CN115604864A - Method and user equipment for releasing RRC connection - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides a method and user equipment for releasing an RRC connection, which are performed by a user equipment supporting a multiple USIM mode. The method comprises the following steps: when receiving an authorization indication message which indicates that the authorization request releases the current RR C connection, determining whether a preset condition for triggering an RRC connection release request process is met; when the predetermined condition is met, sending a predetermined request message for requesting to release the current RRC connection to a current base station corresponding to the current RRC connection; and performing an RRC connection release procedure based on a response of the current base station to the reservation request message.

Description

Method and user equipment for releasing RRC connection

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of wireless communication technology, and more particularly, to a user equipment for performing a method for releasing an RRC connection, which is performed by a user equipment supporting a multi USIM mode.

Background

In recent years, multiple USIM card (MUSIM) devices have become increasingly popular. For example, a user installs two USIM cards on a mobile phone supporting multiple USIM cards, one of which is used to subscribe to private services and the other is used to subscribe to office services. The existing equipment supporting multiple USIM cards is realized based on manufacturers and is not standardized by 3 GPP. Different manufacturers adopt different implementation modes, and the behaviors of the user equipment UE are different. In the existing implementation, if these USIM cards are registered to networks respectively (may be registered to the same network or may be registered to two or more networks respectively), the UE needs to receive pages from these networks, and based on the transceiving capabilities of the UE, there may be a case where the UE also initiates pages to another network when receiving pages of the current network, or another network initiates pages to another network when the UE is communicating with one network. One result that may result if the UE switches between different networks is that the UE is no longer able to receive data from the current network when the UE switches to another network. This would impair network performance, for example, if the network sent a page to the UE but the UE did not receive the page by switching to another network, or if the UE switched to another network and could not receive the scheduling of the current network. Some manufacturers propose 3GPP standardization research on the behavior of a UE with multiple USIM cards to access a network and related networks, which is advantageous in that the network performance can be improved based on predictable UE behavior.

Based on the above reasons, in 12 months 2019, at RAN #86 congress of the third generation Partnership project (3 rd generation n Partnership project.

The present invention considers the problems involved in the RRC connection procedure of network a for a UE in RRC connected state at network a to release the RRC connection procedure of network a due to the need for data reception and/or transmission operations at network B.

Disclosure of Invention

An object of the present invention is to provide a method for releasing an RRC connection.

One aspect of the present invention provides a method for releasing an RRC connection performed by a user equipment supporting a multi-USIM mode, comprising: determining whether a predetermined condition for triggering an RRC connection release request procedure is satisfied upon receiving an authorization indication message indicating that an authorization request is to release a current RRC connection; when the predetermined condition is met, sending a predetermined request message for requesting to release the current RRC connection to a current base station corresponding to the current RRC connection; and performing an RRC connection release procedure based on a response of the current base station to the reservation request message.

Another aspect of the present invention provides a user equipment, comprising: a processor; and a memory storing instructions, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, perform the method as described above.

Effects of the invention

According to the scheme of the invention, the RRC connection can be released efficiently and smoothly and at a proper time.

Drawings

The above and other features of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

fig. 1A and 1B are schematic diagrams for explaining RRC connection in the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a flowchart for explaining a method for releasing an RRC connection according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 3 is a flowchart for explaining a method for releasing an RRC connection according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 4 is a flowchart for explaining a method for releasing an RRC connection according to one embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 5 is a flowchart for explaining a method for releasing an RRC connection according to one embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 6 is a block diagram of a structure of a user equipment according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

The invention is described in detail below with reference to the figures and the detailed description. It should be noted that the present invention should not be limited to the specific embodiments described below. In addition, for the sake of brevity, detailed descriptions of well-known technologies not directly related to the present invention are omitted to prevent confusion of understanding of the present invention.

Some terms related to the present invention are described below, and specific meanings of the terms are shown in the latest 3GPP documents, such as TS23.501, TS38.300, TS38.331, TS36.300, TS36.331, and the like.

NAS: non-access stratum.

AS: access stratum.

RRC: radio Resource Control, radio Resource Control.

RRC _ CONNECTED: RRC connected state.

RRC _ INACTIVE: RRC inactive state.

RRC _ IDLE: RRC idle state.

