CN116097891A

CN116097891A - Method and device for reporting and realizing multi-connection switching capability

Info

Publication number: CN116097891A
Application number: CN202080103821.1A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 徐恒书; 朱鹏; 阳思聪
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2020-09-30
Filing date: 2020-09-30
Publication date: 2023-05-09
Also published as: WO2022067702A1

Abstract

The application provides a method and a device for reporting and realizing multi-connection switching capability. The method comprises the following steps: the terminal equipment generates first information according to whether the terminal equipment supports the multi-connection switching capability or not, the first information comprises first indication information and second information, the first indication information is used for indicating whether the terminal equipment supports the multi-connection switching capability or not, the second information comprises at least one group of corresponding relations, each group of corresponding relations in the at least one group of corresponding relations is used for indicating related information of at least two cells respectively, and the at least two cells are cells which are simultaneously kept connected when the terminal equipment performs cell switching. Based on the scheme, as long as the related information of the source cell and the at least one target cell satisfies the related information of at least two cells indicated in the same set of correspondence, the terminal device may activate multi-connection handover based on the source cell and the at least one target cell.

Description

Method and device for reporting and realizing multi-connection switching capability

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a method and an apparatus for reporting and implementing a multi-connection switching capability.

Background

At present, when a terminal device performs cell or base station switching, a service zero millisecond interruption can be implemented through a multi-connection switching mode, and taking base station switching as an example, the multi-connection switching mode refers to that the terminal device keeps multi-connection with a source base station and a target base station in the process of switching from the source base station to the target base station, and the terminal device can continue to communicate with the source base station, for example, receive downlink data from the source base station or send uplink data to the source base station until the switching is completed.

It should be understood that a terminal device supporting the multi-connection handover scheme should have multi-connection handover capability, where multi-connection handover capability refers to the capability to maintain a connection with at least two cells at the same time, and since multi-connection handover capability is not necessary for all terminal devices, the network device needs to know whether the terminal device has multi-connection handover capability or not before determining to use the multi-connection handover scheme. At present, the mode that the terminal equipment reports the multi-connection switching capability to the network equipment can only report the cell combination supported by part of the terminal equipment for multi-connection switching, can not be expressed completely, and has limited application scenes.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides a method and a device for reporting and realizing multi-connection switching capability, which are used for providing a mode for flexibly reporting a cell or base station combination supported by terminal equipment for multi-connection switching.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for reporting a multi-connection handover capability, where the communication method may be implemented by a terminal device, or may be implemented by a component of the terminal device, for example, a processing chip, a circuit, or other components in the terminal device. The method comprises the following steps: the method comprises the steps that a terminal device generates first information according to whether the terminal device supports multi-connection switching capability or not, wherein the first information comprises first indication information or the first information comprises first indication information and second information, the first indication information is used for indicating whether the terminal device supports the multi-connection switching capability, and the multi-connection switching capability means that the terminal device can keep connection with at least two cells when performing cell switching; the second information comprises at least one group of corresponding relations, each group of corresponding relations in the at least one group of corresponding relations is used for indicating related information of at least two cells, and the at least two cells are cells which are supported by the terminal equipment and simultaneously keep connection when the terminal equipment performs cell switching; and the terminal equipment sends the first information to network equipment.

Through the design, the terminal equipment is not influenced by the multi-connection capability, and each group of multi-connection switching capability supported by the terminal equipment can be reported through the second information. The terminal device and the network device can activate the multi-connection handover as long as the related information of the source cell and the at least one target cell where the terminal device is located meets the related information of at least two cells indicated by the same group of correspondence. The method can completely and accurately report the multi-connection switching capability supported by the terminal equipment, and the reporting method is more flexible and has strong practicability.

In one possible implementation, the information about the at least two cells includes a band combination identity of each of the at least two cells.

In a possible implementation manner, the related information of the at least two cells further includes additional information of the frequency band combination of each cell. For example, the additional information may include carrier information, channel information, frequency point information, heterogeneous system information; illustratively, the second information may include one or more of the following correspondence: the device comprises a first source frequency band combination and a first target frequency band combination, wherein the first source frequency band combination is a single carrier, and the first target frequency band combination is a single carrier; a second source frequency band combination and a second target frequency band combination, wherein the second source frequency band combination is a dual carrier, and the second target frequency band combination is a single carrier; a third source frequency band combination and a third target frequency band combination, wherein the third source frequency band combination is a single carrier, and the first target frequency band combination is a dual carrier; the system comprises a fourth source frequency band combination and a fourth target frequency band combination, wherein the fourth source frequency band combination is a dual carrier, and the fourth target frequency band combination is a dual carrier.

In one possible implementation manner, each set of the correspondence may further include second indication information, where the second indication information is used to indicate whether there is a spectrum overlap between the frequency band combinations in at least two cells indicated by the correspondence.

Through the design, spectrum overlapping is possible between the carriers with the same frequency in the multi-connection switching, whether the terminal equipment supports the multi-connection switching when the spectrum overlapping is activated can be indicated through the second indication information, and the integrity and the flexibility of the multi-connection switching capability reported by the terminal equipment can be further enhanced.

In one possible implementation manner, before the terminal device sends the first information to the network device, the terminal device may further receive third indication information from the network device, where the third indication information is used to instruct the terminal device to send the first information.

Through the design, if the network equipment does not support the multi-connection switching capability, the third indication information is not sent to the terminal equipment, the terminal equipment does not report the multi-connection switching capability to the network equipment, resource waste caused by blind reporting of the multi-connection switching capability by the terminal equipment when the network equipment does not support the multi-connection switching capability is avoided, and signaling overhead is saved.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for implementing a multi-connection handover capability, where the communication method may be implemented by a network device, or may be implemented by a component within the network device, for example, by a processing chip, a circuit, or a component in the network device. The method comprises the following steps: the network equipment receives first information from the terminal equipment; the first information comprises first indication information or the first information comprises first indication information and second information, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating whether the terminal equipment supports multi-connection switching capability, and the multi-connection switching capability means that the terminal equipment can keep connection with at least two cells when performing cell switching; the second message comprises at least one group of corresponding relations, each group of corresponding relations in the at least one group of corresponding relations is used for indicating related information of at least two cells, and the at least two cells are cell combinations which are supported to keep connection when the terminal equipment performs cell switching; the network equipment determines a mode of the terminal equipment for cell switching according to the first information; the network device is a network device in a source cell where the terminal device is located.

In a possible implementation manner, before the network device receives the first information from the terminal device, third indication information may also be sent to the terminal device, where the third indication information is used to instruct the terminal device to send the first information.

