CN115460587A

CN115460587A - Communication method and device

Info

Publication number: CN115460587A
Application number: CN202110853138.6A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 邝奕如; 李秉肇
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2021-06-09
Filing date: 2021-07-27
Publication date: 2022-12-09
Also published as: WO2022257564A1

Abstract

The application provides a communication method and a device, and when the method is applied to a terminal device, the method can comprise the following steps: the first capability information is sent to the network device. The first capability information is used for indicating the capability of a first radio access technology supported by the terminal equipment, and the first capability information further includes: frequency band information of a second radio access technology supported by the terminal device; the frequency band information includes: the method comprises the steps that at least one frequency band corresponding to a second wireless access technology supported by the terminal equipment and bandwidth information on each frequency band in the at least one frequency band are used, so that when the network equipment supporting the first wireless access technology analyzes first capacity information, the frequency band information of the second wireless access technology supported by the terminal equipment and the bandwidth information on the frequency band of the second wireless access technology supported by the terminal equipment are obtained, and therefore the terminal equipment can better access the network equipment of the second wireless access technology through the network equipment supporting the first wireless access technology.

Description

Communication method and device

Cross Reference to Related Applications

The present application claims priority of chinese patent application with application number 202110641980.3, entitled "a capability reporting method, terminal and network device", filed by the chinese patent office on 09.06/09.2021, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

Technical Field

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

Background

After a User Equipment (UE) accesses a certain network, it needs to report UE capabilities to a base station and a core network. The UE capability is reported through a UE capability message (UE capability information), which may include the capability of the UE in multiple Radio Access Technologies (RATs).

At present, when a UE performs cell or base station handover or performs secondary cell addition of a different system, since a source network device cannot analyze a container or capability of the different system supported by the UE, a bandwidth supported by a target network device may not be matched with a bandwidth supported by the UE, thereby rejecting handover of the UE, resulting in an increased probability of failure of handover preparation, and further requiring re-handover or re-performing secondary cell addition for successful handover, resulting in greater time delay and greater signaling overhead.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the application provides a communication method and device, which are used for improving the success rate of inter-system handover, auxiliary cell addition or auxiliary cell change and reducing signaling overhead.

In a first aspect, the present application provides a communication method, which may be applied to a terminal device, or a component in a terminal device, such as a chip. The method comprises the following steps:

determining first capability information, wherein the first capability information is used for indicating the capability of a first radio access technology supported by the terminal equipment, and the first capability information further comprises: frequency band information of a second radio access technology supported by the terminal device; the frequency band information includes: at least one frequency band corresponding to a second radio access technology supported by the terminal device, and bandwidth information on each frequency band in the at least one frequency band, wherein the first radio access technology and the second radio access technology are different radio access technologies; the first capability information is sent to the network device.

By the method, the terminal device can report the frequency band information of the second radio access technology supported by the terminal device in the first capability information, that is, the bandwidth information on at least one frequency band of the second radio access technology supported by the terminal device, so that the network device can obtain the bandwidth capability on the frequency band of the second radio access technology supported by the terminal device by analyzing the first capability information, for example, analyzing a container corresponding to the first radio access technology supported by the network device, which is beneficial to improving the success rate of the network device in performing actions such as handover preparation of different systems or adding of auxiliary cells.

In one possible implementation manner, the first capability information is carried in a container of the first radio access technology or capability information of the first radio access technology of the terminal device.

By the method, the network equipment can acquire the bandwidth capacity on the frequency band of the second wireless access technology supported by the terminal equipment by analyzing the container or the capacity information corresponding to the first wireless access technology supported by the network equipment, and the success rate of the network equipment in the actions of switching preparation of different systems or adding auxiliary cells and the like is improved.

A possible implementation manner is to receive first indication information from the network device, where the first indication information is used to indicate that the terminal device reports bandwidth information on each frequency band of the at least one frequency band in the first capability information.

By the method, the terminal device may determine to report the bandwidth information on the at least one frequency band of the second radio access technology supported by the terminal device in the first capability information based on the first indication information of the network device, and when the first indication information is not received, the terminal device may not report the bandwidth information on each frequency band of the at least one frequency band in the first capability information, so as to save the overhead of signaling reporting.

In a possible implementation manner, the bandwidth information on each of the at least one frequency band is carried in a UE capability message.

By the method, the network equipment can obtain the bandwidth information on the frequency band of the second wireless access technology supported by the terminal equipment in various modes, and the flexibility is improved.

A possible implementation manner, the bandwidth information on each of the at least one frequency band includes at least one of the following:

uplink bandwidth information on each frequency band in at least one frequency band;

downlink bandwidth information on each frequency band in at least one frequency band;

bandwidth information corresponding to each subcarrier interval in at least one subcarrier interval on each frequency band in at least one frequency band;

uplink bandwidth information corresponding to each subcarrier interval in at least one subcarrier interval on each frequency band in at least one frequency band;

downlink bandwidth information corresponding to each subcarrier interval in at least one subcarrier interval on each frequency band in at least one frequency band.

By the method, the terminal equipment can report the bandwidth information on the frequency band of the second wireless access technology supported by the terminal equipment in various modes, so that the flexibility is improved.

A possible implementation manner, the first capability information includes: a first indication field.

The first indication field is used for indicating at least one bandwidth information on each frequency band in the at least one frequency band;

or, the first indication field includes at least one first indication subfield, and one of the at least one first indication subfield is used to indicate bandwidth information corresponding to one subcarrier spacing on each of at least one frequency band supported by the terminal device;

or, the first indication field includes at least one first indication subfield, where one of the at least one first indication subfield is used to indicate uplink bandwidth information or downlink bandwidth information corresponding to one subcarrier spacing on each of at least one frequency band supported by the terminal device;

or the first indication field includes at least one of a first uplink indication field or a first downlink indication field, where the first uplink indication field is used to indicate uplink bandwidth information on each of the at least one frequency band; the first downlink indication field is used for indicating downlink bandwidth information on each frequency band of the at least one frequency band.

A possible implementation manner is to send UE capability information to the network device, where the UE capability information includes the first capability information and second capability information, the second capability information is used to indicate a capability of a second radio access technology supported by the terminal device, and the second capability information includes: the terminal equipment supports at least one frequency band corresponding to a second wireless access technology, and bandwidth information on each frequency band in the at least one frequency band.

By the method, the terminal equipment can also report the first capability information and the second capability information simultaneously through the UE capability information so as to adapt to the capability of the network equipment supporting the second wireless access technology to analyze the second wireless access technology supported by the terminal equipment and improve the universality of the reporting capability of the terminal equipment.

In a possible implementation manner, the frequency band information is used to send a request message to a target network device;

the request message is used for requesting the terminal equipment to establish communication connection with the target network equipment; the channel bandwidth of the first frequency point supported by the terminal device is less than or equal to the carrier bandwidth on the first frequency point supported by the target network device, and is greater than or equal to the bandwidth of the initial bandwidth part of the first frequency point supported by the target network device.

By the method, the network device may be based on: and generating a request message according to the bandwidth information of the frequency band of the second wireless access technology supported by the terminal equipment or the bandwidth information of the frequency point of the second wireless access technology supported by the terminal equipment, so as to perform actions such as switching preparation of different systems or adding of auxiliary cells, thereby effectively improving the success rate of the actions such as switching preparation of different systems or adding of auxiliary cells by the network equipment.

In a possible implementation manner, the request message is any one of the following: a handover request message, an auxiliary node addition request message, or an auxiliary node change request message. In this way, the terminal device reports the first wireless access capability, which can be used in more scenes, and improves the applicability of the terminal device in reporting the first wireless access capability.

In a second aspect, the present application provides a communication method applied to a network device, or a component, such as a chip, in the network device, the method including: receiving first capability information from a terminal device; the first capability information is used for indicating the capability of a first radio access technology supported by the terminal equipment, and the first capability information further includes: frequency band information of a second radio access technology supported by the terminal device; the frequency band information includes: at least one frequency band corresponding to a second radio access technology supported by the terminal device, and bandwidth information on each frequency band in the at least one frequency band, wherein the first radio access technology and the second radio access technology are different radio access technologies; and determining at least one frequency band corresponding to a second radio access technology supported by the terminal equipment and bandwidth information on each frequency band in the at least one frequency band according to the first capability information.

By the method, the network device can acquire the bandwidth capability on the frequency band of the second radio access technology supported by the terminal device by analyzing the first capability information, for example, analyzing the container corresponding to the first radio access technology supported by the network device, which is helpful for improving the success rate of the network device in performing actions such as preparation for switching between different systems or adding an auxiliary cell.

In a possible implementation manner, the first capability information is carried in a container of the first radio access technology or capability information of the first radio access technology of the terminal device.

In a possible implementation manner, first indication information is sent to the terminal device, where the first indication information is used to indicate that the terminal device reports bandwidth information on each of the at least one frequency band in first capability information.

By the method, the network device can send the first indication information to the terminal device before switching the different system or adding the auxiliary cell of the different system, and the network device can not report the bandwidth information on each frequency band of the at least one frequency band when the terminal device does not receive the first indication information, so that the cost of reporting signaling by the terminal device is saved.

By the method, the network equipment can acquire the frequency band information at an earlier time, for example, before the terminal measures the reference signal of the cell, the frequency band information is acquired, and the effects of cell switching, auxiliary cell addition or auxiliary cell change are improved. In addition, the method can also help the network equipment to select the frequency points in the frequency band supported by the terminal equipment when the network equipment configures the measured frequency points for the terminal equipment, thereby improving the measurement efficiency of the terminal equipment and reducing the measurement overhead.

A possible implementation manner, the bandwidth information on each of the at least one frequency band includes at least one of:

By the method, the network equipment can obtain the frequency band information in various modes, namely the bandwidth information on at least one frequency band of the second wireless access technology supported by the terminal equipment, so that the flexibility is improved.

Wherein the first indication field is used for indicating at least one bandwidth information on each of the at least one frequency band;

A possible implementation manner is to receive UE capability information from a terminal device, where the UE capability information includes the first capability information and second capability information, the second capability information is used to indicate a capability of a second radio access technology supported by the terminal device, and the second capability information includes: the terminal equipment supports at least one frequency band corresponding to a second wireless access technology, and bandwidth information on each frequency band in the at least one frequency band.

By the method, the network equipment can also receive the second capability information reported by the terminal equipment, and when the network equipment supports the second wireless access technology, the capability of the second wireless access technology supported by the terminal equipment can be obtained by analyzing the second capability information, so that the universality of the reporting capability of the terminal equipment is improved, and the compatibility of signaling is improved.

According to the frequency band information, a request message is sent to target network equipment; the request message is used for requesting the terminal equipment to establish communication connection with the target network equipment; the channel bandwidth of the first frequency band supported by the terminal device is less than or equal to the carrier bandwidth on the first frequency band supported by the target network device, and is greater than or equal to the bandwidth of the initial bandwidth part of the first frequency band supported by the target network device, where the first frequency band is one of at least one frequency band of the second radio access technology supported by the terminal device.

In a possible implementation manner, the request message is any one of the following: a handover request message, an auxiliary node addition request message, or an auxiliary node change request message.

By the method, the network device can generate the request message based on the frequency band information in the first capability information to perform actions such as switching preparation of different systems or adding of auxiliary cells, so that the success rate of the network device performing actions such as switching preparation of different systems or adding of auxiliary cells is effectively improved.

In a possible implementation manner, the reference signal measurement value of the serving cell of the terminal device is smaller than a first preset threshold, and the reference signal measurement value of another cell of a second radio access technology supported by the terminal device is greater than a second preset threshold, where the first preset threshold is smaller than or equal to the second preset threshold, and the cell of the target network device is one of the other cells.

By the method, the network equipment can determine to trigger the cell switching, and the transmission performance of the terminal equipment is improved.

In a possible implementation manner, the throughput of the serving cell of the terminal device is smaller than a third preset threshold, and a reference signal measurement value of another cell of a second radio access technology supported by the terminal device is greater than a fourth preset threshold, where the cell of the target network device is one of the other cells;

or the reference signal measurement value of the secondary cell of the terminal device is smaller than a fifth preset threshold, and the reference signal measurement values of other cells of the second radio access technology supported by the terminal device are larger than a sixth preset threshold, where the fifth preset threshold is smaller than or equal to the sixth preset threshold, and the cell of the target network device is one of the other cells.

By the method, the network equipment can determine to trigger the addition of the auxiliary cell or the change of the auxiliary cell, and the transmission performance and the throughput of the terminal equipment are improved.

In a third aspect, the present application provides a communication method, applied to a terminal device, including: receiving a first configuration message from a network device; the first configuration message is used for configuring a frequency point for measuring a second radio access technology, and the first configuration message includes: frequency point information of a second radio access technology, wherein the network equipment is network equipment supporting the first radio access technology; sending first measurement information to network equipment, wherein the first measurement information is used for indicating first frequency point information, the first frequency point information comprises a first frequency point and bandwidth information on the first frequency point supported by the terminal equipment, and the first frequency point information is frequency point information meeting preset conditions in frequency point information of a second wireless access technology.

By the method, the terminal equipment can report the frequency point information of the second wireless access technology supported by the terminal equipment and the bandwidth information on the frequency point of the second wireless access technology supported by the terminal equipment in the first measurement information, for example, the frequency point information can be the frequency point with better communication quality selected by the terminal equipment and sent to the network equipment, so that the network equipment can obtain the bandwidth information on the frequency point selected by the terminal equipment based on the first measurement information, and the method is favorable for improving the success rate of actions of switching preparation of different systems or adding auxiliary cells and the like of the network equipment and the communication performance after access.

In a fourth aspect, the present application provides a communication method applied to a network device, where the method includes: sending a first configuration message to the terminal equipment; the first configuration message is used for configuring a frequency point for measuring a second radio access technology, and the first configuration message includes: the network equipment is the network equipment supporting the first wireless access technology; receiving first measurement information from a terminal device, wherein the first measurement information is used for indicating first frequency point information, the first frequency point information includes a first frequency point and bandwidth information on the first frequency point supported by the terminal device, and the first frequency point information is frequency point information meeting preset conditions in frequency point information of a second wireless access technology.

By the method, the network equipment can obtain the bandwidth information on the frequency point selected by the terminal equipment based on the first measurement information, for example, the frequency point information can be the frequency point with better communication quality selected by the terminal equipment, which is beneficial to improving the success rate of actions of the network equipment such as switching preparation of different systems or adding auxiliary cells and the like and the communication performance after access.

With reference to the third aspect or the fourth aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the frequency point information that meets the preset condition in the frequency point information of the second radio access technology is: and the frequency point of which the reference signal measured value is greater than the preset value.

By the method, the terminal equipment can select the frequency point with better communication quality according to the condition that the measured value of the reference signal is greater than the preset value, and send the frequency point to the network equipment, so that the performance of cell switching, cell adding or cell changing of the auxiliary cell is improved.

With reference to the third aspect or the fourth aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the first configuration message includes second indication information, where the second indication information is used to indicate that the terminal device reports bandwidth information on a frequency point of a second radio access technology supported by the terminal device.

By the method, the terminal device can send the second indication information to the network device after receiving the second indication information, so as to save signaling overhead.

With reference to the third aspect or the fourth aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the bandwidth information on the first frequency point is carried in any one of the following messages: measurement reports, UE assistance information.

By the method, the terminal equipment can report the first frequency point information flexibly, and the flexibility is improved.

With reference to the third aspect or the fourth aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the bandwidth information at the first frequency point includes at least one of:

uplink bandwidth information on the first frequency point;

downlink bandwidth information on the first frequency point;

bandwidth information corresponding to each subcarrier interval in at least one subcarrier interval on the first frequency point;

uplink bandwidth information corresponding to each subcarrier interval in at least one subcarrier interval on the first frequency point;

and downlink bandwidth information corresponding to each subcarrier interval in at least one subcarrier interval on the first frequency point.

By the method, the network equipment can obtain the first frequency point information in various modes, namely the bandwidth information on the first frequency point of the second wireless access technology supported by the terminal equipment, so that the flexibility is improved.

With reference to the third aspect or the fourth aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the first measurement information includes: a second indication field.

The second indication field is used for indicating at least one piece of bandwidth information on the first frequency point;

or the second indication field comprises at least one second indication subfield, and one of the at least one second indication subfield is used for indicating bandwidth information corresponding to one subcarrier interval on the first frequency point;

or the second indication field includes at least one second indication subfield, and one of the at least one second indication subfield is used to indicate uplink bandwidth information or downlink bandwidth information corresponding to one subcarrier interval on the first frequency point;

or the second indication field comprises at least one of a second uplink indication field or a second downlink indication field, and the second uplink indication field is used for indicating uplink bandwidth information on the first frequency point; and the second downlink indication field is used for indicating the downlink bandwidth information on the first frequency point.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in a possible implementation manner, a request message is sent to a target network device according to the first frequency point information; the request message is used for requesting the terminal device to establish communication connection with the target network device, and the channel bandwidth of the first frequency point supported by the terminal device is less than or equal to the carrier bandwidth on the first frequency point supported by the target network device and is greater than or equal to the bandwidth of the initial bandwidth part of the first frequency point supported by the target network device.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the request message is any one of the following: a handover request message, an auxiliary node addition request message, or an auxiliary node change request message.

By the method, the network equipment can be matched with the bandwidth of the target network equipment according to the frequency point information, and the success rate of cell switching or auxiliary cell adding and auxiliary cell changing is improved.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the reference signal measurement value of the serving cell of the terminal device is smaller than a first preset threshold, and the reference signal measurement values of other cells of a second radio access technology supported by the terminal device are greater than a second preset threshold, where the first preset threshold is smaller than or equal to the second preset threshold, and the cell of the target network device is one of the other cells.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the throughput of the serving cell of the terminal device is smaller than a third preset threshold, and the reference signal measurement value of another cell of the second radio access technology supported by the terminal device is larger than a fourth preset threshold, where the cell of the target network device is one of the other cells;

In a fifth aspect, the present application provides a communication apparatus, which may be a terminal device, or a component in a terminal device, such as a chip. The communication device may be the terminal equipment according to any one of the first to second aspects, for example, the terminal equipment is user equipment, or a baseband device in the user equipment. In an alternative implementation, the communication device includes a baseband device and a radio frequency device. In another alternative implementation, the communication device includes a processing module (sometimes also referred to as a processing unit) and a transmitting module, and a receiving module (sometimes also referred to as a transceiver module, a transceiver unit, a receiving unit, and a transmitting unit). Reference may be made to the introduction of the first aspect or the third aspect for an implementation of a transceiver module.

