CN116801337A

CN116801337A - Communication method, device and storage medium

Info

Publication number: CN116801337A
Application number: CN202210272379.6A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 邓云
Original assignee: Spreadtrum Communications Shanghai Co Ltd
Current assignee: Spreadtrum Communications Shanghai Co Ltd
Priority date: 2022-03-18
Filing date: 2022-03-18
Publication date: 2023-09-22

Abstract

The embodiment of the application provides a communication method, equipment and a storage medium, wherein the communication method is applied to network equipment and comprises the following steps: first request information including information indicating configuration PSCell addition/change and condition PSCell addition/change is transmitted. According to the communication method provided by the embodiment of the application, when the master node simultaneously configures the PSCell addition/change and the conditional PSCell addition/change for the terminal equipment on one auxiliary node, the simultaneous configuration of the PSCell addition/change and the conditional PSCell addition/change can be realized through one request signaling, so that signaling overhead is reduced.

Description

Communication method, device and storage medium

[ field of technology ]

Embodiments of the present application relate to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a communications method, device, and storage medium.

[ background Art ]

In multiple types of dual connectivity communication scenarios, a primary secondary cell (Primary Secondary Cell, PSCell) addition or change based on a traditional Handover (HO) mechanism may be supported, as well as a PSCell addition or change based on a conditional Handover (Conditional Handover, CHO) mechanism.

However, when the PSCell based on the HO mechanism is configured to be increased or changed at the same time, and the PSCell based on the CHO mechanism is configured to be increased or changed, signaling overhead of interfaces between base stations and air interfaces is excessive and time delay is long.

[ application ]

The embodiment of the application provides a communication method, equipment and a storage medium, which are used for reducing signaling overhead of interfaces and air interfaces between base stations and avoiding time delay increase when PSCell addition or change based on an HO mechanism and PSCell addition or change based on the CHO mechanism are configured simultaneously in double connection.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, applied to a network device, including:

first request information including information indicating configuration PSCell addition/change and condition PSCell addition/change is transmitted.

According to the communication method provided by the embodiment of the application, when the master node expects to simultaneously configure PSCell addition/change and conditional PSCell addition/change for the terminal equipment on one auxiliary node, the simultaneous configuration of PSCell addition/change and conditional PSCell addition/change can be realized through one request signaling, so that signaling overhead and time delay are reduced.

In one possible implementation manner, the first request information includes information indicating that the first secondary cell group SCG and the second SCG are configured, where the first SCG includes a target PSCell and the second SCG includes a candidate PSCell.

In one possible implementation, the first request information includes information indicating a configuration target PSCell and a candidate PSCell.

In one possible implementation manner, the information indicating that the first secondary cell group SCG is configured or the information indicating that the target PSCell is configured includes an identification of the target PSCell.

In one possible implementation, the first request information includes a maximum number of candidate pscells that can be configured.

In one possible implementation manner, the first request information is carried by a secondary node adding request message.

In one possible implementation manner, after the sending the first request information, the method further includes:

first acknowledgement information is received, the first acknowledgement information including configuration information of PSCell addition/change and configuration information of conditional PSCell addition/change.

In one possible implementation manner, after the receiving the first acknowledgement information, the method further includes:

switching information including configuration information of PSCell addition/change and configuration information of conditional PSCell addition/change is transmitted.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, applied to a network device, including:

Receiving first request information, wherein the first request information comprises information indicating configuration PSCell addition/change and condition PSCell addition/change;

configuration information of PSCell addition/change and configuration information of conditional PSCell addition/change are configured according to the first request information.

According to the communication method provided by the embodiment of the application, the configuration information for configuring the addition/change of the PSCell and the configuration information for configuring the addition/change of the condition PSCell can be realized through one interaction flow between the MN and the target SN, so that the time delay in the process of adding/changing the PSCell can be reduced.

In one possible implementation manner, the configuring information for configuring PSCell addition/change according to the first request information and configuring information for conditional PSCell addition/change includes:

and configuring configuration information of the target PScell and configuration information of candidate PScells according to the first request information.

the configuration information of the first SCG and the configuration information of the second SCG are configured according to the first request information, wherein the configuration information of the first SCG comprises the configuration information of the target PScell, and the configuration information of the second SCG comprises the configuration information of the candidate PScell.

In one possible implementation manner, the configuring the configuration information of the target PSCell and the configuration information of the candidate PSCell according to the first request information includes:

configuring configuration information of the target PSCell according to the first request information;

and configuring the configuration information of the candidate PScell according to the configuration information of the target PScell, wherein the configuration information of the candidate PScell is different from the configuration information of the target PScell.

In one possible implementation manner, the configuring the configuration information of the candidate PSCell according to the configuration information of the target PSCell includes:

and generating the configuration information of the candidate PSCells in an incremental configuration mode by taking the configuration information of the target PSCells as a reference.

In one possible implementation manner, the configuring the configuration information of the first SCG and the configuration information of the second SCG according to the first request information includes:

configuring configuration information of the first SCG according to the first request information;

and configuring the configuration information of the second SCG according to the configuration information of the first SCG, wherein the configuration information of the first SCG is different from the configuration information of the second SCG.

In one possible implementation manner, the configuring the configuration information of the second SCG according to the configuration information of the first SCG includes:

And generating the configuration information of the second SCG in an incremental configuration mode by taking the configuration information of the first SCG as a reference.

In one possible implementation manner, after the configuring information added/changed by the PSCell and the configuring information added/changed by the PSCell according to the first request information, the method further includes:

first acknowledgement information including configuration information of PSCell addition/change and configuration information of conditional PSCell addition/change is transmitted.

In one possible implementation manner, the first acknowledgement information includes a first container and a second container, where the first container is used to transmit the configuration information of the PSCell addition/change, and the second container is used to transmit the configuration information of the PSCell addition/change.

In one possible implementation manner, the first acknowledgement information is carried by a secondary node adding request acknowledgement message.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, applied to a terminal device, including:

receiving reconfiguration information, wherein the reconfiguration information comprises configuration information added/changed by a PSCell and configuration information added/changed by a conditional PSCell;

accessing a target PScell according to the reconfiguration information;

After accessing the target PSCell, candidate pscells are evaluated.

According to the communication method provided by the embodiment of the application, when the terminal equipment receives the configuration information of PSCell addition/change configured by the MN and the configuration information of the condition PSCell addition/change, the terminal equipment can continuously evaluate whether other candidate PSCells meet the PSCell update execution condition after accessing the target PSCell, and can meet the subsequent mobility requirement by utilizing the configuration parameters.

In one possible implementation manner, the reconfiguration information further includes configuration information of a target PCell, and the accessing the target PSCell according to the reconfiguration information includes:

and accessing the target PCell according to the reconfiguration information, and accessing the target PScell in parallel.

In one possible implementation manner, the reconfiguration information further includes configuration information of candidate PCell, and the accessing the target PSCell according to the reconfiguration information includes:

performing a conditional PCell handover according to the reconfiguration information;

and accessing the PCell after the PCell meets the switching triggering condition, and simultaneously accessing the target PScell in parallel.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a network device, including:

A first sending module, configured to send first request information, where the first request information includes information indicating configuration PSCell addition/change and condition PSCell addition/change.

It can be appreciated that, in the fourth aspect of the present application, the technical solutions of the first aspect of the present application are consistent, and the corresponding possible implementation manners achieve similar beneficial effects, which are not repeated.

In one possible implementation manner, the network device further includes:

And a first receiving module, configured to receive first acknowledgement information after the first request information is sent, where the first acknowledgement information includes PSCell added/changed configuration information and conditional PSCell added/changed configuration information.

In one possible implementation manner, the network device further includes:

and a second transmitting module, configured to transmit switching information after receiving the first acknowledgement information, where the switching information includes configuration information of PSCell addition/change and configuration information of conditional PSCell addition/change.

In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a network device, including:

a second receiving module configured to receive first request information including information indicating configuration PSCell addition/change and conditional PSCell addition/change;

a configuration module, configured to configure the configuration information of PSCell addition/change and the configuration information of conditional PSCell addition/change according to the first request information.

It can be appreciated that, in the fifth aspect of the present application, the technical solutions of the second aspect of the present application are consistent, and the corresponding possible implementation manners achieve similar beneficial effects, which are not repeated.

In one possible implementation manner, the configuration module includes:

And the first configuration sub-module is used for configuring the configuration information of the target PSCell and the configuration information of the candidate PSCell according to the first request information.

In one possible implementation manner, the configuration module further includes:

the second configuration sub-module is configured to configure configuration information of a first SCG and configuration information of a second SCG according to the first request information, wherein the configuration information of the first SCG comprises configuration information of a target PScell, and the configuration information of the second SCG comprises configuration information of candidate PScells.

In one possible implementation manner, the first configuration sub-module includes:

a first configuration unit, configured to configure configuration information of the target PSCell according to the first request information;

a second configuration unit, configured to configure configuration information of the candidate PSCell according to configuration information of the target PSCell, where the configuration information of the candidate PSCell is different from the configuration information of the target PSCell.

In one possible implementation manner, the second configuration unit is specifically configured to:

In one possible implementation manner, the second configuration sub-module includes:

A third configuration unit, configured to configure configuration information of the first SCG according to the first request information;

a fourth configuration unit, configured to configure configuration information of the second SCG according to configuration information of the first SCG, where the configuration information of the first SCG is different from the configuration information of the second SCG.

In one possible implementation manner, the fourth configuration unit is specifically configured to:

In one possible implementation manner, the network device includes:

and a third sending module, configured to send first acknowledgement information after configuring the PSCell added/changed configuration information and the conditional PSCell added/changed configuration information according to the first request information, where the first acknowledgement information includes the PSCell added/changed configuration information and the conditional PSCell added/changed configuration information.

In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a terminal device, including:

a third receiving module, configured to receive reconfiguration information, where the reconfiguration information includes configuration information added/changed by PSCell and configuration information added/changed by conditional PSCell;

the execution module is used for accessing the target PScell according to the reconfiguration information;

and the evaluation module is used for evaluating the candidate PScell after the target PScell is accessed.

It can be appreciated that, in the sixth aspect of the present application, the technical solutions of the third aspect of the present application are consistent, and the corresponding possible implementation manners achieve similar beneficial effects, which are not repeated.

In one possible implementation manner, the reconfiguration information further includes configuration information of the target PCell, and the execution module includes:

and the first execution unit is used for accessing the target PCell according to the reconfiguration information and simultaneously accessing the target PScell in parallel.