RAN: radio Access Network, radio Access layer.

USIM is Universal Subscriber Identity Module, global Subscriber Identity card.

Tx: transmitter, sender.

Rx: receiver, receiver.

NR: new RAT, new radio access technology.

AMF: access and Mobility Management Function.

And (3) NGAP: next Generation Application Protocol, the Next Generation Application Protocol.

CM: connection Management, connection Management.

CM-CONNECTED: an N1-based NAS signaling connection exists between the UE in the CM-CONNECTED state and the AMF (A UE in the CM-CONNECTED state a NAS signaling connection with the AMF over N1). For 3GPP access, one NAS signaling connection uses RRC connections between the UE and NG-RAN and the access network AN and the AMF for NGAP UE associations (A NAS signaling connection uses AN RRC connection between the UE and the NG-RAN and AN NGAP UE association between the AN and the AMF for 3GPP access).

In the present invention, the base station and RAN are used interchangeably, unless otherwise specified. The network may be a base station and/or a core network, may be a long term evolution LTE network, an NR network, an enhanced long term evolution LTE network, or may be another network defined in a subsequent evolution release of 3 GPP.

In the present invention, the user equipment UE may refer to an apparatus that physically supports multiple USIM cards (two or more USIM cards) to which two or more USIM cards are mounted, each USIM card being associated with one network. The multiple USIM cards may be from the same operator or different operators. From the network perspective, different USIM cards correspond to different UEs, and each USIM card corresponds to one UE. As not particularly illustrated, those skilled in the art can easily determine whether a UE refers to a UE supporting multiple USIM cards or a UE corresponding to each USIM card in an apparatus supporting multiple USIM cards according to the context. The user equipment configured with multiple USIM cards can receive and/or transmit data from multiple networks by using single-receiving single-transmitting or double-receiving single-transmitting in a time division multiplexing mode and the like. For a UE with two Rx, data may be received from both networks simultaneously. In addition, the USIM of the present invention may be a physical SIM or eSIM (USIM can a physical SIM or eSIM).

In the embodiment of the invention, the UE is used for configuring two USIM cards as an example, and the technical personnel in the field can easily expand to the condition of a plurality of USIM cards. The user equipment UE with two USIM cards has at least Single-Rx/Single-Tx or Dual-Rx/Single-Tx capabilities. Different UEs corresponding to two USIM cards may share a pair of Tx and Rx or share one Tx but have respective Rx. In the embodiment of the disclosure, the UE is connected to the network A through the USIM card A and connected to the network B through the USIM card B, and the switching of the UE among different networks is realized through the USIM card for switching work. The priority of the USIM card is the priority of the network.

In the described embodiments of the present invention, the scenario is that the UE in the MUSIM mode is in the RRC connected state in network a for the activity of another USIM (e.g. at USIM card B, an operation to receive and/or send data needs to be performed), and the UE decides to request release of the RRC connection in network a. The entity or layer in the UE that initiates the request to release the RRC connection may be the NAS layer or the RRC layer. The following embodiments present a method in the UE in which the NAS layer or RRC layer requests release of RRC connection (RRC _ CONNECTED) and/or CM-CONNECTED in network a.

Before describing the embodiments of the present invention in detail, the "RRC connection" in the present invention will be explained first. In the present invention, "RRC connection" means an established RRC connection between an RRC entity and a network, that is, an RRC connection between a USIM card and a network. Fig. 1A and 1B are diagrams for explaining RRC connection in the present invention, respectively. In the scenario shown in fig. 1A, the user equipment has two USIM cards corresponding to a first RRC entity and a second RRC entity, respectively, RRC connection a being an RRC connection between the first RRC entity and the network, and RRC connection B being an RRC connection between the second RRC entity and the network. In the scenario shown in fig. 1B, the user equipment has two USIM cards corresponding to a first RRC entity and a second RRC entity, respectively, where RRC connection a is an RRC connection between the first RRC entity and the first network, and RRC connection B is an RRC connection between the second RRC entity and the second network. In the present invention, the number of RRC entities supported by the user equipment and the number of networks that can be connected are arbitrary, fig. 1A and 1B are merely examples, the number of RRC entities may be three or more, and similarly, the number of networks may be three or more. It should be noted that, although fig. 1A and 1B show RRC connection a and RRC connection B at the same time, this is for convenience of description only and does not mean that the user equipment establishes multiple RRC connections with the network through RRC entities of multiple USIMs at the same time.

