CN116963199A - Switching method and device, storage medium, terminal equipment and network equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

A switching method and device, a storage medium, a terminal device and a network device, the switching method comprises the following steps: receiving a group switching condition of at least one candidate network device, wherein the group switching condition indicates a PC5 interface signal quality threshold value for executing group switching to the candidate network device by the relay terminal device and the edge terminal device served by the relay terminal device; selecting a target network device from the at least one candidate network device; and determining whether to carry the edge terminal equipment to execute group switching to the target network equipment according to the PC5 interface signal quality of each edge terminal equipment of the service and the group switching condition of the target network equipment. The scheme of the application can smoothly perform group switching under the condition that the signal quality of the PC5 interface between the relay terminal equipment and the edge terminal equipment served by the relay terminal equipment is possibly changed.

Description

Switching method and device, storage medium, terminal equipment and network equipment

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a switching method and apparatus, a storage medium, a terminal device, and a network device.

Background

An edge terminal device (Remote UE) accesses the network through a Relay terminal device (Relay UE), one of which may serve one or more edge terminal devices.

If the relay terminal equipment adopts the mode of conditional switching to switch, the relay terminal equipment does not switch immediately after receiving the switching command, but starts to evaluate the triggering condition of the conditional switching, and switches when the triggering condition of the conditional switching is met. At the time of handover, the quality of the PC5 interface signal between the relay terminal device and the edge terminal device served by the relay terminal device may change. In this case, how to perform group switching is a problem to be solved.

Disclosure of Invention

The application solves the technical problem of how to smoothly switch the group under the condition that the signal quality of the PC5 interface between the relay terminal equipment and the edge terminal equipment served by the relay terminal equipment can be changed.

In order to solve the above technical problems, in a first aspect, the present application provides a handover method, where the handover method includes: receiving a group switching condition of at least one candidate network device, wherein the group switching condition indicates a PC5 interface signal quality threshold value for executing group switching to the candidate network device by the relay terminal device and the edge terminal device served by the relay terminal device; selecting a target network device from the at least one candidate network device; and determining whether to carry the edge terminal equipment to execute group switching to the target network equipment according to the PC5 interface signal quality of each edge terminal equipment of the service and the group switching condition of the target network equipment.

Optionally, the group switching conditions of the different candidate network devices are different.

Optionally, the determining whether to carry the edge terminal device to perform the group handover to the target network device according to the PC5 interface signal quality of each edge terminal device of the service and the group handover condition of the target network device includes: and if the first edge terminal equipment with the PC5 interface signal quality larger than or equal to the PC5 interface signal quality threshold value in the target network equipment exists, carrying the first edge terminal equipment to execute group switching to the target network equipment.

Optionally, the determining whether to carry the edge terminal device to perform the group handover to the target network device according to the PC5 interface signal quality of each edge terminal device of the service and the group handover condition of the target network device includes: if the PC5 interface signal quality of all edge terminal devices of the service is smaller than the PC5 interface signal quality threshold value in the target network device, the relay terminal device alone performs the handover to the target network device.

Optionally, the switching method further includes: and notifying and releasing the second edge terminal equipment for the second edge terminal equipment with the PC5 interface signal quality smaller than the PC5 interface signal quality threshold value in the target network equipment.

Optionally, the receiving a group handover condition of at least one candidate network device includes: and receiving an RRC reconfiguration message, wherein the RRC reconfiguration message carries the group switching condition.

In a second aspect, the present application further provides a handover method, where the handover method includes: receiving a group switching condition of at least one candidate network device, wherein the group switching condition indicates a PC5 interface signal quality threshold value for the relay terminal device and the edge terminal devices served by the relay terminal device to execute group switching to the candidate network device, and the group switching condition and the PC5 interface signal quality of each served edge terminal device are used for the relay terminal device to determine whether to carry the edge terminal device to execute group switching; and transmitting a group switching condition of the at least one candidate network device.

Optionally, the receiving the group handover condition of the at least one candidate network device includes, before: and sending a switching request message to at least one candidate network device, wherein the switching request message indicates a group switching request of the relay terminal device and the edge terminal device.

In a third aspect, the present application further provides a handover method, where the handover method includes: generating a group switching condition of candidate network equipment, wherein the group switching condition indicates a PC5 interface signal quality threshold value for the relay terminal equipment and edge terminal equipment served by the relay terminal equipment to execute group switching to the candidate network equipment, and the group switching condition and the PC5 interface signal quality of each edge terminal equipment served by the relay terminal equipment are used for determining whether to carry the edge terminal equipment to execute group switching; and sending the group switching condition of the candidate network equipment.

Optionally, before the sending the group handover condition of the candidate network device, the method includes: and receiving a switching request message, wherein the switching request message indicates a group switching request of the relay terminal equipment and the edge terminal equipment.

In a fourth aspect, the present application also discloses a switching device, where the switching device includes: a first communication module, configured to receive a group handover condition of at least one candidate network device, where the group handover condition indicates a PC5 interface signal quality threshold for a relay terminal device and an edge terminal device served by the relay terminal device to perform group handover to the candidate network device; a first processing module, configured to select a target network device from the at least one candidate network device; the first processing module is further configured to determine whether to carry an edge terminal device to perform group handover to the target network device according to the quality of the PC5 interface signal of each edge terminal device served and the group handover condition of the target network device.