In one possible implementation manner, the reconfiguration information further includes configuration information of the candidate PCell, and the execution module further includes:

A second execution unit, configured to execute a conditional PCell handover according to the reconfiguration information;

and the third execution unit is used for accessing the PCell after the PCell meets the switching trigger condition, and simultaneously accessing the target PScell in parallel.

In a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a chip system, including: a communication interface for inputting and/or outputting information; and a processor for invoking a computer program to cause a device on which the chip system is installed to perform the method provided by the first aspect of the embodiment of the application, or to perform the method provided by the second aspect of the embodiment of the application, or to perform the method provided by the third aspect of the embodiment of the application.

In an eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a network device, including: at least one processor; and at least one memory communicatively coupled to the processor, wherein: the memory stores a computer program executable by the processor, the processor running the computer program to implement the method provided in the first aspect of the embodiment of the present application or to implement the method provided in the second aspect of the embodiment of the present application.

In a ninth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a terminal device, including: at least one processor; and at least one memory communicatively coupled to the processor, wherein: the memory stores a computer program executable by the processor, and the processor runs the computer program to implement the method provided by the third aspect of the embodiment of the present application.

In a tenth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a computer readable storage medium storing a computer program which, when executed by a computer, implements the method provided by the first aspect of the embodiments of the present application, or implements the method provided by the second aspect of the embodiments of the present application, or implements the method provided by the third aspect of the embodiments of the present application.

It should be understood that, the seventh to tenth aspects of the embodiments of the present application are consistent with the technical solutions of the first aspect, the second aspect, or the third aspect of the embodiments of the present application, and the beneficial effects obtained by each aspect and the corresponding possible implementation manner are similar, and are not repeated.

[ description of the drawings ]

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

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an application scenario provided by the present application;

FIG. 2 is a schematic flow chart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

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

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

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

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

FIG. 7 is a schematic flow chart of a communication method according to another embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 8 is a schematic flow chart of a communication method according to another embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 9 is a schematic flow chart of a communication method according to another embodiment of the present application;

fig. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of a network device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of a network device according to another embodiment of the present disclosure;

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

fig. 13 is a schematic structural diagram of a terminal device according to another embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 14 is a schematic structural diagram of a network device according to another embodiment of the present disclosure.

[ detailed description ] of the application

The terms "first" and "second" are used below for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated. Thus, a feature defining "a first" or "a second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more such feature. In the description of the present embodiment, unless otherwise specified, the meaning of "plurality" is two or more.

It should be noted that, in the description of the embodiments of the present application, unless otherwise indicated, "/" means or, for example, a/B may represent a or B; the text "and/or" is merely an association relation describing the associated object, and indicates that three relations may exist, for example, a and/or B may indicate: a exists alone, A and B exist together, and B exists alone.

It should be noted that, as the technology is continuously developed, the terms of the embodiments of the present application may be changed, but all the terms are within the protection scope of the present application.

The technical scheme provided by the application is described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of an application scenario provided in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 1, the technical solution provided by the embodiment of the present application may be applied to a communication system including a terminal device 100 and a network device 110. The terminal device 100 may be connected to the network device 110 through a wireless communication technology, and the network device 110 may provide a data transmission service for the terminal device 100.

It should be appreciated that The Radio access technology (Radio Access Technology, RAT) employed between The terminal device 100 and The network device 110 may be long term evolution (Long Term Evolution, LTE) technology, LTE frequency division duplex (Frequency Division Duplex, FDD) technology, LTE time division duplex (Time Division Duplex, TDD) technology, universal mobile telecommunications system (Universal Mobile Telecommunication System, UMTS), fifth generation mobile telecommunications technology (The 5th Generation Mobile Communication Technology,5G) or New Radio, NR technology, or other evolved communications technology, etc.

It will be appreciated that LTE technology may also be alternatively described as Evolved UMTS terrestrial radio access (E-UTRA) technology.

Referring to fig. 1, a terminal device 100 may be a device with wireless transceiving capability, which may be deployed on land, including indoor or outdoor, hand-held, wearable or vehicle-mounted. The terminal device 100 may also be deployed on the water surface (e.g., a ship, etc.). The terminal device 100 may also be deployed in the air (e.g., on an airplane, balloon, satellite, etc.). The terminal device 100 may be, for example, a Mobile Phone (Mobile Phone), a tablet computer (Pad), a computer with a wireless transceiving function, a Virtual Reality (VR) terminal device, an augmented Reality (Augmented Reality, AR) terminal device, a terminal in industrial control (Industrial Control), a vehicle-mounted terminal device, a terminal in unmanned driving, a terminal in assisted driving, a terminal in Remote Medical (Remote Medical), a terminal in Smart Grid (Smart Grid), a terminal in transportation security (Transportation Safety), a terminal in Smart City (Smart City), a terminal in Smart Home (Smart Home), or the like. The embodiment of the application does not limit the application scene.

It is understood that the terminal device 100 may also be referred to as a User Equipment (UE), an access terminal, an in-vehicle terminal, an industrial control terminal, a UE unit, a UE station, a mobile station, a remote terminal, a mobile device, a UE terminal device, a wireless communication device, a machine terminal, a UE proxy, a UE apparatus, or the like.

For example, in an embodiment of the present application, the terminal device 100 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 addition, in the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device 100 may also be a terminal device in an internet of things (Internet of Things, ioT) system, where IoT is an important component of future information technology development, and the main technical feature is to connect an article with a network through a communication technology, so as to implement an intelligent network for man-machine interconnection and internet of things interconnection. The terminal device 100 of the present application may be an in-vehicle module, an in-vehicle component, an in-vehicle chip, or an in-vehicle unit that is built in a vehicle as one or more components or units, and the vehicle may implement the method of the present application by the in-vehicle module, the in-vehicle component, the in-vehicle chip, or the in-vehicle unit. Therefore, the embodiment of the application can be applied To the Internet of vehicles, such as the Vehicle external connection (Vehicle To Everything, V2X), the long-term evolution technology of workshop communication (Long Term Evolution-Vehicle, LTE-V), the Vehicle-To-Vehicle (V2V) and the like.

Referring to fig. 1, a network device 110 may be a device for communicating with a terminal device 100. The network device 110 may also be referred to as an access network device or a radio access network device. The network device 110 may be, for example, a transmission receiving point (Transmission Reception Point, TRP), an Evolved NodeB (eNB) in LTE, a home Base station (Home Evolved NodeB), a baseband Unit (BBU), or a radio controller in a cloud radio access network (Cloud Radio Access Network, CRAN) scenario. The network device 110 may be a relay station, an access point, an in-vehicle device, a wearable device, a network device in a 5G network or a network device in a PLMN network that evolves in the future, and the like, and may be, for example, a gNB in NR.

In one network architecture, the network device 110 may include a Centralized Unit (CU) node, a Distributed Unit (DU) node. The structure splits the protocol layer of the eNB in the LTE system, the functions of part of the protocol layer are controlled in the CU in a centralized way, and the functions of the rest part or all of the protocol layer are distributed in DUs, so that the CU controls the DUs in a centralized way. Under such a network structure, the network device 110 may be a RAN device including CU nodes and DU nodes.

It should be noted that the specific type of the network device 110 is not limited in the embodiment of the present application.

It will be appreciated that the terminal device 100 may be stationary or mobile. When the terminal device 100 moves, a Handover (HO) mechanism may be employed in order to satisfy mobility of the terminal device 100, and the Handover may also be referred to as a synchronization reconfiguration (reconfiguration with sync). The HO mechanism may be that the network device 110 sends a handover command to the terminal device 100, and the handover command may instruct the UE to handover a currently connected cell (source cell) to a target cell, and the UE may disconnect from the source cell and access the target cell after receiving the HO command.

To improve the success rate and robustness of the handover, a conditional handover (Conditional Handover, CHO) mechanism is proposed in standard R-16. CHO mechanisms differ from HO mechanisms in that: the CHO handover command includes configuration information of at least one candidate cell provided by the network device 110 to the terminal device 100, and a trigger condition (or referred to as a handover execution condition), and when the terminal device 100 determines that one of the candidate cells satisfies the trigger condition, the terminal device 100 executes a handover procedure; if the candidate cell does not meet the trigger condition, the terminal device 100 continues to maintain the connection with the source cell.

It is appreciated that the HO mechanism and CHO mechanism may be applied in a dual connectivity (Dual Connectivity, DC) scenario. The DC may also be referred to as multiple radio access technology dual connectivity (Multi-RAT Dual Connectivity, MR-DC). The DC supports two network devices 110 simultaneously providing data/signaling services for the same terminal device 100.

Referring again to fig. 1, the network device 110 having control plane signaling interactions with the core network may be referred to as a Master Node or Master base station (MN), and the other network devices 110 may be referred to as Secondary nodes or Secondary base Stations (SNs).

It should be appreciated that the DC architecture may include, but is not limited to, the following four:

first, EN-DC (E-UTRA-NR Dual Connectivity), i.e. the network device 110 in LTE (e.g. eNB) acts as MN (i.e. MN as terminal device 100), also called Anchor point (Anchor), the network device 110 in NR (e.g. gNB) acts as SN (i.e. SN as terminal device 100), and both MN and SN are connected to the 4G core network (Evolved Packet Core, EPC), which in turn can provide air interface transmission resources for data between terminal device 100 and EPC.

Second, NE-DC (NR-E-UTRA Dual Connectivity), i.e. the network device 110 in NR is used as MN, the network device 110 in LTE is used as SN, and both MN and SN are connected to the 5G core network (5G core,5 GC), so that an air interface transmission resource can be provided for data between the terminal device 100 and the 5 GC.

Third, NGEN-DC (NG-RAN E-UTRA-NR Dual Connectivity), i.e. the network device 110 in LTE (e.g. NG-eNB) acts as MN, the network device 110 in NR (e.g. gNB) acts as SN, and both MN and SN are connected to the 5G core network 5GC, so that air interface transmission resources can be provided for data between the terminal devices 100 and 5GC.

Fourth, in addition to the above three LTE and NR DC,5G also supports NR and NR DC (NR-DC), i.e., MN and SN are both network devices 110 in NR, and MN and SN are both connected to 5GC.

In addition, the DC scenario described in the embodiment of the present application is for more clearly describing the technical solution of the embodiment of the present application, and does not constitute a limitation on the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application, and along with the evolution of the network architecture, the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application is also applicable to an application scenario in which the terminal device 100 supports to access more than two or more network devices 110 simultaneously, without limitation. In an application scenario where the terminal device 100 supports access to two or more network devices simultaneously, one MN exists in two or more network devices 110, and network devices 110 except for the MN may be referred to as SNs.