In one possible implementation, the method further includes: the network device sends the first information to a second network device, and the second network device is the network device to which the terminal device is ready to be switched when performing cell switching.

The technical effects achieved by any one of the possible designs of the second aspect may be referred to the technical effects achieved by the first aspect, and the description thereof will not be repeated here.

In a third aspect, the present application provides a communication device, which may be a terminal device, or may be a chip inside the terminal device. The apparatus has functional modules implementing the embodiments in the first aspect described above. The functional module can be realized by hardware, and can also be realized by executing corresponding software by hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the functions described above. The apparatus may include, for example, a communication module and a processing module, where the communication module may in turn include a transmitting module and a receiving module.

In one possible design, the processing module is configured to generate first information according to whether the communication device supports a multi-connection handover capability, where the first information includes first indication information, or the first information includes first indication information and second information, where the first indication information is used to indicate whether the terminal device supports the multi-connection handover capability, where the multi-connection handover capability refers to that the terminal device can keep connection with at least two cells when performing cell handover; the second information comprises at least one group of corresponding relations, each group of corresponding relations in the at least one group of corresponding relations is used for indicating related information of at least two cells, and the at least two cells are cells which are supported by the terminal equipment and simultaneously keep connection when the terminal equipment performs cell switching; and the sending module unit is used for sending the first information to the network equipment.

In a fourth aspect, the present application provides a communication apparatus, which may be a network device, or may be a chip inside the network device. The apparatus has the function of implementing the embodiments in the second aspect described above. The functions can be realized by hardware, and can also be realized by executing corresponding software by hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the functions described above. The apparatus may include, for example, a communication module and a processing module, where the communication module may in turn include a transmitting module and a receiving module.

The receiving module is used for receiving the first information from the terminal equipment; the first information comprises first indication information or the first information comprises first indication information and second information, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating whether the terminal equipment supports multi-connection switching capability, and the multi-connection switching capability means that the terminal equipment can keep connection with at least two cells when performing cell switching; the second message comprises at least one group of corresponding relations, each group of corresponding relations in the at least one group of corresponding relations is used for indicating related information of at least two cells, and the at least two cells are cell combinations which are supported to keep connection when the terminal equipment performs cell switching; the processing module is used for determining a mode of the terminal equipment for cell switching according to the first information; the network device is a network device in a source cell where the terminal device is located.

In a fifth aspect, the present application provides a communications device comprising a processor and interface circuitry, the processor being configured to communicate with other devices via the interface circuitry and to perform the methods of the first aspect and the various possible designs of the first aspect or to perform the methods of the second aspect and the various possible designs of the second aspect. The processor includes one or more.

In a sixth aspect, the present application provides a communications device, comprising a processor, coupled to a memory, for invoking a program stored in the memory to perform the methods of the first aspect and the various possible designs of the first aspect, or to perform the methods of the second aspect and the various possible designs of the second aspect. The memory may be located within the device or may be located external to the device. And the processor may include one or more.

In a seventh aspect, the present application also provides a computer readable storage medium having instructions stored therein which, when run on a computer, cause a processor to perform the methods of the first aspect and the various possible designs of the first aspect or the methods of the second aspect and the various possible designs of the second aspect.

In an eighth aspect, the present application also provides a computer program product comprising instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of the first aspect and the various possible designs of the first aspect described above, or to perform the method of the second aspect and the various possible designs of the second aspect described above.

In a ninth aspect, the present application further provides a chip or chip system, comprising: a processor and a communication interface, the processor being configured to communicate with other devices via the communication interface and to perform the methods of the first aspect and the various possible designs of the first aspect or to perform the methods of the second aspect and the various possible designs of the second aspect.

The technical effects achieved by the possible designs of any one of the third aspect to the ninth aspect may be referred to the technical effects achieved by the first aspect, and the description thereof will not be repeated here.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a dual connection scenario provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of another dual connectivity scenario provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of another multi-connection scenario provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of a scenario of cell handover according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 is a flow chart corresponding to a method for reporting and implementing multi-connection switching capability according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6a is a schematic diagram of a data structure for carrying first information according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6b is a schematic diagram of another data structure for carrying first information according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6c is a flow chart corresponding to a complete method for reporting and implementing the multi-connection switching capability according to the embodiment of the present application;

fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided in the present application;

fig. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device provided in the present application.

Detailed Description

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

1) A terminal, also known as a User Equipment (UE), is a device that provides voice and/or data connectivity to a User, e.g., a handheld device with wireless connectivity, an in-vehicle device, etc. Common terminals include, for example: a cell phone, tablet, notebook, palm top, mobile internet device (mobile internet device, MID), wearable device, such as a smart watch, smart bracelet, pedometer, etc.

2) A network device, which is an entity in the network side for transmitting or receiving signals, may be a device for communicating with a mobile device. The network device may be an Access Point (AP) in a wireless local area network (wireless local area networks, WLAN), an evolved Node B (eNB or eNodeB) in LTE, or a relay station or an Access Point, or a Distributed network element (Distributed Unit), or a Centralized network element (Centralized Unit), or a new generation base station (generation Node B, gNodeB) in a receiving Point (Transmission Reception Point, TRP), or a transmission Point (Transmission Point, TP), or NR system, or a network device in a future evolved public land mobile network (public land mobile network, PLMN) network, etc., and the embodiments of the present application are not limited thereto.

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

The embodiments of the present application may be applied to various mobile communication systems, for example: long term evolution (Long Term Evolution, LTE) systems, long term evolution-advanced (Advanced long term evolution, LTE-a) systems, universal mobile telecommunications system (Universal Mobile Telecommunication System, UMTS), evolved long term evolution (evolved Long Term Evolution, elet) systems, 5G systems (e.g., NR systems), and future communication systems (e.g., 6G systems).

The scenario of the application may be that the terminal device works in a multi-connection scenario. Such as a dual connection (dual connectivity, DC) and multiple connections of more than two. In a dual connectivity scenario, a terminal device may access both a primary network device and a secondary network device (also referred to as a source device and a target device). 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. And when the main network device and the auxiliary network device can be deployed at the same site, the main network device and the auxiliary network device can share the same set of hardware devices, and can also use different hardware devices.

Referring to fig. 1, 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. Wherein the network device 201 may represent a primary network device, the network device 202 may represent a secondary network device, the primary network device may be one of an LTE network device (e.g., eNB), a 5G network device (e.g., 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. And the main network device and the auxiliary network device may be network devices of the same system, for example, all are enbs, or may be network devices of different systems, for example, the main network device is an eNB, and the auxiliary network device is a gNB. The communication modes of the main network equipment and the auxiliary network equipment are not limited.