In a fifth aspect, the present application also provides a switching device, including: a second communication module, configured to receive a group handover condition of at least one candidate network device, where the group handover condition indicates a PC5 interface signal quality threshold for a relay terminal device and an edge terminal device served by the relay terminal device to perform group handover to the candidate network device, and the group handover condition and the PC5 interface signal quality of each edge terminal device are used for the relay terminal device to determine whether to carry the edge terminal device to perform group handover; the second communication module is further configured to send a group handover condition for the at least one candidate network device.

In a sixth aspect, the present application also provides a switching device, including: the second processing module is used for generating a group switching condition of the candidate network equipment, the group switching condition indicates a PC5 interface signal quality threshold value for the relay terminal equipment and the edge terminal equipment served by the relay terminal equipment to execute group switching to the candidate network equipment, and the group switching condition and the PC5 interface signal quality of each edge terminal equipment served by the relay terminal equipment are used for determining whether to carry the edge terminal equipment to execute group switching; and the third communication module is used for sending the group switching condition of the candidate network equipment.

In a seventh aspect, the present application also provides a computer readable storage medium, the computer readable storage medium being a non-volatile storage medium or a non-transitory storage medium, having stored thereon a computer program which, when executed by a processor, performs the steps of the handover method.

In an eighth aspect, the present application further provides a terminal device, including a memory and a processor, where the memory stores a computer program executable on the processor, and the processor executes the steps of the handover method when the processor runs the computer program.

In a ninth aspect, the present application also provides a network device, comprising a memory and a processor, the memory storing a computer program executable on the processor, the processor executing the steps of the handover method or executing the steps of the handover method when the processor runs the computer program.

Compared with the prior art, the technical scheme of the embodiment of the application has the following beneficial effects:

in the technical scheme of the application, the network equipment can generate the group switching condition, and the group switching condition indicates the PC5 interface signal quality threshold value for the relay terminal equipment and the edge terminal equipment served by the relay terminal equipment to execute group switching to the candidate network equipment. The relay terminal equipment selects target network equipment from at least one candidate network equipment, and determines whether to carry the edge terminal equipment to execute group switching to the target network equipment according to the PC5 interface signal quality of each edge terminal equipment and the group switching condition of the target network equipment. By setting the group switching conditions, the basis is provided for whether the relay terminal equipment carries the edge terminal equipment to switch the group or not at the switching moment under the condition that the signal quality of the PC5 interface between the relay terminal equipment and the edge terminal equipment served by the relay terminal equipment is possibly changed, the smooth development of the switching is ensured, and the user experience is improved.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a side link relay network in the prior art;

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of a handover method provided by the present application;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a handover method according to the present application;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of another method of handover according to the present application;

fig. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of a switching device according to the present application;

fig. 6 is a schematic hardware structure of a switching device provided by the present application.

Detailed Description

Communication systems to which embodiments of the present application are applicable include, but are not limited to, long term evolution (long term evolution, LTE) systems, fifth generation (5G) systems, NR systems, and future evolution systems or multiple communication convergence systems. The 5G system may be a non-independent Networking (NSA) 5G system or an independent networking (SA) 5G system. The technical scheme of the application is also suitable for different network architectures, including but not limited to a relay network architecture, a dual-connection architecture, a Vehicle-to-evaluation architecture and the like.

The present application relates generally to communication between a terminal device and a network device. Wherein:

The network device in the embodiment of the present application may also be referred to as an access network device, for example, may be a Base Station (BS) (also referred to as a base station device), where the network device is a device deployed in a radio access network (Radio Access Network, RAN) to provide a wireless communication function. For example, the device for providing base station functionality in the second generation (2 nd-generation, 2G) network comprises a base radio transceiver station (base transceiver station, BTS), the device for providing base station functionality in the third generation (3 rd-generation, 3G) network comprises a node B (NodeB), the device for providing base station functionality in the fourth generation (4 th-generation, 4G) network comprises an evolved node B (eNB), the device for providing base station functionality in the wireless local area network (wireless local area networks, WLAN) is an Access Point (AP), the next generation base station node (next generation node base station, gNB) in the NR is an Access Point (AP), and the node B (ng-eNB) continues to evolve, wherein the communication between the gNB and the terminal device is performed using NR technology, and the communication between the ng-eNB and the terminal device is performed using evolved universal terrestrial radio access (Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access, E-UTRA) technology, both the gNB and the ng-eNB may be connected to the 5G core network. The network device in the embodiment of the present application further includes a device for providing a base station function in a new communication system in the future, and the like.

