CN116419260A

CN116419260A - Communication method, device, apparatus, storage medium, and program

Info

Publication number: CN116419260A
Application number: CN202111649768.8A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 曹春燕
Original assignee: Spreadtrum Semiconductor Nanjing Co Ltd
Current assignee: Spreadtrum Semiconductor Nanjing Co Ltd
Priority date: 2021-12-29
Filing date: 2021-12-29
Publication date: 2023-07-11
Also published as: WO2023125186A1

Abstract

The application provides a communication method, a device, equipment, a storage medium and a program, wherein first terminal equipment receives first indication information, and the first indication information is used for indicating the first terminal equipment to send a first measurement report to network equipment; the first terminal equipment sends the first measurement report to the network equipment according to the first indication information so as to assist the network equipment in determining whether to perform group switching on the first terminal equipment and the second terminal equipment, thereby enabling the network equipment to perform group switching decision more accurately.

Description

Communication method, device, apparatus, storage medium, and program

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a communication method, apparatus, device, storage medium, and program.

Background

With the development of communication technology, new Radio (NR) supports a side link relay (side link) communication scenario. The scene includes: remote terminal equipment (remote UE), relay terminal equipment (relay UE), and network equipment. The relay terminal device may communicate directly with the network device, and the remote terminal device may communicate with the network device through the relay terminal device.

The above side-link relay communication scenario also supports the group Handover (HO) function. Group handover refers to handover of a relay terminal device together with a remote terminal device to which it is connected.

In the above-mentioned side link relay communication scenario, how to report measurement reports to the network device by the relay terminal device and the remote terminal device, so that the network device can more accurately make a group switching decision is a technical problem to be solved.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides a communication method, a device, equipment, a storage medium and a program, which are used for enabling network equipment to more accurately conduct group switching decision.

In a first aspect, the present application provides a communication method, including:

the method comprises the steps that first terminal equipment receives first indication information, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating the first terminal equipment to send a first measurement report to network equipment;

the first terminal equipment sends the first measurement report to the network equipment according to the first indication information;

the first measurement report is used for assisting the network equipment to determine whether to perform group switching on the first terminal equipment and the second terminal equipment, and the second terminal equipment is relay equipment of the first terminal equipment.

In a possible implementation manner, the first terminal device receives first indication information, including:

the first terminal device receives the first indication information from the second terminal device; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

the first terminal device receives the first indication information from the network device.

In a possible implementation manner, the sending, by the first terminal device, a first measurement report to the network device according to the first indication information includes:

the first terminal equipment judges whether the first measurement report exists locally according to the first indication information;

if yes, the first terminal equipment sends the first measurement report to the network equipment;

if not, the first terminal equipment performs link measurement to obtain the first measurement report, and sends the first measurement report to the network equipment.

In a possible implementation manner, the method further includes:

the first terminal equipment receives second indication information sent by second terminal equipment, wherein the second indication information is used for indicating the first terminal equipment to carry out link measurement;

and the first terminal equipment performs link measurement according to the second indication information to obtain the first measurement report.

In a possible implementation, the first measurement report includes a link quality between the first terminal device and the second terminal device.

In a second aspect, the present application provides a communication method, including:

the method comprises the steps that a second terminal device generates first indication information, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating a first terminal device to send a first measurement report to a network device, the first measurement report is used for assisting the network device to determine whether group switching is carried out on the first terminal device and the second terminal device, and the second terminal device is a relay device of the first terminal device;

and the second terminal equipment sends the first indication information to the first terminal equipment.

In a possible implementation manner, the second terminal device sends the first indication information to the first terminal device, including:

the second terminal device sends the first indication information to the first terminal device before sending a second measurement report to the network device; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

the second terminal equipment sends the first indication information to the first terminal equipment after sending a second measurement report to the network equipment;

Wherein the second measurement report includes the signal quality of the serving cell in which the second terminal device is located and/or the signal quality of the neighbor cell of the serving cell.

In a possible implementation manner, the method further includes:

the second terminal equipment sends second indication information to the first terminal equipment, wherein the second indication information is used for indicating the first terminal equipment to conduct link measurement.

In a possible implementation manner, the sending, by the second terminal device, second indication information to the first terminal device includes:

when the second terminal equipment determines that the link quality between the second terminal equipment and the network equipment is smaller than or equal to a first threshold value, the second terminal equipment sends second indication information to the first terminal equipment;

the first threshold is greater than a second threshold, and the second threshold is used for indicating a trigger condition that the second terminal equipment sends a second measurement report to the network equipment.

In a third aspect, the present application provides a communication method, including:

The second terminal equipment generates a third measurement report;

the second terminal equipment sends the third measurement report to network equipment;

the second terminal device is a relay device of the first terminal device, and the third measurement report includes: the link quality between the first terminal device and the second terminal device, the signal quality of the serving cell in which the second terminal device is located and/or the signal quality of the neighbor cell of the serving cell.

In a possible implementation manner, the method further includes:

the second terminal device receives measurement configuration information from the network device, where the measurement configuration information is used to instruct the second terminal device to measure link quality between the first terminal device and the second terminal device, and measure signal quality of a serving cell where the second terminal device is located and/or signal quality of a neighbor cell of the serving cell.

In a possible implementation manner, the second terminal device generates a third measurement report, including:

and the second terminal equipment measures the link quality between the first terminal equipment and the second terminal equipment according to the measurement configuration information, and measures the signal quality of a serving cell where the second terminal equipment is positioned and/or the signal quality of a neighbor cell of the serving cell to obtain the third measurement report.

In a fourth aspect, the present application provides a communication method, including:

the network equipment receives a second measurement report sent by the second terminal equipment;

the network equipment sends first indication information to first terminal equipment according to the second measurement report, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating the first terminal equipment to send the first measurement report to the network equipment, and the second terminal equipment is relay equipment of the first terminal equipment;

the network equipment receives the first measurement report sent by the first terminal equipment.

In a possible implementation manner, the network device sends first indication information to the first terminal device according to the second measurement report, including:

and the network equipment sends the first indication information to the first terminal equipment when determining to switch the second terminal equipment according to the second measurement report.

In a possible implementation, the first measurement report includes a link quality between the first terminal device and the second terminal device;

the second measurement report includes the signal quality of the serving cell in which the second terminal device is located and/or the signal quality of the neighbor cell of the serving cell.

In a fifth aspect, the present application provides a communication method, including:

the network equipment receives a third measurement report from second terminal equipment, wherein the second terminal equipment is relay equipment of first terminal equipment, and the third measurement report comprises link quality between the first terminal equipment and the second terminal equipment, signal quality of a serving cell where the second terminal equipment is located and/or signal quality of a neighbor cell of the serving cell;

and the network equipment determines whether to perform group switching on the first terminal equipment and the second terminal equipment according to the third measurement report.

In a possible implementation manner, the method further includes:

the network device sends measurement configuration information to the second terminal device, where the measurement configuration information is used to instruct the second terminal device to measure the link quality between the first terminal device and the second terminal device, and measure the signal quality of the serving cell where the second terminal device is located and/or the signal quality of the neighbor cell of the serving cell.

In a sixth aspect, the present application provides a communication apparatus, applied to a first terminal device, including:

The receiving module is used for receiving first indication information, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating the first terminal equipment to send a first measurement report to the network equipment;

a sending module, configured to send the first measurement report to the network device according to the first indication information;

In a seventh aspect, the present application provides a communication apparatus, applied to a second terminal device, including:

the processing module is used for generating first indication information, the first indication information is used for indicating a first terminal device to send a first measurement report to a network device, the first measurement report is used for assisting the network device to determine whether to perform group switching on the first terminal device and the second terminal device, and the second terminal device is a relay device of the first terminal device;

and the sending module is used for sending the first indication information to the first terminal equipment.