The device can comprise a processing module and a sending module. Optionally, the apparatus may further include a receiving module. The apparatus may perform any of the implementation methods of the first aspect or the third aspect described above.

In an optional implementation manner, the communication apparatus further includes a storage module, and the processing module is configured to couple with the storage module and execute the program or the instruction in the storage unit, so as to enable the communication apparatus to perform the function of the terminal device according to any one of the first aspect or the third aspect.

In a sixth aspect, the present application provides a communication apparatus, which may be a network device, or a component in a network device, such as a chip. The device can comprise a processing module and a receiving module. Optionally, the apparatus may further include a sending module. The apparatus may perform any of the implementation methods of the second or fourth aspects described above. The network device is, for example, a base station, or a baseband device in the base station. In an alternative implementation, the communication device includes a baseband device and a radio frequency device. In another alternative implementation, the communication device includes a processing module (sometimes also referred to as a processing unit) and a transmitting module, and a receiving module (sometimes also referred to as a transceiver module, a transceiver unit, a receiving unit, and a transmitting unit). Reference may be made to the introduction of the second or fourth aspect for an implementation of the transceiving unit.

In an optional implementation manner, the communication apparatus further includes a storage module, and the processing module is configured to couple with the storage module and execute the program or the instruction in the storage unit, so as to enable the communication apparatus to perform the function of the network device according to any one of the second aspect or the fourth aspect.

In a seventh aspect, the present application provides a communication apparatus, including a processor and a memory, where the memory is used to store computer executable instructions, and when the apparatus runs, the processor executes the computer executable instructions stored in the memory, so that the apparatus executes any of the implementation methods of the first aspect or the third aspect.

In an eighth aspect, the present application provides a communication device, comprising a processor and a memory, wherein the memory is used for storing computer-executable instructions, and when the device is running, the processor executes the computer-executable instructions stored in the memory, so as to enable the device to execute any of the implementation methods of the second aspect or the fourth aspect.

In a ninth aspect, the present application further provides a computer-readable storage medium, which stores instructions that, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform any of the implementation methods of the first aspect to the fourth aspect.

In a tenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a computer program product, where the computer program product includes a computer program, and when the computer program runs, the computer program causes any method in the implementation methods in the first aspect to the fourth aspect to be performed.

In an eleventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a chip system, including: a processor configured to perform any of the implementation methods of the first aspect to the fourth aspect.

In a twelfth aspect, embodiments of the present application further provide a communication system, including as the fifth aspect or the seventh aspect, and including as the sixth aspect or the eighth aspect.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a system architecture suitable for use in the present application;

fig. 2 is a schematic view of a cell handover scenario provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 6a is a schematic diagram of a dual connection scenario provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6b is a schematic diagram of another dual connectivity scenario provided in the embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6c is a schematic diagram of another multi-connection scenario provided in the embodiment of the present application;

fig. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

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

fig. 12 is a schematic structural diagram corresponding to a communication device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 13 is a schematic structural diagram corresponding to a communication device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

In the following, some terms in the present application will be explained to facilitate understanding by those skilled in the art.

1) Terminal equipment, including devices that provide voice and/or data connectivity to a user, may include, for example, handheld devices with wireless connection capability or processing devices connected to wireless modems. The terminal device may communicate with a core network via a Radio Access Network (RAN), and may exchange voice and/or data with the RAN. The terminal device may include a user equipment, a wireless terminal device, a mobile terminal device, a subscriber unit (subscriber unit), a subscriber station (subscriber station), a mobile station (mobile), a remote station (remote station), an Access Point (AP), a remote terminal device (remote terminal), an access terminal device (access terminal), a user terminal device (user terminal), a user agent (user agent), or a user equipment (user device), etc. For example, mobile phones (or so-called "cellular" phones), computers with mobile terminal devices, portable, pocket, hand-held, computer-included or vehicle-mounted mobile devices, smart wearable devices, and the like may be included. For example, personal Communication Service (PCS) phones, cordless phones, session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phones, wireless Local Loop (WLL) stations, personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), and the like. Also included are constrained devices, such as devices that consume less power, or devices that have limited storage capabilities, or devices that have limited computing capabilities, etc. Examples of information sensing devices include bar codes, radio Frequency Identification (RFID), sensors, global Positioning Systems (GPS), laser scanners, and so forth.

By way of example and not limitation, in the embodiments of the present application, the terminal device may also be a wearable device. Wearable equipment can also be called wearable intelligent equipment, is the general term of equipment that uses wearable technique to carry out intelligent design, develop can dress to daily wearing, such as glasses, gloves, wrist-watch, dress and shoes. The wearable device may be worn directly on the body or may be a portable device integrated into the user's clothing or accessory. The wearable device is not only a hardware device, but also realizes powerful functions through software support, data interaction and cloud interaction. The generalized wearable smart device has full functions and large size, and can realize complete or partial functions without depending on a smart phone, for example: smart watches or smart glasses and the like, and only focus on a certain type of application function, and need to be matched with other equipment such as a smart phone for use, such as various smart bracelets, smart helmets, smart jewelry and the like for physical sign monitoring.

2) A network device, e.g., including a base station (e.g., access point), may refer to a device in an access network that communicates over the air with wireless terminal devices through one or more cells. The network device may be configured to interconvert received air frames and Internet Protocol (IP) packets as a router between the terminal device and the rest of the access network, which may include an IP network. The network device may also coordinate attribute management for the air interface. For example, the network device may include an evolved Node B (NodeB or eNB or e-NodeB) in a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system or an evolved LTE system (LTE-Advanced, LTE-a), or may also include a next generation Node B (gNB) in a fifth generation mobile communication technology (5G) New Radio (NR) system, or may also include a Centralized Unit (CU) and a Distributed Unit (DU) in a cloud access network (cloud ran) system, which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

3) Carrier aggregation refers to a technology in which a network device configures multiple carriers for a terminal device, and the terminal device and the network device perform data transmission together using the multiple carriers. The multiple carriers generally include a Primary Carrier Component (PCC) and one or more secondary carriers (SCCs). A cell operating in a primary carrier is a primary carrier cell (PCell), the PCell is a cell when a terminal initially accesses, and a base station where the PCell is located is responsible for performing Radio Resource Control (RRC) communication with the terminal. A cell operating on a secondary carrier is a secondary carrier cell (SCell), and the SCell may provide additional radio resources for a terminal.

4) Dual Connectivity (DC), which is a technology in which a terminal device establishes and maintains communication connections with at least two network devices simultaneously, and performs data transmission using radio resources provided by the at least two network devices. The at least two network devices are connected by a non-ideal backhaul link and may be network devices supporting different access technologies. Under dual connectivity, two cell groups are included, a Master Cell Group (MCG) and a Secondary Cell Group (SCG), respectively, and both the MCG and the SCG may include one master cell and one or more secondary cells. Correspondingly, the network device in charge of managing the MCG among the at least two network devices is a primary network device for providing a control plane connection between the terminal device and the core network, and the network device in charge of managing the SCG is a secondary network device for providing additional wireless resources for the terminal.

5) The inter-system handover refers to a handover of a terminal device between two networks of different communication systems, for example, the terminal device is handed over from a cell of an originally accessed LTE network to a cell of a 5G network, or may be handed over from a cell of an originally accessed 5G network to a cell of an LTE network.

6) The terms "system" and "network" in the embodiments of the present application may be used interchangeably. The "plurality" means two or more, and in view of this, the "plurality" may also be understood as "at least two" in the embodiments of the present application. By "at least two", two or more strips are to be understood, for example two, three or more strips. By "at least one", one or more, e.g. one, two or more, strips are to be understood. Similarly, the understanding of the description of "a plurality" and the like is similar. "and/or" describes the association relationship of the associated object, indicating that there may be three relationships, for example, a and/or B, which may indicate: a exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone. In addition, the character "/" generally indicates that the preceding and following related objects are in an "or" relationship, unless otherwise specified.

In the following description, unless specified to the contrary, "first," "second," etc. ordinal terms are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or order.

The technical scheme provided by the embodiment of the application can be applied to a 5G system, an evolved long term evolution (LTE-A) system and the like. In addition, the technical scheme can also be applied to future-oriented communication technology. It should be understood that the network structure described in the embodiment of the present application is for more clearly illustrating the technical solution of the embodiment of the present application, and does not constitute a limitation to the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application, and as a person having ordinary skill in the art knows, along with the evolution of the network architecture, the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application is also applicable to similar technical problems.

Fig. 1 illustrates an application scenario of an embodiment of the present application, where fig. 1 includes an access network device, a core network device, and a UE. The access network device operates, for example, in an evolved universal mobile telecommunications system terrestrial radio access (E-UTRA) system, or in an NR system, or in a next generation communication system or other communication system. The access network device is for example a base station. The access network device corresponds to different devices in different systems, for example, in a 4G system, the access network device may correspond to an eNB, and in a 5G system, the access network device corresponds to an access network device in 5G, for example, a gNB. Of course, the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application may also be applied to a future mobile communication system, and therefore, the access network device in fig. 1 may also correspond to a network device in the future mobile communication system. In fig. 1, the access network device is taken as a base station as an example, and actually, referring to the foregoing description, the access network device may also be an RSU or the like. In addition, the UE in fig. 1 is a mobile phone as an example, and actually it is known from the foregoing description of the UE, the UE in the embodiment of the present application is not limited to the mobile phone.

In addition, for convenience of description, the various embodiments to be described later are all exemplified by applying the architecture shown in fig. 1. For example, the access network device described in the following embodiments is, for example, an access network device in the network architecture shown in fig. 1, the core network device described in the following embodiments is, for example, a core network device in the network architecture shown in fig. 1, and the UE described in the following embodiments may be a UE in the network architecture shown in fig. 1. The core network device described in the following embodiments is, for example, an AMF, or may be another device located on the core network side.

The present application will be described in further detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The embodiments of the present application can be applied to various mobile communication systems, for example: long Term Evolution (LTE) System, advanced Long Term Evolution (LTE-a) System, universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), evolved Long Term Evolution (LTE) System, 5G System (e.g., NR System), and future communication System (e.g., 6G System).

Scene one

The application scenario of the embodiment of the application may be a scenario in which the terminal device performs cell switching. Referring to fig. 2, a schematic view of a cell handover scenario is shown. As shown in fig. 2, the scenario includes at least two network devices 230, 231 (two are illustrated in fig. 2, but this is not limited in this embodiment of the present application) and at least one terminal device 101 (one is illustrated in fig. 2, this is not limited in this application). The

network devices

230, 231 may be access network devices in fig. 1, among others.

The UE may move under the coverage of different network devices, and when the UE moves from the coverage of one network device to the coverage of another network device, the source network device may initiate a handover procedure of the UE to the target network device.

The UE may report the capability of the UE to the network device (e.g., the access network device and the core network) before handover, for example, after the UE establishes a connection with the network device. For example, after the UE completes the RRC connection establishment procedure, the UE may report the capability of the UE to the network device through a UE capability message (UECapabilityInformation). The capabilities of the UE may include capabilities of at least one radio access technology.

Taking the source network device as an E-UTRA network device as an example, the Capability of the UE in the EUTRA wireless access technology can be carried by an EUTRA container (EUTRA container/UE-EUTRA-Capability). The EUTRA container may include EUTRA capability information supported by the UE. The eutra capability information may include eutra bandwidth information supported by the UE under an E-UTRA (LTE) radio access technology. The bandwidth information supported by the UE under the E-UTRA (LTE) radio access technology may include: the frequency band (band) supported by the UE under the E-UTRA (LTE) wireless access technology and the frequency band (band) supported by the UE under the E-UTRA (LTE) wireless access technology.

In addition, the UE may also report the Capability of the UE in the NR radio access technology, and the Capability of the UE in the NR radio access technology is carried by an NR container (NR container/UE-NR-Capability). The NR container may include NR capability information supported by the UE. In the NR capability information, NR bandwidth information supported by the UE under the NR radio access technology may be included. The bandwidth information supported by the UE under the NR radio access technology may include: frequency band (band) supported by the UE under the NR radio access technology, and bandwidth of frequency band (band) supported by the UE under the NR radio access technology.

However, since the EUTRA network device only requires to analyze the EUTRA container or the EUTRA capability, the EUTRA network device cannot analyze the NR container or the NR capability, and further, the EUTRA network device cannot acquire bandwidths of a band (band) supported by the UE in the NR radio access technology and a band (band) supported by the UE in the radio access technology based on the NR container or the NR capability.

To support inter-system handover, when reporting the UE capability message, the UE may also report the frequency band of the NR radio access technology supported by the UE in the EUTRA container, so that the source network device 230 may analyze the EUTRA container to obtain the frequency band of the NR radio access technology supported by the UE, and then select the target network device according to the frequency band of the NR radio access technology supported by the UE.

At the time of the handover phase, the terminal device 101 will handover from the source network device 230 to the target network device 231.

Taking the target network device as the NR network device as an example, after the source network device analyzes the EUTRA container and obtains the frequency band of the NR radio access technology supported by the UE, the source network device may select, according to the NR frequency band supported by the UE, the NR network device supporting the frequency band as the target network device. For example, if the NR frequency band supported by the UE is n77, the source network device may select a target network device supporting n77 as the target network device, and initiate a handover request to the target network device.

After receiving the handover request, the target network device may verify the capability of the UE and determine whether to allow the UE to access the target network device. For example, if the NR band supported by the UE is n77 and the NR bandwidth supported by the UE is 100MHz, the UE cannot access the target network device if the target network device supports n77 but the cell supported bandwidth of the target network device is 80 MHz.

Similar problems may also exist in scenarios where the source network device is an NR network device and the target network device is an EUTRA network device. The source network device can only obtain the frequency band of the EUTRA wireless access technology supported by the UE by analyzing the NR container or the NR capability, and the source network device (NR network device) determines the target EUTRA network device to which the UE is to be switched according to the frequency band of the EUTRA wireless access technology supported by the UE, so that the EUTRA bandwidth supported by the target EUTRA network device is not matched with the EUTRA bandwidth supported by the UE, and the switching of the UE is rejected.

In summary, since the source network device cannot analyze the container or capability of the different system supported by the UE, the source network device can only obtain the different system frequency band supported by the UE by analyzing the container or capability of the same system supported by the UE, and cannot determine the bandwidth supported on the different system frequency band. Therefore, the target network device to which the UE is to be handed over is determined by the source network device according to the inter-system frequency band supported by the UE, which may cause that the bandwidth supported by the target network device is not matched with the bandwidth supported by the UE, thereby rejecting the handover of the UE, resulting in an increase in probability of a failure of handover preparation, and further requiring a re-handover for a successful handover, resulting in a larger handover delay and a larger signaling overhead.

Example one

Based on the above problem, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method. The method may be applied to the system architecture shown in fig. 1 and the system shown in the switching scenario in fig. 2, and as shown in fig. 3, the method may include the following steps:

step 301: the terminal device determines first capability information.

According to a possible implementation manner, the terminal device generates first capability information according to the capability supported by the terminal device.

In this step 301, the first capability information is used to indicate a capability of a first radio access technology supported by the terminal device, and the first capability information further includes: frequency band information of a second radio access technology supported by the terminal device; the frequency band information includes: the terminal equipment comprises at least one frequency band corresponding to a second wireless access technology supported by the terminal equipment and bandwidth information on each frequency band in the at least one frequency band, wherein the first wireless access technology and the second wireless access technology are different wireless access technologies.

In some embodiments, the first capability information is used to indicate a capability of a first radio access technology supported by the terminal device, where the capability of the first radio access technology supported by the UE may include: the capability information corresponding to the capability parameters may include frequency band combination (band combination), baseband processing capability (baseband processing capability), supported carrier aggregation bandwidth class (ca-bandwidth hclass), modulation and Coding Scheme (Modulation and Coding Scheme), and the like. The capability parameters or the capability information are exemplary capability parameters or capability information, the capability information of the UE may include one or more of the capability parameters and one or more of the capability information, and specific and complete capability information is not described herein again. In the present application, it is mainly of interest that the capability of the first radio access technology supported by the UE includes bandwidth information of the first radio access technology supported by the UE. Correspondingly, the content included in the capability information of the other radio access technologies supported by the UE, for example, the capability of the second radio access technology supported by the UE and the capability information received by the third radio access supported by the UE, may also refer to the content of the first capability, which is not described herein again.

In a possible manner, the frequency band information of the second radio access technology supported by the terminal device may be a frequency band (band) of the second radio access technology supported by the terminal device, and the bandwidth information on the frequency band of the second radio access technology supported by the terminal device may be at least one bandwidth on the frequency band (band) of the second radio access technology supported by the terminal device. Alternatively, the frequency band information of the second radio access technology supported by the terminal device may be at least one frequency band (band) of the second radio access technology supported by the terminal device, and the bandwidth information on the frequency band of the second radio access technology supported by the terminal device may be at least one bandwidth on the at least one frequency band (band) of the second radio access technology supported by the terminal device.

In some embodiments, the first capability information may be carried in the capability information of the first radio access technology of the container of the first radio access technology or the terminal device and sent to the network device, so that the network device supporting the first radio access technology may obtain the frequency band information of the second radio access technology supported by the UE by parsing the capability information of the first radio access technology of the container of the first radio access technology or the terminal device. The frequency band information includes: the terminal equipment supports at least one frequency band corresponding to a second wireless access technology, and bandwidth information on each frequency band in the at least one frequency band.

For example, taking the first radio access technology as the EUTRA radio access technology and the second radio access technology as the NR radio access technology as an example, the capability of the first radio access technology supported by the UE (the first capability information), that is, the capability of the UE in the EUTRA radio access technology, may include: frequency band information in EUTRA radio access technology supported by the UE. The frequency band information supported by the UE under the E-UTRA (LTE) radio access technology may include: frequency band (band) supported by the UE under the E-UTRA (LTE) radio access technology and frequency band (band) supported by the UE under the E-UTRA (LTE) radio access technology. The first capability information may be carried in a container of the first radio access technology or capability information of the first radio access technology of the terminal device. In this case, the first Capability information may be carried in an EUTRA container (EUTRA container) or Capability information of EUTRA of the terminal device (UE-EUTRA-Capability).