The terminal device (terminal equipment) in embodiments of the present application may refer to various forms of access terminals, subscriber units, subscriber stations, mobile Stations (MSs), remote stations, remote terminals, mobile devices, user terminals, wireless communication devices, user agents, or user equipment. The terminal device may also be a cellular telephone, a cordless telephone, a session initiation protocol (Session Initiation Protocol, SIP) phone, a wireless local loop (Wireless Local Loop, WLL) station, a personal digital assistant (Personal Digital Assistant, PDA), a handheld device with wireless communication capabilities, a computing device or other processing device connected to a wireless modem, a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, a terminal device in a future 5G network or a terminal device in a future evolved public land mobile network (Public Land Mobile Network, PLMN), etc., as embodiments of the present application are not limited in this regard. The terminal device may also be referred to as a User Equipment (UE), a terminal, etc.

In the side link relay network shown in fig. 1, the relay terminal device communicates with the edge terminal device through a PC5 interface, and the relay terminal device communicates with the base station through a Uu port, and the relay terminal device relays control plane signaling and user plane data of the edge terminal device.

The Handover procedure is further studied in the side link relay (sidelink relay) problem, including Group Handover (Group HO), conditional Handover (Conditional Handover, CHO), etc. Group handover refers to a process in which a relay terminal device performs handover together with an edge terminal device to which it is connected. In the prior art, when the relay terminal equipment is to be switched, the source base station decides whether the edge terminal equipment needs to be switched together with the relay terminal equipment according to the quality of the PC5 interface signal, namely, the relay terminal equipment performs group switching with the edge terminal equipment served by the relay terminal equipment. The conditional handover refers to a cell configuration of a source base station configuring one or more candidate target base stations for a terminal device and trigger conditions for handover to the target base stations, the terminal device starts to evaluate the trigger conditions when receiving the configuration, and the handover is performed by the terminal device when the one or more handover trigger conditions are satisfied. In the side link relay network system, the relay terminal device and the edge terminal device can be switched in a conditional switching mode under group switching. The source base station configures the relay terminal device and the edge terminal device with conditional handover configurations (cell configurations of one or more candidate target base stations and trigger conditions for handover to these target base stations). The relay terminal equipment measures and discovers that the signal intensity of the base station in the candidate target base station exceeds a preset threshold, and autonomously triggers the group switching to switch to the target base station together with the edge terminal equipment served by the relay terminal equipment.

As described in the background art, if the relay terminal device performs the handover in the conditional handover manner, the relay terminal device does not perform the handover immediately after receiving the handover command, but starts to evaluate the triggering condition of the conditional handover, and performs the handover when the triggering condition of the conditional handover is satisfied. At the time of handover, the quality of the PC5 interface signal between the relay terminal device and the edge terminal device served by the relay terminal device may change. In this case, how to perform group switching is a problem to be solved. For example, the quality of the PC5 interface signal between the relay terminal device and the edge terminal device served by the relay terminal device is poor, the edge terminal device is no longer suitable for group switching together with the relay terminal device, and how the relay terminal device handles the edge terminal device is a problem to be solved.

In the technical scheme of the invention, the network equipment can generate the group switching condition, and the group switching condition indicates the PC5 interface signal quality threshold value for the relay terminal equipment and the edge terminal equipment served by the relay terminal equipment to execute group switching to the candidate network equipment. The relay terminal equipment selects target network equipment from at least one candidate network equipment, and determines whether to carry the edge terminal equipment to execute group switching to the target network equipment according to the PC5 interface signal quality of each edge terminal equipment of the service and the group switching condition of the target network equipment. By setting the group switching conditions, the basis is provided for whether the relay terminal equipment carries the edge terminal equipment to switch the group or not at the switching moment under the condition that the signal quality of the PC5 interface between the relay terminal equipment and the edge terminal equipment served by the relay terminal equipment is possibly changed, the smooth development of the switching is ensured, and the user experience is improved.

In order that the above objects, features and advantages of the application will be readily understood, a more particular description of the application will be rendered by reference to specific embodiments thereof which are illustrated in the appended drawings.

Fig. 2 is a flowchart of a handover method provided by the present application.

The switching method of the embodiment of the application can be used for a terminal equipment side, and more particularly can be used for a relay terminal equipment side. I.e. the steps of the method can be performed by the relay terminal device.

Specifically, the handover method may include the steps of:

step 201: the relay terminal equipment receives a group switching condition of at least one candidate network equipment sent by the source network equipment, wherein the group switching condition indicates a PC5 interface signal quality threshold value for the relay terminal equipment and the edge terminal equipment served by the relay terminal equipment to execute group switching to the candidate network equipment;

step 202: the relay terminal equipment selects target network equipment from at least one candidate network equipment;

step 203: and the relay terminal equipment determines whether to carry the edge terminal equipment to execute group switching to the target network equipment according to the PC5 interface signal quality of each edge terminal equipment of the service and the group switching condition of the target network equipment.

The PC5 interface in the embodiment of the present application refers to a side link communication interface between a relay terminal device and an edge terminal device served by the relay terminal device, where the relay terminal device performs relay communication with the edge terminal device served by the relay terminal device through the PC5 interface.

In a specific implementation of step 201, the candidate network device may generate a group handover condition, the candidate network device sends the group handover condition to the source network device, and the source network device forwards the group handover condition to the relay terminal device. The source network device refers to a network device that provides services for the relay terminal device.

