CN116261206A

CN116261206A - Cell searching method and device

Info

Publication number: CN116261206A
Application number: CN202211674482.XA
Authority: CN
Inventors: 李玲莉; 张建平
Original assignee: Unisoc Chongqing Technology Co Ltd
Current assignee: Unisoc Chongqing Technology Co Ltd
Priority date: 2022-12-26
Filing date: 2022-12-26
Publication date: 2023-06-13

Abstract

The application discloses a cell searching method and a cell searching device, which are applied to the technical field of communication. The method comprises the following steps: determining a Closed Subscriber Group (CSG) white list, wherein the CSG white list comprises CSG cell information which can be accessed by User Equipment (UE); the CSG cell information accessible to the UE comprises cell information of N CSG cells, wherein N is an integer greater than or equal to 0; and stopping or not starting the cell search under the condition that the value of N is a preset value and the N CSG cells are matched with the service cells of the UE, and not performing the cell autonomous search under the condition that the number of the CSG cells in the CSG white list is judged to be the preset value and the N CSG cells are matched with the service cells of the UE, so that the power consumption of the UE is reduced and the duration of the UE is prolonged.

Description

Cell searching method and device

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a cell search method and apparatus thereof.

Background

With the growing demand for wireless data applications and the development of communication technology, cells for assuming data hotspot coverage are increasingly put into use. The cells can be divided into common cells and closed subscriber group (Closed subscriber group, CSG) cells, which are gradually widely put into use due to the advantages of low charging cost, flexible and selectable service, and the like. The CSG may refer to a set of User Equipments (UEs) capable of connecting to a home base station. One or more home base stations may be served in a CSG cell. Currently, in order to ensure the communication quality, the UE may reselect and switch CSG cells, so that the UE may continuously search for cells, so that the UE resides in a certain CSG cell, and accesses the network for communication. And the UE continuously searches CSG cells, which greatly increases power consumption of the UE, so that the UE has weak endurance.

Therefore, how to reduce the power consumption of the UE on the basis of ensuring the communication quality is a technical problem to be solved currently.

Disclosure of Invention

The application discloses a cell searching method and a device thereof, which are used for reducing the power consumption of a UE by determining the cell information of N CSG cells which can be accessed by the UE in a CSG white list and stopping or not starting the cell searching under the condition of matching with a service cell of the UE.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a cell search method, where the method includes:

determining a Closed Subscriber Group (CSG) white list, wherein the CSG white list comprises CSG cell information which can be accessed by User Equipment (UE); the CSG cell information accessible to the UE comprises cell information of N CSG cells, wherein N is an integer greater than or equal to 0; and stopping or not starting the cell search when the value of N is a preset value and the N CSG cells are matched with the service cell of the UE.

In the embodiment of the application, the UE determines the cell information of N CSG cells which are included in the CSG white list and can be accessed by the UE, and under the condition that N in the CSG white list is determined to be a preset value and the N CSG cells are matched with the service cell accessed by the UE, the UE stops or does not start the autonomous search of the cells, so that the number of times of searching the neighbor cells and reading the system information of the neighbor cells is reduced while the communication quality is ensured, and the measuring of the bottom layer and the reading flow of the system information are reduced, thereby reducing the power consumption of the UE and improving the endurance capability of the UE.

In one possible implementation, determining the closed subscriber group CSG whitelist includes: receiving a CSG cell selection instruction, wherein the CSG cell selection instruction indicates a first CSG cell; registering with the first CSG cell when the first CSG cell is searched; and adding the cell information of the first CSG cell to the CSG white list when the first CSG cell is successfully registered. In the embodiment of the application, the UE can update the CSG white list under the condition that the user manually initiates CSG network selection, so that the process of autonomous search of a cell is not required to be started can be determined, thereby reducing the power consumption of the UE and improving the cruising ability of the UE.

In one possible implementation manner, the CSG whitelist includes cell information of a second CSG cell; the determining the closed subscriber group CSG whitelist includes: and deleting the cell information of the second CSG cell from the CSG white list when the registration to the second CSG cell is unsuccessful. In the embodiment of the present application, the UE may update the CSG whitelist under the condition that the UE cannot register to a certain CSG cell, and if the UE determines that N in the CSG whitelist is a preset value after updating the CSG whitelist and N CSG cells are matched with a serving cell to which the UE has access, the UE does not need to start cell autonomous search under such a scenario, i.e., the UE may stop or not start cell autonomous search to reduce power consumption of the UE.

In one possible implementation manner, the determining the closed subscriber group CSG whitelist includes: and acquiring the CSG white list from the user identity card. In the embodiment of the application, in an actual use scenario, a scenario in which a CSG white list includes one CSG cell exists, the CSG white list is stored in the SIM card in the scenario, and the white list in the SIM card is read when the UE is started, so that the UE can stop or not start cell autonomous search in the scenario in which the CSG white list includes one CSG cell to reduce the flow of measurement of the bottom layer and reading of system messages, thereby reducing the power consumption of the UE.

In one possible implementation manner, the stopping or not starting the cell search includes: the UE is in an idle state or a connected state, and stops or does not start cell search. In the embodiment of the present application, when the UE is in an idle state or a connected state, as long as N in the CSG whitelist is a preset value, and N CSG cells are matched with a serving cell to which the UE is connected, the UE may omit some unnecessary procedures of autonomous cell search (such as measurement of a neighbor cell and system message reading of the neighbor cell). The power consumption of the terminal is reduced in a limited range, and the experience of the user and the service life of the terminal are improved.

In one possible implementation manner, the stopping or not starting the cell search includes: receiving reconfiguration information from network equipment, stopping or not starting cell search; the reconfiguration message is used to instruct the initiation of cell search. In this embodiment of the present application, when the UE is in a connected state, the UE may receive a reconfiguration message sent by a network device (such as a base station), where a configuration signaling carried by the reconfiguration message may instruct the UE to report a CSG cell close to the UE, and the UE needs to perform autonomous search, but in a scenario where N in the CSG whitelist is a preset value and N CSG cells are matched with a serving cell to which the UE is connected, the UE does not need to perform autonomous search of the cell, so that some scenarios that even if the CSG whitelist includes the CSG cell, the UE does not need to start autonomous search of the cell, so that some unnecessary measurement and system message reading are reduced, and power consumption of the terminal is properly reduced.