It should be appreciated that in DC, the set of serving cells provided by MN to terminal device 100 may be referred to as a primary cell set (Master Cell Group, MCG), and the set of serving cells provided by SN to terminal device 100 may be referred to as a secondary cell set (Secondary Cell Group, SCG). The MCG and SCG each comprise at least one cell. A Primary Cell (PCell) is a Cell in the MCG, operating on a Primary carrier. The primary and secondary cells (Primary Second Cell, PSCell) are cells in the SCG.

It is to be appreciated that the MCG may include one PCell and optionally one or more secondary cells (scells). The SCG may include one PSCell and optionally one or more scells.

The terms PCell, PSCell, SCell, serving cell, etc. are described below.

1. PCell: deployed at the primary frequency point, or PCell operating on the primary carrier. The PCell is a cell corresponding to the initial connection establishment procedure or the connection reestablishment procedure initiated by the terminal device 100, that is, the initial connection establishment procedure or the connection reestablishment procedure initiated by the terminal device 100 in a certain cell, and the cell is called as the PCell. During handover, one cell may be indicated as PCell.

2. PSCell: is a cell in the SCG where the terminal device 100 performs random access or initial physical uplink shared channel (Physical Uplink Shared Channel, PUSCH) transmission in the SCG (refer to a cell in the SCG where the terminal device 100 skips a random access procedure to transmit data transmission in an SN changing procedure), or where a SN initiating random access in a reconfiguration procedure to perform synchronization.

3. SCell: operating on the secondary carrier, once the RRC connection is established, the SCell may be configured and may provide additional radio resources for the terminal device 100. In DC, cells other than PCell and PSCell in MCG and SCG may be referred to as scells.

4. The serving cell: the terminal device 100 in the RRC CONNECTED state (rrc_connected) has only one serving cell, i.e., PCell, if no carrier aggregation (Carrier Aggregation, CA) or DC is configured. If CA or DC is configured, the serving cell of the terminal device 100 is a cell set consisting of PCell, PSCell and all scells.

It should be appreciated that each carrier (Component Carrier, CC) corresponds to a separate cell. In one possible implementation, the DC configured terminal device 100 may be connected with 1 PCell and at most 31 scells. The PCell, PSCell and all scells of the terminal device 100 constitute a set of serving cells of the terminal device 100. The serving cell of the terminal device 100 may be referred to as a PCell, a PSCell, or an SCell.

5. Carrier aggregation: a technique of configuring a plurality of carriers (cells) for a single terminal device 100 to perform data transmission in common.

As described above, the network side may trigger a PSCell Addition (PSCell Addition) or a PSCell Change (PSCell Change) due to mobility of the terminal device 100.

PSCell addition: after the terminal device 100 establishes RRC connection with the MN, the MN configures a target PSCell for the terminal device 100, and the terminal device 100 may connect the target PSCell on the SN side according to the configuration information of the target PSCell sent by the MN.

It can be understood that the PSCell addition is similar to the HO mechanism, and the terminal device 100 performs PSCell addition after receiving the configuration information of the target PSCell sent by the MN.

Similarly, the network side also supports CHO mechanism-based PSCell addition, namely conditional PSCell addition (Conditional PSCell Addition), where the conditional PSCell addition may refer to that after the terminal device 100 establishes RRC connection with the MN, the MN configures one or more candidate pscells and addition conditions for the terminal device 100, and the terminal device 100 may initiate random access on the candidate PSCell when the terminal device 100 detects that the candidate PSCell meets the addition conditions according to configuration information and the addition conditions of the one or more candidate pscells sent by the MN, and connect SN. The addition conditions of different candidate pscells may be the same or different.

PSCell change: after the terminal device 100 establishes DC with the MN and the SN, the MN configures a target PSCell for the terminal device 100, and the terminal device 100 may disconnect from the source PSCell according to the configuration information of the target PSCell sent by the MN, and then initiate random access on the target PSCell to connect to the network device 110 to which the target PSCell belongs, i.e. the SN.

It can be understood that the PSCell change is similar to the HO mechanism, and the terminal device 100 performs the PSCell change after receiving the configuration information of the target PSCell transmitted by the MN.

Similarly, the network side also supports a PSCell change based on a CHO mechanism, namely, a condition PSCell change (Conditional PSCell Change), where the condition PSCell change may be that after the terminal device 100 establishes DC with the MN and the SN, the MN or the SN configures one or more candidate pscells and a change condition for the terminal device 100, and the terminal device 100 may initiate random access on the candidate PSCell when the terminal device 100 detects that the candidate PSCell meets the change condition according to configuration information and the change condition of the one or more candidate pscells sent by the MN, and connect SN to which the candidate PSCell belongs. The changing conditions of different candidate pscells may be the same or different.

It should be understood that the PSCell change may be a handover (change) of the terminal device 100 from one cell of an SN to another cell of another SN, or may be a handover (change) of the terminal device 100 from one cell of an SN to another cell of the SN.

In order to facilitate understanding of the improvements made by the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application, first, the existing related technical solutions will be briefly described. In the above PSCell addition/change or conditional PSCell addition/change, it may be triggered by MN. The MN triggers a PSCell add/change or a conditional PSCell add/change, the MN sends request signalling to the SN. Request signaling may be transmitted by air interfaces between multiple network devices 110. For example, the air interface between MN and SN may be an X2 interface of 4G or an Xn interface of 5G.

However, when MN configures PSCell addition/change for terminal device 100 for the same SN and conditions PSCell addition/change, MN needs to send request information about PSCell addition/change and request information about conditions PSCell addition/change to the SN, respectively, on one hand, two pieces of request signaling increase signaling overhead between MN and SN; on the other hand, the delay caused by the two request signaling is larger, because the sending of the second request signaling can be implemented after the SN returns the acknowledgement message of the first request.

In view of this, the embodiments of the present application provide a communication method and apparatus, which can configure PSCell addition/change and conditional PSCell addition/change simultaneously by one request signaling, so as to reduce signaling overhead and reduce delay.

Fig. 2 is a schematic flow chart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the application. As shown in fig. 2, the above communication method may be applied to the communication system shown in fig. 1, and the method includes:

in step 201, the mn sends first request information to the network side, where the first request information includes information indicating configuration PSCell addition/change and conditional PSCell addition/change.

Optionally, the network side includes an SN, such as a target SN.

Optionally, step 201 may include:

in step 201-1, the mn sends first request information to the target SN, the first request information including information indicating configuration of a first SCG including a target PSCell and a second SCG including candidate pscells. The second SCG may also include at least one candidate PSCell.

Alternatively, the first request information may contain the maximum number of candidate pscells that can be configured, or the maximum number of second SCGs.

Optionally, step 201 may include:

in step 201-2, the mn sends first request information to the target SN, the first request information including information indicating configuration of the target PSCell and candidate pscells.

Alternatively, the first request information may be carried by a secondary node add request (SN Addition Request) message.

Specifically, the first request information may directly indicate the identifier of the target PSCell and the identifier of the candidate PSCell to indicate to the SN that the target PSCell and the candidate PSCell need to be configured; or the first request information may directly indicate the identification of the target PSCell and configure the candidate PSCell or the candidate SCG, so as to indicate to the SN that the target PSCell and the candidate PSCell need to be configured.

Through the communication method, in the application scenario that the MN configures PSCell addition/change and conditional PSCell addition/change for the terminal device 100 at the same time with respect to the same SN, the embodiment of the present application can implement configuration of PSCell addition/change and conditional PSCell addition/change at the same time through one request signaling, so as to reduce signaling overhead.

After the above step 201, the following procedure may be performed:

in step 202, the target SN configures the PSCell added/changed configuration information and the conditional PSCell added/changed configuration information according to the first request information.

Optionally, the target SN configures configuration information of the first SCG and configuration information of the second SCG according to the first request information. The configuration information of the first SCG includes configuration information of the target PSCell. The configuration information of the second SCG includes configuration information of candidate pscells.

Alternatively, the configuration information of the second SCG may include configuration information of at least one candidate PSCell.

Optionally, the target SN configures configuration information of the target PSCell and configuration information of the candidate PSCell according to the first request information.

When the first request information contains the maximum number of candidate pscells that can be configured, or the maximum number of second SCGs is configured, the target SN needs to adhere to the maximum number limit, and configure the candidate pscells less than or equal to the maximum number to ensure that the size of signaling sent to the terminal device 100 does not exceed a preset threshold.

Exemplary configuration information for the target PSCell includes one or more of the following: the configuration identifier of the target PSCell, the random access resource allocated by the target PSCell for the terminal, the cell radio network temporary identifier (Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier, C-RNIT), the global cell identifier (Cell Global Identification, CGI) of the target PSCell, the physical cell identifier (Physical Cell Identifier, PCI) of the target PSCell, and the frequency information corresponding to the target PSCell. The frequency information corresponding to the target PSCell may include one or more of the following: absolute frequency of the synchronization signal block (e.g., absolute Frequency SSB), absolute frequency location of the reference resource block (command RB 0) (e.g., absolute Frequency PointA), frequency bandwidth list (e.g., frequency bandwidth list), subcarrier Spacing (SCS) specific Carrier list (e.g., SCS-specific Carrier list), etc. The configuration parameters of the target PSCell may further include resource information corresponding to the target PSCell, where the resource information corresponding to the target PSCell includes one or more of the following: bearer configuration parameters (radiobearconfig), cell group configuration (cellGroupConfig) parameters, physical layer configuration parameters, medium access control (Medium Access Control, MAC) layer configuration parameters, radio link control (Radio Link Control, RLC) layer configuration parameters, packet data convergence layer protocol (Packet Data Convergence Protocol, PDCP) layer configuration parameters, service data adaptation protocol (Service Data Adaptation Protocol, SDAP) layer configuration parameters, or RRC layer configuration parameters.

Alternatively, the configuration information of the candidate PSCell may include the configuration parameters of the candidate PSCell and a PSCell addition/change trigger condition (or referred to as a PSCell update trigger condition, or a PSCell update execution condition), or include only the configuration parameters of the candidate PSCell.

For convenience of description and more clearly explaining the technical solution provided by the embodiments of the present application, in the description of the following embodiments, the update execution condition is referred to as a PSCell addition/change trigger condition, or a PSCell update trigger condition.