In a specific implementation of step 201, the relay terminal device also receives the condition switching configuration when receiving the group switching execution condition. The conditional handover configuration includes cell configurations of one or more candidate network devices and trigger conditions for handover to these target network devices. The Cell configuration of the candidate network device refers to configuration parameters of the candidate network device, and may specifically include a Cell Identity (ID) of the target network device, a new Cell radio network temporary identifier (Cell-Radio Network Temporary Identifier, C-RNTI) used after switching to the target network device, a security algorithm ID of the target network device, a set of dedicated random access channel (Random access channel, RACH) resources reserved by the target network device for the terminal device, and the like, which is not limited in the present application. The triggering condition refers to a switching event, and in specific implementation, the switching event may be an A3 event or an A5 event. A3 event: the reference signal reception strength of the neighbor cell is higher than the serving cell by an absolute threshold. A5 event: the service quality of the serving cell is lower than an absolute threshold 1 and the service quality of the neighbor cell is higher than an absolute threshold 2. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the switching event may be any other switching event that may be implemented, and the application is not limited in this regard.

In one non-limiting embodiment, the group switching conditions for different candidate network devices may be the same or different. That is, the PC5 interface signal quality thresholds for different candidate network devices may be the same or different. In a specific implementation of step 202, the relay terminal device may select the target network device from at least one candidate network device. Specifically, the relay terminal device evaluates the condition switching triggering condition (for example, signal quality exceeds a preset threshold) of switching to the candidate network device, which is received from the source network device, and specifically, the evaluation process measures the signal strength of the reference signal of each candidate network device for the relay terminal device, and if the signal strength of the reference signal of the candidate network device exceeds the preset threshold, the network device is selected as the target network device.

It will be appreciated that more specific embodiments regarding selecting a target network device may refer to the prior art, and will not be described herein.

In this embodiment, when the relay terminal device performs the handover, the signal quality of the PC5 interface of the edge terminal device served by the relay terminal device is evaluated, and whether to carry the edge terminal device to perform the group handover is determined according to the signal quality. Then the PC5 interface signal quality between the relay terminal device and the edge terminal device served by the relay terminal device is degraded and is lower than the group handover condition of the candidate network device to be handed over to, the edge terminal device may not be carried for handover, otherwise the edge terminal device may be carried for group handover.

It should be noted that the serial numbers of the steps in the present embodiment do not represent a limitation on the execution sequence of the steps.

It will be appreciated that in a specific implementation, the switching method may be implemented in a software program running on a processor integrated within a chip or a chip module. The method may also be implemented by combining software with hardware, and the application is not limited.

Referring also to fig. 3, fig. 3 shows a specific flow chart of a handoff.

Prior to step 301, the source network device sends a measurement configuration to the relay terminal device to indicate to the relay terminal device the identity of the candidate network devices requiring measurement, e.g. candidate network device 1 to candidate network device n.

In step 301, the relay terminal device transmits an RRC measurement report to the source network device. The measurement report includes: reference signal quality of the source network device, reference signal quality of the candidate network device, etc.

In step 302, the source network device performs a group switch decision. The source network device decides to switch the group between the relay terminal device and the edge terminal device 1 and the edge terminal device 2 served by the relay terminal device, but does not switch immediately, but is configured to switch conditionally. Specifically, the source network device makes a group switching decision according to the PC5 port link quality between the edge terminal device 1 and the edge terminal device 2 and the relay terminal device, respectively. If the signal quality of the PC5 interface between the edge terminal device and the relay terminal device is good (e.g., exceeds a threshold), the source network device will cause the edge terminal device and the relay terminal device to perform a group switch. The edge terminal device 1 and the edge terminal device 2 report measurement results periodically or event-based on the configuration of the source network device, where the measurement results include: and the PC5 interface signal quality of the currently connected relay terminal device, and the signal quality of one or more target relay terminal devices or target cells in the vicinity. The source network device is able to learn the signal quality between the edge terminal device and the current relay terminal device to which it is connected.

In step 303, the source network device sends a handover request message to each candidate network device in the measurement report (i.e., candidate network device 1, candidate network device n). The handover request message contains a handover request of the relay terminal device and the edge terminal device served by the relay terminal device.

In one non-limiting embodiment, at least one candidate network device (candidate network device 1,.,. Candidate network device n) may generate a group switch condition to instruct a relay terminal device and its serving edge terminal device to perform a group switch to the candidate network device's PC5 interface signal quality threshold. The relay terminal device communicates with the edge terminal device served by the relay terminal device through a PC5 interface between the relay terminal device and the edge terminal device, and the PC5 interface signal quality threshold may specifically be a reference signal received strength (Reference Signal Receiving Power, RSRP) threshold of the PC5 interface.

In step 304, the m candidate network devices feed back a handover request response to the source network device, where m is less than or equal to n. And the candidate network equipment decides whether to accept the switching request of the source network equipment or not according to the candidate cell access control strategy, the resource use condition, the cell congestion degree and the like. And if the candidate network equipment accepts the switching request of the source network equipment, the candidate network equipment sends a switching request response message to the source network equipment. Specifically, the handover request response includes: conditional switch configuration and group switch conditions for candidate network devices. The conditional handover configuration includes cell configurations of one or more candidate network devices and trigger conditions for handover to these target network devices. Wherein the configuration of the candidate network device includes: a candidate network device Identity (ID), a new Cell radio network temporary Identity (Cell-Radio Network Temporary Identifier, C-RNTI) to be used after switching to the network device, a security algorithm ID of the candidate network device, a set of dedicated random access channel (Random access channel, RACH) resources reserved by the candidate network device to the terminal device, and so on. The triggering condition refers to a switching event, and in specific implementation, the switching event may be an A3 event or an A5 event.