In an eighth aspect, the present application provides a communication apparatus applied to a second terminal device, including:

The processing module is used for generating a third measurement report;

a sending module, configured to send the third measurement report to a network device;

In a ninth aspect, the present application provides a communication apparatus, applied to a network device, including:

the receiving module is used for receiving a second measurement report sent by the second terminal equipment;

a sending module, configured to send first indication information to a first terminal device according to the second measurement report, where the first indication information is used to instruct the first terminal device to send the first measurement report to the network device, and the second terminal device is a relay device of the first terminal device;

the receiving module is further configured to receive the first measurement report sent by the first terminal device.

In a tenth aspect, the present application provides a communication apparatus, applied to a network device, including:

A receiving module, configured to receive a third measurement report from a second terminal device, where the second terminal device is a relay device of a first terminal device, and the third measurement report includes link quality between the first terminal device and the second terminal device, signal quality of a serving cell where the second terminal device is located, and/or signal quality of a neighbor cell of the serving cell;

and the processing module is used for determining whether to perform group switching on the first terminal equipment and the second terminal equipment according to the third measurement report.

In an eleventh aspect, the present application provides a communication device, comprising: a processor, and a memory communicatively coupled to the processor;

the memory stores a computer program;

the processor executes the computer program to implement the method according to any of the first aspects, or to implement the method according to any of the second aspects, or to implement the method according to any of the third aspects, or to implement the method according to any of the fourth aspects, or to implement the method according to any of the fifth aspects.

In a twelfth aspect, the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium, in which a computer program is stored, which when executed by a computer implements the method according to any one of the first aspects, or implements the method according to any one of the second aspects, or implements the method according to any one of the third aspects, or implements the method according to any one of the fourth aspects, or implements the method according to any one of the fifth aspects.

In a thirteenth aspect, the present application provides a computer program product comprising a computer program which, when executed by a computer, implements the method according to any one of the first aspects, or implements the method according to any one of the second aspects, or implements the method according to any one of the third aspects, or implements the method according to any one of the fourth aspects, or implements the method according to any one of the fifth aspects.

The communication method, the device, the equipment, the storage medium and the program provided by the application, wherein first terminal equipment receives first indication information, and the first indication information is used for indicating the first terminal equipment to send a first measurement report to network equipment; the first terminal equipment sends a first measurement report to the network equipment according to the first indication information so as to assist the network equipment in determining whether to perform group switching on the first terminal equipment and the second terminal equipment, thereby enabling the network equipment to perform group switching decision more accurately.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present application or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings that are required in the embodiments or the description of the prior art will be briefly described below, it being obvious that the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present application, and that other drawings may be obtained according to these drawings without inventive faculty for a person skilled in the art.

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

fig. 2 is an interaction schematic diagram of a group switching procedure according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 3 is a schematic flow chart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4 is a flow chart of another communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 is a flow chart of another communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6 is a flow chart of another communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

The following description of the embodiments of the present application will be made clearly and fully with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which it is evident that the embodiments described are only some, but not all, of the embodiments of the present application. All other embodiments, which can be made by one of ordinary skill in the art without undue burden from the present disclosure, are within the scope of the present disclosure.

The terms "first," "second," "third," "fourth" and the like in the description and in the claims of this application and in the above-described figures, if any, are used for distinguishing between similar objects and not necessarily for describing a particular sequential or chronological order. Furthermore, the terms "comprises," "comprising," and "having," and any variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, system, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of steps or elements is not necessarily limited to those steps or elements expressly listed but may include other steps or elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus.

The technical scheme provided by the embodiment of the application can be applied to various communication systems, for example: a long term evolution (long term evolution, LTE) system, a long term evolution (advanced long term evolution, LTE-a) system, a New Radio (NR) system, an evolution system of the NR system, an LTE (LTE-based access to unlicensed spectrum, LTE-U) system on an unlicensed spectrum, an NR (NR-based access to unlicensed spectrum, NR-U) system on an unlicensed spectrum, a Non-terrestrial communication network (Non-Terrestrial Networks, NTN) system, a universal mobile telecommunications system (universal mobile telecommunication system, UMTS), a wireless local area network (wireless local area networks, WLAN), wireless fidelity (wireless fidelity, wiFi), a next generation communication (5 th-generation, 5G) system, or other communication system, and the like.

In the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device generally has a radio transceiver function, and may also be referred to as a User Equipment (UE), an access terminal, a subscriber unit, a subscriber station, a mobile station, a remote terminal, a mobile device, a user terminal, a wireless communication device, a user agent, or a user apparatus. The terminal device may be a Station (ST) in a WLAN, may be a cellular telephone, a cordless telephone, 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) device, a handheld device with wireless communication capabilities, a computing device or other processing device connected to a wireless modem, a vehicle mounted device, a wearable device, and a next generation communication system, such as a terminal device in an NR network or a terminal device in a future evolved public land mobile network (public land mobile network, PLMN) network, etc. The terminal device may be a mobile phone (mobile phone), a tablet (Pad), a computer with a wireless transceiving function, a Virtual Reality (VR) terminal device, an augmented reality (augmented reality, AR) terminal device, a wireless terminal in industrial control (industrial control), a vehicle-mounted terminal device, a wireless terminal in unmanned driving (self driving), a wireless terminal in remote medical (remote medical), a wireless terminal in smart grid (smart grid), a wireless terminal in transportation security (transportation safety), a wireless terminal in smart city, a wireless terminal in smart home (smart home), a wearable terminal device, or the like. The terminal device according to the embodiments of the present application may also be referred to as a terminal, a User Equipment (UE), an access terminal device, a vehicle terminal, an industrial control terminal, a UE unit, a UE station, a mobile station, a remote terminal device, a mobile device, a UE terminal device, a wireless communication device, a UE agent, or a UE apparatus, etc. The terminal device may also be fixed or mobile.

For example, in the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device may be a wearable device. The wearable device can also be called as a wearable intelligent device, and is a generic name for intelligently designing daily wear by applying wearable technology and developing wearable devices, such as glasses, gloves, watches, clothes, shoes and the like. The wearable device is a portable device that is worn directly on the body or integrated into the clothing or accessories of the user. The wearable device is not only a hardware device, but also can realize a powerful function through software support, data interaction and cloud interaction. The generalized wearable intelligent device includes full functionality, large size, and may not rely on the smart phone to implement complete or partial functionality, such as: smart watches or smart glasses, etc., and focus on only certain types of application functions, and need to be used in combination with other devices, such as smart phones, for example, various smart bracelets, smart jewelry, etc. for physical sign monitoring.

In embodiments of the present application, the network device may be a device for communicating with a mobile device. The network device may be a node in a radio access network, also referred to as a base station, and also referred to as a radio access network (radio accessnetwork, RAN) node (or device). The network device may be operable to inter-convert the received air frames with Internet Protocol (IP) packets as a router between the terminal device and the rest of the access network, which may include an IP network. The network device may also coordinate attribute management for the air interface. For example, the network device may include an evolved Node B (NodeB) or an eNB or an e-NodeB, evolutional Node B) in a long term evolution (longterm evolution, LTE) system or an evolved LTE system (LTE-Advanced, LTE-a), or may also include a next generation Node B (next generation Node B, gNB) in a fifth generation mobile communication technology (5 g) New Radio (NR) system, or may also include a transmission reception point (transmission reception point, TRP), a home base station (e.g., home evolved NodeB, or home B, HNB), a baseband unit (BBU), or a WiFi Access Point (AP), etc., and may further include a Centralized Unit (CU) and a Distributed Unit (DU) in a cloud access network (cloud radio accessnetwork, cloudRAN) system. The network device may also be a network device in a future evolved PLMN network, etc.