By way of example, the configuration parameters of the candidate PSCell may include one or more of the following: priority of candidate PSCell, identifier of configuration of candidate PSCell, random access resource allocated by candidate PSCell for terminal, cell radio network temporary identifier (Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier, C-RNIT), global cell identifier (Cell Global Identification, CGI) of candidate PSCell, physical cell identifier (Physical Cell Identifier, PCI) of candidate PSCell, and frequency information corresponding to candidate PSCell. The frequency information corresponding to the candidate PSCell may include one or more of the following: absolute frequency of the synchronization signal block (e.g., absolute Frequency SSB), absolute frequency location of the reference resource block (command RB 0) (e.g., absolute Frequency PointA), frequency bandwidth list (e.g., frequency bandwidth list), subcarrier Spacing (SCS) specific Carrier list (e.g., SCS-specific Carrier list), etc. The configuration parameters of the candidate PSCell may further include resource information corresponding to the candidate PSCell, where the resource information corresponding to the candidate PSCell includes one or more of the following: bearer configuration parameters (radiobearconfig), cell group configuration (cellGroupConfig) parameters, physical layer configuration parameters, medium access control (Medium Access Control, MAC) layer configuration parameters, radio link control (Radio Link Control, RLC) layer configuration parameters, packet data convergence layer protocol (Packet Data Convergence Protocol, PDCP) layer configuration parameters, service data adaptation protocol (Service Data Adaptation Protocol, SDAP) layer configuration parameters, or RRC layer configuration parameters.

Alternatively, the PScell update execution condition may include measuring a corresponding threshold value in events A3/A4/A5-B1.

It will be appreciated that one candidate PSCell may be configured with one or two update execution conditions, and if two update execution conditions are configured, the terminal device 100 needs to determine that the two update execution conditions are satisfied at the same time to perform PSCell change.

In one possible implementation, the configuration information of the first SCG or the configuration information of the target PSCell may be labeled Initial SCG configuration.

Alternatively, the target SN may configure configuration information of a second SCG according to configuration information of the first SCG, the configuration information of the second SCG being different from the configuration information of the first SCG.

Illustratively, the target SN generates the configuration information of the second SCG in a Delta configuration (Delta signaling) manner based on the configuration information of the first SCG.

Alternatively, the target SN may configure configuration information of at least one candidate PSCell according to configuration information of the target PSCell, the configuration information of the at least one candidate PSCell being different from the configuration information of the target PSCell.

Illustratively, the target SN generates configuration information of at least one candidate PSCell in an incremental configuration manner based on the configuration information of the target PSCell.

It may be understood that the incremental configuration may mean that the target SN configures only a configuration of the terminal device 100 that is different from the current latest configuration (i.e. the reference), the same configuration parameters do not need to be explicitly configured, the terminal device 100 continues to use the same configuration parameters in the reference configuration, for example, the configuration information of the second SCG is not completely identical to the configuration information of the first SCG, for the same parameters, it may not be necessary to configure only different parameters, and further the configuration information of the at least one candidate PSCell is not completely identical to the configuration information of the target PSCell.

In step 203, the target SN sends first acknowledgement information to the MN, which may include configuration information of PSCell addition/change and configuration information of conditional PSCell addition/change.

Alternatively, the first acknowledgement information may be carried by a secondary node add request acknowledgement (SN Addition Request Acknowledge) message.

According to the embodiment of the application, through the method, the configuration information for configuring the addition/change of the PSCell and the configuration information for configuring the addition/change of the condition PSCell can be realized through one interactive flow between the MN and the target SN, and the time delay in the process of adding/changing the PSCell can be remarkably reduced.

It should be noted that, in some cases, since the MN does not parse the configuration information of PSCell addition/change and the configuration information of conditional PSCell addition/change in the first acknowledgement information, but directly transmits the above configuration information to the terminal device 100, the MN may not be able to completely forward the received first acknowledgement information to the terminal device 100. In view of this, another embodiment of the present application provides a communication method in which the MN can forward only the PSCell added/changed configuration information to the terminal device 100 when the MN finds that the transmission signaling is too large. In step 203, the PSCell added/changed configuration information and the conditional PSCell added/changed configuration information are transmitted through two independent transmission containers (Transparent Container), respectively, so that the MN can recognize the contents of the configuration, and preferentially transmit the PSCell added/changed configuration information to the terminal device 100 when only part of the configuration information can be transmitted.

Optionally, the first acknowledgement information comprises a first container and a second container. The first container contains configuration information for PSCell addition/change. The second container contains configuration information for conditional PSCell addition/change.

Alternatively, the first container may be used to transmit configuration information for PSCell addition/change. The second container is used to transmit configuration information of the conditional PSCell addition/change.

After step 203, the following procedure may be performed:

in step 204, after receiving the first acknowledgement information, the MN transmits handover information including the PSCell added/changed configuration information and the conditional PSCell added/changed configuration information to the terminal device 100. The handover information may be carried with RRC reconfiguration signaling, where the handover refers specifically to PSCell addition/change. If the SN does not configure the PSCell update execution conditions corresponding to the candidate PSCell, the MN may set the PSCell update execution conditions corresponding to the candidate PSCell.

In step 205, after the terminal device 100 receives the handover information, the terminal device 100 accesses the target PSCell according to the configuration information added/changed by the PSCell in the handover information.

In step 206, after the terminal device 100 completes accessing the target PSCell, the terminal device 100 evaluates the candidate pscells according to the configuration information added/changed by the conditional PSCell.

After the terminal device 100 accesses the target PSCell, if the MN does not delete the configuration information of the addition/change of the PSCell, the terminal device 100 may evaluate the candidate PSCell, and if there is a candidate PSCell satisfying the PSCell update execution condition, the terminal device 100 accesses the PSCell satisfying the condition. In the above communication method, the first container and the second container respectively transmit the configuration information of PSCell addition/change and the configuration information of PSCell addition/change, which can enable the terminal device 100 to determine the configuration information belonging to PSCell addition/change and the configuration information belonging to PSCell addition/change in the handover information, so that the terminal device 100 can only execute PSCell addition/change in the configuration information under the condition of incompletely analyzing the handover information (i.e. RRC reconfiguration message), for example, can execute PSCell addition/change first, then analyze the configuration information of PSCell addition/change, which is helpful for the terminal device 100 to reasonably allocate its processing capability and timely process the received handover information.

It should be understood that the communication method provided by the embodiment of the present application may be applied to both a process in which the terminal device 100 establishes DC and an application scenario in which DC has been established. To further understand the communication method provided by the embodiments of the present application, the following list a few embodiments based on the method shown in fig. 2.

First, several embodiments in the process of establishing DC by the terminal device 100 are enumerated. In the case where the terminal device 100 does not establish DC, the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application may be applied to the case where the PCell is not switched, as shown in fig. 3, where the flow includes:

in step 301, the terminal device 100 establishes an RRC connection with the MN.

In step 302, the terminal device 100 receives measurement information transmitted by the MN and performs measurement according to the measurement information.

Alternatively, the measurement configuration parameters may be carried by an RRC reconfiguration message.

Alternatively, the terminal device 100 performing the measurement according to the measurement information may include: measurements of the current serving cell of the terminal device 100 and measurements of neighboring cells.

It will be appreciated that when the signal strength of the serving cell is below a threshold, the terminal device 100 needs to measure the signal transmitted by the network device 110 of the neighboring cell or other communication technology, and may prepare for PCell handover or PSCell addition/change.

By way of example, the measurement information may include:

1. an Identification (ID) of the measurement report;

2. event Trigger types (Trigger types) can be classified into event types and period types. The event type is divided into event A1, event A2, event A3, event A4, event A5, event A6, event B1 and event B2;

3. Event triggering criteria (Trigger quality) for evaluating criteria for event type triggering;

4. report reported value (Report quality), report: reference signal received power (Reference Signal Receiving Power, RSRP), or reference signal received quality (Reference Signal Receiving Quality, RSRQ) may be reported;

in addition, the measurement information may further include a reporting interval (report interval), a number of reporting times (report amounts), a maximum number of measurement reporting cells, and the like.

Wherein, the meaning of each event type is as follows:

event A1, representing a serving cell measurement, such as RSRP or RSRQ, being greater than a threshold value;

event A2, representing that the measurement value of the serving cell is smaller than the threshold value;

event A3, which indicates that the measured value of the neighboring cell is better than the measured value of the serving cell by a certain threshold value;

event A4, indicating that the neighbor cell measurement is greater than the threshold;

event A5, which indicates that the serving cell measurement value is smaller than the threshold 1, and the channel quality of the neighboring cell is larger than the threshold 2;

event A6, which indicates that the signal quality of the adjacent cell is better than a certain threshold value of the SCell;

event B1, indicating that the channel quality of neighboring cells of different radio access technologies/schemes is greater than a threshold;

Event B2, which indicates that the channel quality of the serving cell is less than a threshold 1, while the channel quality of neighboring cells of different radio access technologies/schemes is greater than a threshold 2.

In step 303, the terminal device 100 reports the measurement report when the reporting condition is satisfied.

In step 304, the mn determines, according to the capability of the terminal device 100 and the measurement report, to configure the terminal device 100 with an SCG, where the SCG includes a target PSCell and at least one candidate PSCell.

It will be appreciated that the target PSCell may be used for PSCell addition/change. At least one candidate PSCell may be used for conditional PSCell addition/change.

Optionally, step 304 may include:

in step 304-1, the mn determines to configure the terminal device 100 with a first SCG and a second SCG according to the capability of the terminal device 100 and the measurement report, wherein the first SCG includes the target PSCell and the second SCG includes at least one candidate PSCell.

Alternatively, the first SCG may include other scells besides the target PSCell. The second SCG may include other scells than the candidate PSCell.

It can be appreciated that the MN can determine to configure the target PSCell for the terminal device 100 according to the capability of the terminal device 100, the measurement report, and the current configuration of the terminal device 100, etc., so that the terminal device 100 performs PSCell addition/change. Meanwhile, considering the topology of network coverage, the MN may determine to configure at least one candidate PSCell for the terminal device 100, thereby satisfying the subsequent mobility requirement of the terminal device 100.

In step 305, the mn sends first request information to the target SN, the first request information including information indicating configuration PSCell addition/change and conditional PSCell addition/change.

Optionally, step 305 may include:

in step 305-1, the mn sends first request information to the target SN, the first request information including information indicating configuration of a first SCG including the target PSCell and a second SCG including at least one candidate PSCell.

Optionally, step 305 may include:

in step 305-2, the mn sends first request information to the target SN, the first request information including information indicating configuration of the target PSCell and candidate pscells.

In step 306, the target SN configures the PSCell added/changed configuration information and the conditional PSCell added/changed configuration information according to the first request information.