A3 event: the reference signal reception strength of the neighbor cell is higher than the serving cell by an absolute threshold. A5 event: the service quality of the serving cell is lower than an absolute threshold 1 and the service quality of the neighbor cell is higher than an absolute threshold 2. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the switching event may be any other switching event that may be implemented, and the application is not limited in this regard.

In step 305, the source network device sends an RRC reconfiguration message to the relay terminal device, the RRC reconfiguration message including a group handover condition. The RRC reconfiguration message also includes a conditional handover configuration. The RRC reconfiguration message may include the above-mentioned m candidate network device group switching conditions, where the group switching conditions of the m candidate network devices may be the same or different. Specifically, the number of PC5 interface signal quality thresholds in the RRC reconfiguration message may be one or more. The number of PC5 interface signal quality thresholds is at most m.

In step 306, the relay terminal device transmits an RRC reconfiguration message to the edge terminal device 1 and the edge terminal device 2. The RRC reconfiguration message contains the cell configurations of the m candidate network devices. Specifically, by forwarding the RRC reconfiguration message to the edge terminal device, the edge terminal device 1 and the edge terminal device 2 can be made aware of the cell configuration of the candidate network device in advance. After the relay terminal device measures the execution condition satisfying the condition switching, if the carrying edge terminal device 1 and the edge terminal device 2 are switched to the network device together, the edge terminal device 1 and the edge terminal device 2 can access the target network device according to the configuration parameters of the target network device which are known in advance.

In step 307, the relay terminal device measures the reference signal quality of the candidate network device and selects the target network device for handover. In particular, the relay terminal device may measure reference signal quality of m candidate network devices in the RRC reconfiguration message configuration. Specifically, the relay terminal device performs measurement and evaluates the reference signal quality of each candidate network device, and finds that the reference signal strength of the candidate network device 1 satisfies the handover event of the candidate network device 1 through the measurement, and takes the candidate network device 1 as the target network device to perform subsequent handover.

In step 308, the relay terminal device determines that the carrying edge terminal device 2 performs group switching according to the PC5 interface signal quality of the edge terminal device of the service and the group switching condition of the target network device.

In particular, the PC5 interface signal quality between the relay terminal device and the edge terminal device it serves may be measured. If there is a first edge terminal device whose PC5 interface signal quality is greater than or equal to the PC5 interface signal quality threshold in the target network device, the relay terminal device carries the first edge terminal device to perform group handover to the target network device. The number of the first edge terminal devices may be one or a plurality of. Accordingly, if the PC5 interface signal quality of all the edge terminal devices served by the relay terminal device is smaller than the PC5 interface signal quality threshold in the target network device, the relay terminal device alone performs the handover to the target network device.

Specifically, the relay terminal device measures its PC5 interface signal quality with the edge terminal device 1 and its PC5 interface signal quality with the edge terminal device 2. The relay terminal equipment evaluates and discovers that the signal quality of the PC5 interface of the relay terminal equipment and the edge terminal equipment 1 is smaller than the signal quality threshold of the PC5 interface indicated by the group switching condition of the target network equipment, and determines that the relay terminal equipment does not carry the edge terminal equipment 1 to execute the group switching; the relay terminal device evaluates and finds that the signal quality of the PC5 interface with the edge terminal device 2 exceeds (e.g. is greater than or equal to) the signal quality threshold of the PC5 interface indicated by the group handover condition of the target network device, and determines that the edge terminal device 2 is carried to perform the group handover.

In step 309, the relay terminal device transmits a release notification to the edge terminal device 1 to release the PC5 link with the edge terminal device 1. That is, the relay terminal device no longer provides the relay service to the edge terminal device 1.

In step 310, the relay terminal device carries the edge terminal device 2 to perform group handover to the target network device. Specifically, the relay terminal device switches to the target network device together with the edge terminal device 2 that it serves. After the group is switched into the candidate network device 1, the edge terminal device 2 still accesses the candidate network device 1 through the relay terminal device to realize relay communication. That is, the relay terminal device still continues to provide the relay service for the edge terminal device 2 in the serving cell of the target network device.

By setting the group switching conditions, the embodiment of the application can provide basis for whether the relay terminal equipment carries the edge terminal equipment to carry out group switching at the switching moment under the condition that the signal quality of the PC5 interface between the relay terminal equipment and the edge terminal equipment served by the relay terminal equipment is possibly changed, ensure the smooth development of the switching and improve the user experience.

Specifically, the source network device may be a source base station, the candidate network device may be a candidate base station, and the target network device may be a target base station, which is not limited in this regard.

It should be noted that, for more specific embodiments of group switching, please refer to the existing protocol, and the description is omitted here.