For ease of understanding, a communication system architecture according to an embodiment of the present application will be described first with reference to fig. 1.

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system architecture according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 1, the communication system includes: a network device, and at least one terminal device (e.g., terminal device a, terminal device B, and terminal device C in fig. 1). It should be understood that the number of network devices and device terminals in the communication system may be one or more, which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

In the above communication system architecture, the terminal device a is within the coverage area of the network device and has a relay function. Terminal device a supports providing relay services for other terminal devices in the vicinity. The communication quality between the terminal equipment B and the network equipment is poor, and the terminal equipment C is not in the coverage area of the network equipment. Terminal B and/or terminal C can connect (communicate) with the network device by the relay function of terminal a. In the embodiment of the present application, a terminal device that is located in a coverage area of a network device and provides a relay service, such as a similar terminal device a, may be referred to as a relay terminal device (relay UE), and terminal devices that receive a relay service, such as a similar terminal device B and a terminal device C, may be referred to as remote terminal devices (remote UE), or edge terminal devices.

It should be appreciated that in the above communication scenario, one relay terminal device may provide relay services for one or more remote terminal devices.

In addition, the communication system architecture includes two kinds of communication interfaces: a PC5 interface and a Uu interface. The PC5 interface refers to a direct communication interface between terminal equipment and terminal equipment. The direct communication link between terminal apparatuses based on the PC5 interface may be referred to as a Side Link (SL) for direct communication between terminal apparatuses. The Uu interface is a communication interface between a terminal device and a network device. The communication link between the Uu interface based terminal equipment and the network equipment typically includes an Uplink (UL) and a Downlink (DL) for communication between the terminal equipment and the network equipment.

It should be noted that, the system architecture and the application scenario described in the embodiments of the present application are for more clearly describing the technical solution of the embodiments of the present application, and do not constitute a limitation to the technical solution provided in the embodiments of the present application, and those skilled in the art can know that, with the evolution of the network architecture and the appearance of the new service scenario, the technical solution provided in the embodiments of the present application is also applicable to similar problems.

In the embodiment of the present application, the communication system shown in fig. 1 also supports a group switching function. Group handover refers to handover of a relay terminal device together with a remote terminal device to which it is connected. For example, terminal device a, terminal device B, and terminal device C in fig. 1 perform handover together.

Specifically, the network device decides whether to perform a group switch based on: and the network equipment receives the measurement report reported by the relay terminal equipment and determines whether the relay terminal equipment needs to be switched according to the measurement report reported by the relay terminal equipment. If the relay terminal equipment is determined to need to be switched, the network equipment determines whether to switch the group between the relay terminal equipment and the remote terminal equipment according to the signal quality of the PC5 link between the relay terminal equipment and the remote terminal equipment connected with the relay terminal equipment. If the signal quality of the PC5 link between the relay terminal device and the remote terminal device connected with the relay terminal device is good, the group switching is determined. If the signal quality of the PC5 link between the relay terminal device and the remote terminal device connected with the relay terminal device is bad, the group switching is not determined.

The group switching procedure is described in detail below with reference to fig. 2. Fig. 2 is an interaction schematic diagram of a group switching procedure according to an embodiment of the present application. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that the terminal device a is connected to the network device 1, and the terminal device B and the terminal device C are connected to the network device 1 through the terminal device a. That is, the terminal apparatuses B and C are remote terminal apparatuses, and the terminal apparatus a is a relay terminal apparatus of the terminal apparatuses B and C.

As shown in fig. 2, the group switching procedure may include:

(1) Terminal device a sends measurement reports (measurements) to network device 1.

In this embodiment, the network device 1 may send measurement configuration information to the terminal device a in advance, and inform the terminal device a of which cells the signal quality of which needs to be measured through the measurement configuration information. In addition, the network device 1 may also inform the terminal device a of the reporting manner of the measurement report through the measurement configuration information, for example, periodic reporting or event triggered reporting. When the event trigger is reported, specific trigger conditions can be indicated in the measurement configuration information.

In this way, the terminal device a can measure the signal quality of the corresponding cell according to the above measurement configuration information and send a measurement report to the network device 1. For example, the measurement report reported by the terminal device a to the network device 1 may include: the signal quality of the serving cell in which the terminal device a is located and/or the signal quality of the neighbor cell of the serving cell.

After receiving the measurement report reported by the terminal equipment a, the network equipment 1 can determine whether the terminal equipment a needs to be switched according to the measurement report. If a handover is required for terminal device a, an appropriate network device may be selected as the target network device (e.g., network device 2) based on the measurement report.

In case it is determined that a handover of terminal device a is required, the network device 1 needs to further decide whether to handover terminal device B, terminal device C and terminal device a together to the target network device, the basis of which is the signal quality of the PC5 link between terminal device B, terminal device C and terminal device a. If the signal quality of the PC5 link is better, if the signal quality of the PC5 link is greater than the threshold configured by the network device, then it is determined to perform the group handover. If the signal quality of the PC5 link is not good, if the signal quality of the PC5 link is less than or equal to the threshold configured by the network device, it is determined that the group handover is not performed.

In this embodiment, the terminal device B and the terminal device C may also report the measurement report to the network device 1. Specifically, the network device 1 may send measurement configuration information to the terminal device B and the terminal device C in advance, and inform the terminal device B and the terminal device C of which PC5 links or Uu links the signal quality of which needs to be measured through the measurement configuration information. In addition, the network device 1 may also inform the terminal device B and the terminal device C of the reporting manner of the measurement report through the measurement configuration information, for example, periodic reporting or event triggered reporting. When the event trigger is reported, specific trigger conditions can be indicated in the measurement configuration information.

In this way, the terminal device B and the terminal device C can measure the signal quality of the corresponding PC5 link according to the measurement configuration information, and send a measurement report to the network device 1.

For example, the measurement report reported by the terminal device B to the network device 1 may include: signal quality of the PC5 link between terminal device B and terminal device a. Optionally, the measurement report reported by the terminal device B to the network device 1 may further include one or more of the following: signal quality between terminal device B and one or more other relay terminal devices in the vicinity, signal quality between terminal device B and one or more neighbor cells.

For example, the measurement report reported by the terminal device C to the network device 1 may include: signal quality of the PC5 link between terminal device C and terminal device a. Optionally, the measurement report reported by the terminal device C to the network device 1 may further include one or more of the following: signal quality between terminal device C and one or more other relay terminal devices in the vicinity, signal quality between terminal device C and one or more neighbor cells.

In this way, when determining that the terminal device a needs to be switched, the network device 1 may further decide whether to switch the group between the terminal device B and the terminal device C and the terminal device a according to the measurement reports reported by the terminal device B and the terminal device C.

(2) The network device 1 transmits a group switching request to the network device 2 (Group HO Request for all remotes served by relay).

In the case where the network device 1 determines to perform the group switching, assuming that the target network device determined by the network device 1 is the network device 2, the network device 1 transmits a group switching request to the network device 2. The group switching request includes: and switching requests of the terminal equipment A, the terminal equipment B and the terminal equipment C.

(3) Network device 2 transmits a group switch acknowledgement to network device 1 (Group HO Accept with multiple configurations)

And the network equipment 2 performs switching access control on the terminal equipment A, the terminal equipment B and the terminal equipment C according to the group switching request. If the network device 2 allows the access of the terminal device a, the terminal device B, and the terminal device C, the network device 2 sends a group switch acknowledgement to the network device 1 for indicating acceptance of the group switch request. The group switching confirmation may include: and switching configuration information of the terminal equipment A, the terminal equipment B and the terminal equipment C.