Optionally, the target SN configures configuration information of the first SCG and configuration information of the second SCG according to the first request information. The configuration information of the first SCG includes configuration information of the target PSCell. The configuration information of the second SCG includes configuration information of at least one candidate PSCell.

In step 307, the target SN sends first acknowledgement information to the MN, which may include the PSCell added/changed configuration information and the conditional PSCell added/changed configuration information.

After receiving the first acknowledgement information, the MN transmits handover information including the PSCell added/changed configuration information and the conditional PSCell added/changed configuration information to the terminal device 100, step 308. The handover information may be carried with RRC reconfiguration signaling, where the handover refers specifically to PSCell addition/change. If the SN does not configure the PSCell update execution conditions corresponding to the candidate PSCell, the MN may set the PSCell update execution conditions corresponding to the candidate PSCell.

In step 309, after the terminal device 100 receives the handover information, the terminal device 100 accesses the target PSCell according to the configuration information added/changed by PSCell in the handover information.

It will be appreciated that after the terminal device 100 accesses the target PSCell, the terminal device 100 establishes a connection with the MN and the target SN, respectively.

In step 310, after the terminal device 100 accesses the target PSCell, the terminal device 100 evaluates the candidate pscells according to the configuration information added/changed by the conditional PSCell.

According to the communication method provided by the embodiment of the application, after the terminal equipment 100 accesses the target PSCell, whether other candidate PSCells meet the update execution conditions can be continuously evaluated, and when the candidate PSCells meet the update execution conditions, the terminal equipment 100 can execute PSCell addition/change so as to further meet the subsequent mobility requirements of the terminal equipment 100.

In the case where the terminal device 100 does not establish DC, the communication method provided by the embodiment of the present application may be applied to PCell handover based on the HO mechanism, that is, the PCell handover is configured while PSCell addition/change and conditional PSCell addition/change are configured, as shown in fig. 4, and the flow includes:

in step 401, the terminal device 100 establishes an RRC connection with the MN.

In step 402, the terminal device 100 receives measurement information transmitted by the MN, and performs measurement according to the measurement information.

In step 403, when the reporting condition is satisfied, the terminal device 100 reports the measurement report.

After receiving the measurement report, the mn determines to configure a target PCell handover for the terminal device 100 according to the capability of the terminal device 100 and the measurement report, step 404.

In step 405, after determining to configure a PCell handover for the terminal device 100, the mn selects a target PCell and transmits second request information to the target PCell, the second request information including information indicating to configure the target PCell handover.

Alternatively, the second Request information may be carried by a handover Request (HO Request) message.

Optionally, the second request information may further include current configuration and capability information of the terminal device 100.

In step 406, after the target PCell receives the second request information, it is determined to configure the terminal device 100 with an SCG according to the second request information, where the SCG includes the target PSCell and at least one candidate PSCell.

Optionally, step 406 may include:

in step 406-1, after receiving the second request information, the target PCell determines to configure the terminal device 100 with a first SCG and a second SCG according to the second request information, where the first SCG includes the target PSCell and the second SCG includes at least one candidate PSCell.

In step 407, the target PCell sends first request information to the target SN, the first request information including information indicating configuration PSCell addition/change and conditional PSCell addition/change.

Alternatively, the target PCell transmits the first request information to the target SN after determining configuration information of the target PCell configured for the terminal device 100.

Optionally, the configuration information of the target PCell includes configuration parameters of the target PCell, such as frequency bands or frequency band combinations.

Optionally, step 407 may include:

in step 407-1, the target PCell sends first request information to the target SN, the first request information including information indicating configuration of a first SCG and a second SCG, wherein the first SCG includes the target PSCell and the second SCG includes at least one candidate PSCell.

Optionally, step 407 may include:

in step 407-2, the target PCell transmits first request information to the target SN, the first request information including information indicating configuration of the target PSCell and candidate pscells.

In step 408, the target SN configures the PSCell added/changed configuration information and the conditional PSCell added/changed configuration information according to the first request information.

In step 409, the target SN sends first acknowledgement information to the target PCell, where the first acknowledgement information may include PSCell added/changed configuration information and conditional PSCell added/changed configuration information.

After the target PCell receives the first acknowledgement information, the target PCell transmits second acknowledgement information to the MN, which may include configuration information of the target PCell, configuration information of PSCell addition/change, and configuration information of conditional PSCell addition/change, step 410.

Optionally, the second acknowledgement information may be carried by a handover request acknowledgement (HO Request Acknowledge) message.

In step 411, the mn transmits handover information including configuration information of the target PCell, configuration information of PSCell addition/change, and configuration information of conditional PSCell addition/change to the terminal device 100. The handover information may be carried with RRC reconfiguration signaling, where the handover includes PCell handover and PSCell addition/change. If the SN does not configure the PSCell update execution conditions corresponding to the candidate PSCell, the target PCell may set the PSCell update execution conditions corresponding to the candidate PSCell.

In step 412, after the terminal device 100 receives the handover information, the terminal device 100 switches to the target PCell according to the configuration information of the target PCell in the handover information.

After the terminal device 100 receives the handover information, the terminal device 100 accesses the target PSCell according to the PSCell added/changed configuration information in step 413.

It will be appreciated that step 412 and step 413 may be performed simultaneously, and thus the terminal device 100 establishes DC after the target PCell handover is completed.

In step 414, after the terminal device 100 accesses the target PCell and PSCell, the terminal device 100 evaluates candidate pscells according to configuration information added/changed by the condition PSCell.

In the above steps, according to whether the target PCell and the source MN of the handover belong to the same MN, the two cases are classified, one is intra-station target PCell handover, the MN (i.e., source MN) is the same as the target MN, and the other is off-station target PCell handover, and the MN is different from the target MN.

Taking off-site PCell handover as an example, referring to fig. 5, step 405 may include:

in step 501, after determining that the PCell handover is configured for the terminal device 100, the MN selects a target PCell, and sends second request information to the target MN where the target PCell is located, where the second request information includes information indicating that the target PCell handover is configured.

Alternatively, step 406 may be:

after receiving the second request information, the target MN determines to configure the SCG for the terminal device 100 according to the second request information, where the SCG includes the target PSCell and at least one candidate PSCell in step 502.

Alternatively, step 407 may be:

In step 503, the target MN sends first request information to the target SN, the first request information including information indicating configuration PSCell addition/change and conditional PSCell addition/change.

Alternatively, step 409 may be:

in step 504, the target SN sends first acknowledgement information to the target MN, which may include PSCell added/changed configuration information and conditional PSCell added/changed configuration information.

Alternatively, step 410 may be:

after receiving the first acknowledgement information, the target MN sends second acknowledgement information to the MN, which may include configuration information of the target PCell, configuration information of PSCell addition/change, and configuration information of conditional PSCell addition/change, step 505.

In the case where the terminal device 100 does not establish DC, the communication method provided by the embodiment of the present application may be applied to PCell handover based on CHO mechanism, that is, configuring PSCell addition/change and conditional PSCell addition/change while configuring CHO-based PCell handover, as shown in fig. 6, where the flow includes:

in step 601, the terminal device 100 establishes an RRC connection with the MN.

In step 602, the terminal device 100 receives measurement information transmitted by the MN, and performs measurement according to the measurement information.

In step 603, when the reporting condition is satisfied, the terminal device 100 reports a measurement report.

After receiving the measurement report, the mn determines to configure CHO-based PCell handover for the terminal device 100 according to the capabilities of the terminal device 100 and the measurement report, step 604.

In step 605, the mn determines that, after configuring CHO-based PCell handover for the terminal device 100, a candidate PCell is selected, and second request information is transmitted to the candidate PCell, the second request information including information indicating configuring the candidate PCell handover.

Alternatively, the second Request information may be carried by a conditional handover Request (CHO Request) message.

In step 606, after the candidate PCell receives the second request information, it is determined to configure the terminal device 100 with an SCG according to the second request information, where the SCG includes the target PSCell and at least one candidate PSCell.

Optionally, step 606 may include:

in step 606-1, after the candidate PCell receives the second request information, it is determined that the first SCG and the second SCG are configured for the terminal device 100 according to the second request information, where the first SCG includes the target PSCell and the second SCG includes at least one candidate PSCell.

In step 607, the candidate PCell transmits first request information to the target SN, the first request information including information indicating configuration PSCell addition/change and conditional PSCell addition/change.

Alternatively, the candidate PCell transmits the first request information to the target SN after determining configuration information of the candidate PCell configured for the terminal device 100.

Optionally, the configuration information of the candidate PCell includes configuration parameters (parameters configured for the terminal device 100) of the candidate PCell, such as frequency bands or frequency band combinations.

Optionally, step 607 may include:

in step 607-1, the candidate PCell sends first request information to the target SN, the first request information including information indicating configuration of a first SCG including the target PSCell and a second SCG including at least one candidate PSCell.

Optionally, step 607 may include:

in step 607-2, the candidate PCell transmits first request information to the target SN, the first request information including information indicating configuration of the target PSCell and the candidate PSCell.

In step 608, the target SN configures the PSCell added/changed configuration information and the conditional PSCell added/changed configuration information according to the first request information.

In step 609, the target SN sends first acknowledgement information to the candidate PCell, which may include configuration information of PSCell addition/change and configuration information of conditional PSCell addition/change.

After the candidate PCell receives the first acknowledgement information, the candidate PCell transmits second acknowledgement information to the MN, which may include configuration information of the candidate PCell, configuration information of PSCell addition/change, and configuration information of conditional PSCell addition/change, step 610.

Alternatively, the second acknowledgement information may be carried by a conditional handover request acknowledgement (CHO Request Acknowledge) message.

In step 611, the mn transmits handover information including configuration information of the candidate PCell, configuration information of PSCell addition/change, and configuration information of conditional PSCell addition/change to the terminal device 100. The handover information may be carried with RRC reconfiguration signaling, where the handover includes PCell conditional handover and PSCell addition/change. If the SN does not configure the PSCell update execution conditions corresponding to the candidate PSCell, the candidate PCell may set the PSCell update execution conditions corresponding to the candidate PSCell.

The MN may configure a conditional handover trigger condition (or referred to as a handover execution condition) of the PCell in the handover information.

After the terminal device 100 receives the handover information, the terminal device 100 evaluates the candidate PCell according to the configuration information of the candidate PCell in the handover information, step 612.

After the candidate PCell satisfies the handover triggering condition, the terminal device 100 accesses the PCell according to the configuration information of the PCell in the handover information.

Optionally, step 612 may include:

in step 612-1, after the terminal device 100 determines that the target PCell of the candidate PCell satisfies the handover trigger condition, the terminal device 100 accesses the target PCell.