In an embodiment of the present application, the primary network device operates in an LTE system, where the primary network device is an LTE network device, i.e. the primary network device may cover one or more LTE cells. The secondary network device operates in an NR system, the secondary network device being a 5G network device, i.e. the secondary network device may cover one or more NR cells. Correspondingly, the terminal device 101 supports both LTE and NR systems, i.e. the terminal device 101 may access both LTE cells formed by the primary network device coverage and NR cells formed by the secondary network device coverage. The cell covered by the primary network device to which the terminal device accesses may also be referred to as a primary cell (PCell), and the cell covered by the secondary network device to which the terminal device accesses may be referred to as a secondary cell (secondary cell). The terminal device 101 may, for example, perform a service transmission via the primary cell and the at least one secondary cell, i.e. the terminal device 101 may perform a data transmission with the secondary network device when performing a data transmission with the primary network device.

Referring to fig. 2, a schematic diagram of a dual connectivity scenario where a primary network device and a secondary network device are deployed at the same site (fig. 2 illustrates network device 203). Illustratively, in fig. 2, the network device 203 may operate in both the LTE system and the NR system, i.e. the network device 203 may simultaneously cover the formation of the LTE cell connection and the NR cell connection. The terminal device 101 may access both the LTE cell and the NR cell.

The above scenario is an example of a dual-connection scenario, which is merely an example, and other situations of the dual-connection scenario may exist, which will not be described herein. In the embodiment of the application, the terminal equipment can support more than two connection scenes besides the double connection scenes. For example, in the above example, the terminal device 101 may also be simultaneously connected to cells formed by coverage of three or more network devices, for example, three network devices including one primary network device and two secondary network devices, where the terminal device may be simultaneously connected to the one primary network device and the two secondary network devices, and the one primary network device and the two secondary network devices may be disposed on one or more network devices, and may be disposed on three network devices, or may be partially disposed on one network device, or may be disposed on two network devices, respectively. Referring to fig. 3, where a primary network device is deployed on network device 210, one of two secondary network devices is deployed on network device 211 and the other secondary network device is deployed on network device 212, embodiments of the present application are not limited in this regard.

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

The application scenario in the embodiment of the present application may be a scenario in which the terminal device performs cell handover. Referring to fig. 4, a schematic diagram of a scenario of a cell handover is shown. As shown in fig. 4, the scenario includes at least two access network devices 230, 231 (two are shown in fig. 4, but the embodiment of the present application is not limited thereto) and at least one terminal device 101 (one is shown in fig. 4, and the present application is not limited thereto). Wherein the access network device may be a network device as above.

In a possible scenario, during the attachment of the terminal device 101 to the source access network device 230, a signal measurement report may be periodically sent to the source access network device 230, where the source access network device 230 determines, according to the signal measurement report of the terminal device 101, whether the terminal device 101 needs to be switched to another access network device, selects, according to the signal measurement report, a target access network device 231 to be switched for the terminal device, and notifies the target access network device 231 to prepare access resources for the terminal device 101, and notifies the terminal device 101 to access the target access network device 231.

At the handover stage, the terminal device 101 will be handed over from the source access network device 230 to the target cell 231. Specifically, the switching manner may be classified into a multi-connection switching and a non-multi-connection switching according to whether the terminal device 101 supports multi-connection. The non-multi-connection handover refers to that, during the handover procedure, the terminal device 101 will disconnect from the source access network device 230 and then access the target access network device. During the period of time before the terminal device 101 is detached from the source access network device 230 to access the target access network device 231, data transmission between the terminal device 101 and the source access network device 230 will also be interrupted.

Multi-connection handover may mean that during the handover the terminal device 101 remains connected to both the source access network device 230 and the target access network device 231, or that the terminal device 101 remains connected to both the source cell and the target cell, i.e. during the handover the data transmission between the terminal device 101 and the source access network device 230 is not interrupted, e.g. the terminal device 101 may also receive downlink data from the source access network device 230 sent by the core network device to the terminal device 101, or the terminal device 101 may also send uplink data to the source access network device 230, and the terminal device 101 may also perform data transmission with the target access network device 231, so that a so-called service zero millisecond interruption is achieved.

In summary, for the capability of supporting multiple connections during handover, the capability of supporting multiple connections may be referred to as multiple connection handover capability, and since multiple connection handover capability is not an essential capability for all terminal devices, the network device needs to know whether the terminal device has multiple connection handover capability or not before determining to use the multiple connection handover method. Currently, the terminal device indicates the multi-connection switching capability of the terminal device by reporting the BC message. Although the above manner can report the multi-connection capability of the terminal device, the multi-connection switching capability of the terminal device cannot be accurately and completely reported. The multi-connection capability and the multi-connection handover capability are different in that the multi-connection capability requires the terminal device to have the capability of maintaining simultaneous connection with a plurality of cells for a long time, whereas the handover procedure is relatively short and does not require the terminal device to maintain connection with a plurality of connected cells for a long time. Therefore, for the multi-connection switching capability supported by the terminal device, the existing mode cannot realize the integrity reporting.

For example, the terminal device supports BC1 and BC2, wherein BC1 is n78, single carrier (1 CC for short), 2 multiple-in multiple-out (MIMO). BC2 is n41,1cc,2mimo. Where n78 and n41 correspond to frequency points agreed by a protocol, and 2MIMO refers to two channels, which can be understood as the number of channels used for receiving data in one carrier. The above example can be understood that the terminal device can operate on an n78 frequency point single carrier, and support both uplink and downlink channels in the single carrier. Or, the terminal device can also work on n41 frequency point single carrier, and the single carrier supports uplink and downlink double channels.

When performing cell switching, if the source cell is BC1, the target cell is BC2, and the terminal device supports multi-connection switching between the source cell and the target cell, the terminal device needs to report BC3, specifically BC3 is n78 (1 CC) +n41 (1 CC), 2mimo+2mimo. However, for a terminal device supporting 2MIMO, the BC3 cannot be supported for a long time because the BC supported by the terminal device for a long time is actually n78 (1 CC) +n41 (1 CC), 1mimo+1mimo. Therefore, the existing terminal device does not report BC3. However, in practice, when performing cell handover, for a terminal device supporting 2MIMO, it is possible to support a manner of time-sharing transmission through n41 and n78 in a short time, respectively satisfying 2MIMO capabilities required for n41 and n 78. Moreover, even when the terminal device reports BC (n 78 (1 CC) +n41 (1 CC), 1mimo+1mimo), it cannot instruct to activate multi-connection handover when performing cell handover in the communication system of BC1 and BC 2.