(4) The network device 1 transmits a group switching command to the terminal device a (Group HO command with multiple configurations).

After receiving the group switching acknowledgement from the network device 2, the network device 1 transmits a group switching command to the terminal device a. The group switching command includes: and switching configuration information of the terminal equipment A, the terminal equipment B and the terminal equipment C.

(5) After receiving the group switching command from the network device 1, the terminal device a saves its own switching configuration information and prepares for the switching process. The terminal equipment A sends a switching command to the terminal equipment B through RRC reconfiguration signaling, wherein the switching command comprises switching configuration information of the terminal equipment B; and the terminal equipment A sends a switching command to the terminal equipment C through the RRC reconfiguration signaling, wherein the switching command comprises switching configuration information of the terminal equipment C. And the terminal equipment B and the terminal equipment C carry out reconfiguration according to the switching configuration information, and after the reconfiguration is completed, an RRC reconfiguration completion signaling is sent to the terminal equipment A.

After receiving the RRC reconfiguration completion signaling sent by the terminal equipment B and the terminal equipment C, the terminal equipment A executes switching according to the switching configuration information.

(6) After the completion of the handover of the terminal apparatus a, the group handover completion is transmitted to the network apparatus 2 (Group HO complete with group response).

As can be seen from the above group handover procedure, the network device 1 needs to determine whether to handover the terminal device a based on the measurement report reported by the terminal device a; if it is determined that the terminal equipment A needs to be switched, further determining whether to switch the group of the terminal equipment B, the terminal equipment C and the terminal equipment A together based on measurement reports reported by the terminal equipment B and the terminal equipment C. That is, the network device needs to consider the measurement reports reported by the terminal device a, the terminal device B, and the terminal device C at the same time when making the group handover decision.

However, since the procedures of terminal device a, terminal device B, terminal device C sending measurement reports to network device 1 are independent from each other. When the network device 1 determines that the terminal device a needs to perform handover according to the measurement report reported by the terminal device a, the network device 1 may not receive the measurement report sent by the terminal device B and the terminal device C, or the time is far from the last time the measurement report is reported by the terminal device B and the terminal device C, in this case, the network device 1 cannot accurately determine the link quality between the terminal device a and the terminal device B and the terminal device C, and further cannot accurately determine whether to perform group handover.

In order to solve the above technical problems, in the embodiments of the present application, by improving the reporting manner of the measurement report of the relay terminal device (for example, terminal device a) or the remote terminal device (for example, terminal device B, terminal device C), the time when the relay terminal device (for example, terminal device a) and the remote terminal device (for example, terminal device B, terminal device C) report the measurement report to the network device is relatively close, and when the network device needs to make a group handover decision, the link quality between the remote terminal device and the relay terminal device can be accurately obtained according to the measurement report reported by the remote terminal device, so that the network device can make a more accurate group handover decision.

The other expression of the above-mentioned "the time when the relay terminal device and the remote terminal device report the measurement report to the network device is relatively close" is as follows: the difference between the time when the relay terminal device reports the measurement report to the network device and the time when the remote terminal device reports the measurement report to the network device is smaller than a preset threshold.

In this embodiment of the present application, for the sake of illustration, a measurement report reported by a relay terminal device (e.g., terminal device a) to a network device is referred to as a second measurement report, and a measurement report reported by a remote terminal device (e.g., terminal device B, terminal device C) to a network device is referred to as a first measurement report.

The technical scheme of the present application is described in detail below with specific examples. The following embodiments may be combined with each other, and some embodiments may not be repeated for the same or similar concepts or processes.

In the embodiments shown in fig. 3 to 6 below, the first terminal device is a remote terminal device, such as terminal device B and terminal device C in fig. 1. The second terminal device is a relay terminal device, for example terminal device a in fig. 1. That is, the second terminal device is a relay device of the first terminal device.

Fig. 3 is a flow chart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 3, the method of the present embodiment includes:

s301: the second terminal device sends first indication information to the first terminal device. The first indication information is used for indicating the first terminal equipment to send a first measurement report to the network equipment.

S302: the second terminal device sends a second measurement report to the network device.

Correspondingly, the first terminal device receives the first indication information from the second terminal device. The network device receives a second measurement report from the second terminal device.

In this embodiment, the second terminal device may generate the first indication information, and send the first indication information to the first terminal device, so as to instruct the first terminal device to send the first measurement report to the network device. Specifically, the second terminal device may send the first indication information to the first terminal device when determining that it needs to send the second measurement report to the network device.

In one example, assuming that the second measurement report adopts a periodic reporting manner, the second terminal device may send the first indication information to the first terminal device when reaching a reporting period of the second measurement report.

In another example, assuming that the second measurement report adopts an event triggered reporting manner, the second terminal device may send the first indication information to the first terminal device when detecting that a triggering event of the second measurement report is satisfied. For example, when it is detected that the link quality between the second terminal device and the network device is less than or equal to the second threshold, the first indication information is sent to the first terminal device.

In a possible implementation manner, the second terminal device may send a second measurement report to the network device at a first time, and send first indication information to the first terminal device at a second time, where a difference between the first time and the second time is smaller than a preset threshold.

Alternatively, the second terminal device may send the first indication information to the first terminal device while sending the second measurement report to the network device. That is, S301 and S302 may be performed simultaneously.

Optionally, the second terminal device may further send the first indication information to the first terminal device after sending the second measurement report to the network device. That is, S301 is performed after S302.

Alternatively, the second terminal device may send the first indication information to the first terminal device before sending the second measurement report to the network device. That is, referring to fig. 1, S301 is performed before S302.

It can be appreciated that, considering that a certain period of time is also required for the second terminal device to transmit the first indication information to the first terminal device, the first indication information is transmitted to the first terminal device before the second terminal device transmits the second measurement report to the network device, so that the time when the network device receives the first measurement report and the second measurement report is more approximate.

In a possible implementation manner, in a case that the second terminal device determines that the second terminal device needs to send the second measurement report to the network device, the second terminal device may first determine whether the second measurement report triggers a handover according to the second measurement report. And if the second measurement report is determined to trigger the switching, the first indication information is sent to the first terminal equipment. If the second measurement report is determined not to trigger the handover, the first indication information does not need to be sent to the first terminal equipment. This saves signaling overhead.

For example, a handoff based on an A3/A5 event is illustrated. Suppose the A3 event is: the signal quality of the adjacent cell is higher than the signal quality of the service cell by an absolute threshold 1, and triggering A3 event switching; a5 event is: and if the signal quality of the serving cell is lower than the absolute threshold 2 and the service quality of the neighbor cell is higher than the absolute threshold 3, triggering the A5 event switching. In this way, the second terminal device may determine whether an A3/A5 event handover is to be triggered based on the second measurement report. The second terminal device sends the first indication information to the first terminal device only when the trigger of the handover is determined.

In this embodiment, the second measurement report is used for assisting the network device to determine whether to switch the second terminal device, and when determining to switch the second terminal device, determining to which target network device to switch the second terminal device.

Illustratively, the second measurement report includes: the signal quality of the serving cell in which the second terminal device is located, and/or the signal quality of the neighbor cell of the serving cell.

S303: and the first terminal equipment sends a first measurement report to the network equipment according to the first indication information.

Accordingly, the network device receives a first measurement report from the first terminal device.