In the present invention, "release of RRC connection" means release of RRC connection between an RRC entity in RRC connected state and a corresponding network. For example, referring to fig. 1A, if the first entity is currently in an RRC CONNECTED state (RRC _ CONNECTED) with the first network, and the UE wants to release the RRC connection a for some reason (such as a later-described energy-saving purpose or a MUSIM purpose), the release request procedure may be performed through the scheme described in this specification.

The outline of the method of the present invention will be described below with reference to fig. 2 to 5.

Fig. 2 is a flowchart for explaining a method for releasing an RRC connection according to one embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 2, at 220, a grant indication message indicating that the grant request releases the current RRC connection is received. At 240, upon receiving a grant indication message indicating that a grant request releases the current RRC connection, it is determined whether a predetermined condition for triggering an RRC connection release request procedure is satisfied. The predetermined condition may relate to at least one of whether there is an ongoing RRC connection release request procedure, whether a corresponding current upper layer allows initiation of the RRC connection release request procedure, whether an indication related to initiation of the RRC connection release request procedure is received from a corresponding current base station, and the like. As to specific examples of the predetermined condition, the following will be described.

If the predetermined condition is satisfied, a predetermined request message for requesting release of the current RRC connection is transmitted to the current base station corresponding to the current RRC connection at 260.

Then, in 280, based on the response of the current base station to the predetermined request message, an RRC connection release procedure is performed. When the predetermined condition is satisfied, an automatic release timer can be started, and if the automatic release timer expires and no response to the predetermined request message is received by the base station, the current RRC connection can be automatically released.

The RRC connection release request procedure may be initiated by a current upper layer (current NAS layer) corresponding to the current RRC layer. In this case, the grant indication message may include a release request indication from a current upper layer of the current RRC layer. The release request indication is used for indicating the current RRC layer to send a release request message for requesting the release of the current RRC connection to the current base station.

Fig. 3 shows an exemplary flow diagram of an RRC connection release request procedure initiated by the current RRC layer. As shown in fig. 3, at 302, a current upper layer (e.g., a current NAS layer) sends a release request indication to a current RRC layer indicating that the current RRC layer initiates an RRC connection release procedure. If the current RRC layer receives the release request indication, in 304, it is determined whether a predetermined condition is satisfied. In this example, the predetermined condition may include: there is no RRC connection release request procedure triggered by the current RRC. The predetermined condition may further include that a prohibit timer for prohibiting the current RRC layer from transmitting the release preference information to the current base station is not running, and the prohibit timer may be started when the predetermined condition is satisfied. The operations of 306 and 308 in fig. 3 are the same as 260 and 280, respectively, and are not described again.

The RRC connection release request procedure may also be initiated by the current RRC layer. In this case, the grant indication message may include a release preference provision indication from the current base station. The release preference providing indication is for indicating that the current RRC layer provides the base station with release preference information indicating an RRC state expected to be entered when transmitting a predetermined request message requesting release of the current RRC connection. However, this is the state that the current RRC connection is expected to be in at this time, and the state that the current RRC connection can eventually enter will be decided by the base station.

Fig. 4 to 5 show flowcharts of examples of triggering the RRC release request procedure by the RRC layer.

As shown in fig. 4, in 402, the current RRC layer receives a release preference provision indication sent by the current base station to which it corresponds. If a release preference providing indication is received, the current RRC layer determines if a predetermined condition is met at 404. In this example, the predetermined condition may include that a prohibit timer for prohibiting transmission of the release preference information is not running, the user equipment decides to leave the current RRC connection, and there is no RRC connection release request procedure triggered by the current upper layer.

If the predetermined condition is satisfied, the current RRC layer may send a paging restriction information request message to the current NAS layer at 406. The current NAS layer may send paging restriction information to the current RRC layer at 408.

If the paging restriction request message is received, the current RRC layer transmits the paging restriction information and the release preference information to the base station in a predetermined request message at 410.