In one possible implementation, the value of N is 1, and the matching of the N CSG cells with the serving cell of the UE includes the N CSG cells being identical to the serving cell of the UE. In the embodiment of the present application, the specific scenario is that the CSG whitelist includes 1 CSG cell, and the CSG cell included in the CSG whitelist is a serving cell of the UE, so that a subdivided scenario is distinguished, and the autonomous search of the cell can be stopped or not started in the subdivided scenario, so that the scenario in which the UE performs the autonomous search of the cell is flexibly controlled, and thus, some unnecessary autonomous search procedures (measurement of the neighbor cell and system message reading of the neighbor cell) are omitted, so that the UE reduces power consumption of the terminal in a limited range, and experience feeling of the user and service life of the terminal are increased.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a cell search apparatus, where the cell search apparatus includes:

a determining unit, configured to determine a closed subscriber group CSG whitelist, where the CSG whitelist includes CSG cell information accessible to a user equipment UE; the CSG cell information accessible to the UE comprises cell information of N CSG cells, wherein N is an integer greater than or equal to 0; and a stopping unit, configured to stop or not start cell search when the value of N is a preset value and the N CSG cells match with the serving cell of the UE.

In this aspect, further optional embodiments of the cell search apparatus may be referred to in the relevant content of the first aspect, which is not described in detail herein.

In a third aspect, embodiments of the present application provide another cell search apparatus, including a processor; the processor is configured to perform the method of the first aspect.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a chip, where the chip includes a memory and a processor, where the memory stores a computer program, where the computer program includes program instructions, and where the processor is configured to execute the program instructions to implement a method as described in the first aspect.

In a fifth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a chip module, the chip module including a communication interface and a chip, wherein: the communication interface is used for carrying out internal communication of the chip module or carrying out communication between the chip module and external equipment; the chip is for performing the method of the first aspect.

In a sixth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a computer readable storage medium storing a computer program comprising program instructions that, when executed, cause the method of the first aspect to be implemented.

In a seventh aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a computer program product comprising a computer program or instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method as described above in the first aspect.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic architecture diagram of a cell search system according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 2 is a flow chart of a cell search method according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 3 is a schematic flowchart of a specific implementation of a cell search method according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of a cell search apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application;

Fig. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of another cell search apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a chip module according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

It should be understood that the terms "first," "second," and the like, as used in embodiments of the present application, are used for distinguishing between different objects and not for describing a particular sequential order. The term "at least one" in the embodiments of the present application refers to one or more, and the term "a plurality" refers to two or more. In the embodiment of the present application, "and/or" describes the association relationship of the association object, which indicates that three relationships may exist, for example, a and/or B may indicate the following three cases: a is present alone, while A and B are present together, and B is present alone. Wherein A, B can be singular or plural. The character "/" may indicate that the context-dependent object is an "or" relationship.

The expression "at least one item(s)" or the like below in the embodiments of the present application refers to any combination of these items, including any combination of single item(s) or plural item(s). For example, at least one (one) of a, b or c may represent the following seven cases: a, b, c, a and b, a and c, b and c, a, b and c. Wherein each of a, b, c may be an element or a set comprising one or more elements. In addition, "not less than" in the embodiments of the present application means "greater than" or "equal to".

First, before explaining the embodiments of the present application in further detail, terms and terminology involved in the embodiments of the present application are explained for the convenience of those skilled in the art. The terms and terminology involved in the embodiments of the present application apply to the following explanation:

1、CSG

the CSG refers to a closed subscriber group consisting of one or more home base stations, i.e. a set of subscribers (i.e. a set of UEs) that can connect to the home base station. Among them, a Home base station (Home NodeB, heNB) is a user-side access device, which is disposed in a Home or office, and can access a mobile communication network through the Internet (Internet). The radio coverage provided by the HeNB can only be accessed by a group of users authorized to use the services of the CSG cell.

In the application, the CSG cell only allows part of UE to access, and the UE is accessible to the CSG cell. With the explosive growth of wireless data application demands, CSG cells are gradually put into use, and UE can access CSG cells and reselect and handover of CSG cells. In the process of reselecting and switching the CSG cells by the UE, the UE can automatically search the CSG cells with the same frequency and different frequencies to register and reside in a certain CSG cell, and the power consumption of the UE can be increased and the duration of the UE can be reduced in the process of automatically searching the CSG cells by the UE.

2. CSG white list

The CSG whitelist (white) refers to a list of CSG cells that the UE side can access. The CSG whitelist may not include any cell, i.e. neither CSG cell nor common cell; the CSG whitelist may also include only CSG cells (i.e. not including normal cells), for example at least one CSG cell. The CSG whitelist includes CSG IDs of CSG cells and corresponding public land mobile network (Public Land Mobile Network, PLMN) identities (PLMN IDs). Wherein the CSG whitelist consists of allowed list and operator list. The cell information of the CSG cell in the allowed list may be added or deleted, and the cell information of the CSG cell in the operator list is not modified.

In this application, the UE may update and store the CSG whitelist, and there are generally two ways for the UE to camp on the CSG cell: automatic network selection camping and manual network selection camping. Specifically, the UE may automatically search a CSG cell in a CSG whitelist, and further access a mobile communications network through a home base station of the CSG cell to complete automatic network selection and residence; the UE may also receive a selection instruction of a CSG cell (e.g., an instruction of manual network selection and residence entered by a user), where the CSG cell indicated by the selection instruction of the CSG cell is not in the CSG whitelist, and when the UE searches for the CSG cell indicated by the selection instruction of the CSG cell, the UE may register with the CSG cell and further add the CSG cell to the whitelist. In the case where a UE cannot register to a CSG cell in the CSG whitelist, the UE may delete the CSG cell that cannot register in the CSG whitelist.