The frequency band information of the second radio access technology supported by the UE, that is, the frequency band information of NR supported by the UE, may also be carried by the EUTRA container or the capability information of EUTRA of the terminal device, so that the network device supporting the EUTRA radio access technology may obtain the frequency band information received by the second radio access supported by the UE by analyzing the capability information of EUTRA of the EUTRA container or the terminal device. In this case, the EUTRA container may include: a capability of the UE in EUTRA radio access technology, and at least one NR band supported by the UE in NR SA radio access technology, and a bandwidth on each of the at least one NR band supported by the UE in NR SA radio access technology.

The frequency band information supported by the UE in the NR radio access technology may include: frequency band (band) supported by the UE under the NR radio access technology, and bandwidth of frequency band (band) supported by the UE under the NR radio access technology. The bandwidth may be understood as a bandwidth of the NR band class or a bandwidth supported by a single carrier under the NR band.

Possible frequency bands under NR radio access technologies may include: n77 and n78, wherein the working frequency band of the uplink corresponding to n77 is [3300,4200] MHz, the working frequency band of the downlink corresponding to n77 is [3300,4200] MHz, the working frequency band of the uplink corresponding to n78 is [3300,3800] MHz, and the working frequency band of the downlink corresponding to n77 is [3300,3800] MHz.

The bandwidth supported by the network device or UE may be various in different frequency bands, for example, 5mhz,10mh,15mh,20mh,25mh,30mh,40mh,50mh,60mh,80mh,90mh,100mh,70mh,45mh,35mh, and of course, more bandwidth values may be included, which is not limited in this application.

For another example, taking the first radio access technology as the NR radio access technology and the second radio access technology as the EUTRA radio access technology as an example, the first capability information may be carried in a container of the first radio access technology or the capability information of the first radio access technology of the terminal device, where the capability of the first radio access technology supported by the UE is the capability of the UE in the NR radio access technology. At this time, the first Capability information may be carried by an NR container (NR container) or Capability information of NR of the terminal device (UE-NR-Capability). The frequency band information of the second radio access technology supported by the UE, that is, the frequency band information of EUTRA supported by the UE, may also be carried by the NR container or the capability information of the NR of the terminal device, so that the network device supporting the NR radio access technology may obtain the frequency band information received by the EUTRA radio access supported by the UE by analyzing the capability information of the NR container or the NR of the terminal device. At this time, the capability information of the NR container or the terminal device may include: the capability of the UE in the NR radio access technology, and at least one EUTRA band supported by the UE in the EUTRA radio access technology, and a bandwidth on each EUTRA band of the at least one EUTRA band supported by the UE in the EUTRA radio access technology. Capabilities in NR radio access technologies supported by the UE may include: frequency band information in EUTRA radio access technology supported by the UE.

The frequency band information supported by the UE under the E-UTRA (LTE) radio access technology may include: frequency bands (bands) supported by the UE under the E-UTRA (LTE) wireless access technology, and bandwidths on the frequency bands supported by the UE under the E-UTRA (LTE) wireless access technology.

According to the LTE R8 protocol, the LTE supports two duplex modes of FDD (frequency division duplex) and TDD (time division duplex); a total of 31 frequency bands from 700MHz to 2.6GHz are supported. That is, the frequency bands supported by the UE under the E-UTRA (LTE) radio access technology may include: 31 frequency bands for FDD and TDD modes. In different frequency bands, 6 bandwidth configurations such as 1.4MHz, 3MHz, 5MHz,10 MHz, 15MHz, 20MHz and the like can be supported.

A possible implementation manner of the terminal device, where the frequency band information of the second radio access technology supported by the terminal device includes at least one of:

uplink bandwidth information on at least one frequency band;

downlink bandwidth information on at least one frequency band;

For example, the field of the bandwidth on the frequency band supported by the UE of the second radio access technology indicated in the first capability information may be: a first indication field comprising one or more bandwidth values. In a possible implementation manner, the signaling format of the first indication field may be a bit string (bit string) or a bit map (bitmap).

Considering that the frequency band information of the second radio access technology supported by the terminal device may have various information, and accordingly, the manner of the first indication field may have various manners, which is exemplified in the following manner a1 to manner a4 by the manner of the corresponding first indication field in the case that the frequency band information has various information.

Mode a1, possible bandwidths on the band of the second radio access technology include: n bandwidths, and at this time, the first indication field in the first capability information may include a bit string or a bit map of N (N is an integer greater than 1) bits.

In this case, each bit may correspond to a bandwidth value, for example, a first bit of N bits corresponds to 5MHz, a second bit of N bits corresponds to 10MH, and so on. Each bit is used to indicate whether a corresponding bandwidth value is supported, for example, if the corresponding bit is set to 1, it indicates that the UE supports the corresponding bandwidth value, and if the corresponding bit is set to 0, it indicates that the UE does not support the corresponding bandwidth value.

In the manner a2, the bandwidth on the band of the second radio access technology supported by the UE includes: m bandwidth values, in which case one bandwidth value may correspond to one character, and the indication field may include M characters corresponding to the M bandwidth values.

For example, the bandwidths supported by the UE include: 5MHz,10 MH. Wherein, the character corresponding to 5MHz is a, the character corresponding to 10MH is b, at this time, the indication field may carry the character a and the character b, and is used for indicating that the bandwidth supported by the UE is 5MHz and 10MH.

It should be understood that the foregoing is only exemplary, and the examples in this application are not intended to limit the contents of the specific values indicated.

In the mode a3, the bandwidth on the band of the second radio access technology supported by the UE may distinguish between the uplink bandwidth and the downlink bandwidth. At this time, the frequency band information of the second radio access technology supported by the terminal device includes at least one of uplink bandwidth information on at least one frequency band and downlink bandwidth information on at least one frequency band. Correspondingly, the first indication field includes at least one of a first uplink indication field or a first downlink indication field, and the first uplink indication field is used for indicating uplink bandwidth information on a frequency band of a second radio access technology supported by the terminal device; the first downlink indication field is used for indicating downlink bandwidth information on a frequency band of a second radio access technology supported by the terminal device.

For example, the first uplink indication field is used to indicate an uplink bandwidth on a band of the second radio access technology supported by the UE, and the first downlink indication field is used to indicate a downlink bandwidth on the band of the second radio access technology supported by the UE.

In combination with the mode a1, the first uplink indication field may be a bit string (bit string) or a bit map (bitmap). Possible uplink bandwidths on the band of the second radio access technology include: n1 upstream bandwidths, and at this time, the first upstream indication field may include a bit string or a bit map of N1 (N1 is an integer greater than 1) bits.

At this time, each bit may correspond to an uplink bandwidth value, for example, the first bit corresponds to 5MHz, the second bit corresponds to 10MH, and so on. Each bit is used to indicate whether the UE supports the uplink bandwidth value, for example, if the corresponding bit is set to 1, it indicates that the UE supports the corresponding uplink bandwidth value, and if the corresponding bit is set to 0, it indicates that the UE does not support the corresponding uplink bandwidth value.

The first downlink indication field may be a bit string (bit string) or a bit map (bitmap). Possible downlink bandwidths on the bands of the second radio access technology include: n2 downstream bandwidths, in which case the first downstream indication field may comprise a bit string or bit map of N2 (N2 is an integer greater than 1) bits.

In this case, each bit may correspond to a downlink bandwidth value, for example, the first bit corresponds to 5MHz, the second bit corresponds to 10MH, and so on. Each bit is used to indicate whether the UE supports the downlink bandwidth value, for example, if the corresponding bit is set to 1, it indicates that the UE supports the corresponding downlink bandwidth value, and if the corresponding bit is set to 0, it indicates that the UE does not support the corresponding downlink bandwidth value.

Of course, the uplink bandwidth and the downlink bandwidth may also be distinguished in combination with the mode a2, for example, the bit in the first uplink indication field indicates the uplink bandwidth supported by the UE based on the mode a2, and the bit in the first downlink indication field indicates the downlink bandwidth supported by the UE based on the mode a 2. And will not be described in detail herein.

For another example, the first indication field may also carry only the uplink bandwidth or only the downlink bandwidth by increasing the identifiers of the uplink bandwidth and the downlink bandwidth. That is, the uplink bandwidth and the downlink bandwidth are sent through the first indication field. For example, the first indication field includes: bits of an uplink bandwidth on a band of a second radio access technology supported by the UE, and an identification of the uplink bandwidth. For another example, the first indication field includes: bits of a downlink bandwidth on a band of a second radio access technology supported by the UE, and an identifier of the downlink bandwidth.

In the manner a4, the bandwidth on the band of the second radio access technology supported by the UE may distinguish different subcarrier spacing (SCS).

At this time, the frequency band information of the second radio access technology supported by the terminal device includes bandwidth information on at least one frequency band corresponding to each subcarrier interval in at least one subcarrier interval.

For example, the first indication field may include K first indication subfields, where each first indication subfield is used to indicate a bandwidth on a band of a second radio access technology for one subcarrier spacing supported by the UE.

That is, the first indication field includes at least one of a first uplink indication field or a first downlink indication field, where the first uplink indication field is used to indicate uplink bandwidth information on a frequency band of a second radio access technology supported by the terminal device; the first downlink indication field is used for indicating downlink bandwidth information on a frequency band of a second radio access technology supported by the terminal device.

In one possible implementation manner, in combination with the manner a1, each first indication subfield may be a bit string (bit string) or a bit map (bitmap). Possible bandwidths on the band of the second radio access technology at each subcarrier spacing include: n bandwidths, in which case each first indication subfield may comprise a bit string or bit map of N (N being an integer greater than 1) bits.

At this time, each bit may correspond to a bandwidth value, for example, the first bit corresponds to 5MHz, the second bit corresponds to 10MH, and so on. Each bit is used to indicate whether the UE supports the bandwidth value, for example, if the corresponding bit is set to 1, it indicates that the UE supports the corresponding bandwidth value, and if the corresponding bit is set to 0, it indicates that the UE does not support the corresponding bandwidth value.

For example, taking the second radio access technology as NR as an example, for FR1 NR band, the first indication field may include: and 3 bit strings or bit maps, wherein the 3 bit strings correspond to bandwidths supported by the UE at subcarrier intervals of 15kHz, 30kHz and 60kHz respectively. For FR2 NR band, the first indication field may include: 2 bit strings or bit maps, wherein the 2 bit strings correspond to bandwidths supported by the UE under subcarrier intervals of 60kHz and 120kHz respectively.

For another example, the first indication field may include 5 bit strings or bit maps, wherein 3 bit strings correspond to bandwidths on FR1 NR bands supported by the UE at subcarrier intervals of 15kHz, 30kHz, and 60kHz, respectively. The 2 bit strings correspond to bandwidths on FR2 NR bands supported by the UE at subcarrier intervals of 60kHz and 120kHz, respectively.

Of course, each first indication subfield may also be determined in combination with the manner a2, for example, a bit in each first indication subfield is based on the manner a2 indicating the bandwidth supported by the UE in the subcarrier interval. And will not be described in detail herein.

In another possible implementation manner, the first indication field may further include an identifier of an increased subcarrier spacing, and the first indication field carries a corresponding first indication subfield. I.e. each first indication subfield is sent separately by means of the first indication field.

For example, for FR1 NR band, the first indication field includes: the subcarrier spacing is 15kHz bits of bandwidth on FR1 NR band supported by the UE, and the subcarrier spacing is 15kHz identity.

For another example, the first indication field includes: the subcarrier spacing is the bits of the bandwidth on the FR1 NR band supported by the UE at 30Hz, and the subcarrier spacing is the identity of 30 Hz. For another example, the first indication field includes: the subcarrier spacing is the bits of the bandwidth on the FR1 NR band supported by the UE at 60Hz, and the subcarrier spacing is the identity of 60 Hz.

For another example, for FR2 NR band, the first indication field includes: the subcarrier spacing is the bits of the bandwidth on the FR2 NR band supported by the UE at 60kHz, and the subcarrier spacing is the identity of 60 kHz. For another example, the first indication field includes: the subcarrier spacing is the bits of the bandwidth on the FR2 NR band supported by the UE at 120Hz, and the subcarrier spacing is the identity of 120 Hz.

For another example, the frequency band information of the second radio access technology supported by the terminal device may include at least one of uplink bandwidth information corresponding to each subcarrier interval in at least one subcarrier interval on at least one frequency band and downlink bandwidth information corresponding to each subcarrier interval in at least one subcarrier interval on at least one frequency band. Namely, the modes a3 and a4 are combined, namely, the uplink bandwidth and the downlink bandwidth are distinguished, and the subcarrier spacing mode is also distinguished.

At this time, the first indication subfield may be further configured to indicate uplink bandwidth information corresponding to each subcarrier interval in at least one subcarrier interval of the second radio access technology supported by the terminal device; the first indication subfield can be further used to indicate downlink bandwidth information corresponding to each subcarrier interval in at least one subcarrier interval of a second radio access technology supported by the terminal device.

For example, the first indication field includes at least one first indication subfield, and one of the at least one first indication subfield is used to indicate uplink bandwidth information or downlink bandwidth information on a frequency band of a second radio access technology corresponding to one subcarrier interval supported by the terminal device. The specific manner may refer to manner a3 and manner a4, which are not described herein again.

It is considered that the terminal apparatus may simultaneously generate EUTRA capability information of the EUTRA container and NR capability information of the NR container. Therefore, when the terminal device generates the frequency band information in the first capability information, the capability information in other containers, for example, the second capability information, may be referred to generate, so as to reduce the overhead and computational complexity of the terminal device.

For example, the first radio access technology is E-UTRA, and the second radio access technology may be NR radio access technology. At this time, the first capability information may be EUTRA capability information carried in an EUTRA container. The first capability information may include: NR band supported by UE, and bandwidth supported by UE on NR band.

Considering that NR capability information itself includes an NR band supported by the UE and a bandwidth supported by the UE on the NR band, when the terminal device determines the first capability information, the UE may determine, according to the bandwidth supported by the UE on the NR band in the NR capability information, a value of the bandwidth supported by the UE on the NR band in the first capability information.

For another example, the first rat is NR and the second rat can be E-UTRA rat. At this time, the first capability information may be NR capability information carried in an NR container. The first capability information may include: the band of EUTRA supported by the UE, and the bandwidth supported by the UE on the band of EUTRA.

Considering that the EUTRA capability information itself includes the band of EUTRA supported by the UE and the bandwidth supported by the UE on the band of EUTRA, when determining the first capability information, the UE may determine, according to the bandwidth supported by the UE on the band of EUTRA in the EUTRA capability information, the value of the bandwidth supported by the UE on the band of EUTRA in the first capability information.

Step 302: and the terminal equipment sends the first capability information to the network equipment.

Accordingly, the network device receives the first capability information.

It should be noted that the first capability information and the second capability information may be included in the UE capability information and transmitted together, or may be transmitted separately, which is not limited herein.

For example, the UE capability information of the terminal device may include first capability information and second capability information, where the second capability information is used to indicate a capability of a second radio access technology supported by the terminal device, and the second capability information includes: the terminal equipment supports at least one frequency band corresponding to a second wireless access technology, and bandwidth information on each frequency band in the at least one frequency band. The second capability information may be sent to the network device in a container carried in the second radio access technology.

Step 303: and the network equipment determines at least one frequency band corresponding to a second wireless access technology supported by the terminal equipment and bandwidth information on each frequency band in the at least one frequency band according to the first capability information.

In this embodiment, the network device may determine, according to the first capability information, at least one frequency band corresponding to the second radio access technology supported by the terminal device, and bandwidth information on each frequency band of the at least one frequency band.

In step 302, there are various ways in which the terminal device sends the first capability information to the network device, which are exemplified by way A1 and way A2 below. Optionally, the network device may further send first indication information to the terminal device, where the first indication information is used to request the terminal device to report first capability information, and the terminal device executes step 301 or step 302 after receiving the first indication information. Illustratively, the second indication information may be sent carried in an existing cell.

In the method A1, the first capability information may be transmitted through a UE capability message.

For example, for a terminal device in a connected state, when the network device needs some capability information of the terminal device, the network device may initiate a UE capability request procedure to request the needed capability information. For example, the network device may send a UE capability request message (UE capability inquiry) to the UE, the UE being requested to send radio access capability of the UE in a certain radio access technology. The UE capability request message may include one or more RATs (e.g., one or more of eutra, nr, eutra-nr) indicating that UE capability information in the RAT is requested.

If a certain RAT is included in the UE capability request message and the UE supports the RAT, the UE needs to include capability information of the RAT in the UE capability message and set the RAT type parameter in the UE capability message to the RAT. For example: the UE Capability information of EUTRA is requested in the UE Capability request message and the UE supports the EUTRA access technology, the UE needs to include the Capability information of EUTRA in the UE Capability message, and sets the RAT type parameter in the UE Capability message to EUTRA, which is specifically carried in an EUTRA container (EUTRA container) in the UE Capability message or Capability information of EUTRA of the terminal device (UE-EUTRA-Capability). Similarly, the NR Capability information is specifically carried in an NR container (NR container) in the UE Capability message or the NR Capability information (UE-NR-Capability) of the terminal device, and the eutra-NR Capability information is specifically carried in an MRDC container (MRDC container/UE-MRDC-Capability) in the UE Capability message.

Optionally, the network device may further carry first indication information in the UE capability request message, where the first indication information is used to indicate that the terminal device reports bandwidth information on each frequency band in the at least one frequency band in the first capability information.

In a possible implementation manner, the first indication information is used to indicate whether the UE needs to report the bandwidth on the frequency band of the inter-system supported by the UE, or the first indication information is used to indicate whether the UE allows reporting the bandwidth on the frequency band of the inter-system supported by the UE.

In a possible manner, the network device is a network device supporting the first radio access technology, and the network device may instruct the terminal device to report the bandwidth on the different system frequency bands supported by the UE according to a need. For example, the terminal device supports the second radio access technology and the third radio access technology. The network device may support the second radio access technology and the third radio access technology, may not support the second radio access technology and the third radio access technology, and may also support the portion, which is not limited herein.

