (RAM), a CD-ROM, a magnetic tape, a floppy disk, an optical data storage device, and the like.

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

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

The above description is meant to be illustrative of the preferred embodiments of the present disclosure and not to be taken as limiting the disclosure, and any modifications, equivalents, improvements and the like that are within the spirit and scope of the present disclosure are intended to be included therein.

Claims

1. A cell switching method is characterized in that the method is applied to a terminal, and a source cell currently accessed by the terminal is an anchor point cell in a dual-connection network; the method comprises the following steps:

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the anchor cell in the dual connectivity network is a 5G anchor cell in a Long term evolution and New air interface dual connectivity ENDC network.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the handing over from the first target cell to the second target cell after the designated communication operation is performed comprises:

and switching from the first target cell to a second target cell after the preset duration of the completion of the specified communication operation.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the handing over from the first target cell to the second target cell comprises:

disconnecting the connection with the first target cell and attempting to access the source cell.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the disconnecting from the first target cell comprises:

initiating a tracking area location update request TAU Requst to the first target cell, wherein an activation identifier in the TAU Requst is set to be used for requesting the first target cell to release Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection with the terminal;

and entering an RRC idle state in response to the RRC connection being successfully released.

6. The method according to claim 4, wherein cell identifiers of a plurality of anchor cells are recorded in a cell list preset in the terminal;

the method further comprises the following steps:

in response to a failure to access the source cell, attempting to access an anchor cell in the cell list based on the cell identification.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein the specified communication operation comprises at least one of:

a call service based on long term evolution voice over LTE, and a call service based on circuit switched fallback CSFB.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the handing over from the source cell to the first target cell in response to a need to perform the specified communication operation comprises:

and switching to a first target cell meeting the call condition to execute the call service in response to the fact that the VoLTE-based call service needs to be executed and the source cell does not meet the call condition.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the handing over from the source cell to the first target cell in response to a need to perform the specified communication operation comprises:

in response to a need to perform the CSFB-based call service, performing the call service from a source cell back to a temporary cell;

and responding to the end of the call service, and switching from the temporary cell to the first target cell.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

attempting to access the first target cell in response to a failure to handover from the first target cell to the second target cell.

11. A cell switching device is characterized in that the cell switching device is applied to a terminal, and a source cell currently accessed by the terminal is an anchor point cell in a dual-connection network;

the device comprises:

12. An electronic device, comprising:

a processor;

a memory for storing processor-executable instructions;

wherein the processor implements the method of any one of claims 1-10 by executing the executable instructions.

13. A computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon computer instructions, which, when executed by a processor, carry out the steps of the method according to any one of claims 1-10.