3. Non-access stratum (NAS)

The NAS layer is mainly used for connection and mobility control between the UE and authentication management functions (authentication management function, AMF). The functions of the NAS layer include general procedures supporting UE mobility such as authentication, general UE configuration update, and security control mode procedures; supporting a session management procedure to establish and maintain a data connection between the UE and the data network; supporting NAS transport procedures to provide transport of payloads such as short message service (short message service, SMS), lightweight presentation protocol (lightweight presentation protocol, LPP), UE policy container, roaming guidance (steering of roaming, soR) transparent container, and UE parameter update information; the security of the message; charging, etc.

In this application, the NAS layer is mainly used to update the CSG whitelist, for example, the NAS layer may add cell information of a certain CSG cell (e.g., CSG ID of the CSG cell and its corresponding PLMN ID) to the CSG whitelist, and the NAS layer may also delete cell information of a certain CSG cell (e.g., CSG ID of the CSG cell and its corresponding PLMN ID) in the existing CSG whitelist from the CSG whitelist. The NAS layer may transmit the updated CSG whitelist to a radio resource control layer (Radio Resource Control, RRC) to cause the RRC to determine whether to conduct cell autonomous search.

4. RRC layer

The RRC layer is mainly used for processing messages between the UE and the base station, including system messages, admission control, security management, cell reselection, measurement reporting, handover and mobility, NAS message transmission, radio resource management and the like. The function of the RRC layer comprises supporting system broadcasting of an Access Stratum (AS) and an NAS, and providing needed channel information for a UE access network; supporting paging initiated by network equipment for paging Idle state (Idle) UEs; support establishment, reconfiguration and release of RRC connection; supporting a security mode and key management for air interface encryption and integrity protection; -establishing, reconfiguring and releasing signaling radio bearers (signalling radio bearer, SRB) and data radio bearers (data radio bearer, DRB); quality of service (quality of Service, qoS) management and slice management; UE measurement control and measurement report; detecting and recovering a wireless link; delivery of NAS messages, etc.

In this application, the RRC layer may receive the message transmitted by the NAS layer and process the message transmitted by the NAS layer, for example, the RRC layer may determine whether to perform cell autonomous search according to the CSG whitelist transmitted by the NAS layer.

5. Idle state (IDL)

One of the RRC states of the UE, the state after the UE has completed camping in a certain cell, the UE in rrc_idl state, no RRC context on the network device, no RRC connection with the network device (e.g. base station), no link of NAS signaling between the UE and the core network, and the UE is registered in the mobility management entity (Mobility management entity, MME) and a context in the MME.

In the application, when the UE is in idle state, the RRC may determine that the CSG whitelist includes cell information of N CSG cells, where the value of N is a preset value, and if the N CSG cells match with a serving cell of the UE, the autonomous cell search is stopped or not started.

6. Connection state (Dedicated Channel, DCH)

One of the RRC states of the UE, after completing a Random Access (RA) procedure, may be referred to as the UE entering a CONNECTED state or a CONNECTED state.

In the application, when the UE is in DCH state, the RRC may determine cell information including N CSG cells in the CSG whitelist, where the value of N is a preset value, and if the N CSG cells are matched with a serving cell of the UE, the autonomous cell search is stopped or not started.

Referring to fig. 1, fig. 1 is a schematic system architecture diagram of a cell search system according to an embodiment of the present application. The cell search system may include a terminal device 100 and a network device 200. It should be noted that, the cell search system may include, but is not limited to, one network device and two terminal devices, and the number and the form of the devices shown in fig. 1 are used for illustration and not to limit the embodiments of the present application, and more than one network device and more than one terminal device may be included in practical application. The cell search system shown in fig. 1 is described by taking one terminal device (terminal device 100) and one network device (network device 200) as an example. The terminal device 100 may determine the CSG whitelist, and the terminal device 100 may also receive signaling sent by the network device 200, e.g. the network device 200 may send a reconfiguration message to the terminal device 100, which may carry a proximityindirection eutra configuration, which may be used to instruct the terminal device 100 to initiate a cell search.

The terminal device may be a device having a wireless transmission/reception function. May also be referred to as a terminal, user Equipment (UE), mobile Station (MS), mobile Terminal (MT), access terminal device, internet of things terminal device, vehicle terminal device, industrial control terminal device, UE unit, UE station, mobile station, remote terminal device, mobile device, UE terminal device, wireless communication device, UE agent, UE apparatus, or the like. The terminal device may be fixed or mobile. It should be noted that the terminal device may support at least one wireless communication technology, wideband code division multiple access (wideband code division multiple access, WCDMA), etc. For example, the terminal device may be a mobile phone, a tablet, a desktop, a notebook, a kiosk, a car-mounted terminal, a Virtual Reality (VR) terminal device, an augmented reality (augmented reality, AR) terminal device, a wireless terminal in an industrial control (industrial control), a wireless terminal in a self-driving, a wireless terminal in a teleoperation (remote medical surgery), a wireless terminal in a smart grid, a wireless terminal in a transportation security (transportation safety), a wireless terminal in a smart city, a wireless terminal in a smart home (smart home), a cellular phone, a cordless phone, a session initiation protocol (session initiation protocol, SIP) phone, a wireless local loop (wireless local loop, WLL) station, a personal digital assistant (personal digital assistant, PDA), a handheld device with wireless communication capabilities, a computing device or other processing device connected to a wireless modem, a wearable device, a terminal device in a future mobile communication network, or a public land mobile network (public land mobile network) or the like. In some embodiments of the present application, the terminal device may also be a device with a transceiver function, such as a chip module. The chip module may include a chip and may further include other discrete devices. The embodiment of the application does not limit the specific technology and the specific equipment form adopted by the terminal equipment.

By network device it is meant an entity in the network side for transmitting or receiving signals. The network device 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), a base station (base transceiver station, BTS) in a global system for mobile cell search (global system for mobile communications, GSM) or code division multiple access (code division multiple access, CDMA), a base station (NodeB, NB) in wideband code division multiple access (wideband code division multiple access, WCDMA), or a relay station or access point or access backhaul integration (integrated access and backhaul, IAB), or a vehicle device, a wearable device, and network devices in a future evolved public land mobile network (public land mobile network, PLMN) network, etc. In some embodiments, the network device may also be a device, such as a chip module, with the functionality to provide wireless communication for the terminal device. The chip module may include a chip, and may include other discrete devices, for example. The embodiment of the application does not limit the specific technology and the specific device form adopted by the network device.