At this time, the network device may instruct, through the first indication information, the terminal device to report the bandwidth on the frequency band of the second radio access technology supported by the UE. The network device may further instruct, through the first indication information, the terminal device to report the bandwidth on the frequency band of the third radio access technology supported by the UE. Or, the network device may further instruct the terminal device to report the bandwidth on the frequency bands of all the radio access technologies supported by the UE, except for the first radio access technology.

In another possible manner, the network device may further indicate, through the first indication information, that the terminal device allows the terminal device to report the bandwidth on the different system frequency bands supported by the UE. That is, when the terminal device does not support the different systems, the bandwidth on the frequency band of the different systems may not be reported.

In a possible implementation manner, the network device may send a UE capability request message to the terminal device, where the UE capability request message carries the first indication information. In another possible implementation manner, the network device may send a configuration message to the terminal device, where the configuration message carries the first indication information. The first indication information and the second indication information may be sent together or separately, and are not limited herein.

For example, when the network device is a network device supporting a first radio access technology, the first indication information is used to indicate whether the UE reports a bandwidth on a frequency band of a second radio access technology supported by the UE.

Taking the first radio access reception as E-UTRA and the second radio access technology as NR as an example, the first indication information is used to indicate whether the UE reports the bandwidth on the NR frequency band supported by the UE.

When the E-UTRA network device indicates, through the first indication information, the terminal device UE to report the bandwidth supported by the UE on the NR band, the terminal device may include, in the first capability information: bandwidth supported by the UE on NR band.

When the E-UTRA network device indicates, through the first indication information, that the terminal device UE does not report the bandwidth supported by the UE on the NR band, the terminal device may not include, in the first capability information: bandwidth supported by the UE on NR band.

In some embodiments, the first indication information may be carried in UE capability request (UE capability information) information, and accordingly, the terminal device may carry the first capability information in a UE capability message.

In the method A2, the first capability information may also be carried in the UE assistance information and sent to the network device.

Optionally, the first indication information is carried in a configuration message and sent to the terminal device, for example, the configuration message may be an RRC reconfiguration message and the like. And the terminal equipment confirms that the first capability information is sent to the network equipment through the UE auxiliary information according to the configuration message. Of course, the first capability information may also be carried in other RRC messages and sent to the network device, which is not limited herein.

Optionally, step 304: and the network equipment sends a switching request to target network equipment of the terminal equipment according to the frequency band information.

For a switching scene, the network device receiving the first capability information is a source network device, and the source network device determines a target network device of the terminal device according to the first capability information. Furthermore, the source network device may also send a handover request to the target network device after determining the target network device of the terminal device. Referring to fig. 4, a flowchart corresponding to a method for handing over a cell provided in the embodiment of the present application is shown, where the method may include the following steps:

step 401: the source network device sends a UE capability request message to the terminal device, and correspondingly, the terminal device receives the UE capability message sent by the source network device.

Optionally, the UE capability request message may include the first indication information.

It should be noted that step 401 is optional, and a specific implementation manner may refer to a manner in which the network device sends the first indication information to the terminal device in step 301, which is not described herein again.

Step 402: the terminal device determines first capability information.

Specifically, refer to step 301, which is not described herein again.

Step 403: the terminal device sends the first capability information to the source network device, and correspondingly, the source network device receives the first capability information sent by the terminal device.

Step 404: the terminal equipment sends a measurement report to the source network equipment, and correspondingly, the source network equipment receives the measurement report sent by the terminal equipment.

Optionally, the source network device may further send a configuration message to the terminal device, where the configuration message is used to configure the frequency point of the same measurement system, and the configuration message may also be used to configure the frequency point of a different measurement system. Furthermore, the terminal device may measure the reference signal on the configured frequency point based on the configuration message, and generate a measurement report from the measurement result and send the measurement report to the source network device, so that the source network device determines the signal quality of the terminal device accessing the target cell according to the measurement report, and prepares for subsequent handover to the target cell.

Step 405: and the source network equipment determines the target network equipment of the terminal equipment according to the first capability information and the measurement report.

In some embodiments, the source network device may determine candidate target network devices of the terminal device according to the measurement report, and then determine a target network device among the candidate target network devices according to the first capability information.

In step 405, the source network device may determine a candidate target network device to be the terminal device according to the measurement report.

The measurement report may include a measurement value of at least one frequency point of a cell of the same system, and may further include a measurement value of at least one frequency point of a cell of a different system. The measured value may be Reference Signal Receiving Power (RSRP), reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ), reference signal to noise ratio (RS-SINR), and the like, which is not limited in the present application.

The measurement value of at least one frequency point of the cell of the same system can be the measurement value of the same frequency point of the cell of the same system as the source network equipment, and can also be the measurement value of a different frequency point of the cell of the same system as the source network equipment.

For example, when the source network device determines that the measurement value of the serving cell of the terminal device is smaller than a first preset threshold, and the measurement values of other cells of the same system supported by the terminal device are greater than a handover preset threshold, cell handover of the same system may be triggered, that is, the source network device may determine the target network device corresponding to the target cell according to the measurement value of at least one frequency point of the cell of the same system in the measurement report.

For the cell handover of the inter-system, the source network device may determine the candidate target cell according to the measurement value of the at least one frequency point of the inter-system cell in the measurement report, and further determine the candidate target network device corresponding to the candidate target cell.

The source network device may determine, according to the measurement report of the terminal device, measurement values of other cells of the second radio access technology supported by the terminal device. Wherein the other cells may be neighbor cells of the terminal device. Candidate target network devices may then be determined based on the measurements of the other cells. For example, the target network device corresponding to the other cell whose measured value of the other cell of the second radio access technology supported by the terminal device is greater than the second preset threshold is used as the candidate target network device to be handed over, and when there are a plurality of candidate target network devices, the cell with the best measured value, that is, the cell with the best channel quality, may be preferentially used as the candidate target network device for the handover.

In some embodiments, the target network device may be determined by the source network device based on the first capability information and the candidate target network devices. For example, after determining candidate target network devices according to the measurement report, the source network device may determine whether there is a target network device that satisfies the handover condition in the candidate target network devices according to the frequency band information in the first capability information reported by the terminal device, and if there is a target network device that satisfies the handover condition, execute step 406.

For example, the handover conditions may include: the terminal equipment can be accessed to the target network equipment and can meet the bandwidth requirement of the target cell operation under the target network equipment.

In one possible implementation, the handover condition may include: the frequency band supported by the UE is matched with the frequency band of the target network equipment, and the bandwidth supported by the UE is matched with the bandwidth of the target network equipment. The matching of the bandwidth supported by the UE and the bandwidth of the target network device may include: the channel bandwidth of the first frequency band supported by the terminal device is less than or equal to the carrier bandwidth on the first frequency band supported by the target network device, and is greater than or equal to the bandwidth of the initial bandwidth part of the first frequency band supported by the target network device, where the first frequency band is one of at least one frequency band of the second radio access technology supported by the terminal device.

In a possible implementation manner, the network device may obtain, according to the frequency band to which the frequency point of the candidate target network device determined by the measurement report belongs, the bandwidth of the frequency band supported by the candidate target network device. And then, according to the frequency band to which the frequency point of the candidate target network device belongs and the bandwidth information supported by the candidate target network device under the frequency band, comparing the frequency band information with the frequency band information of the terminal device, and determining whether the candidate target network device meets the switching condition.

For example, when it is determined that the carrier bandwidth on the first frequency band supported by the candidate target network device is greater than or equal to the channel bandwidth of the first frequency band supported by the terminal device, and the initial bandwidth portion of the first frequency band supported by the candidate target network device is less than or equal to the channel bandwidth of the first frequency band supported by the terminal device, the candidate target network device may be taken as the target network device.

Take a scenario in which the channel bandwidth supported by the terminal device is to distinguish the uplink bandwidth from the downlink bandwidth as an example.

In the uplink bandwidth scenario, the conditions under which the terminal device can operate in the target cell are as follows: if the maximum transmission bandwidth configuration of one uplink channel bandwidth supported by the terminal device (see the way of maximum transmission bandwidth configuration in TS 38.101-1 and TS 38.101-2) is smaller than or equal to the carrier bandwidth (which may be indicated in the uplink common configuration of SCS configuration of bandwidth part (BWP) of the initial uplink) and larger than or equal to the bandwidth of the initial uplink BWP.

In the downlink bandwidth scenario, the conditions under which the terminal device can operate in the target cell are as follows: if the maximum transmission bandwidth configuration of one downlink channel bandwidth supported by the terminal device (see the standard TS 38.101-1 and TS 38.101-2 for the manner of maximum transmission bandwidth configuration), is less than or equal to the carrier bandwidth (which may be indicated in downlink common configuration (downlink common) of SCS configuration of BWP of the initial uplink), and is greater than or equal to the bandwidth of the initial downlink BWP.

When the candidate target network device does not satisfy the handover condition, the candidate target network device may be reselected, for example, a cell with better channel quality is selected as the candidate target network device for the handover, and after it is determined that the candidate target network device satisfies the handover condition, the candidate target network device is taken as the target network device.

In the above example, the candidate target network device is determined from reference signal measurements in the measurement report, and the target network device is determined from the first capability information and the candidate target network device.

In still other embodiments, the candidate target network device may be further determined based on the first capability information, and the target network device is determined based on the reference signal measurement value in the measurement report and the candidate target network device. The method comprises the steps of screening adjacent cells according to the working condition of the terminal equipment in a target cell, determining candidate target network equipment corresponding to the candidate target cell in which the terminal equipment can work, and taking the candidate target network equipment with a larger reference signal measurement value corresponding to the candidate target network equipment as the target network equipment according to the reference signal measurement value in a measurement report.

Step 406: the source network device sends a switching request message to the target network device, and correspondingly, the target network device receives the switching request message sent by the source network device.

Step 407: the target network device sends a switching confirmation message to the source network device, and correspondingly, the source network device receives the switching confirmation message sent by the target network device.

And the target network equipment confirms that the bandwidth of the target network equipment supports the access of the terminal equipment, and then sends a switching confirmation message to the source network equipment. In addition, in a possible scenario, when the target network device does not support the terminal device access, the target network device sends a handover rejection message to the source network device.

Step 408: the source network device sends a switching command to the terminal device, and correspondingly, the terminal device receives the switching command sent by the source network device.

Taking the source network device as an E-UTRA network device as an example, the source network device receives first Capability information reported by the UE, and the first Capability information may be carried in an EUTRA container (EUTRA container) or Capability information of EUTRA of the terminal device (UE-EUTRA-Capability). The source network device may analyze EUTRA capability information corresponding to the UE and frequency band information (i.e., first capability information) supported by the UE in the NR radio access technology according to the EUTRA container.

In the handover phase, according to the capability of the terminal device 101 accessing a Radio Access Technology (RAT), the handover modes may be classified into a same-system handover and a different-system handover. With system handover is meant that the radio access technology of the source network device 230 and the target network device 231 are the same. For example, the radio access technologies of the source network device 230 and the target network device 231 are both EUTRA (LTE), and the radio access technologies of the source network device 230 and the target network device 231 are both NR. Inter-system handover means that the radio access technologies of the source network device 230 and the target network device 231 are different. For example, the radio access technology of the source network device 230 is LTE, and the radio access technology of the target network device 231 is NR. Alternatively, the radio access technology of the source network device 230 is NR and the radio access technology of the target network device 231 is LTE.

According to the requirement that the UE can access the target network equipment and work in the target cell under the target network equipment, the frequency band supported by the UE is matched with the frequency band of the target network equipment, and the bandwidth supported by the UE is matched with the bandwidth of the target network equipment. The matching of the bandwidth supported by the UE and the bandwidth of the target network device may include: the channel bandwidth of the first frequency band supported by the terminal device is less than or equal to the carrier bandwidth on the first frequency band supported by the target network device, and is greater than or equal to the bandwidth of the initial bandwidth part of the first frequency band supported by the target network device, where the first frequency band is one of at least one frequency band of the second radio access technology supported by the terminal device.

Therefore, in a scenario where the UE is handed over to the target cell of the same system, the source network device may determine, according to the first capability information, frequency band information supported by the UE in an E-UTRA (LTE) radio access technology, and perform handover of the target cell of the same system. For example, when determining that the channel quality of the current serving cell meets the handover threshold, the source network device may determine a cell with better channel quality according to the channel quality of the neighboring cell frequency point of the same system measured by the UE. And selecting a cell matched with the bandwidth information supported by the UE from the cells with better channel quality as a target cell.

In a scenario where the UE is handed over to a target cell of the heterogeneous system, that is, when the source network device confirms to hand over the UE to the NR network device, the E-UTRA network device may determine, according to the measurement report of the terminal device, measurement values of other cells of a second radio access technology (e.g., NR) supported by the terminal device. The measured value may be RSRP, RSRQ, RS-SINR, etc., which is not limited in this application. Candidate target network devices may then be determined based on the measurements of the other cells. For example, the target network device corresponding to the other cell whose measured value of the other cell of the second radio access technology supported by the terminal device is greater than the second preset threshold is used as the candidate target network device to be handed over, and when there are a plurality of candidate target network devices, the cell with the best measured value, that is, the cell with the best channel quality, may be preferentially used as the candidate target network device for the handover.

Further, the source network device may parse the EUTRA container to obtain the first capability information, that is, obtain the NR frequency band supported by the UE under the SA access technology of NR and the bandwidth on the NR frequency band supported by the UE under the SA access technology of NR. The source network device may determine, according to an NR frequency band supported by the terminal device and a bandwidth supported on the NR frequency band, an NR network device deployed on the NR frequency band, and then determine, according to that a carrier bandwidth on a first frequency band supported by the NR network device is greater than or equal to a channel bandwidth of the first frequency band supported by the terminal device, and a bandwidth of an initial bandwidth portion of the first frequency band supported by the NR network device is less than or equal to a bandwidth of an initial bandwidth portion of the first frequency band supported by the terminal device, that the NR network device may be a target network device, use the determined NR network device on the NR frequency band as a target network device to which the UE is to be handed over, and initiate a handover request to the target network device.

After the target network device receives the switching request, the target network device determines whether the UE can access the cell under the target network device according to the bandwidth of the NR supported by the UE. Since the source network device obtains the NR frequency band supported by the UE and the bandwidth supported on the NR frequency band according to the first capability information. Therefore, the target network device to which the UE is to be switched is determined by the source network device according to the NR frequency band supported by the UE, which may satisfy the matching between the bandwidth supported by the target network device and the bandwidth supported by the UE, thereby improving the success rate of the handover preparation of the UE and reducing the handover delay and the signaling overhead.

In a handover scenario where the network device is an NR network device, for example, the NR network device hands over a UE to an E-UTRA (LTE) network device. At this time, the source network device is an NR network device, and the target network device is an E-UTRA network device.

The NR network device receives the first Capability information reported by the UE, which may include an NR container (NR container) or NR Capability information (UE-NR-Capability) of the terminal device. And the NR network equipment analyzes the NR container to obtain NR capability information corresponding to the UE and frequency band information supported by the UE in the E-UTRA wireless access technology. The first capability information includes: the method includes the steps that the UE carries out frequency band (band) information of at least one E-UTRA supported by an E-UTRA wireless access technology and bandwidth information of at least one band of the E-UTRA supported by the UE.

In the handover phase, the NR network device may determine, according to the E-UTRA frequency band and the supported bandwidth, the E-UTRA network device deployed on the E-UTRA frequency band, thereby taking the determined E-UTRA network device on the E-UTRA frequency band as a target network device to which the UE is to be handed over, and initiating a handover request to the target network device.

For example, the frequency band supported by the UE is band1, and the bandwidth supported by the UE is 3MHz, at this time, if the network device supports band1, and the cell supported bandwidth of the network device is greater than 3MHz and greater than the bandwidth of the initial BWP, the source network device determines that the network device is the target network device.

After the target network device receives the switching request, the target network device determines that the UE can access the cell under the target network device according to the frequency band of E-UTRA (LTE) supported by the UE and the bandwidth supported by the UE. Therefore, the target network equipment can complete the switching process and establish connection with the UE.

By the method, the network equipment can obtain the bandwidth capacity on the band of the different system supported by the UE by analyzing the corresponding container, and the success rate of switching preparation of the network equipment is improved.

Example two

Fig. 5 is a schematic flowchart corresponding to a communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application. The method may be applied to a system as shown in fig. 1 and fig. 2 for switching scenes, and as shown in fig. 4, the method may include the following steps:

step 501: the network device sends a first configuration message to the terminal device.

The first configuration message may be used to configure and measure at least one frequency point.

In some embodiments, the first configuration message is used for configuring at least one frequency point for measuring the same system, and the first configuration message may also be used for configuring at least one frequency point for measuring different systems. Furthermore, the terminal device may measure the reference signal on the configured at least one frequency point based on the first configuration message, and generate a measurement report from the measurement result and send the measurement report to the source network device, so that the source network device determines, according to the measurement report, the signal quality of the terminal device accessing the target cell, and prepares for subsequent handover to the target cell.

For example, considering a scenario of inter-system measurement, the network device is a network device supporting a first radio access technology, and in this case, the first configuration message may be used to configure a frequency point for measuring a second radio access technology, where the first configuration message includes: frequency point information of the second radio access technology.

Optionally, the network device may further send second indication information to the terminal device, where the second indication information is used to indicate that the terminal device reports bandwidth information on a frequency point of a second radio access technology supported by the terminal device. In a possible implementation manner, the second indication information may be carried in the first configuration message for sending, or may be sent separately, which is not limited herein. Wherein the first configuration message may be an RRC reconfiguration message.

In a possible implementation manner, the second indication information is used to indicate whether the UE needs to report the bandwidth on at least one frequency point of the inter-system supported by the UE, or the second indication information is used to indicate whether the UE allows reporting the bandwidth on at least one frequency point of the inter-system supported by the UE. The implementation manner of the second indication information may refer to the first indication information, and the difference is that the first indication information is used to indicate whether the terminal device reports the bandwidth on the frequency band supported by the terminal device.

Step 502: the terminal device generates first measurement information.

The first measurement information is used for indicating first frequency point information, the first frequency point information includes the first frequency point and bandwidth information on the first frequency point supported by the terminal device, and the first frequency point information is frequency point information meeting preset conditions in the frequency point information of the second radio access technology.