Therefore, the existing manner of reporting the multi-connection switching capability may not be fully expressed, and a new manner of reporting the multi-connection switching capability is needed to fully report the multi-connection switching capability supported by the terminal device.

In view of this, the embodiment of the present application provides a manner of reporting a multi-connection handover capability, where the terminal device generates first information according to whether the terminal device supports the multi-connection handover capability, where the first information includes first indication information, or the first information includes first indication information and second information, where the first indication information is used to indicate whether the terminal device supports the multi-connection handover capability, and the second information includes at least one set of correspondence relationships, where each set of correspondence relationships in the at least one set of correspondence relationships is used to indicate relevant information of at least two cells, where the at least two cells are cells in which the terminal device supports to simultaneously maintain connection when performing cell handover. The source cell and the at least one target cell to be handed over to may activate a multi-connection handover as long as both cells indicated in the same set of correspondences are satisfied (comprised) at the same time. The mode can completely and accurately report the multi-connection switching capability supported by the terminal equipment.

The technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application are described in detail below through specific embodiments and accompanying drawings.

Referring to fig. 5, a flow chart corresponding to a method for reporting multi-connection switching capability according to an embodiment of the present application is shown. The method can be applied to a system as shown in any one of the scenes in fig. 1 to 4, and as shown in fig. 5, the method can include the following steps:

step 501: the terminal device generates first information according to whether the terminal device supports multi-connection switching capability or not.

The multi-connection switching capability has been described above and will not be described in detail here. The first information comprises first indication information, and the first indication information is used for indicating whether the terminal equipment supports multi-connection switching capability or not. Illustratively, the first indication information may include 1 bit, and two values (i.e., 0 and 1) of the bits on the 1 bit indicate that the multi-connection handover capability is supported and that the multi-connection handover capability is not supported, respectively. For example, when the value of the bit on the 1 bit is 0, it indicates that the terminal device supports the multiple connection switching capability. When the value of the bit of the 1 bit is 1, the terminal equipment does not support the multi-connection switching capability. It should be understood that the foregoing is merely an example, and the embodiments of the present application are not limited to what is indicated by the bit values.

In one example, the terminal device does not support the multi-connection handover capability, the first indication information is used to indicate that the terminal device does not support the multi-connection handover capability.

In another example, the terminal device supports multiple connection handover capability, the first information may include second information in addition to the first indication information. The first indication information is used for indicating the terminal equipment to support the multi-connection switching capability. The second information includes at least one set of correspondence, and each set of correspondence in the at least one set of correspondence is used for indicating related information of at least two cells, where the at least two cells are cells that are supported by the terminal device and simultaneously keep connection when performing cell switching.

As shown in table 1 below, this correspondence is an example. Wherein each set of correspondence may contain an identification of at least two frequency band combinations.

TABLE 1

Index (Index)	Identification of band combinations
1	BC1、BC2
2	BC3、BC4、BC5
……	……

Wherein, index 1 indicates that the terminal device supports multi-connection switching of a plurality of cells corresponding to BC1 and BC2, and index 2 indicates that the terminal device supports multi-connection switching of a plurality of cells corresponding to BC3, BC4 and BC 5. It should be understood that table 1 is merely an example, and the correspondence of the embodiments of the present application may be other forms, for example, there is no index, etc., which is not limited in this application, and the identification of the band combinations in table 1 is also merely an example, which is not limited in this application.

With continued reference to the above examples of BC1 and BC2, specifically, for terminal devices supporting BC1 and BC2 respectively, when the multi-connection switching capability is reported, the terminal device will report the message of BC1 and the message of BC2 respectively, as shown before, where BC1 refers to that the terminal device supports long-term operation under the communication system referred to by BC1, and similarly BC2 refers to that the terminal device supports long-term operation under the working system referred to by BC2. The reported BC1 message and BC2 message also respectively include the communication parameters of BC1 and BC2, for example, the BC1 message also includes information such as the number of carriers, frequency points, whether the BC1 is a heterogeneous system (i.e. works in different systems), and the embodiment of the present application is not limited to this.

In the present application, whether the terminal device supports 2mimo+2mimo or not, if a set of correspondence relationship reported by the terminal device includes BC1 and BC2, it indicates that the terminal device supports multi-connection handover when the source cell is BC1 and the target cell is BC2.

In one implementation manner, the first information may be carried in the following information:

referring to fig. 6a, the first information may be carried in existing information, for example in terminal device capability information (UE capability information), in one implementation UE capability information is used to carry BC messages. Suppose that BC to be reported by the terminal device includes BC1, BC2. For each BC supported by the terminal device, the terminal device may report first information corresponding to the BC, where the first information corresponding to each BC includes multiple connection switching capability of the BC and other BC.

For example, the first information corresponding to BC1 includes one or more sets of correspondence relationships between BC1 and other BC, and illustratively, the correspondence relationship included in the first information includes: BC1 and BC1, BC1 and BC2. For another example, the first information corresponding to BC2 includes one or more sets of correspondence between BC2 and other BC. It should be appreciated that other BC's determine the combination of the BC with the other BC to support multi-connection handoff for the terminal device.

As shown in fig. 6a, UE Capability information includes UE-NR-Capability, and the terminal device may carry first information in an rf-Parameters cell of UE-NR-Capability, where the first information is named, for example, supplementadband mobility list-v1xxx, and includes two elements below the first information:

BandCombination-vxx 1 (multi-connection capability table corresponding to BC 1) and BandCombination-vxx 2 (multi-connection capability table corresponding to BC 2); the band combination-vxxx 1 contains an NR-NR-Xxxx substructure and an NR-eutra-Xxxx substructure, and each band combination-vxxx 1 respectively represents a multi-connection capability table between BC1 and all NR BC and between BC1 and LTE BC;

BandCombination-vxxx 1/nr-nr-Xxxx/BcXxxx capability 1 represents a multi-connection capability between BC1 (present BC) and BC1, and BandCombination-vxxx 1/nr-nr-Xxxx/BcBcXxxx capability 2 represents a multi-connection capability between BC1 (present BC) and BC2.

Similarly, bandCombination-vxxx 2/nr-nr-Xxxx/BcXxxx capability 1 represents a multi-connectivity capability between BC2 (present BC) and BC1, and BandCombination-vxxx 1/nr-nr-Xxxx/BcXxxx capability 2 represents a multi-connectivity capability between BC2 (present BC) and BC 2.

It should be noted that, between the plurality of BCs supported by the terminal device, there may be a BC having the same range, for example, BC1 is a subset of BC2, where BC1 may be referred to as a fallback of BC2, and if BC1-BCX supports multi-connection handover and BC2-BCX does not support multi-connection handover, BC1-BCX also needs to be reported.