Currently, the terminal device (such as the terminal device 100) may be a UE, and in the case that it is determined that the CSG whitelist includes at least one CSG cell, that is, in the case that the CSG whitelist cell is not empty (the number of CSG cells included in the CSG whitelist is greater than 0), that is, cell autonomous searching is started, the terminal device (such as the terminal device 100) may periodically search for a neighboring cell and read a system message of the neighboring cell, thereby increasing a measurement and a system message reading procedure of a bottom layer, resulting in an increase of power consumption of the terminal device (such as the terminal device 100) and reducing a cruising ability of the terminal device (such as the terminal device 100).

In this embodiment, a terminal device (e.g., the terminal device 100) may determine a CSG whitelist, where the CSG whitelist includes CSG cell information accessible to the terminal device (e.g., the terminal device 100), and the CSG cell information accessible to the terminal device (e.g., the terminal device 100) includes cell information of N CSG cells, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 0. Furthermore, in the case where N is a preset value and N CSG cells are matched with a serving cell of the UE, the terminal device (e.g., the terminal device 100) may stop or not start cell autonomous search, so as to reduce the number of times of searching for a neighboring cell and reading a system message of the neighboring cell, reduce the measurement of the bottom layer and the reading procedure of the system message, thereby reducing the power consumption of the terminal device (e.g., the terminal device 100), and improve the cruising ability of the terminal device (e.g., the terminal device 100).

Based on the above-mentioned cell search system, the embodiment of the present application provides a cell search method, which may be implemented by the terminal device 100 in the cell search system shown in fig. 1 or may be implemented by a chip in the above-mentioned terminal device 100. Referring to fig. 2, fig. 2 is a schematic flow chart of a cell search method according to an embodiment of the present application. The cell search method may include the following steps S201 to S202, in which in this embodiment, S may represent the Step (Step):

s201, determining a CSG white list.

In the embodiment of the present application, the CSG whitelist includes CSG cell information accessible to the UE, where the CSG cell information accessible to the UE includes cell information of N CSG cells, and N is an integer greater than or equal to 0. That is, the CSG whitelist is a list of CSG cells to which the UE is allowed to access, and cell information of the CSG cells in the CSG whitelist includes CSG IDs and corresponding PLMN IDs. When the CSG ID of the CSG cell searched by the UE and its corresponding PLMN ID match the CSG ID of the CSG cell stored in the CSG whitelist and its corresponding PLMN ID, the UE can successfully camp on the CSG cell.

The third generation partnership project (3rd Generation Partnership Project,3GPP) proposed in Release8, and the UE uses the concept of CSG for access control. CSG cells refer to a group of subscribers allowed to access one or more specific cells, where one or more cells are restricted and conditional on access to subscribers, whereas normal cells may allow access to all legitimate subscribers (and roaming subscribers) of the operator. Therefore, the reselection and proximity reporting (proximity reporting) of the CSG cell depend on the autonomous search function of the UE, and the UE performs the cell autonomous search of the CSG when the CSG cell included in the CSG whitelist is not 0 (i.e., the CSG cell is greater than or equal to 1), and does not distinguish the scenes, so that some scenes that should not start the cell autonomous search, thereby increasing the measurement and system message reading flow of the bottom layer, and simultaneously increasing the power consumption of the UE and reducing the endurance capability of the UE.

In one possible implementation, the UE determining the CSG whitelist may be the UE updating the CSG whitelist. Specifically, the UE may receive a CSG cell selection instruction, for example, the instruction of manual network selection and residence input by the user, where the CSG cell selection instruction indicates a first CSG cell, and the first CSG cell is not in a CSG whitelist, registers with the first CSG cell when the UE searches for the first CSG cell, and may add cell information of the first CSG cell in the CSG whitelist when the UE successfully registers with the first CSG cell. At this time, the UE initiates manual CSG selection by the UE and successfully registers to one CSG cell, for example, the first CSG cell, and adds the CSG cell to the CSG whitelist according to the 23.122 protocol, and at this time, the UE may determine the CSG whitelist, i.e., add the cell information of the CSG cell that is successfully registered to the CSG whitelist, for example, add the CSG ID of the first CSG cell and the PLMN ID corresponding to the CSG ID to the CSG whitelist.

In another possible implementation, in a case where the CSG whitelist includes cell information of a certain CSG cell, the UE may delete the cell information of the CSG cell from the CSG whitelist if the UE is not successfully registered to the CSG cell. For example, the CSG whitelist includes cell information of a second CSG cell, such as a CSG ID of the second CSG cell and a corresponding PLMN ID thereof. In the case where the UE cannot successfully register with the second CSG cell, the UE may update the CSG whitelist at this time, for example, may delete the cell information of the second CSG cell from the CSG whitelist. For example, when the UE performs NAS layer procedures such as ATTACH (atach) and tracking area update (Traking Area Update, TAU) for the second CSG cell, the CSG cell may indicate to the UE a reject reason for rejecting the UE access, such as reject reason #25, and the UE determines a CSG whitelist, that is, may delete the cell information of the second CSG cell (i.e., the CSG ID of the second CSG cell and its corresponding PLMN ID) from the CSG whitelist.

In yet another possible implementation manner, the UE may obtain a CSG whitelist from a subscriber identity module (Subscriber Identity Module, SIM) at startup, for example, the CSG whitelist is stored in the SIM of the UE, where the CSG whitelist may include cell information of N CSG cells, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 0. It may be appreciated that the UE may read the CSG whitelist from the SIM card in each start-up situation, so as to determine the CSG whitelist, and may update the CSG whitelist.