In some embodiments, the frequency point information meeting the preset condition in the frequency point information of the second radio access technology is: and the frequency point of which the measured value is greater than the preset value. The measurement value may be RSRP, RSRQ, RS-SINR, etc., which is not limited in this application.

In a possible scenario, the first measurement information may be used to indicate information of a plurality of first frequency points, that is, the terminal device may measure at least one frequency point indicated to be measured according to the first configuration message, and obtain information of the plurality of measured first frequency points. And then, the terminal device may generate the first measurement information according to the measured at least one piece of first frequency point information and the capability supported by the terminal device itself.

In some embodiments, the at least one first frequency point information of the second radio access technology supported by the terminal device may include at least one frequency point of the second radio access technology supported by the terminal device, and the bandwidth information on the frequency point of the second radio access technology supported by the terminal device may be at least one bandwidth on the at least one frequency point of the second radio access technology supported by the terminal device, that is, the bandwidth information on the frequency point of the second radio access technology supported by the terminal device may be a bandwidth on an inter-system frequency point supported by the UE.

The inter-system frequency point may be an inter-system frequency point in a measurement report of the UE. That is, the bandwidth supported by the UE in the first measurement information is the frequency point with better channel quality determined after the UE is measured by the inter-system cell/inter-system frequency point, so that the network device can more easily switch to the cell with better channel quality when selecting the target cell to be switched according to the first measurement information, thereby improving the switching performance.

Taking an inter-system as an NR system as an example, the NR frequency point may belong to a frequency point on an NR band. Taking the heterogeneous system as an E-UTRA system as an example, the frequency point of E-UTRA can belong to the frequency point on the band of E-UTRA.

For example, when the UE finds that the channel quality of the serving cell of the current network device is not good enough, the UE may start inter-system measurement, for example, to measure the quality of an NR network frequency point in an E-UTRA network. When the measurement result satisfies the corresponding measurement report trigger event, the UE may report a measurement report (measurement report) to the network device, where the measurement report includes measurement results of inter-system cells/inter-system frequency points.

For example, the field of the bandwidth of the at least one first frequency point supported by the UE of the second radio access technology indicated in the first measurement information may be: a second indication field comprising one or more bandwidth values.

In a possible implementation manner, the signaling format of the second indication field may be a bit string (bit string) or a bitmap (bitmap).

The manner of the second indication field may be various, and is exemplified by manner b1 to manner b5 below.

Mode b1, the possible bandwidths on the at least one first frequency point of the second radio access technology include: n0 bandwidth, in which case the second indication field in the first measurement information may comprise a bit string or bit map of N0 (N0 is an integer greater than 1) bits.

In this case, each bit may correspond to a bandwidth value, for example, a first bit of N0 bits corresponds to 5MHz, a second bit of N bits corresponds to 10MH, and so on. Each bit is used to indicate whether a corresponding bandwidth value is supported, for example, if the corresponding bit is set to 1, it indicates that the UE supports the corresponding bandwidth value, and if the corresponding bit is set to 0, it indicates that the UE does not support the corresponding bandwidth value.

It should be noted that N0 may also be equal to the number N of possible bandwidths corresponding to the band to which the at least one first frequency point of the second radio access technology belongs, at this time, the second indication field of the manner b1 may use the structure of the first indication field in the manner a1, and the indication manner may also be used, where the difference is that the second indication field includes the bandwidth supported by the UE on the at least one first frequency point of the second radio access technology.

In mode b2, the bandwidth on at least one first frequency point of the second radio access technology supported by the UE includes: m0 bandwidth value, in which case one bandwidth value may correspond to one character, and the indication field may include M0 characters corresponding to the M0 bandwidth value.

For example, the bandwidth on at least one first frequency point of the second radio access technology supported by the UE includes: 5MHz,10 MH. Wherein, the character corresponding to 5MHz is a, the character corresponding to 10MH is b, at this time, the indication field may carry the character a and the character b, and is used to indicate that the bandwidth supported by the UE is 5MHz and 10MH.

It should be noted that the indication manner of the second indication field in the manner b2 may also be along the indication manner of the first indication field in the manner b1, and the difference is that the bandwidth supported by the UE on at least one first frequency point of the second radio access technology is included in the second indication field.

In the mode b3, the bandwidth on at least one first frequency point of the second radio access technology supported by the UE may be used to distinguish between the uplink bandwidth and the downlink bandwidth. For example, the second indication field may include a second uplink indication field and a second downlink indication field. The second uplink indication field is used for indicating the uplink bandwidth on at least one first frequency point of the second radio access technology supported by the UE, and the second downlink indication field is used for indicating the downlink bandwidth on at least one first frequency point of the second radio access technology supported by the UE.

The uplink bandwidth and the downlink bandwidth may be distinguished with reference to the mode b1 or the mode b2, for example, the bit in the second uplink indication field indicates the uplink bandwidth supported by the UE based on the mode b1 or the mode b2, and the bit in the second downlink indication field indicates the downlink bandwidth supported by the UE based on the mode b1 or the mode b 2. And will not be described in detail herein.

For another example, the second indication field may also carry only the uplink bandwidth or only the downlink bandwidth by increasing the identifiers of the uplink bandwidth and the downlink bandwidth. That is, the uplink bandwidth and the downlink bandwidth are sent through the second indication field. For example, the second indication field includes: the bit of the uplink bandwidth on the frequency point of the second wireless access technology supported by the UE and the identification of the uplink bandwidth. For another example, the second indication field includes: bits of downlink bandwidth on frequency points of a second radio access technology supported by the UE, and identification of the downlink bandwidth.

In the mode b4, the bandwidth on the frequency point of the second radio access technology supported by the UE can distinguish different subcarrier spacing (SCS).

For example, the second indication field may include K0 second indication subfields. Wherein each second indication subfield is used for indicating the bandwidth on the frequency point of the second radio access technology of one subcarrier interval supported by the UE.

In a possible implementation manner, in combination with the manner b1, each second indication subfield can be a bit string (bit string) or a bit map (bitmap). Possible uplink bandwidths on the band of the second radio access technology at each subcarrier spacing include: n3 upstream bandwidths, in which case each second indication subfield may comprise a bit string or bit map of N3 (N3 being an integer greater than 1) bits. Of course, each first indication subfield may also be determined in combination with the mode b2, for example, a bit in each first indication subfield indicates a bandwidth supported by the UE in the subcarrier interval based on the mode b 2. And will not be described in detail herein.

In another possible implementation manner, the second indication field may further carry a corresponding second indication subfield by increasing the identification of the subcarrier spacing. I.e. each second indication subfield is sent separately by means of the second indication field.

For example, for FR1 NR band, the second indication field includes: the subcarrier spacing is the bits of the bandwidth of the first frequency point on the FR1 NR band supported by the UE at 15kHz, and the subcarrier spacing is the identity of 15 kHz.

For another example, the first indication field includes: the subcarrier spacing is the bits of the bandwidth on the FR1 NR band supported by the UE at 30Hz, and the subcarrier spacing is the identity of 30 Hz. For another example, the second indication field includes: the subcarrier interval is the bit of the bandwidth of the first frequency point on the FR1 NR band supported by the UE at 60Hz, and the subcarrier interval is the identity of 60 Hz.

For another example, for FR2 NR band, the first indication field includes: the subcarrier spacing is the bits of the bandwidth of the second frequency point on the FR2 NR band supported by the UE at 60kHz, and the subcarrier spacing is the identity of 60 kHz. For another example, the second indication field includes: the subcarrier interval is 120Hz, and the UE supports bits of the bandwidth of the second frequency point on the FR2 NR band, and the subcarrier interval is 120 Hz.

For another example, in a combination of the mode b3 and the mode b4, the second indication field includes at least one second indication subfield, and a second indication subfield of the at least one second indication subfield is used to indicate bandwidth information corresponding to a subcarrier spacing on a frequency point of a second radio access technology supported by the terminal device;

or the second indication field includes at least one second indication subfield, and one of the at least one second indication subfield is used to indicate uplink bandwidth information or downlink bandwidth information corresponding to one subcarrier interval on a frequency point of a second radio access technology supported by the terminal device. Specifically, the mode a3 and the mode a4 may be combined, and details are not described herein.

In the mode b5, the terminal device may also report the bandwidth information of the frequency band where the first frequency point is located after determining the bandwidth information of the first frequency point.

For example, the second indication field may be used to indicate at least one piece of bandwidth information on a frequency band where the first frequency point is located;

or the second indication field comprises at least one second indication subfield, and one of the at least one second indication subfield is used for indicating bandwidth information corresponding to a subcarrier interval on a frequency band where the first frequency point is located;

or the second indication field comprises at least one second indication subfield, and one second indication subfield of the at least one second indication subfield is used for indicating uplink bandwidth information or downlink bandwidth information corresponding to a subcarrier interval on a frequency band where the first frequency point is located;

or the second indication field comprises at least one of a second uplink indication field or a second downlink indication field, and the second uplink indication field is used for indicating uplink bandwidth information on the frequency band where the first frequency point is located; and the second downlink indication field is used for indicating the downlink bandwidth information on the frequency band where the first frequency point is located.

In this example, the indication manner of the second indication field may refer to the indication manner of the first indication field, and is not described herein again.

Step 503: and the terminal equipment sends the first measurement information to the network equipment.

Correspondingly, the network device receives the first measurement information sent by the terminal device.

It should be noted that the first measurement information is carried in the measurement information or the UE assistance information and is sent together, or may be sent separately, which is not limited herein.

In step 503, the terminal device may send the first measurement information to the network device in various ways, which is exemplified by way B1-way B2 below.

In the method B1, the UE may report the first measurement information when the network device requests the UE to report.

At this time, the terminal device may carry the first measurement information in a measurement report. The measurement report may be used to indicate a measurement value of at least one first frequency point obtained by the terminal device through measurement, and the measurement report may further include: and each piece of first frequency point information comprises the first frequency point and bandwidth information on the first frequency point supported by the terminal equipment.

Taking the network device as an E-UTRA network device as an example, the E-UTRA network device may send, in the first configuration message, second indication information, where the second indication information is used to indicate whether the UE needs to report a bandwidth supported by the UE on the NR band or a bandwidth supported by the UE on a different system frequency point, for example, the first configuration message may be an RRC reconfiguration message, or the like.

When the E-UTRA network equipment sends second indication information to the UE to indicate the UE to report the bandwidth supported by the UE on the NR band uplink/inter-system frequency point, the UE can report the bandwidth supported by the UE on the NR band uplink or the bandwidth supported by the UE on other inter-system frequency points in the 'UE auxiliary information'. When the E-UTRA network device sends the second indication information to the UE to indicate that the UE does not need or does not allow the UE to report the bandwidth supported by the UE on the NR band uplink/downlink frequency points, the UE may not report the bandwidth supported by the UE on the NR band uplink or the bandwidth supported by the UE on other downlink frequency points in the "UE auxiliary information".

Taking the network device as an NR network device as an example, the NR network device may send second indication information in the configuration message, where the second indication information is used to indicate whether the UE needs to report a bandwidth supported by the UE on an E-UTRA band or a bandwidth supported by the UE on an inter-system frequency point, and the configuration message may be, for example, an RRC reconfiguration message.

In the mode B2, the UE may actively report the first measurement information according to the measurement result after completing the measurement.

In some embodiments, the terminal device may determine to trigger reporting of the UE auxiliary information after reporting the measurement report, or determine to trigger reporting of the UE auxiliary information while reporting the measurement report. The terminal device may indicate, in the measurement report, a measurement value of at least one first frequency point obtained by the terminal device through measurement. The UE auxiliary information may carry at least one first frequency point information, where each first frequency point information includes the first frequency point and bandwidth information on the first frequency point supported by the terminal device.

After the network device receives a measurement report sent by the UE, the network device may determine, according to the channel quality of the neighboring frequency point measured by the UE, that the channel quality of the UE in the current serving cell is not good enough, and the network device may determine, according to the measurement report reported by the UE, that the terminal device meets the condition for triggering cell switching. For example, the source network device may use a cell with high channel quality of a neighboring frequency point measured by the UE as a candidate target cell after handover, and optionally, the source network device may further determine a target cell from the candidate target cell according to the frequency point information in the first measurement information, so as to use a network device corresponding to the target cell as the target network device.

Certainly, the source network device may also determine the candidate target cell based on the frequency point information in the first measurement information, and then compare the reference signal measurement values of the candidate target cell according to the measurement report, and select a cell with high channel quality as the target cell after handover. The detailed method may refer to step 405, which is not described herein again.

In a possible scenario, during the period that the terminal device 101 is attached to the source network device 230, a signal measurement report may be periodically sent to the source network device 230, the source network device 230 determines whether it is necessary to switch the terminal device 101 to another network device according to the signal measurement report of the terminal device 101, selects a target network device 231 to be switched for the terminal device according to the signal measurement report and the first measurement information, notifies the target network device 231 to prepare an access resource for the terminal device 101, and notifies the terminal device 101 to access the target network device 231.

Optionally, the network device may indicate, when configuring the measurement (for example, in an RRC reconfiguration message), whether the UE needs to report the bandwidth supported by the UE on the inter-system frequency.

If the E-UTRA network equipment indicates that the UE is required or allowed to report the bandwidth supported by the UE on the frequency point of the different system, the UE reports the bandwidth supported by the UE on the frequency point of the different system in a 'measurement report'; and if the E-UTRA network equipment indicates that the UE does not need or is not allowed to report the bandwidth supported by the UE on the frequency point of the different system, the UE does not report the bandwidth supported by the UE on the frequency point of the different system in the 'measurement report'.

Step 504: and the network equipment determines the first frequency point information according to the first measurement information.

In a possible implementation manner, the network device may determine the first frequency point information according to the first measurement information, where the first frequency point information includes: and the bandwidth on the first frequency point of the second wireless access technology supported by the terminal equipment.

In a handover scenario, the network device may be a source network device, and at this time, the source network device may determine a target network device of the terminal device according to the first frequency point information and the measurement report.

Optionally, step 505: and the network equipment sends a switching request to target network equipment of the terminal equipment according to the first frequency point information.

For example, the network device may determine a candidate target network device based on the measurement report. For a specific implementation, reference may be made to step 405, which is not described herein again. And then, the network equipment compares the frequency band information supported by the candidate target network equipment and the bandwidth information of the candidate target network equipment on the supported frequency band with the first frequency band information corresponding to the first frequency point information to determine the target network equipment.

In another possible implementation manner, the network device may determine the first frequency band information according to the first frequency point information. Wherein the first frequency band information includes: and the frequency band information of the frequency band where the first frequency point is located and the bandwidth information of a second wireless access technology supported by the terminal equipment on the frequency band where the first frequency point is located. Therefore, when the target network device is selected subsequently, the first frequency band information can be used for comparing with the frequency band information supported by the candidate target network device and the bandwidth information of the candidate target network device on the supported frequency band to determine the target network device.

Optionally, the network device may further send a handover request to the target network device after determining the target network device of the UE. The network device determines the mode of the target network device of the UE according to the first measurement information and the measurement report, which may refer to the mode of the network device determining the target network device of the UE according to the frequency band information and the measurement report in the first capability information in fig. 4, and details are not repeated here.

By the method, the network equipment can acquire the bandwidth capacity on the frequency point of the different system supported by the UE. The probability of cell switching preparation failure is effectively reduced, and the cell switching time delay and the signaling overhead are reduced. And the implementation complexity of the network equipment is not increased. Compared with the first example, the method helps to reduce the signaling overhead.

Scene two

The application scenario of the present application may also be that the terminal device operates in a multi-connection scenario through multiple wireless receiving technologies. The wireless access technology comprises the following steps: new Radio technology (New Radio, NR), evolved universal mobile telecommunications system Terrestrial Radio Access technology (Evolved-UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access, E-UTRA), E-UTRA-NR technology, universal mobile telecommunications system Terrestrial Radio Access technology (UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access, UTRA), enhanced data rate GSM Radio Access Network (GSM EDGE Radio Access Network, GERAN), cdma2000-1XRTT.

Such as Dual Connectivity (DC) and multiple connections of more than two. While a scenario in which a UE is simultaneously connected to base stations of two different access technologies may be referred to as Multi-RAT Dual Connectivity (MR-DC). In a dual connectivity scenario, the terminal device may have simultaneous access to the primary network device and the secondary network device (also referred to as source device and target device). For example, for the E-UTRA-NR technology, an operator may configure an E-UTRA base station and an NR base station to communicate with a UE together in deployment, that is, data is transmitted by using the frequency of the E-UTRA and data is transmitted by using the frequency of the NR, so that throughput of the UE is improved. It should be noted that the primary network device and the secondary network device may be deployed on the same site, or may be deployed on different sites. Moreover, when the primary network device and the secondary network device may be deployed at the same site, the primary network device and the secondary network device may share the same set of hardware device, or may use different hardware devices.

Referring to fig. 6a, a schematic diagram of a dual connectivity scenario in which a primary network device and a secondary network device are deployed at different sites is shown. The network device 201 may represent a primary network device, and the network device 202 may represent a secondary network device, where the primary network device may be one of an LTE network device (such as an eNB), a 5G network device (such as a gNB), or a network device in a future communication system, and the secondary network device may also be one of an LTE network device, a 5G network device, or a network device in a future communication system. The primary network device and the secondary network device may be network devices of the same standard, such as eNB, or network devices of different standards, such as eNB for the primary network device and gNB for the secondary network device. The communication system of the main network device and the auxiliary network device is not limited in the application.

When the base station of E-UTRA is used as a Master base station (Master Node, MN) and the base station of NR is used as a Secondary base Station (SN), this scenario is specifically referred to as E-UTRA-NR Dual Connectivity (EN-DC) in MR-DC; when the base station of NR is the master base station and the base station of E-UTRA is the slave base station, the scenario is specifically referred to as NR-E-UTRA Dual Connectivity (NE-DC) in MR-DC.