Referring also to fig. 4, fig. 4 shows another specific flow chart of a handoff.

Reference may be made to the descriptions of steps 301 to 305 with respect to steps 401 to 405.

Unlike in the previous embodiment, after the source network device transmits the RRC reconfiguration message to the relay terminal device, the relay terminal device measures the reference signal quality of the candidate network device and selects the target network device for handover in step 406.

In step 407, the relay terminal device determines that the carrying edge terminal device 2 performs group switching according to the PC5 interface signal quality of the edge terminal device of the service and the group switching condition of the target network device.

In step 408, the relay terminal device sends a reconfiguration message to the edge terminal device 2, where the RRC reconfiguration message includes the cell configuration of the target network device.

In step 409, the relay terminal device transmits a release notification to the edge terminal device 1 to release the PC5 link with the edge terminal device 1.

In step 410, the relay terminal device carries the edge terminal device 2 to perform group handover to the target network device.

Compared with the foregoing embodiment in which the relay terminal device directly sends the RRC reconfiguration message to all the edge terminal devices, in the embodiment of the present invention, after determining that the group handover is performed by the edge terminal device 2, the relay terminal device only needs to send the RRC reconfiguration message to the edge terminal device 2, and does not need to forward the RRC reconfiguration message to the edge terminal device 1, thereby saving signaling overhead. Moreover, compared with the cell configuration in the foregoing embodiment in which the RRC reconfiguration message includes m candidate network devices, the RRC reconfiguration message in the embodiment of the present invention only needs to include the cell configuration of the target network device, so as to further save signaling overhead.

Referring to fig. 5, fig. 5 shows a switching device. The switching device 50 may include:

a first communication module 501, configured to receive a group handover condition of at least one candidate network device, where the group handover condition indicates a PC5 interface signal quality threshold for the relay terminal device and an edge terminal device served by the relay terminal device to perform a group handover to the candidate network device;

A first processing module 502, configured to select a target network device from at least one candidate network device;

the first processing module 502 is further configured to determine whether to carry the edge terminal device to perform group handover to the target network device according to the PC5 interface signal quality of each edge terminal device of the service and the group handover condition of the target network device.

In a specific implementation, the above-mentioned switching device 50 may correspond to a Chip having a switching function in a terminal device, such as an SOC (System-On-a-Chip), a baseband Chip, etc.; or the terminal equipment comprises a chip module with a switching function; or corresponds to a chip module having a chip with a data processing function or corresponds to a terminal device.

The embodiment of the invention also discloses another switching device, which comprises: and the second communication module is used for receiving group switching conditions of at least one candidate network device, wherein the group switching conditions indicate PC5 interface signal quality thresholds for the relay terminal device and the edge terminal devices served by the relay terminal device to execute group switching to the candidate network device, and the group switching conditions and the PC5 interface signal quality of each edge terminal device are used for the relay terminal device to determine whether to carry the edge terminal device to execute group switching. The second communication module is also configured to send a group handover condition for the at least one candidate network device.

The embodiment of the invention also discloses another switching device, which comprises: the second processing module is used for generating a group switching condition of the candidate network equipment, wherein the group switching condition indicates a PC5 interface signal quality threshold value for the relay terminal equipment and the edge terminal equipment served by the relay terminal equipment to execute group switching to the candidate network equipment, and the group switching condition and the PC5 interface signal quality of each edge terminal equipment served by the relay terminal equipment are used for determining whether to carry the edge terminal equipment to execute group switching; and the third communication module is used for sending the group switching condition of the candidate network equipment.

In a specific implementation, the above-mentioned switching device may correspond to a Chip having a switching function in the network device, such as an SOC (System-On-a-Chip), a baseband Chip, etc.; or the network equipment comprises a chip module with a switching function; or corresponds to a chip module having a chip with a data processing function or corresponds to a terminal device.

For more details of the working principle and the working manner of the switching device, reference may be made to the related descriptions in the foregoing embodiments, which are not repeated here.

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

The embodiment of the application also discloses a storage medium which is a computer readable storage medium and is stored with a computer program, and the computer program can execute the steps of the switching method when running.

Referring to fig. 6 in particular, the embodiment of the application further provides a hardware structure schematic diagram of the communication device. The apparatus comprises a processor 601, a memory 602 and a transceiver 603.

The processor 601 may be a general purpose central processing unit (central processing unit, CPU), microprocessor, application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or one or more integrated circuits for controlling the execution of the program of the present application. Processor 601 may also include multiple CPUs, and processor 601 may be a single-Core (CPU) processor or a multi-core (multi-CPU) processor. A processor herein may refer to one or more devices, circuits, or processing cores for processing data (e.g., computer program instructions).

The memory 602 may be a ROM or other type of static storage device, a RAM or other type of dynamic storage device that can store static information and instructions, or that can store information and instructions, or that can be an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM) or other optical disk storage, optical disk storage (including compact disk, laser disk, optical disk, digital versatile disk, blu-ray disk, etc.), magnetic disk storage media or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer, as embodiments of the application are not limited in this respect. The memory 602 may be separate (in this case, the memory 602 may be located outside the apparatus or inside the apparatus), or may be integrated with the processor 601. Wherein the memory 602 may contain computer program code. The processor 601 is arranged to execute computer program code stored in the memory 602 for implementing the method provided by the embodiment of the application.