In an embodiment, the first information may further include description information of the group of multiple connection switching capabilities under each group of correspondence, for example, whether the first information is time-synchronous, is the same-frequency point, is the different-frequency point, and so on, and further participates in fig. 6a, where xxxxxx-Supported indicates that BC1 and BC1 support Xxxx capability, interFreqXxxx indicates that whether the first information supports the same-frequency point switching, interFreqXxxx indicates that whether the second information supports the different-frequency point switching, and fig. 6a is merely an example, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application, and may further include capability information such as synchronous and asynchronous, and several TAGs.

It should be understood that, fig. 6a is a first information that is illustrated by using an nr-nr-Xxxx substructure, and the first information may also be carried in an nr-eutra-Xxxx substructure, which is not limited and not repeated in the embodiments of the present application.

The above is that, in the angle of BC, the first information corresponding to BC is reported in each BC, and in the embodiment of the present application, the angle of the terminal device may also be reported to all the combinations corresponding to the multi-connection switching supported by the terminal device. The difference between the two is that when reporting at the angle of BC, there may be a repeated correspondence relationship in the first information corresponding to each BC, for example, if the combination of multi-connection handover supported by the terminal device includes BC1 and BC2, the first information corresponding to BC1 includes BC1-BC2, and the first information corresponding to BC2 includes BC2-BC1. And when reporting from the perspective of the terminal device, repeated combinations can be filtered.

Referring to fig. 6b, as shown in fig. 6b, the terminal device may further add newly supported inratxxxxlist and supported internationxxxlist cells in the RF-Parameters cells to respectively characterize the multiple connection capability between NR BC and the multiple connection capability list between NR BC and LTE BC; supported IntratXxxxList/BcBcXxxxCapbilty 2-1 represents the multi-connection capability supported between BC1 and BC1, and Supported IntratXxxxList/BcBcXxxxCapbilty 2-2 represents the multi-connection capability supported between BC1 and BC 2.

In summary, in the embodiment of the present application, the corresponding relationship between BC and BC is reported to indicate that the terminal device supports multi-connection switching between BC and BC, that is, if there is a corresponding relationship between BC and BC, it indicates that multi-connection switching is supported, and if there is no corresponding relationship, it indicates that multi-connection switching is not supported. As shown in table 2 below, another specific example of the first information is shown.

TABLE 2

Assuming that BC1 is 1CC and BC2 is 1CC, it means that the terminal device supports simultaneous connection with 1CC of BC1 and 1CC of BC 2; for example, the source access network device includes a cell, denoted as a source cell a, the target access network device includes at least one cell, denoted as a target cell a, the frequency band combination adopted by the source cell a is BC1, the frequency band combination adopted by the target cell a is BC2, and the terminal device supports simultaneous connection with the source cell a and the target cell a.

Assuming that BC3 is 2CC and BC4 is 1CC, it means that the terminal device supports simultaneous connection with 2CC of BC3 and 1CC of BC 4; for example, the source access network device includes two cells, which are respectively denoted as a source cell a and a source cell B, the frequency band combination adopted by the source cell a and the frequency band combination adopted by the source cell B are BC3, the target access network device includes one cell, which is denoted as a target cell a, and the terminal device supports simultaneous connection with the source cell a, the source cell B and the target cell a when the frequency band combination is BC 4.

Assuming that BC5 is 1CC and BC6 is 2CC, it means that the terminal device supports simultaneous connection with 1CC of BC5 and 2CC of BC 6; for example, when the source access network device includes a cell, denoted as a source cell a, the target access network device includes at least two cells, denoted as a target cell a and a target cell B, respectively, the frequency band combination adopted by the source cell a is BC5, and the frequency band combination adopted by the target cell a and the frequency band combination adopted by the target cell B are BC6, the terminal device supports simultaneous connection with the source cell a, the target cell a and the target cell B.

Assuming that BC7 is 2CC and BC8 is 2CC, the terminal equipment supports simultaneous connection with 2CC of BC7 and 2CC of BC 8; for example, the source access network device includes two cells, which are respectively denoted as a source cell a and a source cell B, the target access network device includes at least two cells, which are respectively denoted as a target cell a and a target cell B, a frequency band combination adopted by the source cell a and a frequency band combination adopted by the source cell B are BC7, and when the frequency band combination adopted by the target cell a and the frequency band combination adopted by the target cell B are BC8, the terminal device supports simultaneous connection with the source cell a, the source cell B, the target cell a and the target cell B.

It should be noted that, table 2 is merely an example, and the correspondence may include a plurality of BC, for example, three BC, four BC, or the like, that is, two or more BC, for example, index 5 includes BC1, BC2, and BC3, which indicates that the terminal device supports simultaneous connection with 1CC of BC1, 1CC of BC2, and 2CC of BC3, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present application.

In addition, in the correspondence, the source cell and the target cell may be distinguished, for example, in the correspondence in table 2, the source cell may be listed on the left side, the target cell may be listed on the right side, and the description is referred to above, or the left side may be listed as the target cell, and the right side may be listed as the source cell, for example, using index1 in table 2 as an example, and the terminal device supports simultaneous connection with the source Pcell (BC 2) and the target Pcell (BC 1). By means of the mode, the network equipment can conveniently inquire whether the corresponding relation is met in the first information.

Alternatively, the corresponding relationship may not distinguish between the list positions of the source cell and the target cell, for example, taking index1 in table 2 as an example, the terminal device supports simultaneous connection with the source Pcell (BC 1) and the target Pcell (BC 2). Alternatively, the terminal device supports simultaneous connection with the source Pcell (BC 2) and the target Pcell (BC 1).

In addition, in one possible scenario, when performing cell handover, the source cell and the target cell may both be single carriers, and the source cell and the target cell may be the same frequency or different frequencies. If the same frequency is switched, the frequency spectrums of the carrier wave of the source cell and the carrier wave of the target cell may overlap, and the concept of BC combination (CA or DC) is only carrier aggregation, namely, the carrier waves are adjacent or not adjacent, but do not overlap; therefore, in the embodiment of the present application, whether there is spectrum overlap between BC in the correspondence relation reported by the terminal device may be indicated in the following manner. In one embodiment, the first information reported by the terminal device includes BC combinations for supporting spectrum overlapping multi-connection handover, i.e. the default terminal device supports spectrum overlapping multi-connection handover. In another embodiment, the terminal device indicates whether the set of correspondence relationships indicates spectrum overlap by the second indication information. The second indication may be carried in the description information of each set of correspondence, and illustratively, the second indication information may include 1 bit, and two values (i.e., 0 and 1) of the bits on the 1 bit respectively indicate that the spectrum overlap is supported and that the spectrum overlap is not supported. For example, when the value of the bit of the 1 bit is 0, it indicates that the BC combination support spectrum overlapping indicated by the correspondence relationship. When the value of the bit of the 1 bits is 1, it indicates that the BC combination indicated by the correspondence relationship does not support spectrum overlapping. It should be understood that the foregoing is merely an example, and the embodiments of the present application are not limited to what is indicated by the bit values.