Note that the CSG whitelist is composed of allowed list and operator list, where CSG cells in the allowed list may be added and modified, and after the UE successfully registers in one CSG cell, the UE adds the CSG cell that is not in the allowed list to the allowed list, for example, the first CSG cell is added to the allowed list. The existing CSG cell may be deleted from the allowed list after the UE has not successfully registered with a certain CSG cell, for example, the existing second CSG cell may be deleted from the allowed list. The operator list may be a white list written by an operator, and CSG cells in the operator list are not added and deleted. The CSG whitelist is stored in the SIM card of the UE, read and modified by the NAS layer. Therefore, the UE may obtain the CSG whitelist from the SIM card at start-up.

Further, the UE may determine whether the UE can stop or not start cell autonomous search according to cell information of CSG cells accessible to the N UEs included in the CSG whitelist and whether the UE is matched with a serving cell of the UE, so as to reduce power consumption of the UE.

S202, stopping or not starting the cell search when the value of N is a preset value and the N CSG cells are matched with the service cell of the UE.

In this embodiment of the present application, the preset value may be a value that the UE does not need to perform CSG cell autonomous search, for example, in the case where the preset value may be 1, the UE may not need to autonomously perform CSG cell search, that is, the UE does not need to perform operations such as measurement of a neighbor cell and system message reading of the neighbor cell. The serving cell of the UE refers to a cell in which the UE resides, wherein matching the N CSG cells with the serving cell of the UE means that the N CSG cells are identical to the serving cell of the UE. For example, when the value of N is a preset value, i.e. 1, and the CSG cell included in the CSG whitelist is the same as the serving cell of the UE, i.e. the CSG cell matches the serving cell of the UE, the UE may stop or not start the autonomous cell search.

At present, a cell autonomous search is started only if a CSG cell exists in a CSG whitelist in a UE, but a scenario including 1 CSG cell exists in the CSG whitelist, and the UE does not necessarily need to start the cell autonomous search when the CSG whitelist includes 1 CSG cell, for example, when a cell in the CSG whitelist is matched with a serving cell of the UE, the UE does not initiate a reselection operation from the CSG cell to another CSG cell, and the UE may stop or not start the cell autonomous search, thereby effectively reducing power consumption of the UE. It can be understood that the total number of CSG cells included in the CSG whitelist is the sum of CSG cells included in the allowed list and the operator list, and that N CSG cells are included in the CSG whitelist in the case where the sum of CSG cells included in the allowed list and the operator list is N.

In one possible implementation manner, in a case where the value of N in the N CSG cells included in the CSG whitelist is a preset value and the N CSG cells are matched with the serving cell of the UE, the UE stops or does not start cell autonomous search, and at this time, the UE may be in an idle state or a connected state. If the UE is in an idle state (IDL state) or a connected state, the CSG whitelist includes only 1 CSG cell, and the CSG cell is the same as a serving cell of the UE, the UE may stop or not start the cell autonomous search without performing the cell autonomous search, so as to reduce power consumption of the UE.

Under the condition that the UE is in an idle state (IDL), only 1 CSG cell is included in the CSG white list, and the CSG cell is the same as a service cell of the UE, at the moment, the UE cannot reselect from the CSG cell to the CSG cell which is not in the white list, namely the UE does not need to perform cell autonomous search, and at the moment, stopping or not starting the cell autonomous search can reduce the power consumption of the UE. In the case that the UE is in a connected state (DCH), a reconfiguration message sent by a network device (e.g., a base station) may be received, where the reconfiguration message carries a proximity indication configuration (proximity indication configuration) that is used to indicate that the UE needs to perform proximity reporting (proximity reporting) to perform cell handover. And the report of the reliability of the UE depends on the function of the UE for cell autonomous search, namely the reconfiguration message is used for indicating the UE to start cell autonomous search. In this case, if the value of N is 1 and the matching of the N CSG cells with the serving cell of the UE includes that the N CSG cells are the same as the serving cell of the UE, the UE may not perform (stop or start) autonomous cell search to properly reduce power consumption of the UE.

Referring to fig. 3 together, fig. 3 is a schematic flow chart of a specific implementation of a cell search method according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 3, S301, NAS updates the CSG whitelist to RRC. First, the NAS layer of the UE may determine a CSG whitelist and transmit the CSG whitelist to the RRC layer, and specifically, the NAS layer of the UE may obtain the CSG whitelist in the SIM card when the UE starts, where the CSG whitelist is composed of an allowed list and an operator list. The UE may add cell information of a CSG cell to the allowed list to update the CSG white list when the allowed list does not include the CSG cell and the UE registers to the CSG cell, or delete cell information of the CSG cell from the allowed list to update the CSG white list when the allowed list includes the CSG cell and the UE does not successfully register to the CSG cell.

S302, the UE judges whether the CSG white list comprises N pieces of CSG cell information, and whether N is a preset value or not. The preset value may be 1, the UE may determine whether the CSG whitelist includes 1 cell, and further determine whether N is a preset value if N is further determined by the UE, which is because if N is not a preset value, for example, N is greater than 1, N is 2, 3, etc., the UE does not need to initiate autonomous cell search, and then does not need to perform subsequent determination. For example, N is 0, the UE must stop or not start cell autonomous search. In the process of further judging whether the N CSG cells and the serving cell of the UE are matched, if N is not a preset value, the N CSG cells and the serving cell of the UE need to be sequentially judged, and if N is a preset value, for example, 1, the UE needs to judge only once.

The CSG whitelist is composed of an allowed list and an operator list, and if the sum of CSG cells included in the allowed list and the operator list is N, the CSG whitelist includes N CSG cells. For example, when only 1 CSG cell is included in the CSG whitelist, the following three cases may be included: the first case is that 1 CSG cell is included in an operator list of the CSG whitelist. The second case is that the UE adds 1 CSG cell to the allowed list in the case that neither the operator list nor the allowed list includes CSG cells. The third case is that in the case where the CSG cell is not included in the operator list and 2 CSG cells are included in the allowed list, the UE deletes 1 CSG cell from the allowed list.