The processor 601, the memory 602 and the transceiver 603 are connected by a bus. The transceiver 603 is used to communicate with other devices or communication networks. Alternatively, the transceiver 603 may include a transmitter and a receiver. The means for implementing the receiving function in the transceiver 603 may be regarded as a receiver for performing the steps of receiving in an embodiment of the application. The means for implementing the transmitting function in the transceiver 603 may be regarded as a transmitter for performing the steps of transmitting in the embodiments of the present application.

While the schematic structural diagram shown in fig. 6 is used to illustrate the structure of the terminal device according to the above embodiment, the processor 601 is used to control and manage the actions of the terminal device, for example, the processor 601 is used to support the terminal device to perform steps 201 to 203 in fig. 2, or steps 303, 304 and 305 in fig. 3, or steps 401, 406, 407, 408, 409 and 410 in fig. 4, and/or actions performed by the terminal device in other processes described in the embodiments of the present application. The processor 601 may communicate with other network entities, such as with the network devices described above, through the transceiver 603. The memory 602 is used for storing program codes and data for the terminal device. The processor 601, when running a computer program, may control the transmitter 603 to receive RRC reconfiguration messages.

While the schematic diagram shown in fig. 6 is used to illustrate the structure of the network device according to the above embodiment, the processor 601 is configured to control and manage the actions of the network device, for example, the processor 601 is configured to support the network device to perform the steps 301, 302, and 305 in fig. 3, or the steps 402, 403, 404, 405, and 410 in fig. 4, and/or the actions performed by the network device in other processes described in the embodiments of the present application. The processor 601 may communicate with other network entities, e.g. with the above-mentioned terminal devices, through the transceiver 603. The memory 602 is used to store program codes and data for the network device. The processor 601, when running a computer program, may control the transceiver 603 to send one or more of an RRC reconfiguration message, a handover request response.

The embodiment of the application also discloses a terminal device, which can comprise a memory and a processor, wherein the memory stores a computer program capable of running on the processor. The steps of the aforementioned handover method may be performed when the processor runs a computer program.

The technical scheme of the application is also applicable to different network architectures, including but not limited to a relay network architecture, a dual link architecture, a Vehicle-to-evaluation architecture and the like.

The embodiment of the application defines a unidirectional communication link from an access network to a terminal as a downlink, wherein data transmitted on the downlink is downlink data, and the transmission direction of the downlink data is called as a downlink direction; and the unidirectional communication link from the terminal to the access network is an uplink, the data transmitted on the uplink is uplink data, and the transmission direction of the uplink data is called as uplink direction.

It should be understood that the term "and/or" is merely an association relationship describing the associated object, and means that three relationships may exist, for example, a and/or B may mean: a exists alone, A and B exist together, and B exists alone. In this context, the character "/" indicates that the front and rear associated objects are an "or" relationship.

The term "plurality" as used in the embodiments of the present application means two or more.

The first, second, etc. descriptions in the embodiments of the present application are only used for illustrating and distinguishing the description objects, and no order is used, nor is the number of the devices in the embodiments of the present application limited, and no limitation on the embodiments of the present application should be construed.

The "connection" in the embodiment of the present application refers to various connection manners such as direct connection or indirect connection, so as to implement communication between devices, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present application.

The above embodiments may be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware, or any other combination. When implemented in software, the above-described embodiments may be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product comprises one or more computer instructions or computer programs. When the computer instructions or computer program are loaded or executed on a computer, the processes or functions in accordance with embodiments of the present application are produced in whole or in part. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable apparatus. The computer instructions may be stored in or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another, for example, by wired or wireless means from one website site, computer, server, or data center. Computer readable storage media can be any available media that can be accessed by a computer or data storage devices, such as servers, data centers, etc. that contain one or more collections of available media.

It should be understood that, in various embodiments of the present application, the sequence numbers of the foregoing processes do not mean the order of execution, and the order of execution of the processes should be determined by the functions and internal logic thereof, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiments of the present application.

In the several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed method, apparatus and system may be implemented in other manners. For example, the device embodiments described above are merely illustrative; for example, the division of the units is only one logic function division, and other division modes can be adopted in actual implementation; for example, multiple units or components may be combined or may be integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted, or not performed. Alternatively, the coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed with each other may be an indirect coupling or communication connection via some interfaces, devices or units, which may be in electrical, mechanical or other form.

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

In addition, each functional unit in the embodiments of the present invention may be integrated in one processing unit, or each unit may be physically included separately, or two or more units may be integrated in one unit. The integrated units may be implemented in hardware or in hardware plus software functional units.

Although the present invention is disclosed above, the present invention is not limited thereto. Various changes and modifications may be made by one skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, and the scope of the invention should be assessed accordingly to that of the appended claims.