It should be noted that 406 and 408 are not required operations. The current RRC layer may not request the paging restriction message from the current upper layer. In addition, even if the current RRC layer requests the current upper layer for the paging restriction message, the current upper layer may not transmit the paging restriction message thereto. In both cases, the current RRC layer may transmit a predetermined request message not carrying paging restriction information when performing an operation corresponding to 410.

After initiating the RRC connection release request procedure, the current RRC layer may also inform the current upper layer that it has initiated the RRC connection release request procedure at 412. Then, in 414, based on the response of the current base station, RRC connection release is performed.

Fig. 5 shows another example of an RRC connection release request procedure initiated by the RRC layer.

As shown in fig. 5, in 502, the current RRC layer receives a release preference provision indication transmitted by the current base station to which it corresponds. If a release preference provision indication is received, then at 504 it is determined whether the UE decides to leave the current RRC connection. The RRC connection request procedure may not be initiated if the UE does not intend to leave the current RRC connection. If the UE decides to leave the current RRC connection, an inquiry message for inquiring whether the initiation of the RRC connection release request procedure is allowed is transmitted to the current upper layer at 506, and then a response of the current upper layer is received at 508.

The current RRC layer may determine whether a predetermined condition is satisfied at 510. In this example, the predetermined condition may include a message that a prohibit timer for prohibiting transmission of the release preference information is not running and a reply of a current upper layer is received and the reply does not deny initiation of the RRC connection release request procedure. And if the current upper layer does not answer or the answer indicates that the RRC connection release request process is not allowed to be initiated, the RRC connection release request process is not initiated.

If the predetermined condition is satisfied, a reservation request message is sent to the current base station at 512. And sends a notification message to the current upper layer at 514 informing that it has initiated the RRC connection release request procedure. Then, in 516, based on the response of the current base station, RRC connection release is performed.

Other examples are provided below to illustrate the details of the invention in more detail.

Embodiments of RRC layer operation

The RRC layer may perform one or more of the following operations:

(1) When receiving the first indication information or the second indication information from an upper layer (such as a NAS layer), the RRC layer of a UE in a MUSIM (multiple USIM) mode initiates an uplink information transfer procedure (initial s the UL information transfer procedure by sending the UL information transfer message) if a first condition is satisfied, and/or does not initiate the uplink information transfer procedure or send the UL information transfer message to abort the uplink information transfer procedure or discard the received service request message from the upper layer if the first condition is not satisfied. The uplink information transmission process is used to transmit a service request message or a registration request message carrying a release indication to start an RRC connection release process (i.e., request the network to release an RRC connection).

In one embodiment, the first condition may be that there is no ongoing RRC layer triggered procedure to request release of the RRC connection. In one embodiment, the procedure of requesting release of RRC connection may be, for example, a procedure of requesting release of RRC connection triggered by the RRC layer for MUSIM purposes (i.e., for switching between USIM cards or for activity of another USIM). In another embodiment, the procedure of requesting release of the RRC connection may be a procedure of requesting release of the RRC connection triggered for the purpose of reducing power consumption, for example. In one embodiment, whether there is an ongoing RRC layer triggered procedure to request release of the RRC connection may be determined, for example, by whether an automatic release timer is running. In one embodiment, if the automatic release timer is not running, it may be determined that there is no ongoing RRC layer triggered procedure requesting release of the RRC connection, i.e. the first condition is fulfilled. The automatic release timer may be started at or after the time of sending a release request message to the network requesting release of the RRC connection. If the automatic release timer is running, it represents that the RRC layer has triggered the procedure of requesting release of the RRC connection and is waiting for a network response. The release request message sent to the network may be, for example, a ue assistance entry format message carrying release preference information, which will be described later.

In one embodiment, the first condition may be that the prohibit timer is not running. The prohibit timer is a timer for prohibiting transmission of release preference information for the RRC connection release procedure to the network. During the operation of the prohibit timer, the RRC layer is prohibited from sending a release request message to the network.