In step 613, after the terminal device 100 receives the handover information, the terminal device 100 accesses the target PSCell according to the PSCell added/changed configuration information.

When the terminal device 100 accesses the target PCell, it may access the target PSCell at the same time, and the terminal device 100 may still maintain the DC state after the PCell handover is completed.

It can be appreciated that if the candidate PCell does not satisfy the conditional handover trigger condition, the terminal device 100 remains RRC connected with the MN (i.e., the source MN). If the terminal device 100 performs the conditional PCell handover, the terminal device 100 may establish a connection with the target PCell and the target PSCell, and the terminal device 100 establishes DC.

In step 614, after accessing the target PSCell, the terminal device 100 evaluates the candidate pscells according to the configuration information added/changed by the conditional PSCell.

In the above steps, the candidate PCell is a cell in the candidate MN. The candidate MN may be the same as or different from the MN (source MN). In the case where the candidate MN is different from the MN, step 605 may be:

after determining to configure CHO-based PCell handover for the terminal device 100, the MN selects a candidate PCell and sends second request information to the candidate MN to which the candidate PCell belongs, the second request information including information indicating that the candidate PCell handover is configured.

Alternatively, step 606 may be:

after receiving the second request information, the candidate MN determines to configure the terminal device 100 with an SCG according to the second request information, where the SCG includes the target PSCell and at least one candidate PSCell.

Alternatively, step 607 may be:

the candidate MN transmits first request information to the target SN, the first request information including information indicating configuration PSCell addition/change and conditional PSCell addition/change.

Alternatively, step 609 may be:

the target SN transmits first acknowledgement information to the candidate MN, which may include configuration information of PSCell addition/change and configuration information of conditional PSCell addition/change.

Alternatively, step 610 may be:

after the candidate MN receives the first acknowledgement information, the candidate MN transmits second acknowledgement information to the MN, which may include configuration information of the candidate PCell, configuration information of PSCell addition/change, and configuration information of conditional PSCell addition/change.

In the following, several possible embodiments are listed in case the terminal device 100 has established DC.

In the case where the terminal device 100 establishes DC, the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application may be applied to the case where the PCell is not switched, as shown in fig. 7, where the flow includes:

in step 701, the terminal device 100 establishes DC with MN and SN.

In step 702, the terminal device 100 receives measurement information transmitted by the MN, and performs measurement according to the measurement information.

In step 703, when the reporting condition is satisfied, the terminal device 100 reports a measurement report.

In step 704, the mn determines to configure the terminal device 100 with a new SCG according to the capability of the terminal device 100 and the measurement report, where the new SCG includes the target PSCell and at least one candidate PSCell.

Optionally, step 704 may include:

in step 704-1, the mn determines to configure the terminal device 100 with a first SCG and a second SCG according to the capability of the terminal device 100 and the measurement report, wherein the first SCG includes the target PSCell and the second SCG includes at least one candidate PSCell.

In step 705, the mn sends first request information to the target SN, the first request information including information indicating configuration PSCell addition/change and conditional PSCell addition/change.

Optionally, step 705 may include:

in step 705-1, the mn sends first request information to the target SN, the first request information including information indicating configuration of a first SCG and a second SCG, wherein the first SCG includes a target PSCell and the second SCG includes at least one candidate PSCell.

Optionally, step 705 may include:

in step 705-2, the mn sends first request information to the target SN, the first request information including information indicating configuration of the target PSCell and candidate pscells.

In step 706, the target SN configures the PSCell added/changed configuration information and the conditional PSCell added/changed configuration information according to the first request information.

In step 707, the target SN sends first acknowledgement information to the MN, which may include configuration information of PSCell addition/change and configuration information of conditional PSCell addition/change.

After receiving the first acknowledgement information, the MN transmits handover information including the PSCell added/changed configuration information and the conditional PSCell added/changed configuration information to the terminal device 100 in step 708. The handover information may be carried with RRC reconfiguration signaling, where the handover refers specifically to PSCell addition/change. If the SN does not configure the PSCell update execution conditions corresponding to the candidate PSCell, the MN may set the PSCell update execution conditions corresponding to the candidate PSCell.

In step 709, after the terminal device 100 receives the handover information, the terminal device 100 accesses the target PSCell according to the configuration information added/changed by the PSCell in the handover information.

It will be appreciated that after the terminal device 100 accesses the target PSCell, the terminal device 100 still maintains DC.

In step 710, after the terminal device 100 accesses the target PSCell, the terminal device 100 evaluates the candidate pscells according to the configuration information added/changed by the conditional PSCell.

In the case where the terminal device 100 establishes DC, the communication method provided by the embodiment of the present application may be applied to PCell handover based on the HO mechanism, that is, the PCell handover is configured while PSCell addition/change and conditional PSCell addition/change are configured, as shown in fig. 8, and the flow includes:

in step 801, the terminal device 100 establishes DC with MN and SN.

In step 802, the terminal device 100 receives measurement information transmitted by the MN, and performs measurement according to the measurement information.

In step 803, when the reporting condition is satisfied, the terminal device 100 reports the measurement report.

After receiving the measurement report, the mn determines to configure a target PCell handover for the terminal device 100 according to the capability of the terminal device 100 and the measurement report in step 804.

In step 805, the mn determines to select a target PCell after configuring a PCell handover for the terminal device 100, and transmits second request information to the target PCell, the second request information including information indicating configuring the target PCell handover.

In step 806, after the target PCell receives the second request information, it is determined to configure the terminal device 100 with an SCG according to the second request information, where the SCG includes the target PSCell and at least one candidate PSCell.

Optionally, step 406 may include:

in step 806-1, after the target PCell receives the second request information, it is determined that the first SCG and the second SCG are configured for the terminal device 100 according to the second request information, where the first SCG includes the target PSCell and the second SCG includes at least one candidate PSCell.

In step 807, the target PCell transmits first request information to the target SN, the first request information including information indicating configuration PSCell addition/change and conditional PSCell addition/change.

Optionally, step 807 may include:

in step 807-1, the target PCell transmits first request information to the target SN, the first request information including information indicating configuration of a first SCG including the target PSCell and a second SCG including at least one candidate PSCell.

Optionally, step 807 may include:

in step 807-2, the target PCell transmits first request information to the target SN, the first request information including information indicating configuration of the target PSCell and the candidate pscells.

In step 808, the target SN configures the PSCell added/changed configuration information and the conditional PSCell added/changed configuration information according to the first request information.

In step 809, the target SN sends first acknowledgement information to the target PCell, which may include PSCell added/changed configuration information and conditional PSCell added/changed configuration information.

After the target PCell receives the first acknowledgement information, the target PCell transmits second acknowledgement information to the MN, which may include configuration information of the target PCell, configuration information of PSCell addition/change, and configuration information of conditional PSCell addition/change, step 810.

In step 811, the mn transmits handover information including configuration information of the target PCell, configuration information of PSCell addition/change, and configuration information of conditional PSCell addition/change to the terminal device 100. The handover information may be carried with RRC reconfiguration signaling, where the handover includes PCell handover and PSCell addition/change. If the SN does not configure the PSCell update execution conditions corresponding to the candidate PSCell, the target PCell may set the PSCell update execution conditions corresponding to the candidate PSCell.

After the terminal device 100 receives the handover information, the terminal device 100 switches to the target PCell according to the configuration information of the target PCell in the handover information, step 812.

After the terminal device 100 receives the handover information, the terminal device 100 accesses the target PSCell according to the PSCell added/changed configuration information, step 813.

It will be appreciated that step 812 and step 813 may be performed simultaneously, and thus the terminal device 100 remains in the DC state after the PCell handover of the terminal device 100 is completed.

In step 814, after the terminal device 100 accesses the target PCell and PSCell, the terminal device 100 evaluates candidate pscells according to configuration information added/changed by the condition PSCell.

It should be noted that in the above steps, according to whether the target MN to which the target PCell belongs to be switched and the MN (i.e., the source MN) belong to the same MN, two cases are classified, one is intra-station target PCell switching, and the MN is the same as the target MN; the other is off-site target PCell handoff, i.e., the MN is different from the target MN.

In the case where the terminal device 100 has established DC, the communication method provided by the embodiment of the present application may be applied to PCell handover based on CHO mechanism, that is, configuring PSCell addition/change and conditional PSCell addition/change while configuring CHO-based PCell handover, as shown in fig. 9, and the flow includes:

in step 901, the terminal device 100 establishes DC with MN and SN.

In step 902, the terminal device 100 receives measurement information transmitted by the MN, and performs measurement according to the measurement information.

In step 903, the terminal device 100 reports the measurement report when the (neighboring cell) satisfies the reporting condition.

After receiving the measurement report, the mn determines to configure CHO-based PCell handover for the terminal device 100 according to the capabilities of the terminal device 100 and the measurement report, step 904.

In step 905, the mn determines to select a candidate PCell after configuring CHO-based PCell handover for the terminal device 100, and transmits second request information to the candidate PCell, the second request information including information indicating configuring the candidate PCell handover.

Alternatively, the second request information may include a conditional switch Trigger (CHO Trigger).

In step 906, after the candidate PCell receives the second request information, it is determined that the SCG is configured for the terminal device 100 according to the second request information, where the SCG includes the target PSCell and at least one candidate PSCell.

Optionally, step 906 may include:

in step 906-1, after the candidate PCell receives the second request information, it is determined that the first SCG and the second SCG are configured for the terminal device 100 according to the second request information, where the first SCG includes the target PSCell and the second SCG includes at least one candidate PSCell.

In step 907, the candidate PCell sends first request information to the target SN, the first request information including information indicating configuration PSCell addition/change and conditional PSCell addition/change.

Optionally, the configuration information of the candidate PCell includes configuration parameters of the candidate PCell, such as frequency bands or frequency band combinations.

Optionally, step 907 may include:

in step 907-1, the candidate PCell sends first request information to the target SN, the first request information including information indicating configuration of a first SCG including the target PSCell and a second SCG including at least one candidate PSCell.

Optionally, step 907 may include:

in step 907-2, the candidate PCell transmits first request information to the target SN, the first request information including information indicating configuration of the target PSCell and the candidate PSCell.

In step 908, the target SN configures the PSCell added/changed configuration information and the conditional PSCell added/changed configuration information according to the first request information.

In step 909, the target SN sends first acknowledgement information to the candidate PCell, which may include PSCell added/changed configuration information and conditional PSCell added/changed configuration information.