Claims (16)

1. A method of handover, comprising:

receiving a group switching condition of at least one candidate network device, wherein the group switching condition indicates a PC5 interface signal quality threshold value for executing group switching to the candidate network device by the relay terminal device and the edge terminal device served by the relay terminal device;

selecting a target network device from the at least one candidate network device;

and determining whether to carry the edge terminal equipment to execute group switching to the target network equipment according to the PC5 interface signal quality of each edge terminal equipment of the service and the group switching condition of the target network equipment.

2. The handover method of claim 1, wherein group handover conditions are different for different candidate network devices.

3. The handover method according to claim 1, wherein the determining whether to carry an edge terminal device to perform a group handover to the target network device according to the PC5 interface signal quality of each edge terminal device of the service and the group handover condition of the target network device comprises:

and if the first edge terminal equipment with the PC5 interface signal quality larger than or equal to the PC5 interface signal quality threshold value in the target network equipment exists, carrying the first edge terminal equipment to execute group switching to the target network equipment.

4. The handover method according to claim 1, wherein the determining whether to carry an edge terminal device to perform a group handover to the target network device according to the PC5 interface signal quality of each edge terminal device of the service and the group handover condition of the target network device comprises:

if the PC5 interface signal quality of all edge terminal devices of the service is smaller than the PC5 interface signal quality threshold value in the target network device, the relay terminal device alone performs the handover to the target network device.

5. The handover method according to claim 1, further comprising:

and notifying and releasing the second edge terminal equipment for the second edge terminal equipment with the PC5 interface signal quality smaller than the PC5 interface signal quality threshold value in the target network equipment.

6. The handover method according to claim 1, wherein the receiving a group handover condition of at least one candidate network device comprises:

and receiving an RRC reconfiguration message, wherein the RRC reconfiguration message carries the group switching condition.

7. A method of handover, comprising:

receiving a group switching condition of at least one candidate network device, wherein the group switching condition indicates a PC5 interface signal quality threshold value for the relay terminal device and the edge terminal devices served by the relay terminal device to execute group switching to the candidate network device, and the group switching condition and the PC5 interface signal quality of each served edge terminal device are used for the relay terminal device to determine whether to carry the edge terminal device to execute group switching;

and transmitting a group switching condition of the at least one candidate network device.

8. The handover method according to claim 7, wherein the receiving the group handover condition of the at least one candidate network device is preceded by:

And sending a switching request message to at least one candidate network device, wherein the switching request message indicates a group switching request of the relay terminal device and the edge terminal device.

9. A method of handover, comprising:

generating a group switching condition of candidate network equipment, wherein the group switching condition indicates a PC5 interface signal quality threshold value for the relay terminal equipment and edge terminal equipment served by the relay terminal equipment to execute group switching to the candidate network equipment, and the group switching condition and the PC5 interface signal quality of each edge terminal equipment served by the relay terminal equipment are used for determining whether to carry the edge terminal equipment to execute group switching;

and sending the group switching condition of the candidate network equipment.

10. The handover method according to claim 9, wherein prior to transmitting the group handover condition of the at least one candidate network device, comprising:

and receiving a switching request message, wherein the switching request message indicates a group switching request of the relay terminal equipment and the edge terminal equipment.

11. A switching device, comprising:

a first communication module, configured to receive a group handover condition of at least one candidate network device, where the group handover condition indicates a PC5 interface signal quality threshold for a relay terminal device and an edge terminal device served by the relay terminal device to perform group handover to the candidate network device;

A first processing module, configured to select a target network device from the at least one candidate network device;

the first processing module is further configured to determine whether to carry an edge terminal device to perform group handover to the target network device according to the quality of the PC5 interface signal of each edge terminal device served and the group handover condition of the target network device.

12. A switching device, comprising:

a second communication module, configured to receive a group handover condition of at least one candidate network device, where the group handover condition indicates a PC5 interface signal quality threshold for a relay terminal device and an edge terminal device served by the relay terminal device to perform group handover to the candidate network device, and the group handover condition and the PC5 interface signal quality of each edge terminal device are used for the relay terminal device to determine whether to carry the edge terminal device to perform group handover;

the second communication module is further configured to send a group handover condition for the at least one candidate network device.

13. A switching device, comprising:

the second processing module is used for generating a group switching condition of the candidate network equipment, the group switching condition indicates a PC5 interface signal quality threshold value for the relay terminal equipment and the edge terminal equipment served by the relay terminal equipment to execute group switching to the candidate network equipment, and the group switching condition and the PC5 interface signal quality of each edge terminal equipment served by the relay terminal equipment are used for determining whether to carry the edge terminal equipment to execute group switching;

And the third communication module is used for sending the group switching condition of the candidate network equipment.

14. A computer readable storage medium, on which a computer program is stored, characterized in that the computer program, when being executed by a processor, performs the steps of the handover method according to any one of claims 1 to 10.

15. Terminal device comprising a memory and a processor, the memory having stored thereon a computer program executable on the processor, characterized in that the processor executes the steps of the handover method according to any of claims 1 to 6 when the computer program is executed by the processor.

16. A network device comprising a memory and a processor, the memory having stored thereon a computer program executable on the processor, characterized in that the processor executes the steps of the handover method according to claim 7 or 8 or the steps of the handover method according to claim 9 or 10 when the processor runs the computer program.