In a possible implementation manner, after receiving the first indication information, the first terminal device judges whether a first measurement report exists locally according to the first indication information; if yes, the first terminal equipment sends a first measurement report to the network equipment; if not, the first terminal equipment performs link measurement to obtain a first measurement report, and sends the first measurement report to the network equipment.

It should be understood that the above-mentioned link measurement by the first terminal device means that the first terminal device measures the signal quality of the PC5 link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device.

In another possible implementation, the first indication information may include a target reporting time, so that the first terminal device sends the first measurement report to the network device at the target reporting time. In an exemplary embodiment, when the second terminal device determines that the second terminal device needs to send the second measurement report to the network device, and the second measurement report triggers handover, according to the time when the second terminal device sends the second measurement report to the network device, it is estimated at which time the first terminal device needs to report the first measurement report to the network device, so that the time when the network device receives the first measurement report and the second measurement report is relatively similar. And further, reporting the estimated time as a target time. The second terminal equipment carries the target reporting time in the first indication information and sends the target reporting time to the first terminal equipment so as to indicate the first terminal equipment to report a first measurement report to the network equipment at the target reporting time.

In the embodiment of the present application, the first measurement report is used to assist the network device in determining whether to perform group handover for the first terminal device and the second terminal device.

Illustratively, the first measurement report may include: link quality between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. For example, the signal quality of the PC5 link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device, such as reference signal received power (Reference Signal Receiving Power, RSRP), reference signal received quality (Reference Signal Receiving Quality, RSRQ), signal to interference plus noise ratio (Signal to Interference plus Noise Ratio, SINR), etc. In this way, after the network device receives the first measurement report, the network device can learn the link quality between the first terminal device and the second terminal device according to the first measurement report, so as to decide whether to perform group switching on the first terminal device and the second terminal device. For example, when the link quality between the first terminal device and the second terminal device is higher than or equal to a preset threshold, determining to perform group switching on the first terminal device and the second terminal device; and when the link quality between the first terminal equipment and the second terminal equipment is lower than a preset threshold value, determining that the group switching is not performed on the first terminal equipment and the second terminal equipment.

Optionally, the first measurement report may further include: signal quality between the first terminal device and one or more other relay terminal devices in the vicinity, signal quality between the first terminal device and one or more neighboring cells.

It should be understood that, in this embodiment, the manner in which the first terminal device sends the first measurement report to the network device is: the first terminal device sends a first measurement report to the second terminal device, which forwards the first measurement report to the network device.

S304: the network device determines whether to perform group switching on the first terminal device and the second terminal device according to the first measurement report and the second measurement report.

In this embodiment, the network device may receive a first measurement report sent by the first terminal device, and may also receive a second measurement report sent by the second terminal device, where a difference between a time of receiving the first measurement report and a time of receiving the second measurement report is smaller than a preset threshold. The network device may determine whether to perform a group handover for the first terminal device and the second terminal device based on the first measurement report and the second measurement report.

In particular, the network device may determine whether to handover the second terminal device based on the second measurement report. And under the condition that the second terminal equipment is required to be switched, the network equipment determines whether to switch the group of the first terminal equipment and the second terminal equipment according to the first measurement report. For example, if the first measurement report indicates that the link quality between the first terminal device and the second terminal device is greater than or equal to a preset threshold, it is determined to perform group handover on the first terminal device and the second terminal device. And if the first measurement report indicates that the link quality between the first terminal equipment and the second terminal equipment is smaller than a preset threshold value, determining that the group switching is not performed on the first terminal equipment and the second terminal equipment.

In the communication method provided in this embodiment, when the second terminal device determines that it needs to send the second measurement report to the network device, the second terminal device sends first indication information to the first terminal device, so that the first terminal device sends the first measurement report to the network device according to the first indication information. Therefore, the time when the first terminal equipment reports the first measurement report to the network equipment is close to the time when the second terminal equipment reports the second measurement report to the network equipment, and the network equipment can acquire the more accurate link quality between the first terminal equipment and the second terminal equipment according to the first measurement report when the network equipment needs to make a group switching decision, so that the group switching decision can be made more accurately.

In the embodiment shown in fig. 3, when the first terminal device receives the first indication information, it is possible that the first terminal device does not have the first measurement report locally. In this case, the first terminal device needs to perform link measurement to obtain a first measurement report, and then send the first measurement report to the network device. In this way, since the first terminal device needs a certain period of time to perform the link measurement, the period of time between the time when the first terminal device sends the first measurement report to the network device and the time when the second terminal device sends the second measurement report to the network device is still longer.

In order to solve the above technical problem, in the communication method provided by the present application, before sending the first indication information to the first terminal device, the second terminal device may further send the second indication information to the first terminal device, so as to instruct the first terminal device to perform link measurement. In this way, when the first terminal device receives the first indication information, the first measurement report can be immediately sent to the network device, which corresponds to that the first terminal device performs the link measurement in advance. The details are described below in connection with fig. 4.

Fig. 4 is a flow chart of another communication method according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 4, the method of the present embodiment includes:

s401: the second terminal device sends second indication information to the first terminal device, wherein the second indication information is used for indicating the first terminal device to conduct link measurement.

Correspondingly, the first terminal device receives the second indication information from the second terminal device.

In this embodiment, the second terminal device may send, before sending the second measurement report to the network device, second indication information to the first terminal device, so as to instruct the first terminal device to perform link measurement in advance.

In one example, assuming that the second measurement report adopts a periodic reporting manner, if the second terminal device determines that the second measurement report needs to be reported to the network device at the time T according to the reporting period of the measurement report, the second terminal device may send the second indication information to the first terminal device at the time T-k.

That is, the second terminal device transmits the second indication information to the first terminal device at the instant when the second terminal device transmits the second measurement report to the network device is about to be reached.

In another example, it is assumed that the second measurement report is reported by an event trigger, and the second threshold is a trigger condition for the second terminal device to send the second measurement report to the network device, that is, when the link quality between the second terminal device and the network device is less than or equal to the second threshold, the second terminal device needs to report the measurement report to the network device. In this case, a new event may be defined, and the second terminal device sends the second indication information to the first terminal device when the link quality between the second terminal device and the network device is less than or equal to the first threshold value. The first threshold is greater than the second threshold.

That is, when the second terminal device detects that the link quality is degraded, and the reporting condition of the second measurement report is about to be reached, the second indication information is sent to the first terminal device, so that the first terminal device performs link measurement in advance.

S402: and the first terminal equipment performs link measurement according to the second indication information to obtain a first measurement report.

Specifically, after receiving the second indication information, the first terminal device measures the signal quality of the PC5 link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device, and obtains a first measurement report.

It should be appreciated that the first measurement report may be stored locally first after the first measurement report is measured by the first terminal device. And when the reporting condition of the first measurement report is subsequently reached, the first measurement report is sent to the network equipment, or when the first indication information sent by the second terminal equipment is received, the first measurement report is sent to the network equipment.

S403: the second terminal device sends first indication information to the first terminal device.

S404: the second terminal device sends a second measurement report to the network device.

Correspondingly, the first terminal device receives the first indication information from the second terminal device, and the network device receives the second measurement report from the second terminal device.

S405: and the first terminal equipment sends a first measurement report to the network equipment according to the first indication information.

S406: the network device determines whether to perform group switching on the first terminal device and the second terminal device according to the first measurement report and the second measurement report.

It should be understood that the specific implementation of S403 to S406 in this embodiment is similar to S301 to S304 in fig. 3, and will not be described here.