Step 502: the terminal equipment sends the first information to the network equipment, and the network equipment correspondingly receives the first information sent by the terminal equipment.

And after the terminal equipment sends the first information to the network equipment, if the first indication information is used for indicating that the multi-connection switching capability is not supported, the network equipment does not activate the multi-connection switching.

It should be understood that if the terminal device supports the multi-connection handover capability, the network device should also support the multi-connection handover capability when the multi-connection handover is activated. For example, if the first information includes the second information, the network device determines whether to activate the multi-connection handover according to whether the network device supports the multi-connection handover capability and the second information, which is not described in detail in the embodiments of the present application.

It should be noted that, the network device may be a core network device, and when performing cell handover, the source access network device and the target access network device may acquire first information of the terminal device from the core network device. Or, the network device may be a source access network device, where the source access network device sends the first information to the target access network device, or the source access network device may filter the first information, send the filtered information to the access network device, and for example, the source access network device may send a correspondence relationship including BC of the first information to the target access network device.

Optionally, the embodiment of the present application may further include step 500, where the network device sends third indication information to the terminal device, where the third indication information is used to request the terminal device to report the capability information, and after receiving the third indication information, the terminal device executes step 501 or step 502. If the network device does not support the multi-connection switching capability, the multi-connection switching of the terminal device cannot be activated, so that the terminal device may not be required to report the capability information of the terminal device itself.

For example, the third indication information may be sent carried in an existing cell, e.g., the third indication information is carried in uecapabilityrequirement information.

Referring to fig. 6c, a flow chart corresponding to a complete method for reporting a multi-connection switching capability according to an embodiment of the present application may include the following steps:

step 701: the source access network equipment sends third indication information to the terminal equipment, and the terminal equipment correspondingly receives the third indication information sent by the source access network equipment.

Step 702: the terminal device generates first information according to whether the terminal device supports multi-connection switching capability or not.

Step 703: the terminal equipment sends first information to the source access network equipment, and the source access network equipment receives the first information sent by the terminal equipment.

Step 704: the terminal equipment sends a measurement report to the source access network equipment, and the source access network equipment receives the measurement report sent by the terminal equipment.

Step 705: and the source access network equipment judges whether the terminal equipment supports the activation of multi-connection switching or not according to the first information.

The first information includes the first indication information, or the first information includes the first indication information and the second information, and for details of the description of the first information, please refer to the related description above, and the description is not repeated here.

For example, given that the first information includes the first indication information and the second information, the source access network device may determine whether there is a satisfied access network device combination according to the second information reported by the terminal device and its own resources (for example, whether the BC included in the source access network device and/or the source access network device supports multi-connection handover) after determining to switch the terminal device to the target access network device according to the measurement report, and if so, send the information of the satisfied access network device combination to the target access network device, i.e. step 706. For example, the source access network device supports multi-connection handover, and the source access network device contains BC1, for example, table 2 above, and satisfies that the access network devices that activate multi-connection handover are combined into the combination corresponding to index1 in table 2.

Step 706: the source access network equipment sends multi-connection switching request information to the target access network equipment, and the target access network equipment correspondingly receives the multi-connection switching request information sent by the source access network equipment.

Still in combination with the example in step 705, the source access network device may send the index value (e.g., index 1) of the satisfied correspondence to the target access network device, or send each BC (e.g., BC1 and BC 2) included in the satisfied correspondence to the target access network device, or send the BC outside the source access network device in the satisfied correspondence to the target access network device, e.g., the source access network device includes BC1, and then send BC2 to the target access network device.

Step 707: the target access network device sends the multi-connection switching confirmation information to the source access network device, and the source access network device receives the multi-connection switching confirmation information sent by the target access network device.

The target access network device confirms that the target access network device supports the multi-connection switching capability and satisfies the BC of the multi-connection switching supported by the terminal device, and then sends a multi-connection switching confirmation message to the source access network device, wherein the message can also contain information of the BC of the multi-connection switching supported by the target access network device, such as index or BC.

In addition, in one possible scenario, the target access network device does not support the multi-connection handover capability, and then the target access network device sends a multi-connection handover reject message to the source access network device.

Step 708: the source access network device sends a switching command to the terminal device, and the terminal device receives the switching command sent by the source access network device.

The handover command may carry fifth indication information for instructing the terminal device to activate the multi-connection handover, in addition to the information described above.

As shown in fig. 7, which is one possible exemplary block diagram of a communication device according to the present application, the device 700 may exist in software or hardware. The apparatus 700 may include: a processing unit 702 and a communication unit 703. As an implementation, the communication unit 703 may include a receiving unit and a transmitting unit. The processing unit 702 is configured to control and manage the operations of the apparatus 700. The communication unit 703 is configured to support communication of the apparatus 700 with other network entities. The apparatus 700 may further comprise a storage unit 701 for storing program code and data of the apparatus 700.

The processing unit 702 may be a processor or controller, such as a general purpose central processing unit (central processing unit, CPU), general purpose processor, digital signal processing (digital signal processing, DSP), application specific integrated circuit (application specific integrated circuits, ASIC), field programmable gate array (field programmable gate array, FPGA) or other programmable logic device, transistor logic device, hardware components, or any combination thereof. Which may implement or perform the various exemplary logic blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with this disclosure. The processor may also be a combination that performs the function of a computation, e.g., including one or more microprocessors, a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, and so forth. The storage unit 701 may be a memory. The communication unit 703 is an interface circuit of the apparatus for receiving signals from other apparatuses. For example, when the device is implemented in a chip, the communication unit 703 is an interface circuit of the chip for receiving signals from other chips or devices, or an interface circuit of the chip for transmitting signals to other chips or devices.

The apparatus 700 may be a communication apparatus (such as a terminal device or a network device) in any of the foregoing embodiments, and may also be a chip for a communication apparatus. For example, when the apparatus 700 is a terminal device, the processing unit 702 may be, for example, a processor, and the communication unit 703 may be, for example, a transceiver. Alternatively, the transceiver may comprise radio frequency circuitry and the storage unit may be, for example, a memory. For example, when the apparatus 700 is a chip for a terminal device, the processing unit 702 may be, for example, a processor, and the communication unit 703 may be, for example, an input/output interface, a pin, a circuit, or the like. The processing unit 702 may execute computer-executable instructions stored in a memory unit, optionally, a memory unit in the chip, such as a register, a cache, etc., and may be a memory unit in the terminal device located outside the chip, such as a read-only memory (ROM) or other type of static storage device, a random access memory (random access memory, RAM), etc., that may store static information and instructions.