(2) The RRC layer of the UE in MUSIM mode, if configured by the base station to provide the base station with release preferences and the prohibit timer is not running, and if there is no ongoing procedure to request release of the RRC connection triggered by upper layers (e.g., NAS layer), and the UE decides to leave the RRC _ connected TED state (e.g., the UE may decide to leave the RRC _ connected ED state for MUSIM purposes), may start the prohibit timer or start the automatic release timer, and may start transmitting the ueassisinceinformation message to provide the release preferences. Specifically, the ue assistance information message includes the desired RRC state (the determined RRC state on transmission of the ue assistance information message) at the time of sending the ue assistance information message, for example, the desired RRC state may be RRC _ IDLE or RRC _ INACTIVE. Optionally, in this case, the UE may further send third indication information to the upper layer, which may be used to notify the upper layer that the RRC layer initiated a procedure of requesting release of the RRC connection (i.e., requesting to leave the RRC _ CONNECTED state) or acquiring paging restriction information to the upper layer.

Wherein the release preference information is used to inform the base station that the UE wants RRC state when sending the UEAssistanceInform message. For example, RRC IDLE state (RRC _ IDLE), RRC Inactive state (RRC _ Inactive), and the like.

Further, regarding the prohibit timer, if the base station configures a MUSIM-dedicated release preference prohibit timer (musimreleasepresenerenceprohibittimer) for the UE for the MUSIM purpose, the value of the prohibit timer may be set to the musimreleasepresenerenceprohibittimer, otherwise, the value of the prohibit timer may be set to the release preference prohibit timer (releasepresenerenceprohibittimer) configured for the purpose of energy saving (i.e., reducing power consumption). Optionally, the UE may further start a release preference prohibit timer configured for energy saving purposes when starting the MUSIM specific release preference prohibit timer configured for MUSIM purposes, to prohibit the UE from sending the ueassinglnformation message carrying the preferred RRC State to the network for energy saving purposes again after sending the ueassinglnformation message carrying the preferred RRC State to the network for energy saving purposes. The preferedRRC-State is used to indicate the RRC State preferred by the UE.

In practical applications, the execution sequence of the above operations is not limited by the sequence described in the present specification, and those skilled in the art may arrange and combine the operations or change the execution sequence of the operations, so as to obtain different embodiments.

It should be noted that, in the present disclosure, the RRC layer may determine whether there is an ongoing procedure of requesting release of the RRC connection, which is triggered by an upper layer, by whether the first indication information or the second indication information is received. If the first indication information is received orThe second indication information indicates that the process of requesting to release the RRC connection in progress triggered by the upper layer exists; if the first indication information or the second indication information is not received, there is no ongoing procedure of requesting release of the RRC connection triggered by the upper layer. It is also possible to identify whether there is an ongoing procedure to request release of the RRC connection triggered by the upper layer by setting an identification bit. Specifically, when the RRC receives the first indication information or the second indication information, the identification bit is set to indicate that there is an ongoing procedure, triggered by the upper layer, requesting to release the RRC connection, for example, set to 0 or 1 or TRUE or FALSE, and the RRC layer determines whether there is an ongoing procedure, triggered by the upper layer, requesting to release the RRC connection through the identification bit. In addition, if the base station is configured for MUSIM purposes with a configuration different from that of the base stationT346fThe prohibit timer in this disclosure is the prohibit timer configured for MUSIM purposes, otherwise T346f. The value of the timer T346f is configured for the UE by the base station through a preference Prohibit timer release field (releasepresencerehibitter timer field) carried in the RRC message sent to the UE, and the releasereferrereference Prohibit timer is a Prohibit timer (Prohibit timer for releasing preference assignment information reporting) used for releasing a preference auxiliary information report, that is, is used for prohibiting the UE from frequently sending a UE assignment notification message including a preference RRC State field (preferredRRC-State field) to the base station. The UE deciding to leave the RRC _ CONNECTED state for MUSIM purposes means that the UE wishes network a or the base station to release the UE's RRC connection with network a because of the need to switch to network B (i.e. the activity of USIM B or connect network B through another USIM card, e.g. establish an RRC connection with network B or send data to network B).

Optionally, the RRC layer obtains the paging restriction information from the upper layer before/when initiating the request to leave the RRC _ CONNECTED state (i.e., initiate transmission of the UEAssistanceInformation message to provide the release preference) (e.g., by sending a third indication to the upper layer) and carries the information in the UEAssistanceInformation message (if the upper layer provides the paging restriction information). Optionally, the upper layer may also reject or send a stop transmission UEAssistanceInformation message to the RRC layer to provide a procedure for releasing the preference or stop a procedure for requesting to leave the RRC _ CONNECTED state, when the RRC does not perform an operation for requesting release of the RRC connection.