In this embodiment, before the second terminal device sends the first indication information to the first terminal device, the second terminal device sends the second indication information to the first terminal device, so that when the first terminal device receives the first indication information, the first terminal device can immediately send the first measurement report to the network device because the first terminal device has completed the link measurement in advance, thereby ensuring that the time when the first terminal device reports the first measurement report to the network device is closer to the time when the second terminal device reports the second measurement report to the network device. In this way, when the network device needs to make a group switching decision, the network device can acquire the more accurate link quality between the first terminal device and the second terminal device according to the first measurement report, thereby making the group switching decision more accurately.

Fig. 5 is a flow chart of another communication method according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 5, the method of the present embodiment includes:

S501: the second terminal device sends a second measurement report to the network device.

Accordingly, the network device receives a second measurement report from the second terminal device.

In this embodiment, the second terminal device may send the second measurement report to the network device in a periodic manner or an event triggered manner according to measurement configuration information configured by the network device in advance.

S502: and the network equipment sends the first indication information to the first terminal equipment according to the second measurement report. The first indication information is used for indicating the first terminal equipment to send a first measurement report to the network equipment.

In a possible implementation manner, the network device sends the first indication information to the first terminal device after receiving the second measurement report. That is, whether or not the second terminal device needs to be switched, the first indication information is sent to the first terminal device to instruct the first terminal device to send the first measurement report to the network device. In this way, the network device is enabled to receive the first measurement report from the first terminal device in time in order to assist the network device in determining whether to perform a group handover for the first terminal device and the second terminal device.

In another possible implementation manner, after receiving the second measurement report, the network device determines whether to need to switch the second terminal device according to the second measurement report. And when the second terminal equipment is determined to be required to be switched, the first indication information is sent to the first terminal equipment. When the second terminal equipment is determined not to need to be switched, the first indication information is not required to be sent to the first terminal equipment. In this way, signaling interactions can be saved.

In yet another possible implementation manner, after receiving the second measurement report, the network device determines whether handover of the second terminal device is required according to the second measurement report. When the second terminal equipment is determined to be required to be switched, further judging whether the network equipment receives a first measurement report sent by the first terminal equipment within a preset time before the current moment. And if not, sending the first indication information to the first terminal equipment. If so, determining whether to perform group switching on the first terminal equipment and the second terminal equipment according to the received first measurement report. Wherein the preset duration is less than or equal to a preset threshold.

S503: and the first terminal equipment sends a first measurement report to the network equipment according to the first indication information.

S504: the network device determines whether to perform group switching on the first terminal device and the second terminal device according to the first measurement report and the second measurement report.

It should be understood that, for implementation of S503 and S504 in this embodiment, reference may be made to the detailed description of S303 and S304 in fig. 2, which is not repeated here.

In this embodiment, the network device may send the first indication information to the first terminal device according to the second measurement report received from the second terminal device, so that the first terminal device sends the first measurement report to the network device. Therefore, the moment when the network equipment receives the first measurement report is close to the moment when the network equipment receives the second measurement report, and the network equipment can acquire the accurate link quality between the first terminal equipment and the second terminal equipment according to the first measurement report when making a group switching decision, so that the group switching decision can be made more accurately.

Fig. 6 is a flow chart of another communication method according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 6, the method of the present embodiment includes:

s601: the second terminal device sends a third measurement report to the network device, the third measurement report including: the quality of the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device, the signal quality of the serving cell in which the second terminal device is located and/or the signal quality of the neighbor cell of the serving cell.

Accordingly, the network device receives a third measurement report from the second terminal device.

The present embodiment is different from the embodiments shown in fig. 3 to 5 described above in that the measurement report transmitted by the second terminal device to the network device includes the content of the first measurement report (i.e., the link quality between the first terminal device and the second terminal device) in the foregoing embodiment, in addition to the content of the second measurement report in the foregoing embodiment (i.e., the signal quality of the serving cell in which the second terminal device is located and/or the signal quality of the neighbor cell of the serving cell). In order to distinguish from the second measurement report in the foregoing embodiment, the measurement report sent by the second terminal device to the network device is referred to as a third measurement report in this embodiment.

It should be understood that the third measurement report may be reported in a periodic manner or in an event-triggered manner, which is not limited in this embodiment.

In this embodiment, before S601, the method may further include:

(1) The network device sends measurement configuration information to the second terminal device, wherein the measurement configuration information is used for indicating the second terminal device to measure the link quality between the first terminal device and the second terminal device, and measuring the signal quality of a serving cell where the second terminal device is located and/or the signal quality of a neighbor cell of the serving cell.

It should be understood that in the embodiments shown in fig. 3 to 5, the network device may also send measurement configuration information to the second terminal device, where the measurement configuration information is used to instruct the second terminal device to measure the signal quality of the serving cell where the second terminal device is located and/or the signal quality of the neighbor cell of the serving cell. In this embodiment, the measurement configuration information instructs the second terminal device to measure the link quality between the first terminal device and the second terminal device, in addition to instructing the second terminal device to measure the signal quality of the serving cell and/or the signal quality of the neighbor cell of the serving cell. For example, the measurement configuration information may include an identification of the first terminal device to which the second terminal device is connected.

(2) After the second terminal equipment receives the measurement configuration information, measuring the link quality between the first terminal equipment and the second terminal equipment according to the measurement configuration information, and measuring the signal quality of the serving cell where the second terminal equipment is located and/or the signal quality of the neighbor cell of the serving cell to obtain a third measurement report.

The above-mentioned "measuring the link quality between the first terminal device and the second terminal device" refers to measuring the signal quality of the PC5 link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device.

It should be understood that in practical applications, the second terminal device may provide a relay service for a plurality of first terminal devices. In this case, the measurement configuration information sent by the network device to the second terminal device may include identifiers of the plurality of first terminal devices, so that the second terminal device measures the signal quality of the PC5 link corresponding to each first terminal device.

In a possible implementation manner, the second terminal device may first measure, according to measurement configuration information, signal quality of a serving cell where the second terminal device is located and/or signal quality of a neighboring cell of the serving cell, to obtain a first measurement result, where the first measurement result includes: the signal quality of the serving cell in which the second terminal device is located and/or the signal quality of the neighbor cell of the serving cell. Further, it is determined whether to measure the link quality between the first terminal device and the second terminal device based on the first measurement result.

If the second terminal device determines that the network device will initiate the handover of the second terminal device according to the first measurement result, the second terminal device measures the link quality between the first terminal device and the second terminal device to obtain a second measurement result, where the second measurement result includes: link quality between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. Further, the second terminal device generates a third measurement report according to the first measurement result and the second measurement result.

If the second terminal equipment determines that the network equipment cannot initiate the switching of the second terminal equipment according to the first measurement result, the second terminal equipment does not need to measure the link quality between the first terminal equipment and the second terminal equipment. In this case, the second terminal device may generate a third measurement report according to the first measurement result. It should be appreciated that the third measurement report at this time corresponds to the second measurement report in the foregoing embodiment.

That is, the second terminal device may initially determine, according to the first measurement result, whether the network device will initiate handover of the second terminal device. And under the condition that the network equipment can initiate the switching of the second terminal equipment, the second terminal equipment reports a third measurement report to the network equipment. And under the condition that the network equipment does not initiate the switching of the second terminal equipment, the second terminal equipment reports a second measurement report to the network equipment.

In this way, the second terminal device does not need to measure the link quality between the first terminal device and the second terminal device each time, so that the measurement overhead of the second terminal device is reduced, and the resources occupied by the third measurement report are saved.

S602: and the network equipment determines whether to perform group switching on the first terminal equipment and the second terminal equipment according to the third measurement report.