In a first embodiment, the apparatus 700 is a terminal device in the above example, and the communication unit 703 of the terminal device includes a transmitting unit and a receiving unit.

A processing unit 702, configured to generate first information according to whether a multi-connection handover capability is supported by the terminal device, where the first information includes first indication information, or the first information includes first indication information and second information, where the first indication information is used to indicate whether the terminal device supports the multi-connection handover capability, and the multi-connection handover capability refers to that the terminal device can keep connection with at least two cells when performing cell handover; the second information comprises at least one group of corresponding relations, each group of corresponding relations in the at least one group of corresponding relations is used for indicating related information of at least two cells, and the at least two cells are cells which are supported by the terminal equipment and simultaneously keep connection when the terminal equipment performs cell switching; and the sending unit is used for sending the first information to the network equipment.

In a possible implementation method, the related information of the at least two cells further includes additional information of the band combination of each cell.

In one possible implementation method, each set of the correspondence relationships further includes second indication information, where the second indication information is used to indicate whether there is a spectrum overlap between the frequency band combinations in at least two cells indicated by the correspondence relationship.

In one possible implementation method, the sending unit is configured to, before sending the first information to the network device, receive third indication information from the network device, where the third indication information is used to instruct the terminal device to send the first information.

In a second embodiment, the apparatus 700 is a network device in the above example, and the communication unit 703 of the network device includes a transmitting unit and a receiving unit.

A receiving unit configured to receive first information from a terminal device; the first information comprises first indication information or the first information comprises first indication information and second information, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating whether the terminal equipment supports multi-connection switching capability, and the multi-connection switching capability means that the terminal equipment can keep connection with at least two cells when performing cell switching; the second message comprises at least one group of corresponding relations, each group of corresponding relations in the at least one group of corresponding relations is used for indicating related information of at least two cells, and the at least two cells are cell combinations which are supported to keep connection when the terminal equipment performs cell switching;

A processing unit 702, configured to determine a manner in which the terminal device performs cell handover according to the first information; the network device is a network device in a source cell where the terminal device is located.

In a possible implementation method, before the receiving unit receives the first information from the terminal device, the sending unit is further configured to send third indication information to the terminal device, where the third indication information is used to instruct the terminal device to send the first information.

In a possible implementation method, the sending unit is further configured to send the first information to a second network device, where the second network device is a network device to which the terminal device is ready to be handed over when performing cell handover.

Referring to fig. 8, a schematic diagram of an apparatus provided in the present application may be a communication apparatus (such as a terminal device or a network device in the foregoing example) in the foregoing embodiment. The apparatus 800 includes: a processor 802, a communication interface 803. Optionally, the apparatus 800 may further comprise a memory 801 and/or a communication line 804. Wherein the communication interface 803, the processor 802, and the memory 801 may be connected to each other through a communication line 804; the communication line 804 may be a peripheral component interconnect standard (peripheral component interconnect, PCI) bus or an extended industry standard architecture (extended industry standard architecture, EISA) bus, among others. The communication lines 804 may be classified as address buses, data buses, control buses, etc. For ease of illustration, only one thick line is shown in fig. 8, but not only one bus or one type of bus.

The processor 802 may be a CPU, microprocessor, ASIC, or one or more integrated circuits for controlling the execution of the programs of the present application.

Communication interface 803, using any transceiver-like means for communicating with other devices or communication networks, such as ethernet, radio access network (radio access network, RAN), wireless local area network (wireless local area networks, WLAN), wired access network, etc.

The memory 801 may be, but is not limited to, ROM or other type of static storage device that may store static information and instructions, RAM or other type of dynamic storage device that may store information and instructions, or an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, optical disk storage (including compact disk, laser disk, optical disk, digital versatile disk, blu-ray disk, etc.), magnetic disk storage media or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer. The memory may be self-contained and coupled to the processor via communication line 804. The memory may also be integrated with the processor.

The memory 801 is used for storing computer-executable instructions for executing the embodiments of the present application, and is controlled by the processor 802. The processor 802 is configured to execute computer-executable instructions stored in the memory 801, thereby implementing the communication method provided in the above embodiments of the present application.

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

The present application also provides a computer program product, which when executed by a computer, implements the communication method according to any one of the method embodiments.

In the above embodiments, it may be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, may be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When the computer instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, the processes or functions described in accordance with embodiments of the present application are produced in whole or in part. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable apparatus. The computer instructions may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium, for example, the computer instructions may be transmitted from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center by a wired (e.g., coaxial cable, fiber optic, digital subscriber line (digital subscriber line, DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.). The computer readable storage medium may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device such as a server, data center, etc. that contains an integration of one or more available media. The usable medium may be a magnetic medium (e.g., a floppy disk, a hard disk, a magnetic tape), an optical medium (e.g., a high-density digital video disc (digital video disc, DVD)), or a semiconductor medium (e.g., a Solid State Disk (SSD)), or the like.

The embodiment of the application also provides a processing device, which comprises a processor and an interface; the processor is configured to execute the communication method according to any one of the method embodiments.

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, implemented by reading software code stored in a memory, which may be integrated in the processor, or may reside outside the processor, and exist separately.

It should be appreciated that reference throughout this specification to "one embodiment" or "an embodiment" means that a particular feature, structure or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present application. Thus, the appearances of the phrases "in one embodiment" or "in an embodiment" in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. It should be understood that, in various embodiments of the present application, the sequence numbers of the foregoing processes do not mean the order of execution, and the order of execution of the processes should be determined by the functions and internal logic thereof, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiments of the present application.

In addition, the terms "system" and "network" are often used interchangeably herein. The term "and/or" is herein merely an association relationship describing an associated object, meaning that there may be three relationships, e.g., a and/or B, may represent: a exists alone, A and B exist together, and B exists alone. In addition, the character "/" herein generally indicates that the front and rear associated objects are an "or" relationship.

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

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the elements and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be embodied in electronic hardware, in computer software, or in a combination of the two, and that the elements and steps of the examples have been generally described in terms of function in the foregoing description to clearly illustrate the interchangeability of hardware and software. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the solution. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present application.

It will be clear to those skilled in the art that, for convenience and brevity of description, specific working procedures of the above-described systems, apparatuses and units may refer to corresponding procedures in the foregoing method embodiments, and are not repeated herein.