After the candidate PCell receives the first acknowledgement information, the candidate PCell transmits second acknowledgement information to the MN, which may include configuration information of the candidate PCell, configuration information of PSCell addition/change, and configuration information of conditional PSCell addition/change, step 910.

In step 911, the mn transmits handover information including configuration information of the candidate PCell, configuration information of PSCell addition/change, and configuration information of conditional PSCell addition/change to the terminal device 100. The handover information may be carried with RRC reconfiguration signaling, where the handover includes PCell conditional handover and PSCell addition/change. If the SN does not configure the PSCell update execution conditions corresponding to the candidate PSCell, the candidate PCell may set the PSCell update execution conditions corresponding to the candidate PSCell.

The MN may configure a conditional handoff trigger condition (or referred to as a handoff execution condition) in the handoff information.

In step 912, after the terminal device 100 receives the handover information, the terminal device 100 evaluates the candidate PCell according to the configuration information of the candidate PCell in the handover information.

Optionally, step 912 may include:

in step 912-1, after the terminal device 100 determines that the target PCell of the candidate PCell satisfies the handover trigger condition, the terminal device 100 accesses the target PCell.

After the terminal device 100 receives the handover information, the terminal device 100 accesses the target PSCell according to the PSCell added/changed configuration information, step 913.

The terminal device 100 may access the target PSCell at the same time when accessing the target PCell, and the terminal device 100 may still maintain the DC state after the PCell handover is completed.

In step 914, after the terminal device 100 accesses the target PSCell, the terminal device 100 evaluates the candidate pscells according to the configuration information added/changed by the conditional PSCell.

In the above steps, the candidate PCell is a cell in the candidate MN. The candidate MN may be the same as or different from the MN.

The foregoing describes specific embodiments of the present disclosure. Other embodiments are within the scope of the following claims. In some cases, the actions or steps recited in the claims can be performed in a different order than in the embodiments and still achieve desirable results. In addition, the processes depicted in the accompanying figures do not necessarily require the particular order shown, or sequential order, to achieve desirable results. In some embodiments, multitasking and parallel processing are also possible or may be advantageous.

Fig. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of a network device 110 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, where, as shown in fig. 10, the network device 110 may include: a first transmission module 1001.

A first sending module 1001, configured to send first request information, where the first request information includes information indicating configuration PSCell addition/change and condition PSCell addition/change.

Optionally, the first request information includes information indicating that the first secondary cell group SCG and the second SCG are configured.

Optionally, the first SCG comprises a target PSCell. The second SCG includes candidate pscells.

Optionally, the first request information includes information indicating configuration target PSCell and candidate pscells.

Optionally, the information indicating that the first secondary cell group SCG is configured or the information indicating that the target PSCell is configured includes an identification of the target PSCell.

Optionally, the first request contains a maximum number of candidate pscells that can be configured.

Optionally, the first request information is carried by a secondary node addition request message.

Optionally, the network device 110 further includes:

the first receiving module is configured to receive first acknowledgement information after the first request information is sent, where the first acknowledgement information includes configuration information of PSCell addition/change and configuration information of conditional PSCell addition/change.

Optionally, the network device 110 further includes:

The network device 110 provided in the embodiment shown in fig. 10 may be used to implement the technical solutions implemented by the MN in the method embodiments shown in fig. 2 to fig. 9 in the present specification, and the principle and technical effects thereof may be further described with reference to the related descriptions in the method embodiments.

Fig. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of a network device 110 according to another embodiment of the present disclosure, where, as shown in fig. 11, the network device 110 may include: a second receiving module 1101 and a configuration module 1102.

The second receiving module 1101 is configured to receive first request information, where the first request information includes information indicating configuration PSCell addition/change and condition PSCell addition/change.

A configuration module 1102 is configured to configure the configuration information of PSCell addition/change and the configuration information of conditional PSCell addition/change according to the first request information.

Optionally, the configuration module 1102 includes:

the first configuration sub-module is used for configuring the configuration information of the target PSCell and the configuration information of the candidate PSCell according to the first request information.

Optionally, the configuration module 1102 further includes:

Optionally, the first configuration sub-module includes:

Optionally, the second configuration unit is specifically configured to:

and generating configuration information of candidate PSCells in an incremental configuration mode by taking the configuration information of the target PSCells as a reference.

Optionally, the second configuration sub-module includes:

Optionally, the fourth configuration unit is specifically configured to:

and generating configuration information of the second SCG in an incremental configuration mode by taking the configuration information of the first SCG as a reference.

Optionally, the network device 110 includes:

and a third transmitting module configured to transmit first acknowledgement information after configuring the PSCell added/changed configuration information and the conditional PSCell added/changed configuration information according to the first request information, the first acknowledgement information including the PSCell added/changed configuration information and the conditional PSCell added/changed configuration information.

Optionally, the first acknowledgement information includes a first container for transmitting the PSCell added/changed configuration information and a second container for transmitting the conditional PSCell added/changed configuration information.

Optionally, the first acknowledgement information is carried by the secondary node addition request acknowledgement message.

The network device 110 provided in the embodiment shown in fig. 11 may be used to implement the technical solution implemented by the target SN in the method embodiments shown in fig. 2 to fig. 9 in this specification, and the principle and technical effects thereof may be further described with reference to the related descriptions in the method embodiments.

Fig. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of a terminal device 100 provided in one embodiment of the present specification, and as shown in fig. 12, the terminal device 100 may include: a third receiving module 1201, an executing module 1202 and an evaluating module 1203.

The third receiving module 1201 is configured to receive reconfiguration information, where the reconfiguration information includes configuration information of PSCell addition/change and configuration information of conditional PSCell addition/change.

An execution module 1202 is configured to access the target PSCell according to the reconfiguration information.

An evaluation module 1203 is configured to evaluate the candidate PSCell after accessing the target PSCell.

Optionally, the reconfiguration information further includes configuration information of the target PCell, and the execution module 1202 includes:

Optionally, the reconfiguration information further includes configuration information of the candidate PCell, and the execution module 1202 further includes:

And the second execution unit is used for executing the condition PCell switching according to the reconfiguration information.

And the third execution unit is used for accessing the PCell after the PCell meets the switching trigger condition and simultaneously accessing the target PScell in parallel.

The embodiment shown in fig. 12 provides a terminal device 100 that may be used to implement the technical solutions implemented by the terminal device 100 in the method embodiments shown in fig. 3 to fig. 10 in this specification, and the implementation principles and technical effects may be further referred to in the related description of the method embodiments.

The communication method provided by the embodiment of the application can be implemented by the following devices: a chip or a chip module. With respect to each of the devices and each of the modules/units included in the products described in the above embodiments, it may be a software module/unit, a hardware module/unit, or a software module/unit, and a hardware module/unit. For example, for each device, product, or application to or integration on a chip, each module/unit contained therein may be implemented in hardware such as a circuit, or at least some of the modules/units may be implemented in software programs running on processors integrated within the chip. Different modules/units may be located in the same component (e.g., chip, circuit module, etc.) or in different components of the chip module, or at least some of the modules/units may be implemented in a software program running on a processor integrated within the chip module, and the remaining (if any) part of the modules/units may be implemented in hardware, such as circuitry; for each device, product, or application to or integrated with the terminal, each module/unit included in the device, product, or application may be implemented by using hardware such as a circuit, different modules/units may be located in the same component (for example, a chip, a circuit module, or the like) or different components in the terminal, or at least part of the modules/units may be implemented by using a software program, where the software program runs on a processor integrated inside the terminal, and the remaining (if any) part of the modules/units may be implemented by using hardware such as a circuit.

The embodiment of the application also provides a chip system, which comprises: a communication interface for inputting and/or outputting information; and a processor for calling a computer program to cause a device on which the chip system is installed to execute the communication method provided by the embodiments shown in fig. 2 to 9 of the present specification.

Fig. 13 is a schematic structural diagram of a terminal device 100 according to another embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 13, the terminal device 100 may include at least one processor; and at least one memory communicatively coupled to the processor, wherein: the memory stores a computer program executable by a processor which, when called by the processor, is capable of executing the communication method provided by the embodiments shown in fig. 2 to 9 of the present specification.

The terminal device 100 may be an intelligent electronic device such as a smart phone or a tablet computer, and the form of the terminal device 100 is not limited in this embodiment.

For example, fig. 13 illustrates a schematic structure of the terminal device 100 by taking a smart phone as an example, and as shown in fig. 13, the terminal device 100 may include a processor 1301, an internal memory 1302, an antenna 1, an antenna 2, a mobile communication module 1303, a wireless communication module 1304, a subscriber identity module (subscriber identification module, SIM) card interface 1305, and the like.

It is to be understood that the structure illustrated in the embodiment of the present application does not constitute a specific limitation on the terminal device 100. In other embodiments of the application, terminal device 100 may include more or less components than illustrated, or certain components may be combined, or certain components may be split, or different arrangements of components. The illustrated components may be implemented in hardware, software, or a combination of software and hardware.

Processor 1301 may include one or more processing units, such as: processor 1301 may include an application processor (application processor, AP), a modem processor, a graphics processor (graphics processing unit, GPU), an image signal processor (image signal processor, ISP), a controller, a video codec, a digital signal processor (digital signal processor, DSP), a baseband processor, and/or a neural network processor (neural-network processing unit, NPU), etc. Wherein the different processing units may be separate devices or may be integrated in one or more processors.

The controller can generate operation control signals according to the instruction operation codes and the time sequence signals to finish the control of instruction fetching and instruction execution.

A memory may also be provided in processor 1301 for storing instructions and data. In some embodiments, the memory in processor 1301 is a cache memory. The memory may hold instructions or data that the processor 1301 has just used or recycled. If the processor 1301 needs to reuse the instruction or data, it may be called directly from the memory.

Processor 1301 executes programs stored in internal memory 1302 to perform various functional applications and data processing, such as implementing the methods provided by the embodiments of the present application shown in fig. 2-9.

The wireless communication function of the terminal device 100 can be realized by the antenna 1, the antenna 2, the mobile communication module 1303, the wireless communication module 1304, the modem processor, the baseband processor, and the like.

The antennas 1 and 2 are used for transmitting and receiving electromagnetic wave signals. Each antenna in the terminal device 100 may be used to cover a single or multiple communication bands. Different antennas may also be multiplexed to improve the utilization of the antennas. For example: the antenna 1 may be multiplexed into a diversity antenna of a wireless local area network. In other embodiments, the antenna may be used in conjunction with a tuning switch.