In this embodiment, since the third measurement report includes both "the signal quality of the serving cell where the second terminal device is located and/or the signal quality of the neighbor cell of the serving cell" and "the link quality between the first terminal device and the second terminal device", the network device may determine whether to switch the second terminal device according to the "the signal quality of the serving cell where the second terminal device is located and/or the signal quality of the neighbor cell of the serving cell" included in the third measurement report. When the second terminal equipment is determined to be required to be switched, determining whether the first terminal equipment and the second terminal equipment are required to be switched according to the link quality between the first terminal equipment and the second terminal equipment included in the third measurement report. For example, if the link quality between the first terminal device and the second terminal device is greater than or equal to a preset threshold, determining to perform group switching on the first terminal device and the second terminal device; and if the link quality between the first terminal equipment and the second terminal equipment is smaller than a preset threshold value, determining that the group switching is not performed on the first terminal equipment and the second terminal equipment.

In this embodiment, the third measurement report sent by the second terminal device to the network device includes: the link quality between the first terminal device and the second terminal device, and the signal quality of the serving cell where the second terminal device is located and/or the signal quality of the neighbor cell of the serving cell, so that the network device can simultaneously know the link quality between the first terminal device and the second terminal device, and the signal quality of the serving cell where the second terminal device is located and/or the signal quality of the neighbor cell of the serving cell. In this way, when the network device makes a group switching decision, the group switching decision can be made more accurately based on the more accurate link quality between the first terminal device and the second terminal device.

Fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application. The communication device provided in this embodiment may be in the form of software and/or hardware. The communication device provided in this embodiment may be a terminal device, or a module, a unit, a chip module, or the like in the terminal device. The communication device provided in this embodiment may be a network device, or a module, a unit, a chip module, or the like in the network device.

As shown in fig. 7, the communication device 700 provided in this embodiment includes: at least part of the receiving module 701, the processing module 702 and the transmitting module 703. The communication device is described in detail below with several specific examples in connection with different application scenarios.

In one example, the communication apparatus of the present embodiment is applied to a first terminal device. In this case the number of the elements to be formed is,

a receiving module 701, configured to receive first indication information, where the first indication information is used to instruct the first terminal device to send a first measurement report to a network device;

a sending module 703, configured to send the first measurement report to the network device according to the first indication information;

In a possible implementation manner, the receiving module 701 is specifically configured to:

receiving the first indication information from the second terminal device; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

the first indication information is received from the network device.

In a possible implementation manner, the processing module 702 is configured to determine whether the first measurement report exists locally according to the first indication information;

The sending module 703 is specifically configured to: if the first measurement report exists locally, the first measurement report is sent to the network equipment;

the processing module 702 is further configured to: and if the first measurement report does not exist locally, carrying out link measurement to obtain the first measurement report.

In a possible implementation manner, the receiving module 701 is further configured to: receiving second indication information sent by the second terminal equipment, wherein the second indication information is used for indicating the first terminal equipment to perform link measurement;

the processing module 702 is configured to perform link measurement according to the second indication information, and obtain the first measurement report.

The communication device provided in this embodiment may be used to execute the communication method executed by the first terminal device in the method embodiment shown in fig. 3, fig. 4, or fig. 5, and the implementation principle and technical effects are similar, and are not described herein.

In another example, the communication apparatus provided in this embodiment may be applied to a second terminal device. In this case:

the processing module 702 is configured to generate first indication information, where the first indication information is configured to instruct a first terminal device to send a first measurement report to a network device, where the first measurement report is used to assist the network device in determining whether to perform group switching on the first terminal device and the second terminal device, and the second terminal device is a relay device of the first terminal device;

The sending module 703 is configured to send the first indication information to the first terminal device.

In a possible implementation manner, the sending module 703 is specifically configured to:

before sending a second measurement report to the network equipment, sending the first indication information to the first terminal equipment; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

after sending a second measurement report to the network device, sending the first indication information to the first terminal device;

In a possible implementation manner, the sending module 703 is further configured to: and sending second indication information to the first terminal equipment, wherein the second indication information is used for indicating the first terminal equipment to carry out link measurement.

In a possible implementation manner, the sending module 703 is specifically configured to: when the second terminal equipment determines that the link quality between the second terminal equipment and the network equipment is smaller than or equal to a first threshold value, the second terminal equipment sends second indication information to the first terminal equipment;

The communication device provided in this embodiment may be used to execute the communication method executed by the second terminal device in the embodiment of the method shown in fig. 3 or fig. 4, and its implementation principle and technical effects are similar, and are not described herein.

In yet another example, the communication apparatus provided in this embodiment is applicable to the second terminal device. In this case:

the processing module 702 is configured to generate a third measurement report;

a sending module 703 is configured to send the third measurement report to a network device;

In a possible implementation manner, the receiving module 701 is configured to receive measurement configuration information from the network device, where the measurement configuration information is used to instruct the second terminal device to measure a link quality between the first terminal device and the second terminal device, and measure a signal quality of a serving cell where the second terminal device is located and/or a signal quality of a neighboring cell of the serving cell.

In one possible implementation, the processing module 702 is specifically configured to: and measuring the link quality between the first terminal equipment and the second terminal equipment according to the measurement configuration information, and measuring the signal quality of a serving cell where the second terminal equipment is located and/or the signal quality of a neighbor cell of the serving cell to obtain the third measurement report.

The communication device of the present embodiment may be used to perform the communication method performed by the second terminal device in the embodiment shown in fig. 6, and its implementation principle and technical effects are similar, and are not described herein.

In yet another example, the communication apparatus provided in this embodiment is applicable to a network device. In this case the number of the elements to be formed is,

the receiving module 701 is configured to receive a second measurement report sent by a second terminal device;

the sending module 703 is configured to send first indication information to a first terminal device according to the second measurement report, where the first indication information is used to instruct the first terminal device to send a first measurement report to the network device, and the second terminal device is a relay device of the first terminal device;

the receiving module 701 is further configured to receive the first measurement report sent by the first terminal device.

In a possible implementation manner, the sending module 703 is specifically configured to: and when the second terminal equipment is determined to be switched according to the second measurement report, the first indication information is sent to the first terminal equipment.

In a possible implementation, the first measurement report includes a link quality between the first terminal device and the second terminal device; the second measurement report includes the signal quality of the serving cell in which the second terminal device is located and/or the signal quality of the neighbor cell of the serving cell.

The communication device provided in this embodiment may be used to execute the communication method executed by the network device in the method embodiment shown in fig. 5, and its implementation principle and technical effects are similar, and are not described herein.

the receiving module 701 is configured to receive a third measurement report from a second terminal device, where the second terminal device is a relay device of a first terminal device, and the third measurement report includes a link quality between the first terminal device and the second terminal device, a signal quality of a serving cell where the second terminal device is located, and/or a signal quality of a neighbor cell of the serving cell;

The processing module 702 is configured to determine whether to perform a group handover for the first terminal device and the second terminal device according to the third measurement report.

In a possible implementation manner, the sending module 703 is configured to send measurement configuration information to the second terminal device, where the measurement configuration information is used to instruct the second terminal device to measure a link quality between the first terminal device and the second terminal device, and measure a signal quality of a serving cell where the second terminal device is located and/or a signal quality of a neighboring cell of the serving cell.

The communication device provided in this embodiment may be used to execute the communication method executed by the network device in the method embodiment shown in fig. 6, and its implementation principle and technical effects are similar, and are not described herein.

Fig. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application. The communication device may be a terminal device, or a chip, a chip module, etc. in the terminal device. The communication device may also be a network device, or a chip, a chip module, etc. in a network device. As shown in fig. 8, a communication device 800 provided in this embodiment includes: a transceiver 801, a memory 802, and a processor 803. The transceiver 801 may include: a transmitter and/or a receiver. The transmitter may also be referred to as a transmitter, transmit port, transmit interface, or the like, and the receiver may also be referred to as a receiver, receive port, receive interface, or the like. Illustratively, the transceiver 801, the memory 802, and the processor 803 are interconnected by a bus 804.