Optionally, when the RRC layer is in a state before/when the initiation request leaves the RRC _ CONNECTED state, an inquiry message for inquiring whether to allow initiation of the RRC connection release request procedure may be sent to the upper layer, and when the upper layer replies to the inquiry message and the reply does not reject the information of the completion of the initiation of the RRC connection release request procedure, the RRC connection release request procedure may be initiated, and at this time, it may not be determined whether there is an ongoing procedure of requesting release of the RRC connection, which is triggered by the upper layer. Alternatively, the paging restriction information may be acquired to the upper layer, which may be achieved by sending a paging restriction information acquisition request to the upper layer. At this time, the upper layer may regard the received paging restriction information acquisition request as the above-mentioned inquiry message.

Optionally, the RRC layer notifies the upper layer that a procedure requesting release of the RRC connection (i.e., requesting to leave the RRC _ CONNECTED state) is initiated when or after the procedure requesting release of the RRC connection is initiated. For example, the RRC may perform the notification procedure by transmitting the above-described third indication message to the upper layer. Also, in response to the inquiry message, the upper layer may also reject or send a stop transmission ues asymmetry information message to the RRC layer to provide a procedure to release the preference or stop requesting to leave the RRC _ connected ect state, when the RRC does not perform an operation for requesting release of the RRC connection.

Whether there is an ongoing RRC triggered request to release the RRC connection may be determined by whether an automatic release timer is running or whether a release preference prohibit timer is running. I.e. if the automatic release timer is running or the release preference prohibit timer is running, there is an ongoing RRC triggered procedure to request the release of the RRC connection, otherwise there is no ongoing RRC triggered procedure to request the release of the RRC connection.

When the automatic release timer expires, the UE may automatically release the RRC connection, for example, may perform an action of entering RRC _ IDLE (see TS38.331, section 5.3.11 for details) (execute the ac actions up going to RRC _ IDLE).

It should be noted that, messages received by the RRC from an upper layer (i.e., NAS layer) may also be referred to as NAS messages, for example, the service request message in this disclosure is an NAS message.

Further, the paging restriction information of the present disclosure may indicate one of the following 1) -4):

1) All paging is restricted (all paging is restricted). In this case, the UE does not expect to receive any paging message

2) Other paging messages than paging for voice services (IMS voice) are restricted (all paging is restricted, except paging for voice service (IMS voice)). In this case, the UE only expects to receive a page for voice service.

3) Paging messages other than paging for a particular PDU Session are restricted (all paging is reserved, except paging for a terminating PDU Session (s)). In this case, the UE only expects to receive a page for a particular PDU session.

4) Paging messages other than paging for voice services (IMS voice) and specific PDU sessions are restricted (all paging is reserved, except paging for voice service (IMS voice) and terminate PDU Session (s)). In this case, the UE only expects to receive pages for voice services and specific PDU sessions.

In order to reduce the complexity of the operation and improve the execution efficiency, it may be specified that the RRC connection release request configuration for the MUSIM purpose and for the power saving purpose cannot be configured at the same time. The RRC connection release request configuration may be, for example, a release preference configuration, a prohibit timer configuration, or the like used in performing the RRC connection release request.

For example, it may be specified that the base station cannot configure both the Relea seppreferenceconfig and the musireaseppeffenceconfig for a UE in MUSIM mode. Wherein the releasereferrence configuration configures the UE to report the assistance information to inform the base station of the UE's preference to the leave RRC _ CONNECTED state's preference to the gsb about when the base station leaves the RRC _ CONNECTED state.

As another example, it may be specified that the base station cannot configure both the rele asepresentationprohibittimer and the prohibit timer set for MUSIM purposes for a UE in MUSIM mode.

In addition, in order to reduce the complexity of the operation and improve the execution efficiency, it may be further specified that the base station cannot configure the releasereferenceprohibittimer and the automatic release timer for the UE in the MUSIM mode at the same time.

Embodiments of NAS layer operations

In this embodiment, the Service Request procedure (Service Request procedure) is adopted when the UE in the MUSIM mode (UE in MUSIM mode) satisfies the following condition:

(1) In the CM-CONNECTED state, it is necessary to request to release the UE connection, stop data transmission, discard any waiting data, and store Paging restriction information (optional) (in CM-CONNECTED state to request release of the UE connection, stop data tran smision, discard of any pending data and, optional, stop Paging restriction information).