S303, the CSG white list comprises N pieces of CSG cell information, and the UE judges whether the N pieces of CSG cells are matched with the serving cell of the UE or not under the condition that N is a preset value. In the case where N is a preset value, for example, where N is 1, it may be determined whether the CSG cell information included in the CSG whitelist is cell information of a serving cell of the UE, that is, whether the CSG cell included in the CSG whitelist is a serving cell of the UE. In the case where the UE determines that the CSG cell included in the CSG whitelist is a serving cell for the UE, the UE may stop or not initiate the cell autonomous search.

S304, the UE judges whether the UE receives a reconfiguration message from the network equipment in the connected state (DCH) condition. Under the condition that the UE is in a connection state, if N in the CSG white list is judged to be a preset value and N CSG cells are matched with a serving cell of the UE, the UE stops or does not start cell autonomous search. At this time, the UE may receive a reconfiguration message sent by the network device (e.g., a base station), where the reconfiguration message may carry the foregoing procimitylndicationeutra configuration, that is, be used to instruct the UE to perform cell autonomous search, and in this case, the UE may still stop or not start cell autonomous search. It should be noted that, in the case that the UE does not receive the reconfiguration message, the UE also stops or does not start the autonomous cell search.

S305, the UE stops or does not start the cell search. When the UE is in an idle state, and when N is a preset value and the N CSG cells are matched with the serving cell of the UE, the UE stops or does not start the autonomous cell search under the condition that the N CSG cells are the same as the serving cell of the UE. When the UE is in a connection state, the UE receives a reconfiguration message from the network equipment, the reconfiguration message is used for indicating the UE to start cell autonomous search, and when N is a preset value and N CSG cells are matched with the serving cell of the UE, the UE stops or does not start cell autonomous search under the condition that the N CSG cells are the same as the serving cell of the UE.

Referring to fig. 4, fig. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of a cell search apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 4, the cell search apparatus 400 includes a determination unit 401 and a stopping unit 402. The cell search apparatus 400 may perform the relevant steps of the terminal device in the foregoing method embodiment. Wherein:

a determining unit 401, configured to determine a closed subscriber group CSG whitelist, where the CSG whitelist includes CSG cell information accessible to a user equipment UE; the CSG cell information accessible to the UE comprises cell information of N CSG cells, wherein N is an integer greater than or equal to 0;

and a stopping unit 402, configured to stop or not start cell search when the value of N is a preset value and the N CSG cells match with the serving cell of the UE.

In a possible implementation manner, the determining unit 401 is configured to determine a closed subscriber group CSG whitelist, and is specifically configured to:

receiving a CSG cell selection instruction, wherein the CSG cell selection instruction indicates a first CSG cell;

registering with the first CSG cell when the first CSG cell is searched;

and adding the cell information of the first CSG cell to the CSG white list when the first CSG cell is successfully registered.

In one possible implementation manner, the CSG whitelist includes cell information of a second CSG cell; the determining unit 401 is configured to determine a closed subscriber group CSG whitelist, specifically configured to:

and deleting the cell information of the second CSG cell from the CSG white list when the registration to the second CSG cell is unsuccessful.

and acquiring the CSG white list from the user identity card.

In a possible implementation manner, the stopping unit 402 is configured to stop or not start cell search, and is specifically configured to:

the UE is in an idle state or a connected state, and stops or does not start cell search.

receiving reconfiguration information from network equipment, stopping or not starting cell search; the reconfiguration message is used to instruct the initiation of cell search.

In one possible implementation, the value of N is 1, and the matching of the N CSG cells with the serving cell of the UE includes the N CSG cells being identical to the serving cell of the UE.

Specifically, in this case, the operations performed by the determining unit 401 and the stopping unit 402 may be described with reference to the terminal device in the embodiments corresponding to fig. 2 to 3 described above.

The cell search apparatus 400 may also be used to implement other functions of the terminal device in the corresponding embodiments of fig. 2 to 3, which are not described herein. Based on the same inventive concept, the principle and beneficial effects of the cell search apparatus 400 provided in the embodiments of the present application for solving the problem are similar to those of the terminal device in the embodiments of the method of the present application, and may refer to the principle and beneficial effects of implementation of the method, which are not described herein for brevity.

According to the embodiment of the present application, each unit in the cell search apparatus shown in fig. 4 may be separately or completely combined into one or several additional units, or some unit(s) thereof may be further split into a plurality of units with smaller functions to form the unit(s), which may achieve the same operation without affecting the implementation of the technical effects of the embodiments of the present application. The above units are divided based on logic functions, and in practical applications, the functions of one unit may be implemented by a plurality of units, or the functions of a plurality of units may be implemented by one unit. In other embodiments of the present application, the cell search apparatus 400 may also include other units, and in practical applications, these functions may also be implemented with assistance of other units, and may be implemented by cooperation of multiple units.

The cell search apparatus may be, for example: a chip, or a chip module. With respect to each apparatus and each module included in the product described in the above embodiments, it may be a software module, or may be a hardware module, or may be a software module partially, or may be a hardware module partially. For example, for each device or product applied to or integrated in a chip, each module included in the device or product may be implemented in hardware such as a circuit, or at least some modules may be implemented in software program, where the software program runs on a processor integrated in the chip, and the remaining (if any) some modules may be implemented in hardware such as a circuit; for each device and product applied to or integrated in the chip module, each module contained in the device and product can be realized in a hardware mode such as a circuit, different modules can be located in the same component (such as a chip and a circuit module) of the chip module or in different components, or at least part of the modules can be realized in a software program, the software program runs in a processor integrated in the chip module, and the rest (if any) of the modules can be realized in a hardware mode such as a circuit; for each device and product applied to or integrated in the terminal, each module included in the device and product may be implemented by hardware such as a circuit, and different modules may be located in the same component (for example, a chip, a circuit module, etc.) or different components in the terminal device, or at least part of the modules may be implemented by software programs, where the software programs run on a processor integrated in the terminal, and the rest (if any) of the modules may be implemented by hardware such as a circuit.