The mobile communication module 1303 may provide a solution including wireless communication of 2G/3G/4G/5G or the like applied to the terminal device 100. The mobile communication module 1303 may include at least one filter, switch, power amplifier, low noise amplifier (low noise amplifier, LNA), etc. The mobile communication module 1303 may receive electromagnetic waves from the antenna 1, perform processes such as filtering, amplifying, and the like on the received electromagnetic waves, and transmit the electromagnetic waves to the modem processor for demodulation. The mobile communication module 1303 can amplify the signal modulated by the modem processor, and convert the signal into electromagnetic waves through the antenna 1 to radiate. In some embodiments, at least some of the functional modules of the mobile communication module 1303 may be provided in the processor 1301. In some embodiments, at least some of the functional modules of the mobile communication module 1303 may be provided in the same device as at least some of the modules of the processor 1301.

The modem processor may include a modulator and a demodulator. The modulator is used for modulating the low-frequency baseband signal to be transmitted into a medium-high frequency signal. The demodulator is used for demodulating the received electromagnetic wave signal into a low-frequency baseband signal. The demodulator then transmits the demodulated low frequency baseband signal to the baseband processor for processing. The low frequency baseband signal is processed by the baseband processor and then transferred to the application processor. In some embodiments, the modem processor may be a stand-alone device. In other embodiments, the modem processor may be provided in the same device as the mobile communication module 1303 or other functional modules, independent of the processor 1301.

The wireless communication module 1304 may provide solutions for wireless communication including wireless local area network (wireless local area networks, WLAN) (e.g., wireless fidelity (wireless fidelity, wi-Fi) network), bluetooth (BT), global navigation satellite system (global navigation satellite system, GNSS), frequency modulation (frequency modulation, FM), near field wireless communication technology (near field communication, NFC), infrared technology (IR), etc., applied to the terminal device 100. The wireless communication module 1304 may be one or more devices that integrate at least one communication processing module. The wireless communication module 1304 receives electromagnetic waves via the antenna 2, modulates the electromagnetic wave signals, filters the electromagnetic wave signals, and transmits the processed signals to the processor 1301. The wireless communication module 1304 may also receive a signal to be transmitted from the processor 1301, frequency modulate the signal, amplify the signal, and convert the signal to electromagnetic waves for radiation through the antenna 2.

In some embodiments, antenna 1 and mobile communication module 1303 of terminal device 100 are coupled, and antenna 2 and wireless communication module 1304 are coupled, so that terminal device 100 can communicate with a network and other devices through wireless communication techniques. The wireless communication techniques may include the Global System for Mobile communications (global system for mobile communications, GSM), general packet radio service (general packet radio service, GPRS), code division multiple access (code division multiple access, CDMA), wideband code division multiple access (wideband code division multiple access, WCDMA), time division code division multiple access (time-division code division multiple access, TD-SCDMA), long term evolution (long term evolution, LTE), BT, GNSS, WLAN, NFC, FM, and/or IR techniques, among others.

Internal memory 1302 may be used to store computer-executable program code that includes instructions. Internal memory 1302 may include a stored program area and a stored data area. The storage program area may store an operating system, an application program required for at least one function, and the like. The storage data area may store data created during use of the terminal device 100, etc. In addition, the internal memory 1302 may include high-speed random access memory, and may also include non-volatile memory, such as at least one magnetic disk storage device, flash memory device, universal flash memory (universal flash storage, UFS), and the like. The processor 1301 performs various functional applications of the terminal apparatus 100 and data processing by executing instructions stored in the internal memory 1302 and/or instructions stored in a memory provided in the processor.

The SIM card interface 1305 is used to connect to a SIM card. The SIM card may be inserted into the SIM card interface 1305 or withdrawn from the SIM card interface 1305 to achieve contact and separation with the terminal apparatus 100. The terminal device 100 may support 1 or N SIM card interfaces, N being a positive integer greater than 1. The SIM card interface 1305 may support Nano SIM cards, micro SIM cards, etc. The same SIM card interface 1305 may be used to insert multiple cards simultaneously. The types of the plurality of cards may be the same or different. The SIM card interface 1305 may also be compatible with different types of SIM cards. The SIM card interface 1305 may also be compatible with external memory cards. The terminal device 100 interacts with the network through the SIM card to realize functions such as call and data communication. In some embodiments, the terminal device 100 employs esims, namely: an embedded SIM card. The eSIM card can be embedded in the terminal device 100 and cannot be separated from the terminal device 100.

Fig. 14 is a schematic structural diagram of a network device 110 according to another embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 14, the network device 110 may include at least one processor 1401; and at least one memory communicatively coupled to the processor, wherein: the memory stores a computer program executable by a processor that is capable of executing the communication method provided by the embodiments shown in fig. 2 to 10 of the present specification.

Fig. 14 is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration of the network device 110, using the gNB as an example. As shown in fig. 14, wherein the processor 1401 may include one or more processing units, such as: the processor 1401 may include an application processor (application processor, AP), a modem processor, a graphics processor (graphics processing unit, GPU), an image signal processor (image signal processor, ISP), a controller, a memory, a video codec, a digital signal processor (digital signal processor, DSP), a baseband processor, and/or a neural network processor (neural-network processing unit, NPU), etc. Wherein the different processing units may be separate devices or may be integrated in one or more processors.

Wherein the memory 1402 may be used to store computer-executable program code comprising instructions. The processor 1401 executes the communication methods and steps shown in fig. 2 to 9 of the present specification by executing instructions stored in the memory 1402. Memory 1402 may include a stored program area and a stored data area. The storage program area may store an operating system, an application program required for at least one function, and the like. The storage data area may store data created during the buffer status report process (e.g., data amount, identification of logical channel groups, etc.), and so on. Further, memory 1402 may include high-speed random access memory, and may also include non-volatile memory, such as at least one magnetic disk storage device, flash memory device, universal flash memory (universal flash storage, UFS), and the like.

The embodiment of the present application further provides a computer storage medium, including a computer program, which when run on the network device 110, causes the network device 110 to perform the steps performed by the MN in the method according to any of the embodiments shown in fig. 2 to 9. Alternatively, the computer program, when run on the network device 110, causes the network device 110 to perform the steps performed by the target SN in the method as shown in any one of the embodiments of fig. 2-9. The computer program, when run on the terminal device 100, causes the terminal device 100 to perform the steps performed by the terminal device 100 in the method as shown in any of the embodiments of fig. 2-9.

It should be understood that the term "unit" in the embodiments of the present application may be implemented in software and/or hardware, which is not specifically limited. For example, a "unit" may be a software program, a hardware circuit or a combination of both that implements the functions described above. The hardware circuitry may include application specific integrated circuits (application specific integrated circuit, ASICs), electronic circuits, processors (e.g., shared, proprietary, or group processors, etc.) and memory for executing one or more software or firmware programs, merged logic circuits, and/or other suitable components that support the described functions.

Thus, the elements of the examples described in the embodiments of the present application can be implemented in electronic hardware, or in a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the solution. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present application.

In several embodiments provided by the present application, any of the functions, if implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as a stand-alone product, may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the present application may be embodied essentially or in a part contributing to the prior art or in a part of the technical solution, in the form of a software product stored in a storage medium, comprising several instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, a network device, etc.) to perform all or part of the steps of the method according to the embodiments of the present application. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: a U-disk, a removable hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (random access memory, RAM), a magnetic disk, or an optical disk, or other various media capable of storing program codes.

Claims

1. A method of communication, for use with a network device, comprising:

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first request information comprises information indicating configuration of a first secondary cell group, SCG, and a second SCG, wherein the first SCG comprises a target PSCell and the second SCG comprises a candidate PSCell.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first request information comprises information indicating configuration target PSCell and candidate pscells.

4. A method according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that the information indicating configuring the first secondary cell group SCG or the information indicating configuring the target PSCell comprises an identification of the target PSCell.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first request information comprises a maximum number of candidate pscells that can be configured.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the first request information is carried by a secondary node add request message.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6, wherein after the sending the first request message, further comprises:

8. The method of claim 7, wherein after receiving the first acknowledgement message, further comprising:

9. A method of communication, for use with a network device, comprising:

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the configuring of the PSCell added/changed configuration information and the conditional PSCell added/changed configuration information according to the first request information includes:

11. The method according to claim 9, wherein the configuring of the PSCell added/changed configuration information and the conditional PSCell added/changed configuration information according to the first request information includes:

12. The method of claim 10, wherein configuring configuration information of a target PSCell and configuration information of candidate pscells according to the first request information comprises:

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the configuring the configuration information of the candidate pscells according to the configuration information of the target PSCell comprises:

14. The method of claim 11, wherein configuring the configuration information of the first SCG and the configuration information of the second SCG according to the first request information comprises:

15. The method of claim 14, wherein configuring the configuration information of the second SCG according to the configuration information of the first SCG comprises:

16. The method according to any one of claims 9 to 15, wherein after configuring the PSCell added/changed configuration information and the conditional PSCell added/changed configuration information according to the first request information, further comprising:

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the first acknowledgement information comprises a first container for transmitting PSCell added/changed configuration information and a second container for transmitting conditional PSCell added/changed configuration information.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the first acknowledgement information is carried by a secondary node add request acknowledgement message.

19. A communication method, applied to a terminal device, comprising:

accessing a target PScell according to the reconfiguration information;

after accessing the target PSCell, candidate pscells are evaluated.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the reconfiguration information further includes configuration information of a target PCell, the accessing the target PSCell according to the reconfiguration information comprising:

and accessing the target PCell according to the reconfiguration information, and simultaneously accessing the target PScell in parallel.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the reconfiguration information further includes configuration information of candidate pcells, the accessing the target PSCell according to the reconfiguration information comprising:

22. A network device, comprising:

23. A network device, comprising:

24. A terminal device, comprising:

25. A chip system, comprising:

a communication interface for inputting and/or outputting information;

A processor for invoking a computer program to cause a device on which the chip system is installed to perform the method of any of claims 1 to 8, or to perform the method of any of claims 9 to 18, or to perform the method of any of claims 19 to 21.

26. A network device, comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory communicatively coupled to the processor, wherein:

the memory stores a computer program executable by the processor, the processor running the computer program to implement the method of any one of claims 1 to 8 or to implement the method of any one of claims 9 to 18.

27. A terminal device, comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory communicatively coupled to the processor, wherein:

the memory stores a computer program executable by the processor, the processor running the computer program to implement the method of any one of claims 19 to 21.

28. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that it stores a computer program which, when run by a computer, implements the method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, or implements the method according to any one of claims 9 to 18, or implements the method according to any one of claims 19 to 21.