(2) In the CM-IDLE state, it requests to delete the Paging restriction information (in CM-IDLE state to request removal of the Paging Restrictions information).

If The UE in The MUSIM mode and CM-CONNECTED state wants to leave The CM-CONNECTED state, it may include a Release Request indication and optionally Paging restriction information in The Service Request message (The UE in The MUSIM mode and CM-CONNECTED state may include The Release Request indication and optional Paging requests information in The Service Request message, if The UE in The UE ends to The CM-CONNECTED state).

If the release request indication is contained in the service request message, the UE in the MUSIM mode and the CM-CONNECTED state sends first indication information to the lower layer (for example, the RRC layer), where the first indication information may be used to indicate that the release request indication is contained in the message or that the message is used to request release of the RRC connection. The release request indication is for requesting release from the RRC _ CONNECTED state.

Alternatively, if the release request indication and the paging restriction information are included in the service request message, the UE in the MUSIM mode and the CM-CONNECTED state transmits second indication information to a lower layer (e.g., RRC layer), which may be used to indicate to the lower layer that the paging restriction information is included in this message.

The UE in the MUSIM mode and the CM-CONNECTED state may perform at least one of the following operations if receiving the third indication information from the lower layer:

(a) Providing paging restriction information;

(b) A procedure to instruct the lower layer to stop requesting release of the RRC connection (e.g., a procedure to instruct the lower layer to stop transmitting UEAssistanceInformation message to provide release preference);

(c) Instructing the lower layer to continue the procedure of requesting release of the RRC connection but not providing paging restriction information;

(d) Sending a rejection indication causing the lower layer to stop transmitting ueassitanceinformation messages to provide release preferences;

(e) The consent indication is sent such that the lower layer initiates transmission of the UEAssistanceInformation message to provide the release preference.

For the RRC connection release procedure initiated by the NAS layer, the release indication (also referred to as a release request indication) may be carried in the service request message, or the release indication may be carried in the registration procedure (when the UE needs to perform registration update with the network, the release indication is carried in the registration procedure). Therefore, it is also within the scope of the present disclosure to replace the service request message with the registration request message in the embodiments of the present disclosure to obtain a new embodiment.

Fig. 6 is a block diagram of a structure of a user equipment according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 6, the user equipment 60 comprises a processor 61 and a memory 62. The processor 61 may comprise, for example, a microprocessor, microcontroller, embedded processor, or the like. The memory 62 may include, for example, volatile memory (e.g., random access memory RAM), a Hard Disk Drive (HDD), non-volatile memory (e.g., flash memory), or other memory, etc. The memory 62 has stored thereon program instructions. Which when executed by the processor 61 may perform the above-described method performed by the user equipment as detailed in the present invention.

In addition, the computer-executable instructions or programs running on the apparatus according to the present invention may be programs that cause a computer to realize functions of the embodiments of the present invention by controlling a Central Processing Unit (CPU). The program or information processed by the program may be temporarily stored in a volatile memory (such as a random access memory RAM), a Hard Disk Drive (HDD), a nonvolatile memory (such as a flash memory), or other memory system.

Computer-executable instructions or programs for implementing the functions of embodiments of the present invention can be recorded on computer-readable storage media. The corresponding functions can be realized by causing a computer system to read the programs recorded on the recording medium and execute the programs. The term "computer system" as used herein may be a computer system embedded in the device and may include an operating system or hardware (e.g., peripheral devices). The "computer-readable storage medium" may be a semiconductor recording medium, an optical recording medium, a magnetic recording medium, a recording medium that stores a program for a short time dynamically, or any other recording medium that is readable by a computer.

Various features or functional blocks of the devices used in the above-described embodiments may be implemented or performed by circuitry (e.g., a single or multiple chip integrated circuits). Circuitry designed to perform the functions described herein may include a general purpose processor, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. The circuit may be a digital circuit or an analog circuit. Where new integrated circuit technologies have emerged as a replacement for existing integrated circuits due to advances in semiconductor technology, one or more embodiments of the invention may also be implemented using these new integrated circuit technologies.