In an embodiment of the present application, the master network device operates in an LTE system, and the master network device is an LTE network device, that is, the master network device may cover one or more LTE cells. The secondary network device operates in the NR system, and the secondary network device is a 5G network device, that is, the secondary network device may cover one or more NR cells. Correspondingly, the terminal device 101 supports both the LTE system and the NR system, that is, the terminal device 101 may simultaneously access an LTE cell covered by the primary network device and an NR cell covered by the secondary network device. A cell covered by a primary network device accessed by the terminal device may also be referred to as a primary cell (PCell), and a cell covered by a secondary network device accessed by the terminal device may be referred to as a secondary cell (second cell). For example, the terminal device 101 may perform service transmission through the primary cell and at least one secondary cell, that is, the terminal device 101 may also perform data transmission with the secondary network device when performing data transmission with the primary network device.

Referring to fig. 6b, a schematic diagram of a dual connectivity scenario in which the primary network device and the secondary network device are deployed at the same site (fig. 6b takes the network device 203 as an example). Exemplarily, in fig. 6b, the network device 203 may operate in the LTE system and the NR system at the same time, that is, the network device 203 may simultaneously cover and form an LTE cell connection and an NR cell connection. The terminal device 101 may access the LTE cell and the NR cell simultaneously.

The above scenario is an example of a dual connectivity scenario, which is only an example, and other situations may also exist in the dual connectivity scenario, which is not described herein again. The terminal device in the embodiment of the application can support more than two connection scenes besides the double connection scene. For example, in the above example, the terminal device 101 may also access a cell formed by coverage of three or more network devices at the same time, for example, taking three network devices as an example, the three network devices include one primary network device and two secondary network devices, the terminal device may access the one primary network device and the two secondary network devices at the same time, and the one primary network device and the two secondary network devices may be deployed on one or more network devices, and may be deployed on three network devices, partially on one network device, or two network devices, for example. Referring to fig. 6c, where a primary network device is deployed on the network device 210, one of two secondary network devices is deployed on the network device 211, and the other secondary network device is deployed on the network device 212, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

Similarly, in another embodiment of the present application, the multiple connection may also mean that the terminal device accesses two or more cells simultaneously, or the terminal device accesses multiple carriers under the same network device simultaneously, or multiple carriers under the same cell. For example, the multi-connection scenario may further include that the terminal device simultaneously accesses at least two cells covered by the same network device or different network devices, where the at least two cells may be connected by a single carrier or a multi-carrier. Or, the terminal device accesses to one cell, where the one cell is a multi-carrier connection, for example, a single carrier bandwidth of each single cell under LTE is 1.6M, if a total bandwidth of each LTE single cell is 10M, each LTE single cell needs 6 carriers, and when the terminal device accesses to 2 to 6 carriers of the LTE single cell at the same time, the connection may also be referred to as multi-connection. A scenario in which the terminal device supports access to multiple carriers may also be referred to as Carrier Aggregation (CA). It should be understood that a terminal device capable of operating in a multi-connection scenario may be a Band Combination (BC) supporting a DC class, and may also be a band combination supporting a carrier aggregation class.

Considering that the UE may be under the coverage of two network devices at the same time, the primary network device may add a secondary network device to the UE to improve the throughput of the UE.

In a possible scenario, the primary network device may determine the secondary network device to be added by the UE according to the quality of the channel quality of the neighboring frequency point measured by the UE.

After accessing the main network device, the UE needs to report the UE capability to the main network device and the core network. The UE capability is reported through a UE capability message (UE capability information), where the UE capability message may include capabilities of the UE in multiple Radio Access Technologies (RATs).

For example, the master network device is an E-UTRA network device, the E-UTRA (LTE) network device parses Capability information of EUTRA, that is, capability information of EUTRA of the EUTRA container (EUTRA container) or the terminal device (UE-EUTRA-Capability), and the E-UTRA (LTE) network device cannot parse Capability information of NR of the NR container (NR container) or the terminal device (UE-NR-Capability) or NR Capability. In the process of adding or updating the secondary cell, if the secondary network device is determined to be an NR network device, the E-UTRA (LTE) network device can only determine that one NR network device is the secondary network device according to an NR frequency band (band) supported by the UE under the EN-DC dual connectivity access technology and included in the EUTRA capability information in the EUTRA container, and initiate an addition request of the secondary network device or initiate a change request of the secondary network device to the NR network device. However, since the primary network device is a secondary network device determined according to the NR frequency band supported by the UE, the bandwidth supported by the secondary network device may not match the bandwidth of the NR supported by the UE, so that the UE cannot successfully add the secondary network device.

For another example, the main network device is an NR network device, and the NR network device needs to parse NR Capability information, that is, NR container (NR container) or NR Capability information (UE-NR-Capability) of the terminal device, where the NR Capability information may include an E-UTRA (LTE) band (band) supported by the UE under the EN-DC dual connectivity access technology. The NR network device cannot resolve the E-UTRA container or E-UTRA capabilities. In the process of adding or updating the auxiliary cell, if the auxiliary network equipment is determined to be E-UTRA (LTE) network equipment, the NR network equipment can only determine the auxiliary network equipment according to an E-UTRA frequency band (band) supported by the UE under the EN-DC dual-connection access technology in an NR container. However, since the NR network device is a secondary network device determined according to the E-UTRA band supported by the UE, the bandwidth supported by the secondary network device may not match the bandwidth of the E-UTRA supported by the UE, so that the UE cannot successfully add or change the secondary network device.

In summary, the main network device can only obtain the frequency band supported by the UE in the different system by analyzing the container or capability of the same system, and cannot analyze the container or capability of the different system, so that it is not possible to determine the bandwidth supported by the UE in the frequency band. Therefore, when the primary network device determines the secondary network device to be added by the UE according to the band information supported by the UE of the different system, the secondary network device may not match the bandwidth supported by the UE, so that the addition of the secondary network device by the UE is rejected, which results in an increase in the probability of failure in the addition of the secondary network device, and also brings a larger time delay for adding the secondary network device and a larger signaling overhead.

Example three

Based on the above problem, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method. The method may be applied to the system architecture shown in fig. 1 and the system shown in any scenario of fig. 6a to 6c, and as shown in fig. 7, the method may include the following steps:

step 701: the terminal equipment generates first capability information according to the capability supported by the terminal equipment.

Wherein the first capability information is used for indicating the capability of a first radio access technology supported by the terminal device, and the first capability information further includes: frequency band information of a second radio access technology supported by the terminal device; the frequency band information includes: the terminal device comprises at least one frequency band corresponding to a second wireless access technology supported by the terminal device and bandwidth information on each frequency band in the at least one frequency band, wherein the first wireless access technology and the second wireless access technology are different wireless access technologies.

Optionally, the terminal device may further receive a UE capability request message sent by the network device before generating the first capability information, and optionally, the UE capability request message may further include the first indication information, which may specifically refer to step 301, and is not described herein again.

For the auxiliary network device adding or auxiliary network device updating scene, the terminal device may generate eutra capability information, nr capability information, and eutra-nr capability information.

Take the first rat as E-UTRA and the second rat as E-UTRA-NR rat as an example. In one possible implementation, the first capability information may be EUTRA capability information carried in an EUTRA container.

In another possible implementation, the first capability information may not be carried in the E-UTRA container, for example, the first capability information may be carried in a MR-DC container, and the E-UTRA network device may parse the MR-DC container to obtain the first capability information when a secondary network device is added or changed.

In some embodiments, the first capability information may further include: NR band supported by UE under EN-DC dual connection, and bandwidth supported by UE on NR band. Therefore, the network equipment supporting the E-UTRA wireless access technology can obtain the bandwidth on the NR band supported by the UE under the E-UTRA-NR wireless access technology by analyzing the E-UTRA container, and the success rate of adding or changing the auxiliary network equipment by the UE and switching to the EN-DC dual connection is improved.

Considering that NR capability information itself includes NR bands supported by the UE under EN-DC dual connectivity and bandwidths supported by the UE on the NR bands, when the terminal device determines the first capability information, the UE may determine a value of a bandwidth supported by the UE on the NR bands in the first capability information according to a bandwidth supported by the UE on the NR bands in the NR capability information and/or a bandwidth supported by the UE on the NR bands in the eutra-NR capability information.

Taking the first radio access technology as NR, the second radio access technology may be NR-E-UTRA radio access technology as an example.

At this time, in one possible implementation, the first capability information may be NR capability information carried in an NR container.

In another possible implementation manner, the first capability information may not be carried in the NR container, for example, the first capability information may be carried in the MR-DC container, and the NR network device may parse the MR-DC container to obtain the first capability information when the addition of the secondary network device or the change of the secondary network device is performed.

In still other embodiments, the UE capability information may further include: the third capability information, for example, may include: and the UE supports the band of the E-UTRA under the EN-DC dual connection and the bandwidth supported by the UE on the band of the E-UTRA. Therefore, the network equipment supporting the NR wireless access technology can obtain the band of the E-UTRA supported by the UE and the bandwidth on the band of the E-UTRA supported by the E-UTRA-NR wireless access technology through analyzing the E-UTRA container, and the success rate of switching to EN-DC dual connection when the UE adds the auxiliary network equipment is improved.

Considering that the EUTRA capability information itself includes the band of EUTRA supported by the UE under the EN-DC dual connection and the bandwidth supported by the UE on the band of EUTRA, when determining the first capability information, the UE may determine the value of the bandwidth supported by the UE on the band of EUTRA in the first capability information according to the bandwidth supported by the UE on the band of EUTRA in the EUTRA capability information and/or the bandwidth supported by the UE on the band of EUTRA in the EUTRA-nr capability information.

Optionally, the UE capability information may include: the UE includes first capability information and second capability information, wherein the second capability information is used for indicating capability information of a second radio access technology supported by the UE. The second capability information includes: the terminal equipment supports at least one frequency band corresponding to a second wireless access technology, and bandwidth information on each frequency band in the at least one frequency band. The second capability information may be sent to the network device in a container carried in the second radio access technology. It should be noted that, the first capability information may refer to the generation manner in step 301, and is not described herein again.

Step 702: and the terminal equipment sends the first capability information to the network equipment.

Correspondingly, the network device receives the first capability information sent by the terminal device.

Specifically, the manner in which the terminal device sends the first capability information to the network device may refer to step 302, which is not described herein again.

Step 703: and the network equipment determines at least one frequency band information of a second wireless access technology supported by the terminal equipment according to the first capability information.

Optionally, step 704: and sending an auxiliary cell adding request or an auxiliary cell changing request to the target network equipment according to the frequency band information.

For the secondary cell addition or secondary cell change scenario, the network device receiving the first capability information is a network device, and the network device determines a target network device of the UE (in this case, the target network device may be a target secondary network device) according to the first capability information. Furthermore, the network device may further send a secondary cell addition request or a secondary cell change request to the target network device after determining the target secondary network device of the terminal device.

Referring to fig. 8, a flow chart diagram corresponding to a method for adding a secondary cell provided in the embodiment of the present application is shown, where the method may include the following steps:

step 801: the network equipment sends a UE capability request message to the terminal equipment.

Correspondingly, the terminal equipment receives the UE capability message sent by the network equipment.

Step 802: the terminal equipment generates first capability information according to self-supported capability.

Specifically, refer to step 701, which is not described herein again.

Step 803: the terminal device sends the first capability information to the network device, and correspondingly, the network device receives the first capability information sent by the terminal device.

Specifically, refer to step 702, which is not described herein again.

Step 804: the terminal equipment sends a measurement report to the network equipment, and correspondingly, the network equipment receives the measurement report sent by the terminal equipment.

Specifically, refer to step 404, which is not described herein again.

Step 805: and the source network equipment determines the target auxiliary network equipment of the terminal equipment according to the first capability information and the measurement report.

In step 805, the network device may determine a candidate target secondary network device to be the terminal device according to the measurement report.

The measurement report may include a measurement value of at least one frequency point of a cell of the same system, and may further include a measurement value of at least one frequency point of a cell of a different system. The measured value may be RSRP, RSRQ, RS-SINR, etc., which is not limited in this application.

For example, when the network device determines that the throughput of the serving cell of the terminal device is smaller than a third preset threshold and the measured value of another cell of the heterogeneous system supported by the terminal device is greater than a fourth preset threshold, the addition of the secondary cell may be triggered to improve the throughput of data transmission of the terminal device. Of course, the scene of the secondary cell addition may also be triggered in other ways.

After determining the trigger secondary cell addition scenario, the network device may determine the candidate target secondary cell according to a measurement value of at least one frequency point of the cells of the different systems in the measurement report, and then determine the candidate target secondary network device corresponding to the candidate target secondary cell.

The network device may determine, from the measurement report of the terminal device, measurement values of other cells of the second radio access technology supported by the terminal device. Wherein the other cells may be neighbor cells of the terminal device. Thereafter, candidate target secondary network devices may be determined based on the measurements of the other cells. For example, the target secondary network device corresponding to the other cell whose measured value of the other cell of the second radio access technology supported by the terminal device is greater than the second preset threshold is used as the candidate target secondary network device to be added, and when there are a plurality of candidate target secondary network devices, the cell with the best measured value, that is, the cell with the best channel quality, may be preferentially used as the candidate target secondary network device to be added.

In some embodiments, after determining the candidate target secondary network device according to the measurement report, the network device may determine whether there is a target secondary network device that meets the secondary cell addition condition in the candidate target secondary network device according to the first capability information reported by the terminal device, and if there is a target secondary network device that meets the secondary cell addition condition, execute step 806.

For example, the secondary cell addition condition may include: the terminal equipment can access the auxiliary target network equipment and meet the bandwidth requirement of the target auxiliary cell under the target auxiliary network equipment.

In one possible implementation, the handover condition may include: the frequency band supported by the UE is matched with the frequency band of the target auxiliary network device, and the bandwidth supported by the UE is matched with the bandwidth of the target auxiliary network device. The matching of the bandwidth supported by the UE and the bandwidth of the target secondary network device may include: the channel bandwidth of the first frequency point supported by the terminal device is less than or equal to the carrier bandwidth on the first frequency point supported by the target network device, and is greater than or equal to the bandwidth of the initial bandwidth part of the first frequency point supported by the target network device.

Or the channel bandwidth of the frequency band where the first frequency point supported by the terminal device is located is less than or equal to the carrier bandwidth of the frequency band where the first frequency point supported by the target auxiliary network device is located, and is greater than or equal to the bandwidth of the initial bandwidth part of the frequency band where the first frequency point supported by the target auxiliary network device is located.

In a possible implementation manner, the network device may obtain, according to the frequency band to which the frequency point of the candidate target secondary network device determined by the measurement report belongs, the bandwidth of the frequency band supported by the candidate target secondary network device. And then, according to the frequency band to which the frequency point of the candidate target auxiliary network equipment belongs and the bandwidth information supported by the candidate target auxiliary network equipment under the frequency band, comparing the frequency band information with the frequency band information of the terminal equipment, and determining whether the candidate target auxiliary network equipment meets the switching condition.

For example, when it is determined that the carrier bandwidth on the first frequency band supported by the candidate target auxiliary network device is greater than or equal to the channel bandwidth of the frequency band in which the first frequency point supported by the terminal device is located, and the initial bandwidth portion of the frequency band in which the first frequency point supported by the candidate target network device is located is less than or equal to the channel bandwidth of the frequency band in which the first frequency point supported by the terminal device is located, the candidate target auxiliary network device may be used as the target auxiliary network device.

When the candidate target secondary network device does not satisfy the secondary cell addition condition, the candidate target secondary network device may be reselected, for example, a cell with better channel quality is selected as the candidate target secondary network device added by the secondary cell, and after it is determined that the candidate target secondary network device satisfies the handover condition, the candidate target secondary network device is taken as the target secondary network device.

Step 806: the network device sends an auxiliary cell addition request message to the target network device, and correspondingly, the target network device receives the auxiliary cell addition request message sent by the network device.

Step 807: and the target network equipment sends an auxiliary cell addition confirmation message to the network equipment, and correspondingly, the network equipment receives the auxiliary cell addition confirmation message sent by the target network equipment.

And the target network equipment confirms that the bandwidth of the target network equipment supports the access of the terminal equipment, and then sends an auxiliary cell addition confirmation message to the network equipment. In addition, in a possible scenario, when the target network device does not support the terminal device to access, the target network device sends a secondary cell addition rejection message to the network device.

Step 808: and the network equipment sends an auxiliary cell adding command to the terminal equipment, and correspondingly, the terminal equipment receives the auxiliary cell adding command sent by the network equipment.

By the method, the network equipment can obtain the bandwidth capacity on the band of the different system supported by the UE under the EN-DC dual connection by analyzing the corresponding container per se, and the success rate of adding the auxiliary cell by the network equipment is improved.

Referring to fig. 9, a flowchart corresponding to a method for changing a secondary cell provided in the embodiment of the present application is shown, where the method includes the following steps:

step 901: the network equipment sends the UE capacity request message to the terminal equipment, and correspondingly, the terminal equipment receives the UE capacity message sent by the network equipment.

Step 902: the terminal equipment generates first capability information according to self-supported capability.

Specifically, refer to step 701, which is not described herein again.

Step 903: the terminal device sends the first capability information to the network device, and correspondingly, the network device receives the first capability information sent by the terminal device.

Specifically, refer to step 702, which is not described in detail herein.

Step 904: the terminal equipment sends a measurement report to the network equipment, and correspondingly, the network equipment receives the measurement report sent by the terminal equipment.

Specifically, refer to step 404, which is not described herein again.

Step 905: and the network equipment determines the target auxiliary network equipment of the terminal equipment according to the first capability information and the measurement report.

In step 905, the network device may determine, according to the measurement report, that the signal quality of the secondary network device currently accessed by the terminal device is not good and cannot meet the current transmission requirement, and at this time, the network device may determine, according to the measurement report, a candidate target secondary network device of the terminal device, so as to change the secondary network device subsequently.

The measurement report may include a measurement value of at least one frequency point of a cell of the same system, and may further include a measurement value of at least one frequency point of a cell of a different system. The measurement value may be RSRP, RSRQ, RS-SINR, etc., which is not limited in this application.

For example, when the network device determines that the measurement value of the secondary cell of the terminal device is smaller than a fifth preset threshold, and the measurement values of other cells of the second radio access technology supported by the terminal device are larger than a sixth preset threshold, the secondary cell change may be triggered to improve the data transmission performance of the terminal device. Of course, the scenario of the secondary cell change may also be triggered in other manners, and the present application is not limited thereto.