In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, devices, and methods may be implemented in other manners. For example, the apparatus embodiments described above are merely illustrative, e.g., the division of elements is merely a logical functional division, and there may be additional divisions of actual implementation, e.g., multiple elements or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted, or not performed. In addition, the coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed with each other may be an indirect coupling or communication connection via some interfaces, devices, or elements, or may be an electrical, mechanical, or other form of connection.

The units described as separate units may or may not be physically separate, and units shown as units may or may not be physical units, may be located in one place, or may be distributed over a plurality of network units. Some or all of the units may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purposes of the embodiments of the present application.

In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated in one processing unit, or each unit may exist alone physically, or two or more units may be integrated in one unit. The integrated units may be implemented in hardware or in software functional units.

From the above description of embodiments, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present application may be implemented in hardware, or firmware, or a combination thereof. When implemented in software, the functions described above may be stored on or transmitted over as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media includes both computer storage media and communication media including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another. A storage media may be any available media that can be accessed by a computer. Taking this as an example but not limited to: the computer readable medium may include RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage media or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer. Furthermore, it is possible to provide a device for the treatment of a disease. Any connection is properly termed a computer-readable medium. For example, if the software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital Subscriber Line (DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave, then the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave are included in the fixing of the medium. As used herein, discs (disks) and disks include Compact Discs (CDs), laser discs, optical discs, digital Versatile Discs (DVDs), floppy disks, and blu-ray discs where disks usually reproduce data magnetically, while discs reproduce data optically with lasers. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present application without departing from the scope of the application. Thus, if such modifications and variations of the present application fall within the scope of the claims and the equivalents thereof, the present application is intended to cover such modifications and variations.

Claims

A method for reporting and realizing multi-connection switching capability is characterized by comprising the following steps:

the method comprises the steps that a terminal device generates first information according to whether the terminal device supports multi-connection switching capability or not, wherein the first information comprises first indication information or the first information comprises first indication information and second information, the first indication information is used for indicating whether the terminal device supports the multi-connection switching capability, and the multi-connection switching capability means that the terminal device can keep connection with at least two cells when performing cell switching; the second information comprises at least one group of corresponding relations, each group of corresponding relations in the at least one group of corresponding relations is used for indicating related information of at least two cells, and the at least two cells are cells which are supported by the terminal equipment and simultaneously keep connection when the terminal equipment performs cell switching;

And the terminal equipment sends the first information to network equipment.
The method of claim 1, wherein the information related to the at least two cells comprises a band combination identity for each of the at least two cells.
The method of claim 2, wherein the information regarding the at least two cells further comprises additional information for a band combination of the each cell.
A method according to claim 2 or 3, wherein each set of said correspondence further comprises second indication information for indicating whether a frequency band combination of at least two cells indicated by said correspondence has a spectrum overlap.
The method according to any of claims 1-4, wherein before the terminal device sends the first information to the network device, the method further comprises:

the terminal equipment receives third indication information from the network equipment, wherein the third indication information is used for indicating the terminal equipment to send the first information.
A method for implementing a multi-connection switching capability, comprising:

the network equipment receives first information from the terminal equipment; the first information comprises first indication information or the first information comprises first indication information and second information, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating whether the terminal equipment supports multi-connection switching capability, and the multi-connection switching capability means that the terminal equipment can keep connection with at least two cells when performing cell switching; the second message comprises at least one group of corresponding relations, each group of corresponding relations in the at least one group of corresponding relations is used for indicating related information of at least two cells, and the at least two cells are cell combinations which are supported to keep connection when the terminal equipment performs cell switching;

The network equipment determines a mode of the terminal equipment for cell switching according to the first information; the network device is a network device in a source cell where the terminal device is located.
The method of claim 1, wherein prior to the network device receiving the first information from the terminal device, further comprising:

the network device sends third indication information to the terminal device, wherein the third indication information is used for indicating the terminal device to send the first information.
The method of claim 6 or 7, further comprising:

the network device sends the first information to a second network device, and the second network device is the network device to which the terminal device is ready to be switched when performing cell switching.
A communication device, comprising:

the processing unit is used for generating first information according to whether the communication device supports multi-connection switching capability, wherein the first information comprises first indication information or the first information comprises first indication information and second information, the first indication information is used for indicating whether the terminal equipment supports the multi-connection switching capability, and the multi-connection switching capability means that the terminal equipment can keep connection with at least two cells when the terminal equipment performs cell switching; the second information comprises at least one group of corresponding relations, each group of corresponding relations in the at least one group of corresponding relations is used for indicating related information of at least two cells, and the at least two cells are cells which are supported by the terminal equipment and simultaneously keep connection when the terminal equipment performs cell switching;

And the communication unit is used for sending the first information to the network equipment.
The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the information related to the at least two cells comprises a band combination identity for each of the at least two cells.
The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the information related to the at least two cells further comprises additional information for a band combination of the each cell.
The apparatus of claim 9 or 10, wherein each set of the correspondences further comprises second indication information for indicating whether there is a spectrum overlap for a band combination of at least two cells indicated by the correspondences.
The apparatus according to any of claims 9-12, wherein the communication unit is further configured to receive third indication information from the network device before sending the first information to the network device, the third indication information being configured to instruct the terminal device to send the first information.
A communication device, comprising:

a communication unit for receiving first information from a terminal device; the first information comprises first indication information or the first information comprises first indication information and second information, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating whether the terminal equipment supports multi-connection switching capability, and the multi-connection switching capability means that the terminal equipment can keep connection with at least two cells when performing cell switching; the second message comprises at least one group of corresponding relations, each group of corresponding relations in the at least one group of corresponding relations is used for indicating related information of at least two cells, and the at least two cells are cell combinations which are supported to keep connection when the terminal equipment performs cell switching;

The processing unit is used for determining a mode of the terminal equipment for cell switching according to the first information; the network device is a network device in a source cell where the terminal device is located.
The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the communication unit is further configured to send third indication information to the terminal device prior to receiving the first information from the terminal device, the third indication information being used to instruct the terminal device to send the first information.
The apparatus according to claim 14 or 15, wherein the communication unit is further configured to send the first information to a second network device, the second network device being a network device to which the terminal device is ready to be handed over when performing a cell handover.
A communication device, the device comprising a processor and a memory;

the memory stores computer program instructions;

the processor configured to execute instructions stored on the memory, which when executed, cause the apparatus to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 5 or to perform the method of any one of claims 6 to 8.
A computer readable storage medium comprising instructions which, when executed, implement the method of any one of claims 1 to 5 or the method of any one of claims 6 to 8.