Further, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments. While various examples of the embodiments have been described, the invention is not limited thereto. Fixed or non-mobile electronic devices installed indoors or outdoors may be used as terminal devices or communication devices, such as AV devices, kitchen devices, cleaning devices, air conditioners, office equipment, vending machines, and other home appliances.

As above, the embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the specific configuration is not limited to the above embodiment, and the present invention includes any design modification without departing from the gist of the present invention. In addition, the present invention can be variously modified within the scope of the claims, and embodiments obtained by appropriately combining the technical means disclosed in the different embodiments are also included in the technical scope of the present invention. Further, components having the same effects described in the above embodiments may be substituted for each other.

Claims (10)

1. A method for releasing an RRC connection performed by a user equipment supporting a multi USIM mode, comprising:

when receiving an authorization indication message which indicates that an authorization request is to release the current RRC connection, determining whether a predetermined condition for triggering an RRC connection release request process is satisfied;

when the predetermined condition is met, sending a predetermined request message for requesting to release the current RRC connection to a current base station corresponding to the current RRC connection; and

and executing an RRC connection release process based on the response of the current base station to the predetermined request message.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the grant indication message includes a release request indication from a current upper layer of a current RRC layer to which the current RRC connection corresponds or a release preference provision indication from the current base station,

the release request indication is used for indicating the current RRC layer to send a release request message for requesting to release the current RRC connection to the current base station, the release preference providing indication is used for indicating the current RRC layer to provide release preference information to the base station, and the release preference information represents the RRC state expected to be entered when a predetermined request message for requesting to release the current RRC connection is transmitted.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the authorization indication message comprises the release preference provision indication, the reservation request message comprises the release preference information, and the predetermined conditions comprise:

a prohibit timer for prohibiting transmission of the release preference information is not running, the user equipment decides to leave the current RRC connection and there is no RRC connection release request procedure triggered by the current upper layer, the prohibit timer is started when the predetermined condition is satisfied.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

after sending the predetermined request message, sending a notification message to the current upper layer, where the notification message is used to notify the current upper layer that the current RRC layer initiated an RRC connection release request procedure; and/or

Transmitting a paging restriction information request message to the current upper layer before transmitting the reservation request message, and transmitting the paging restriction information to the current base station by carrying the paging restriction information in the reservation request message if the paging restriction information corresponding to the paging restriction information request message is received from the current upper layer.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the authorization indication message includes the release preference provision indication, the method further comprising:

transmitting an inquiry message for inquiring whether to allow initiation of an RRC connection release request procedure to the current upper layer in case that the user equipment decides to leave the current RRC connection,

the predetermined condition includes:

a message for prohibiting a prohibit timer for prohibiting transmission of the release preference information from being operated and for which a current upper layer has responded to the inquiry message and the response does not reject initiation of the RRC connection release request procedure, the prohibit timer being started when the predetermined condition is satisfied,

the method further comprises the following steps:

after sending the predetermined request message, sending a notification message to the current upper layer, where the notification message is used to notify the current upper layer that the current RRC layer initiated an RRC connection release request procedure; and/or

If a message that does not allow the initiation of the RRC connection release request procedure, which is transmitted by the current upper layer in response to the inquiry message, is received, the RRC connection release request procedure is not performed in response to the message.

6. The method according to claim 4 or 5, wherein the inquiry message comprises a paging restriction information request message for acquiring paging restriction information for requesting a network to restrict paging.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein the grant indication message includes the release request indication, the predetermined condition comprising:

there is no RRC connection release request procedure triggered by the current RRC; and/or

A prohibit timer for prohibiting transmission of the release preference information is not running, the prohibit timer being started when the predetermined condition is satisfied.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

starting an automatic release timer when the predetermined condition is satisfied,

performing an RRC connection release procedure based on a response of the current base station to the reservation request message includes:

releasing the current RRC connection when the automatic release timer expires and the base station does not respond to the reservation request message.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the RRC connection release procedure comprises:

a first RRC connection release procedure performed to reduce power consumption of the user UE; or

A second RRC connection release procedure performed for switching the current RRC connection to another RRC connection.

10. A user equipment, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory having stored therein, a set of instructions,

wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, perform the method of any of claims 1 to 9.

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