Referring to fig. 5, fig. 5 is another cell search apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application. Can be used to implement the functions of the cell search apparatus in the above-described method embodiments. The cell search apparatus 500 may include a processor 501 and a transceiver 502. Optionally, the cell search apparatus 500 may further comprise a memory 503. Wherein the processor 501, transceiver 502, and memory 503 may be connected by a bus 504 or otherwise. The bus is shown in bold lines in fig. 5, and the manner in which other components are connected is merely illustrative and not limiting. The buses may be divided into address buses, data buses, control buses, etc. For ease of illustration, only one thick line is shown in fig. 5, but not only one bus or one type of bus.

The coupling in the embodiments of the present application is an indirect coupling or communication connection between devices, units, or modules, which may be in electrical, mechanical, or other forms for information interaction between the devices, units, or modules. The specific connection medium between the processor 501 and the memory 503 is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

Memory 503 may include read only memory and random access memory and provides instructions and data to processor 501. A portion of memory 503 may also include non-volatile random access memory.

The processor 501 may be a central processing unit (Central Processing Unit, CPU), the processor 501 may also be other general purpose processors, digital signal processors (Digital Signal Processor, DSP), application specific integrated circuits (Application Specific Integrated Circuit, ASIC), field-programmable gate arrays (Field-Programmable Gate Array, FPGA) or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components, or the like. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor 501 may be any conventional processor or the like. Wherein: a memory 503 for storing program instructions.

A processor 501 for invoking program instructions stored in memory 503 for:

determining a Closed Subscriber Group (CSG) white list, wherein the CSG white list comprises CSG cell information which can be accessed by User Equipment (UE);

the CSG cell information accessible to the UE comprises cell information of N CSG cells, wherein N is an integer greater than or equal to 0;

and stopping or not starting the cell search when the value of N is a preset value and the N CSG cells are matched with the service cell of the UE.

In a possible implementation manner, the processor 501 is configured to determine a closed subscriber group CSG whitelist, and specifically is configured to invoke the program instructions stored in the memory 503 to perform the following steps:

registering with the first CSG cell when the first CSG cell is searched;

In one possible implementation manner, the CSG whitelist includes cell information of a second CSG cell; the above processor 501 is configured to determine a closed subscriber group CSG whitelist, and specifically is configured to invoke the program instructions stored in the memory 503 to perform the following steps:

and acquiring the CSG white list from the user identity card.

In a possible implementation, the processor 501 is configured to stop or not start cell search, and specifically is configured to invoke the program instructions stored in the memory 503 to perform the following steps:

In the present embodiment, the method provided by the present embodiment may be implemented by running a computer program (including program code) capable of executing the steps involved in the respective methods as shown in fig. 2 to 3 on a general-purpose computing device such as a computer including a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a random access storage medium (RAM), a read only storage medium (ROM), etc., and a processing element such as a storage element. The computer program may be recorded on, for example, a computer-readable recording medium, and loaded into and run in the above-described computing device through the computer-readable recording medium.

Based on the same inventive concept, the principle and beneficial effects of the cell search device provided in the embodiments of the present application are similar to those of the cell search device in the embodiments of the method of the present application, and may refer to the principle and beneficial effects of implementation of the method, which are not described herein for brevity.

The cell search apparatus (e.g., cell search apparatus 400, cell search apparatus 500) may be, for example: a chip, or a chip module.

The embodiment of the application also provides a chip, which can execute the relevant steps of the terminal equipment in the embodiment of the method. The chip is used for:

In one possible implementation manner, the chip is configured to determine a closed subscriber group CSG whitelist, and may be specifically configured to: receiving a CSG cell selection instruction, wherein the CSG cell selection instruction indicates a first CSG cell; registering with the first CSG cell when the first CSG cell is searched; and adding the cell information of the first CSG cell to the CSG white list when the first CSG cell is successfully registered.

In one possible implementation manner, the CSG whitelist includes cell information of a second CSG cell; the chip is used for determining a Closed Subscriber Group (CSG) white list, and can be specifically used for:

In one possible implementation manner, the chip is configured to determine a closed subscriber group CSG whitelist, and may be specifically configured to:

and acquiring the CSG white list from the user identity card.

In one possible implementation, the chip is used to stop or not start cell search, and may be specifically used to:

In particular, in this case, the operations performed by the chip may be described with reference to the terminal device in the embodiments corresponding to fig. 2 to 3.

In one possible implementation, the chip includes at least one processor, at least one first memory, and at least one second memory; wherein, the at least one first memory and the at least one processor are interconnected through a circuit, the first memory stores a computer program, the computer program includes program instructions, and the processor is configured to execute the program instructions to implement a method for cell search in an embodiment of the present application; the at least one second memory and the at least one processor are interconnected by a line, where the second memory stores data to be stored in the embodiment of the method.

For each device and product applied to or integrated in the chip, each module contained in the device and product can be realized in a hardware mode such as a circuit, or at least part of the modules can be realized in a software program, the software program runs on a processor integrated in the chip, and the rest (if any) of the modules can be realized in a hardware mode such as a circuit.

Based on the same inventive concept, the principle and beneficial effects of solving the problem of the chip provided in the embodiments of the present application are similar to those of solving the problem of the terminal device in the embodiments of the method of the present application, and can be referred to the principle and beneficial effects of implementing the method, which are not described herein for brevity.

Referring to fig. 6, fig. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a module device according to an embodiment of the present application. The module device 600 may perform the steps related to the terminal device in the foregoing method embodiment, where the module device 600 includes: a communication module 601, a power module 602, a memory module 603 and a chip module 604.

The communication module 601 is used for performing internal communication of the module device or performing communication between the module device and an external device; the power module 602 is configured to provide power to the module device; the storage module 603 is configured to store data and instructions; the chip module 604 is configured to: determining a Closed Subscriber Group (CSG) white list, wherein the CSG white list comprises CSG cell information which can be accessed by User Equipment (UE); the CSG cell information accessible to the UE comprises cell information of N CSG cells, wherein N is an integer greater than or equal to 0; and stopping or not starting the cell search when the value of N is a preset value and the N CSG cells are matched with the service cell of the UE.