After determining that the secondary cell change scenario is triggered, the network device may determine the candidate target secondary cell according to a measurement value of at least one frequency point of the cells of the different systems in the measurement report, and then determine the candidate target secondary network device corresponding to the candidate target secondary cell.

The network device may determine, according to the measurement report of the terminal device, measurement values of other cells of the second radio access technology supported by the terminal device. Wherein the other cells may be neighbor cells of the terminal device. Thereafter, candidate target secondary network devices may be determined based on the measurements of the other cells. For example, the target secondary network device corresponding to the other cell whose measured value of the other cell of the second radio access technology supported by the terminal device is greater than the second preset threshold is used as the candidate target secondary network device to be added, and when there are a plurality of candidate target secondary network devices, the cell with the best measured value, that is, the cell with the best channel quality, may be preferentially used as the candidate target secondary network device to be added this time.

In some embodiments, after determining the candidate target secondary network devices according to the measurement report, the network device may determine whether there is a target secondary network device that satisfies the secondary cell change condition in the candidate target secondary network devices according to the first capability information reported by the terminal device, and if there is a target secondary network device that satisfies the secondary cell change condition, then step 906 is performed.

For example, the handover conditions may include: the terminal device can access the secondary target network device, and the terminal device can meet the bandwidth requirement of the target secondary cell operation under the target secondary network device.

In a possible implementation manner, the secondary cell change condition may include: the frequency band supported by the UE is matched with the frequency band of the target auxiliary network equipment, and the bandwidth supported by the UE is matched with the bandwidth of the target auxiliary network equipment. The matching of the bandwidth supported by the UE and the bandwidth of the target secondary network device may include: and the channel bandwidth of the frequency band where the first frequency point supported by the terminal equipment is located is less than or equal to the carrier bandwidth on the frequency band where the first frequency point supported by the target auxiliary network equipment is located, and is greater than or equal to the bandwidth of the initial bandwidth part of the frequency band where the first frequency point supported by the target auxiliary network equipment is located.

For example, when it is determined that the carrier bandwidth on the first frequency band supported by the candidate target secondary network device is greater than or equal to the channel bandwidth of the frequency band in which the first frequency point supported by the terminal device is located, and the initial bandwidth part of the frequency band in which the first frequency point supported by the candidate target network device is located is less than or equal to the channel bandwidth of the frequency band in which the first frequency point supported by the terminal device is located, the candidate target secondary network device may be used as the target secondary network device.

When the candidate target secondary network device does not satisfy the secondary cell change condition, the candidate target secondary network device may be reselected, for example, a cell with better channel quality is selected as the candidate target secondary network device for the secondary cell change, and after it is determined that the candidate target secondary network device satisfies the handover condition, the candidate target secondary network device is used as the target secondary network device.

Step 906: the network device sends an auxiliary cell change request to the target network device, and correspondingly, the target network device receives the auxiliary cell change request sent by the network device.

Or, the network device sends an auxiliary node change request to the target network device, and correspondingly, the target network device receives the auxiliary node change request sent by the network device.

Step 907: and the target network equipment sends an auxiliary cell change confirmation message to the network equipment, and correspondingly, the network equipment receives the auxiliary cell change confirmation message sent by the target network equipment.

And the target network equipment confirms that the bandwidth of the target network equipment supports the access of the terminal equipment, and then sends a secondary cell change confirmation message to the network equipment. In addition, in a possible scenario, when the target network device does not support the terminal device to access, the target network device sends a secondary cell change rejection message to the network device.

Step 908: and the network equipment sends an auxiliary cell change command to the terminal equipment, and correspondingly, the terminal equipment receives the auxiliary cell change command sent by the network equipment.

Or, the network device sends an auxiliary node change command to the target network device, and correspondingly, the target network device receives the auxiliary node change command sent by the network device.

By the method, the network equipment can obtain the bandwidth capacity on the band of the different system supported by the UE under the EN-DC dual connection by analyzing the corresponding container, and the success rate of adding the auxiliary cell by the network equipment is improved.

Example four

Fig. 10 is a schematic flowchart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The method may be applied to a system as shown in any of the scenarios in fig. 1 and fig. 6a to 6c, and as shown in fig. 10, the method may include the following steps:

step 1001: the network device sends a first configuration message to the terminal device.

The first configuration message is used for configuring a frequency point for measuring a second radio access technology, and the first configuration message includes: and the network equipment is the network equipment supporting the first wireless access technology.

Optionally, the first configuration message may further carry second indication information, where the second indication information is used to indicate that the terminal device reports bandwidth information on a frequency point of a second radio access technology supported by the terminal device.

For a specific implementation, refer to step 501, which is not described herein again.

Step 1002: the terminal device determines first measurement information.

The first measurement information is used for indicating first frequency point information, the first frequency point information includes the first frequency point and bandwidth information on the first frequency point supported by the terminal device, and the first frequency point information is frequency point information which meets preset conditions in frequency point information of the second radio access technology.

In one possible implementation, the first measurement information may be carried in a measurement report or in UE assistance information. Specifically, refer to step 502, which is not described herein again.

In a dual connectivity scenario, the first measurement information may include: and the UE is under the EN-DC dual connection, and the bandwidth supported by the UE is on the frequency point of the different system. The inter-system frequency point may be an inter-system frequency point in a measurement report of the UE.

Before the UE requests to use dual connectivity to increase throughput, the UE may start inter-system measurements, for example, to measure the quality of NR network frequency points in the E-UTRA network. When the measurement result meets the corresponding measurement reporting trigger event, the UE may report a measurement report (MeasurementReport) to the E-UTRA network device, where the measurement report includes the measurement result of the inter-system cell/inter-system frequency point. Correspondingly, the E-UTRA network equipment selects a cell under the appropriate inter-system network equipment as an auxiliary cell added to the UE according to the measurement result.

At this time, the UE reports the measurement report and reports the bandwidth supported by the UE on the frequency point of the different system, where the frequency point belongs to one band. That is, the bandwidth supported by the UE in the first measurement information is the frequency point with better channel quality determined after the UE is measured by the inter-system cell/inter-system frequency point, so that the network device can be more easily added to the auxiliary cell with good channel quality when selecting the target cell according to the first measurement information, thereby improving the performance of dual connectivity.

For a specific manner of generating the first measurement information by the terminal device, reference may be made to the manner in step 502, which is not described herein again.

Step 1003: and the terminal equipment sends the first measurement information to the network equipment.

For a specific sending manner, refer to step 503, which is not described herein again.

Step 1004: and the network equipment determines the first frequency point information according to the first measurement information.

By the method, the network equipment can acquire the bandwidth capacity on the frequency point of the different system supported by the UE under the EN-DC dual connection by acquiring the first measurement information reported by the terminal equipment, thereby effectively reducing the addition failure probability of the auxiliary network equipment and reducing the addition delay and signaling overhead of the auxiliary network equipment. And the implementation complexity of the network equipment is not increased. In addition, the scheme of example four helps to reduce the overhead of signaling compared to the scheme of example three.

Optionally, the network device may further send an auxiliary cell addition request or an auxiliary node addition request, an auxiliary cell change request, or an auxiliary node change request to the target auxiliary network device after determining the target auxiliary network device of the UE. The following illustrates a secondary cell addition scenario from step 1005 to step 1008.

Step 1005: and the network equipment determines the target auxiliary network equipment of the UE according to the first frequency point information and the measurement report.

It should be noted that, the network device determines the mode of the target secondary network device of the UE according to the first frequency point information and the measurement report, and reference may be made to the mode of the network device determining the target network device of the UE according to the frequency band information and the measurement report in fig. 5, which is not described herein again.

Step 1006: and the network equipment sends an auxiliary cell adding request or an auxiliary node adding request to the target auxiliary network equipment.

The network device sends an auxiliary cell addition request message to the target network device, and correspondingly, the target network device receives the auxiliary cell addition request message sent by the network device.

Step 1007: and the target network equipment sends an auxiliary cell addition confirmation message to the network equipment, and correspondingly, the network equipment receives the auxiliary cell addition confirmation message sent by the target network equipment.

And the target auxiliary network equipment confirms that the bandwidth of the target auxiliary network equipment supports the access of the terminal equipment, and then sends an auxiliary cell addition confirmation message to the network equipment. In addition, in a possible scenario, when the target secondary network device does not support the terminal device to access, the target secondary network device sends a secondary cell addition rejection message to the network device.

Step 1008: and the network equipment sends an auxiliary cell adding command to the terminal equipment, and correspondingly, the terminal equipment receives the auxiliary cell adding command sent by the network equipment.

Based on the above embodiments, the present application further provides a communication method, which includes the following first embodiment and second embodiment.

Example one

1. A communication method is applied to terminal equipment and comprises the following steps:

receiving a first configuration message from a network device; the first configuration message is used for configuring a frequency point for measuring a second radio access technology, and the first configuration message includes: frequency point information of a second radio access technology, wherein the network equipment is network equipment supporting the first radio access technology;

and sending first measurement information to network equipment, wherein the first measurement information is used for indicating first frequency point information, the first frequency point information comprises the first frequency point and bandwidth information on the first frequency point supported by the terminal equipment, and the first frequency point information is frequency point information meeting preset conditions in the frequency point information of the second wireless access technology.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the frequency point information that meets the preset condition in the frequency point information of the second radio access technology is: and the frequency point of the reference signal measured value is greater than the preset value.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the first configuration message further includes second indication information, and the second indication information is used to indicate that the terminal device reports bandwidth information on a frequency point of a second radio access technology supported by the terminal device.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the bandwidth information on the first frequency point is carried in any one of the following messages: measurement reports, UE assistance information.

5. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein the bandwidth information on the first frequency point includes at least one of:

uplink bandwidth information on the first frequency point;

downlink bandwidth information on the first frequency point;

6. The method of any of claims 2-6, the first measurement information comprising: a second indication field;

or the second indication field comprises at least one second indication subfield, and one of the at least one second indication subfield is used for indicating uplink bandwidth information or downlink bandwidth information corresponding to one subcarrier interval on the first frequency point;

or the second indication field includes at least one of a second uplink indication field or a second downlink indication field, and the second uplink indication field is used for indicating uplink bandwidth information on the first frequency point; and the second downlink indication field is used for indicating the downlink bandwidth information on the first frequency point.

Example two

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

sending a first configuration message to the terminal equipment; the first configuration message is used for configuring a frequency point for measuring a second radio access technology, and the first configuration message includes: the network equipment is the network equipment supporting the first wireless access technology;

receiving first measurement information from terminal equipment, wherein the first measurement information is used for indicating first frequency point information, the first frequency point information comprises a first frequency point and bandwidth information on the first frequency point supported by the terminal equipment, and the first frequency point information is frequency point information meeting preset conditions in frequency point information of a second wireless access technology.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the frequency point information satisfying the preset condition in the frequency point information of the second radio access technology is: and the frequency point of the reference signal measured value is greater than the preset value.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising, in the configuration message: and second indication information, where the second indication information is used to indicate that the terminal device reports bandwidth information on a frequency point of a second radio access technology supported by the terminal device.

uplink bandwidth information on the first frequency point;

downlink bandwidth information on the first frequency point;

7. The method of any of claims 1-6, further comprising:

sending a request message to target network equipment according to the first frequency point information;

the request message is used for requesting the terminal device to establish communication connection with the target network device, and the channel bandwidth of the first frequency point supported by the terminal device is less than or equal to the carrier bandwidth on the first frequency point supported by the target network device and is greater than or equal to the bandwidth of the initial bandwidth part of the first frequency point supported by the target network device.

8. The method of claim 7, the request message being any one of: a handover request message, an auxiliary node addition request message, or an auxiliary node change request message.

9. The method according to claim 7 or 8, where the reference signal measurement value of the serving cell of the terminal device is smaller than a first preset threshold, and the reference signal measurement values of other cells of a second radio access technology supported by the terminal device are larger than a second preset threshold, where the first preset threshold is smaller than or equal to the second preset threshold, and the cell of the target network device is one of the other cells.

10. The method according to claim 7 or 8, wherein the throughput of the serving cell of the terminal device is smaller than a third preset threshold, and the measured values of other cells of the second radio access technology supported by the terminal device are larger than a fourth preset threshold, and the cell of the target network device is one of the other cells;

or the measured value of the secondary cell of the terminal device is smaller than a fifth preset threshold, and the measured values of other cells of the second radio access technology supported by the terminal device are larger than a sixth preset threshold, where the fifth preset threshold is smaller than or equal to the sixth preset threshold, and the cell of the target network device is one of the other cells.

In the embodiments provided in the present application, the method provided in the embodiments of the present application is introduced from the perspective of interaction between the devices. In order to implement the functions in the method provided by the embodiments of the present application, the network device or the terminal device may include a hardware structure and/or a software module, and implement the functions in the form of a hardware structure, a software module, or a hardware structure and a software module. Whether any of the above-described functions is implemented as a hardware structure, a software module, or a hardware structure plus a software module depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the technical solution.

The division of the modules in the embodiment of the present application is schematic, and is only a logic function division, and there may be another division manner in actual implementation. In addition, functional modules in the embodiments of the present application may be integrated into one processor, may exist alone physically, or two or more modules are integrated into one module. The integrated module can be realized in a hardware mode, and can also be realized in a software functional module mode.

As shown in fig. 11, the present application provides a communication device 1100. In some embodiments, the communication apparatus 1100 may be a terminal device, or a component in a terminal device, such as a chip. The communication apparatus 1100 may include a processing module 1110 and a transmitting module 1120. Optionally, a receiving module 1130 may also be included.

In some embodiments, the processing module 1110 is configured to determine first capability information, where the first capability information is used to indicate a capability of a first radio access technology supported by the terminal device, and the first capability information further includes: frequency band information of a second radio access technology supported by the terminal device; the frequency band information includes: at least one frequency band corresponding to a second radio access technology supported by the terminal device, and bandwidth information on each frequency band in the at least one frequency band, wherein the first radio access technology and the second radio access technology are different radio access technologies;

a sending module 1120, configured to send the first capability information to the network device.

In a possible implementation manner, the receiving module 1130 is configured to receive the first indication information from the network device. Wherein the first indication information is used for indicating bandwidth information on each frequency band of the at least one frequency band.

uplink bandwidth information on each frequency band of the at least one frequency band;

downlink bandwidth information on each frequency band of the at least one frequency band;

uplink bandwidth information corresponding to each subcarrier interval in the at least one subcarrier interval on each frequency band in at least one frequency band;

downlink bandwidth information corresponding to each subcarrier interval in the at least one subcarrier interval on each frequency band in the at least one frequency band.

A possible implementation manner, the first capability information includes: a first indication field;

or the first indication field includes at least one of a first uplink indication field or a first downlink indication field, and the first uplink indication field is used for indicating uplink bandwidth information on each of the at least one frequency band; the first downlink indication field is used for indicating downlink bandwidth information on each frequency band of the at least one frequency band.

In a possible implementation manner, the sending module 1120 is configured to send UE capability information to the network device, where the UE capability information includes the first capability information and second capability information, the second capability information is used to indicate a capability of a second radio access technology supported by the terminal device, and the second capability information includes: the terminal equipment supports at least one frequency band corresponding to a second wireless access technology, and bandwidth information on each frequency band in the at least one frequency band.

In a possible implementation manner, the frequency band information is used to send a request message to a target network device; the request message is used for requesting the terminal equipment to establish communication connection with the target network equipment; and the bandwidth supported by the target network equipment meets the requirement that the terminal equipment accesses the network of the target network equipment by the second wireless access technology.

In other embodiments, the receiving module 1130 is configured to receive a first configuration message from a network device; the first configuration message is used for configuring a frequency point for measuring a second radio access technology, and the first configuration message includes: frequency point information of a second radio access technology, wherein the network equipment is network equipment supporting the first radio access technology;

a sending module 1120, configured to send first measurement information to a network device, where the first measurement information is used to indicate first frequency point information, the first frequency point information includes the first frequency point and bandwidth information on the first frequency point supported by the terminal device, and the first frequency point information is frequency point information that meets a preset condition in frequency point information of the second radio access technology.

In a possible implementation manner, the frequency point information meeting the preset condition in the frequency point information of the second radio access technology is: and the frequency point of which the measured value is greater than the preset value.

In a possible implementation manner, the receiving module 1130 is configured to receive second indication information from the network device, where the second indication information is used to indicate that the terminal device reports bandwidth information on a frequency point of a second radio access technology supported by the terminal device.

In a possible implementation manner, the bandwidth information on the first frequency point is carried in any one of the following messages: measurement reports, UE assistance information.

In one possible implementation manner, the bandwidth information at the first frequency point includes at least one of:

uplink bandwidth information on the first frequency point;

downlink bandwidth information on the first frequency point;

In one possible implementation manner, the first measurement information includes: a second indication field;

In a possible implementation manner, the first frequency point information is used to send a request message to a target network device; the request message is used for requesting the terminal equipment to establish communication connection with the target network equipment; and the bandwidth supported by the target network equipment meets the requirement that the terminal equipment accesses the network of the target network equipment by the second wireless access technology.

As shown in fig. 12, the present application provides a communication device 1200. In some embodiments, the communication apparatus 1200 may be a network device, or a component in a network device, such as a chip. The communication apparatus 1200 may include a processing module 1210 and a receiving module 1220. Optionally, a sending module 1230 may also be included.

In some embodiments, the receiving module 1220 is configured to receive first capability information from a terminal device; the first capability information is used for indicating the capability of a first radio access technology supported by the terminal equipment, and the first capability information further includes: frequency band information of a second radio access technology supported by the terminal device; the frequency band information includes: at least one frequency band corresponding to a second radio access technology supported by the terminal device, and bandwidth information on each frequency band in the at least one frequency band, wherein the first radio access technology and the second radio access technology are different radio access technologies;

a processing module 1210, configured to determine, according to the first capability information, at least one frequency band corresponding to a second radio access technology supported by the terminal device and bandwidth information on each frequency band of the at least one frequency band.

In a possible implementation manner, the sending module 1230 is configured to send first indication information to the terminal device, where the first indication information is used to indicate bandwidth information on each frequency band of the at least one frequency band.