The memory 802 is used to store a computer program;

the processor 803 is configured to execute the computer program stored in the memory, to implement a communication method performed by the first terminal device, the second terminal device, or the network device in any of the above-described method embodiments.

Wherein the receiver in the transceiver 801 is operable to perform the receiving function of the communication device in the above-described method embodiment. The transmitter in transceiver 801 may be used to perform the transmitting functions of the communication device in the method embodiments described above. The processor 803 is operative to perform processing functions of the communication device in the method embodiments described above.

The communication device provided in this embodiment may be used to perform the communication method performed by the first terminal device, the second terminal device, or the network device in any of the above method embodiments, and the implementation principle and technical effects are similar, which are not described herein.

The embodiment of the present application further provides a computer readable storage medium, where the computer readable storage medium stores a computer program, where when the computer program is executed by a computer, the computer program implements a communication method performed by a first terminal device in any method embodiment, or implements a communication method performed by a second terminal device in any method embodiment, or implements a communication method performed by a network device in any method embodiment, where the implementation principle and technical effects are similar, and are not repeated herein.

The embodiment of the application also provides a chip, which comprises: the system comprises a memory, a processor and hardware system resources, wherein the memory stores a computer program, and the processor runs the computer program to realize a communication method executed by a first terminal device in any method embodiment, or to realize a communication method executed by a second terminal device in any method embodiment, or to realize a communication method executed by a network device in any method embodiment, and the implementation principle and technical effects are similar, and are not repeated herein.

The embodiment of the present application further provides a computer program product, which includes a computer program, where the computer program when executed by a computer implements a communication method performed by a first terminal device in any of the above method embodiments, or implements a communication method performed by a second terminal device in any of the above method embodiments, or implements a communication method performed by a network device in any of the above method embodiments, and the implementation principle and technical effects of the implementation are similar, and are not repeated herein.

In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed apparatus and method may be implemented in other ways. For example, the above-described embodiments of the apparatus are merely illustrative, and for example, the division of the modules is merely a logical function division, and there may be additional divisions when actually implemented, for example, multiple modules may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted or not performed. Alternatively, 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 modules, which may be in electrical, mechanical, or other forms.

The modules described as separate components may or may not be physically separate, and components shown as modules may or may not be physical units, may be located in one place, or may be distributed over multiple network units. Some or all of the modules may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of this embodiment.

In addition, each functional module in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated in one processing unit, or each module may exist alone physically, or two or more modules may be integrated in one unit. The units formed by the modules can be realized in a form of hardware or a form of hardware and software functional units.

The integrated modules, which are implemented in the form of software functional modules, may be stored in a computer readable storage medium. The software functional modules described above are stored in a storage medium and include instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) or a processor (processor) to perform some steps of the methods described in the embodiments of the present application.

It is understood that the processor may be a central processing unit (Central Processing Unit, CPU), but may also be other general purpose processors, digital signal processors (Digital Signal Processor, DSP), application specific integrated circuits (Application Specific Integrated Circuit, ASIC), etc. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor or the processor may be any conventional processor or the like. The steps of a method disclosed in connection with the present application may be embodied directly in a hardware processor for execution, or in a combination of hardware and software modules in a processor for execution.

The memory may comprise a high-speed RAM memory, and may further comprise a non-volatile memory NVM, such as at least one magnetic disk memory, and may also be a U-disk, a removable hard disk, a read-only memory, a magnetic disk or optical disk, etc.

The bus may be an industry standard architecture (Industry Standard Architecture, ISA) bus, an external device interconnect (Peripheral Component, PCI) bus, or an extended industry standard architecture (Extended Industry Standard Architecture, EISA) bus, among others. The buses may be divided into address buses, data buses, control buses, etc. For ease of illustration, the buses in the drawings of the present application are not limited to only one bus or one type of bus.

The storage medium may be implemented by any type or combination of volatile or nonvolatile memory devices such as Static Random Access Memory (SRAM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), read-only memory (ROM), magnetic memory, flash memory, magnetic or optical disk. A storage media may be any available media that can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer.

An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor such the processor can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may be integral to the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in an application specific integrated circuit (Application Specific Integrated Circuits, ASIC). It is also possible that the processor and the storage medium reside as discrete components in an electronic device or a master device.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that: all or part of the steps for implementing the method embodiments described above may be performed by hardware associated with program instructions. The foregoing program may be stored in a computer readable storage medium. The program, when executed, performs steps including the method embodiments described above; and the aforementioned storage medium includes: various media that can store program code, such as ROM, RAM, magnetic or optical disks.

Finally, it should be noted that: the above embodiments are only for illustrating the technical solution of the present application, and not for limiting the same; although the present application has been described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, it should be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that: the technical scheme described in the foregoing embodiments can be modified or some or all of the technical features thereof can be replaced by equivalents; such modifications and substitutions do not depart from the spirit of the corresponding technical solutions from the scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application.

Claims

1. A method of communication, comprising:

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first terminal device receives the first indication information, comprising:

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the first terminal device sending a first measurement report to the network device according to the first indication information, comprising:

4. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the method further comprises:

the first terminal equipment receives second indication information sent by the second terminal equipment, wherein the second indication information is used for indicating the first terminal equipment to perform link measurement;

5. The method according to any one of claim 1 to 4, wherein,

the first measurement report includes a link quality between the first terminal device and the second terminal device.

6. A method of communication, comprising:

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the second terminal device sending the first indication information to the first terminal device comprises:

8. The method according to claim 6 or 7, characterized in that the method further comprises:

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the second terminal device sending second indication information to the first terminal device comprises:

10. The method according to any one of claims 6 to 9, wherein,

11. A method of communication, comprising:

the second terminal equipment generates a third measurement report;

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the method further comprises:

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the second terminal device generates a third measurement report, comprising:

14. A method of communication, comprising:

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the network device sending the first indication information to the first terminal device according to the second measurement report comprises:

16. The method according to claim 14 or 15, wherein,

the first measurement report includes a link quality between the first terminal device and the second terminal device;

17. A method of communication, comprising:

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the method further comprises:

19. A communication apparatus, for use with a first terminal device, comprising:

20. A communication apparatus, characterized by being applied to a second terminal device, comprising:

21. A communication apparatus, characterized by being applied to a second terminal device, comprising:

the processing module is used for generating a third measurement report;

22. A communication apparatus, for use with a network device, comprising:

23. A communication apparatus, for use with a network device, comprising:

24. A communication device, comprising: a processor, and a memory communicatively coupled to the processor;

the memory stores a computer program;

the processor executes the computer program to implement the method of any one of claims 1 to 5, or to implement the method of any one of claims 6 to 10, or to implement the method of any one of claims 11 to 13, or to implement the method of any one of claims 14 to 16, or to implement the method of claim 17 or 18.

25. A computer readable storage medium, characterized in that the computer readable storage medium has stored therein a computer program which, when executed by a computer, implements the method of any one of claims 1 to 5, or implements the method of any one of claims 6 to 10, or implements the method of any one of claims 11 to 13, or implements the method of any one of claims 14 to 16, or implements the method of claim 17 or 18.

26. A computer program product comprising a computer program which, when executed by a computer, implements the method of any one of claims 1 to 5, or implements the method of any one of claims 6 to 10, or implements the method of any one of claims 11 to 13, or implements the method of any one of claims 14 to 16, or implements the method of claim 17 or 18.