In one possible implementation manner, the chip module 604 is configured to determine a closed subscriber group CSG whitelist, and is specifically configured to: receiving a CSG cell selection instruction, wherein the CSG cell selection instruction indicates a first CSG cell; registering with the first CSG cell when the first CSG cell is searched; and adding the cell information of the first CSG cell to the CSG white list when the first CSG cell is successfully registered.

In one possible implementation manner, the CSG whitelist includes cell information of a second CSG cell; the chip module 604 is configured to determine a closed subscriber group CSG whitelist, and is specifically configured to: and deleting the cell information of the second CSG cell from the CSG white list when the registration to the second CSG cell is unsuccessful.

In one possible implementation manner, the chip module 604 is configured to determine a closed subscriber group CSG whitelist, and is specifically configured to: and acquiring the CSG white list from the user identity card.

In one possible implementation, the chip module 604 is configured to stop or not start cell search, and is specifically configured to: the UE is in an idle state or a connected state, and stops or does not start cell search.

In one possible implementation, the chip module 604 is configured to stop or not start cell search, and is specifically configured to:

For each device and product applied to or integrated in the chip module, each module included in the device and product may be implemented by hardware such as a circuit, and different modules may be located in the same component (e.g. a chip, a circuit module, etc.) of the chip module or different components, or at least some modules may be implemented by using a software program, where the software program runs on a processor integrated in the chip module, and the remaining (if any) modules may be implemented by hardware such as a circuit.

The embodiment of the application further provides a computer readable storage medium, in which a computer program is stored, the computer program comprising one or more program instructions, the one or more program instructions being adapted to be loaded by a terminal device and to perform the method provided by the embodiment of the method.

The present application also provides a computer program product comprising a computer program or instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method provided by the method embodiments described above.

The present embodiment also provides a cell search system, which may include the terminal device (terminal device 100) and the network device (network device 200) in fig. 1.

With respect to each of the apparatuses and each of the modules/units included in the products described in the above embodiments, it may be a software module/unit, a hardware module/unit, or a software module/unit, and a hardware module/unit. For example, for each device or product applied to or integrated on a chip, each module/unit included in the device or product may be implemented in hardware such as a circuit, or at least part of the modules/units may be implemented in software program, where the software program runs on a processor integrated inside the chip, and the rest (if any) of the modules/units may be implemented in hardware such as a circuit; for each device and product applied to or integrated in the chip module, each module/unit contained in the device and product can be realized in a hardware manner such as a circuit, different modules/units can be located in the same component (such as a chip, a circuit module and the like) or different components of the chip module, or at least part of the modules/units can be realized in a software program, the software program runs on a processor integrated in the chip module, and the rest (if any) of the modules/units can be realized in a hardware manner such as a circuit; for each device, product, or application to or integrated with the terminal, each module/unit included in the device, product, or application may be implemented by using hardware such as a circuit, different modules/units may be located in the same component (for example, a chip, a circuit module, or the like) or different components in the terminal, or at least part of the modules/units may be implemented by using a software program, where the software program runs on a processor integrated inside the terminal, and the remaining (if any) part of the modules/units may be implemented by using hardware such as a circuit.

It should be noted that, for simplicity of description, the foregoing method embodiments are all expressed as a series of action combinations, but it should be understood by those skilled in the art that the present application is not limited by the described order of action, as some steps may take other order or be performed simultaneously according to the present application. Further, those skilled in the art will also appreciate that the embodiments described in the specification are all preferred embodiments, and that the acts and modules referred to are not necessarily required in the present application.

The steps in the method of the embodiment of the application can be sequentially adjusted, combined and deleted according to actual needs.

The modules in the device of the embodiment of the application can be combined, divided and deleted according to actual needs.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that all or a portion of the steps of the various methods of the above embodiments may be implemented by program instructions and associated hardware, and that the program instructions may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium, which may include: flash disk, ROM, RAM, magnetic or optical disk, etc.

The foregoing disclosure is merely one embodiment of the present application and is merely a partial embodiment of the present application and is not intended to limit the scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A cell search method, comprising:

and stopping or not starting the cell search under the condition that the value of N is a preset value and the N CSG cells are matched with the service cell of the UE.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the closed subscriber group, CSG, whitelist comprises:

registering with the first CSG cell under the condition that the first CSG cell is searched;

and adding the cell information of the first CSG cell in the CSG white list under the condition of successfully registering the first CSG cell.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the CSG whitelist includes cell information for a second CSG cell;

the determining the closed subscriber group CSG whitelist includes:

and deleting the cell information of the second CSG cell from the CSG white list under the condition that the registration to the second CSG cell is unsuccessful.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the closed subscriber group, CSG, whitelist comprises:

and acquiring the CSG white list from the user identity card.

5. The method according to any of claims 1-4, wherein the stopping or not starting the cell search comprises:

the UE is in an idle state or a connection state, and stops or does not start cell search.

6. The method according to any of claims 1-4, wherein the stopping or not starting the cell search comprises:

receiving reconfiguration information from network equipment, stopping or not starting cell search; the reconfiguration message is used for indicating to start cell search.

7. The method according to any of claims 1-4, wherein the value of N is 1, and wherein the matching of the N CSG cells with the serving cell of the UE comprises the N CSG cells being identical to the serving cell of the UE.

8. A cell search apparatus, comprising:

a determining unit, configured to determine a closed subscriber group CSG whitelist, where the CSG whitelist includes CSG cell information accessible to a user equipment UE;

And the stopping unit is used for stopping or not starting the cell search under the condition that the value of N is a preset value and the N CSG cells are matched with the service cell of the UE.

9. A cell search apparatus comprising a processor;

the processor being configured to perform the method of any of claims 1-7.

10. A chip comprising a memory in which a computer program is stored, the computer program comprising program instructions, and a processor for executing the program instructions to implement the method of any of claims 1-7.

11. A chip module, characterized in that the chip module comprises a communication interface and a chip, wherein: the communication interface is used for carrying out internal communication of the chip module or carrying out communication between the chip module and external equipment; the chip being adapted to perform the method of any one of claims 1-7.

12. A computer readable storage medium, characterized in that the computer readable storage medium stores a computer program comprising program instructions which, when executed, cause the method of any of claims 1-7 to be performed.