In one possible implementation manner, the first capability information includes: a first indication field;

or the first indication field includes at least one first indication subfield, where one of the at least one first indication subfield is used to indicate uplink bandwidth information or downlink bandwidth information corresponding to one subcarrier interval on each of at least one frequency band supported by the terminal device;

In a possible implementation manner, the receiving module 1220 is configured to receive UE capability information from a terminal device, where the UE capability information includes the first capability information and second capability information, the second capability information is used to indicate a capability of a second radio access technology supported by the terminal device, and the second capability information includes: the terminal equipment supports at least one frequency band corresponding to a second wireless access technology, and bandwidth information on each frequency band in the at least one frequency band.

In a possible implementation manner, the processing module 1210 is configured to send a request message to a target network device according to the frequency band information; the request message is used for requesting the terminal equipment to establish communication connection with the target network equipment; and the bandwidth supported by the target network equipment meets the requirement that the terminal equipment accesses the network of the target network equipment by the second wireless access technology.

In one possible implementation manner, the request message is any one of the following: a handover request message, an auxiliary node addition request message, or an auxiliary node change request message.

In a possible implementation manner, the measurement value of the serving cell of the terminal device is smaller than a first preset threshold, and the measurement values of other cells of the second radio access technology supported by the terminal device are larger than a second preset threshold.

In a possible implementation manner, the throughput of the serving cell of the terminal device is smaller than a third preset threshold, and the measurement values of other cells of the second radio access technology supported by the terminal device are larger than a fourth preset threshold.

In a possible implementation manner, the measured value of the secondary cell of the terminal device is smaller than a fifth preset threshold, and the measured values of other cells of the second radio access technology supported by the terminal device are larger than a sixth preset threshold.

In a possible implementation manner, a channel bandwidth of a first frequency band supported by the terminal device is less than or equal to a carrier bandwidth on the first frequency band supported by the target network device and is greater than or equal to a bandwidth of an initial bandwidth portion of the first frequency band supported by the target network device, where the first frequency band is one of at least one frequency band of a second radio access technology supported by the terminal device.

In other embodiments, the sending module 1230 is configured to send the first configuration message to the terminal device; the first configuration message is used for configuring a frequency point for measuring a second radio access technology, and the first configuration message includes: and the network equipment is the network equipment supporting the first radio access technology.

A receiving module 1220, configured to receive first measurement information from a terminal device, where the first measurement information is used to indicate first frequency point information, the first frequency point information includes the first frequency point and bandwidth information on the first frequency point supported by the terminal device, and the first frequency point information is frequency point information that meets a preset condition in frequency point information of the second radio access technology.

In a possible implementation manner, the sending module 1230 is configured to send second indication information to the terminal device, where the second indication information is used to indicate that the terminal device reports bandwidth information on a frequency point of a second radio access technology supported by the terminal device.

uplink bandwidth information on the first frequency point;

downlink bandwidth information on the first frequency point;

downlink bandwidth information corresponding to each subcarrier interval in at least one subcarrier interval on the first frequency point.

In a possible implementation manner, the processing module 1210 is configured to send a request message to a target network device according to the first frequency point information; the request message is used for requesting the terminal equipment to establish communication connection with the target network equipment; and the bandwidth supported by the target network equipment meets the requirement that the terminal equipment accesses the network of the target network equipment by the second wireless access technology.

In a possible implementation manner, the throughput of the serving cell of the terminal device is smaller than a third preset threshold, and the measured values of other cells of the second radio access technology supported by the terminal device are greater than a fourth preset threshold.

In a possible implementation manner, the channel bandwidth of the first frequency point supported by the terminal device is less than or equal to the carrier bandwidth on the first frequency point supported by the target network device, and is greater than or equal to the bandwidth of the initial bandwidth portion of the first frequency point supported by the target network device.

Optionally, the

communication device

1100 or 1200 may further include a storage unit, configured to store data or instructions (also referred to as codes or programs), and the foregoing units may interact with or be coupled to the storage unit to implement corresponding methods or functions. For example, the

processing module

1110 or 1210 may read data or instructions in the storage unit, so that the communication device implements the method in the above embodiments.

It should be understood that the division of the units in the above apparatus is only a division of logical functions, and the actual implementation may be wholly or partially integrated into one physical entity or may be physically separated. And the units in the device can be realized in the form of software called by the processing element; or may be implemented entirely in hardware; part of the units can also be implemented in the form of software invoked by a processing element and part of the units can be implemented in the form of hardware. For example, each unit may be a processing element separately set up, or may be implemented by being integrated into a chip of the apparatus, or may be stored in a memory in the form of a program, and a processing element of the apparatus calls and executes the function of the unit. In addition, all or part of the units can be integrated together or can be independently realized. The processing element described herein may in turn be a processor, which may be an integrated circuit having signal processing capabilities. In the implementation process, each step of the above method or each unit above may be implemented by an integrated logic circuit of hardware in a processor element, or may also be implemented in a form called by software through the processor element.

In one example, the units in any of the above apparatuses may be one or more integrated circuits configured to implement the above methods, such as: one or more Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), or one or more microprocessors (DSPs), or one or more Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), or a combination of at least two of these integrated circuit forms. As another example, when a unit in a device may be implemented in the form of a processing element scheduler, the processing element may be a general-purpose processor, such as a Central Processing Unit (CPU) or other processor capable of invoking programs. As another example, these units may be integrated together and implemented in the form of a system-on-a-chip (SOC).

The above unit for receiving (e.g., receiving unit) is an interface circuit of the apparatus for receiving a signal from other apparatus. For example, when the device is implemented in the form of a chip, the receiving unit is an interface circuit for the chip to receive signals from other chips or devices. The above unit for transmitting (e.g., the transmitting unit) is an interface circuit of the apparatus for transmitting a signal to other apparatuses. For example, when the device is implemented in the form of a chip, the transmission unit is an interface circuit for the chip to transmit a signal to other chips or devices.

Fig. 13 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The communication device is used for realizing the operation of the network equipment or the terminal equipment in the above embodiment. As shown in fig. 13, taking a communication apparatus as an example of a terminal device, the communication apparatus includes: an antenna 1310, a radio 1320, and a signal processing section 1330. An antenna 1310 is coupled to the rf device 1320. In the downlink direction, the rf apparatus 1320 receives information transmitted by the network device or other terminal device through the antenna 1310, and transmits the information transmitted by the network device or other terminal device to the signal processing section 1330 for processing. In the uplink direction, the signal processing section 1330 processes the information of the terminal device and sends the information to the rf device 1320, and the rf device 1320 processes the information of the terminal device and sends the processed information to the network device or other terminal devices through the antenna 1310.

Taking a communication apparatus as an example of a network device, the communication apparatus includes: an antenna 1310, a radio 1320, a signal processing section 1330. An antenna 1310 is coupled to the rf device 1320. In the uplink direction, the rf apparatus 1320 receives information transmitted by the first terminal or other terminal device through the antenna 1310, and sends the information transmitted by the first terminal or other terminal device to the signal processing section 1330 for processing. In the downlink direction, the signal processing section 1330 processes the information of the network device and sends the information to the rf device 1320, and the rf device 1320 processes the information of the network device and sends the processed information to the first terminal or other terminal devices through the antenna 1310.

The signal processing section 1330 is configured to implement processing of each communication protocol layer of data. The signal processing section 1330 may be a subsystem of the communication apparatus, and the communication apparatus may further include other subsystems, such as a central processing subsystem, for processing the operating system and application layer of the communication apparatus; as another example, the peripheral subsystem is used to implement connections to other devices. The signal processing section 1330 may be a separately provided chip. Alternatively, the above means may be located in the signal processing section 1330.

Signal processing section 1330 may include one or more processing elements 1331, for example, including a host CPU and other integrated circuits, and interface circuits 1333. In addition, the signal processing section 1330 may further include a memory element 1332. The storage element 1332 is used for storing data and programs, and programs for executing the methods executed by the communication apparatus in the above methods may or may not be stored in the storage element 1332, for example, in a memory outside the signal processing section 1330, and the signal processing section 1330 loads the programs into a buffer for use when in use. The interface circuit 1333 is used to communicate with devices. The above means may be located in the signal processing section 1330, the signal processing section 1330 may be implemented by a chip comprising at least one processing element for performing the steps of any one of the methods performed by the above communication device and interface circuits for communicating with other devices. In one implementation, the means for implementing the steps of the above method may be implemented in the form of a processing element scheduler, for example, where the apparatus includes a processing element and a storage element, and the processing element calls a program stored in the storage element to execute the method executed by the communication apparatus in the above method embodiment. The memory elements may be memory elements with the processing elements on the same chip, i.e. on-chip memory elements.

In another implementation, the program for performing the method performed by the communication device in the above method may be in a memory element on a different chip than the processing element, i.e. an off-chip memory element. At this time, the processing element calls or loads a program from the off-chip storage element onto the on-chip storage element to call and execute the method executed by the communication apparatus (network device or terminal device) in the above method embodiment.

In yet another implementation, the unit of the communication device implementing the steps of the above method may be configured as one or more processing elements disposed on the signal processing section 1330, where the processing elements may be integrated circuits, such as: one or more ASICs, or one or more DSPs, or one or more FPGAs, or a combination of these types of integrated circuits. These integrated circuits may be integrated together to form a chip.

The units implementing the steps of the above method may be integrated together and implemented in the form of a system-on-a-chip (SOC) chip for implementing the above method. The chip can integrate at least one processing element and a storage element, and the processing element calls the storage element to realize the method executed by the communication device; alternatively, at least one integrated circuit may be integrated within the chip for implementing the method performed by the above communication device; alternatively, the above implementation modes may be combined, the functions of the partial units are implemented in the form of a processing element calling program, and the functions of the partial units are implemented in the form of an integrated circuit.

It will be seen that the above apparatus may comprise at least one processing element and interface circuitry, wherein the at least one processing element is operative to perform a method performed by any of the communication apparatus provided by the above method embodiments. The processing element may: namely, calling the program stored in the storage element to execute part or all of the steps executed by the communication device; it is also possible to: that is, some or all of the steps performed by the communication device are performed by integrated logic circuits of hardware in the processor element in combination with instructions; of course, some or all of the steps performed by the communication device may be performed in combination with the first and second manners.

The processing elements herein, like those described above, may be a general purpose processor, such as a CPU, or one or more integrated circuits configured to implement the above methods, such as: one or more ASICs, or one or more microprocessors DSP, or one or more FPGAs, etc., or a combination of at least two of these integrated circuit forms. The storage element may be a memory or a combination of a plurality of storage elements.

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, but not limitation, many forms of RAM are available, such as Static Random Access Memory (SRAM), dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory (SDRAM), double data rate SDRAM, enhanced SDRAM, SLDRAM, synchronous Link DRAM (SLDRAM), 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 embodiment of the present application further provides a computer-readable storage medium, on which a computer program is stored, where the computer program, when executed by a computer, implements the method described in any method embodiment corresponding to the network device or the terminal device in the foregoing embodiments.

The embodiments of the present application further provide a computer program product, where when executed by a computer, the computer program product implements the method in any method embodiment of the foregoing network device or terminal device.

The embodiment of the present application further provides a communication system, which includes the network device or the terminal device in the above embodiments.

The above embodiments may be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, it 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 programs. The procedures or functions described in accordance with the embodiments of the present application are generated in whole or in part when the computer program is loaded and executed on a computer. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a network of computers, or other programmable device. The computer program can 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 program can be transmitted from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center by 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 incorporates one or more of the 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.

The embodiment of the application also provides a processing device, which comprises a processor and an interface; a processor configured to perform the method described in any method embodiment of the network device or the terminal device.

It should be understood that the processing device may be a chip, and the processor may be implemented by hardware or software, and when implemented by hardware, the processor may be a logic circuit, an integrated circuit, or the like; when implemented in software, the processor may be a general-purpose processor, which may be integrated with the processor or external to the processor, by reading software code stored in memory.

The above description is only for the specific implementation of the present application, but the scope of the embodiments of the present application is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art can easily think of the changes or substitutions within the technical scope of the embodiments of the present application, and all the changes or substitutions should be covered by the scope of the embodiments of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the embodiments of the present application shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A communication method is applied to a terminal device and comprises the following steps:

determining first capability information, wherein the first capability information is used for indicating the capability of a first radio access technology supported by the terminal equipment, and the first capability information further comprises: frequency band information of a second radio access technology supported by the terminal device; the frequency band information includes: at least one frequency band corresponding to a second radio access technology supported by the terminal device, and bandwidth information on each frequency band in the at least one frequency band, wherein the first radio access technology and the second radio access technology are different radio access technologies;

the first capability information is sent to the network device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first capability information is carried in a container of the first radio access technology or capability information of the first radio access technology of a terminal device.

3. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving first indication information from the network device, where the first indication information is used to indicate that the terminal device reports bandwidth information on each of the at least one frequency band in the first capability information.

4. The method of any of claims 1-3, wherein bandwidth information on each of the at least one band is carried in a User Equipment (UE) capability message.

5. The method of any of claims 1-4, wherein the bandwidth information on each of the at least one frequency band comprises at least one of:

bandwidth information corresponding to each subcarrier interval in at least one subcarrier interval on each frequency band in the at least one frequency band;

uplink bandwidth information corresponding to each subcarrier interval in at least one subcarrier interval on each frequency band in the at least one frequency band;

downlink bandwidth information corresponding to each subcarrier interval in at least one subcarrier interval on each frequency band in the at least one frequency band.

6. The method of any one of claims 1-5, wherein the first capability information comprises: a first indication field to indicate at least one bandwidth information on each of the at least one band;

7. The method of any of claims 1-6, wherein sending the first capability information to the network device comprises:

sending UE capability information to the network device, where the UE capability information includes the first capability information and second capability information, the second capability information is used to indicate a capability of a second radio access technology supported by the terminal device, and the second capability information includes: the terminal equipment supports at least one frequency band corresponding to a second wireless access technology, and bandwidth information on each frequency band in the at least one frequency band.

8. A communication method applied to a network device includes:

receiving first capability information from a terminal device; the first capability information is used for indicating the capability of a first radio access technology supported by the terminal equipment, and the first capability information further includes: frequency band information of a second radio access technology supported by the terminal device; the frequency band information includes: at least one frequency band corresponding to a second radio access technology supported by the terminal device, and bandwidth information on each frequency band in the at least one frequency band, wherein the first radio access technology and the second radio access technology are different radio access technologies;

and determining at least one frequency band corresponding to a second radio access technology supported by the terminal equipment and bandwidth information on each frequency band in the at least one frequency band according to the first capability information.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the first capability information is carried in a container of the first radio access technology or capability information of the first radio access technology of a terminal device.

10. The method of claim 8 or 9, wherein the method further comprises:

and sending first indication information to the terminal device, where the first indication information is used to indicate that the terminal device reports bandwidth information on each frequency band of the at least one frequency band in the first capability information.

11. The method of any of claims 8-10, wherein bandwidth information on each of the at least one frequency band is carried in a user equipment, UE, capability message.

12. The method of any of claims 8-11, wherein bandwidth information on each of the at least one frequency band comprises at least one of:

13. The method of any one of claims 8-12, wherein the first capability information comprises: a first indication field for indicating a first type of information,

14. The method of any one of claims 8-13, further comprising:

receiving UE capability information from a terminal device, wherein the UE capability information includes the first capability information and second capability information, the second capability information is used for indicating the capability of a second radio access technology supported by the terminal device, and the second capability information includes: the terminal equipment supports at least one frequency band corresponding to a second wireless access technology, and bandwidth information on each frequency band in the at least one frequency band.

15. The method of any one of claims 8-14, further comprising:

sending a request message to target network equipment according to the frequency band information;

the request message is used for requesting the terminal device to establish a communication connection with the target network device, where a channel bandwidth of a first frequency band supported by the terminal device is less than or equal to a carrier bandwidth on the first frequency band supported by the target network device and is greater than or equal to a bandwidth of an initial bandwidth portion of the first frequency band supported by the target network device, and the first frequency band is one of at least one frequency band of a second radio access technology supported by the terminal device.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the request message is any one of: a handover request message, an auxiliary node addition request message, or an auxiliary node change request message.

17. The method according to claim 15 or 16, wherein the reference signal measurement value of the serving cell of the terminal device is smaller than a first preset threshold, and the reference signal measurement values of other cells of a second radio access technology supported by the terminal device are larger than a second preset threshold, the first preset threshold is smaller than or equal to the second preset threshold, and the cell corresponding to the target network device is one of the other cells.

18. The method according to claim 15 or 16, wherein the throughput of the serving cell of the terminal device is smaller than a third preset threshold, and the reference signal measurement value of other cells of a second radio access technology supported by the terminal device is larger than a fourth preset threshold, and the cell corresponding to the target network device is one of the other cells;

or the reference signal measurement value of the secondary cell of the terminal device is smaller than a fifth preset threshold, and the reference signal measurement values of other cells of the second radio access technology supported by the terminal device are larger than a sixth preset threshold, where the fifth preset threshold is smaller than or equal to the sixth preset threshold, and the cell corresponding to the target network device is one of the other cells.

19. A communication method is applied to a terminal device and comprises the following steps:

sending first measurement information to network equipment, wherein the first measurement information is used for indicating first frequency point information, the first frequency point information comprises a first frequency point and bandwidth information on the first frequency point supported by the terminal equipment, and the first frequency point information is frequency point information meeting preset conditions in frequency point information of a second wireless access technology.

20. A communication method applied to a network device includes:

receiving first measurement information from a terminal device, wherein the first measurement information is used for indicating first frequency point information, the first frequency point information includes a first frequency point and bandwidth information on the first frequency point supported by the terminal device, and the first frequency point information is frequency point information meeting preset conditions in frequency point information of a second wireless access technology.

21. A communications apparatus, comprising: a processor and a communication interface for the apparatus to communicate, the processor being coupled with a memory for storing a program or instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to perform the method of any of claims 1-7 or the method of claim 19.

22. A communications apparatus, comprising: a processor and a communication interface for the apparatus to communicate, the processor being coupled with a memory for storing a program or instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to perform the method of any of claims 8-18 or the method of claim 20.

23. A communication system, comprising: a communication device according to claim 21 and a communication device according to claim 22.

24. A computer-readable storage medium having stored therein instructions which, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 1-20.