CN117356138A

CN117356138A - Information acquisition method, information providing device, information acquisition equipment and storage medium

Info

Publication number: CN117356138A
Application number: CN202180098266.2A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 林雪; 王淑坤
Original assignee: Guangdong Oppo Mobile Telecommunications Corp Ltd
Current assignee: Guangdong Oppo Mobile Telecommunications Corp Ltd
Priority date: 2021-08-03
Filing date: 2021-08-03
Publication date: 2024-01-05
Also published as: WO2023010291A1

Abstract

An information acquisition method, an information providing device, information providing equipment and a storage medium relate to the technical field of communication. The method is performed by a terminal device, the terminal device camping on a serving cell, the method comprising: and acquiring reference time information of a target cell, wherein the version of a communication system corresponding to the target cell is higher than that of a communication system corresponding to the service cell. Based on the method, the terminal equipment can acquire accurate reference time information to perform time synchronization.

Description

Information acquisition method, information providing device, information acquisition equipment and storage medium

Technical Field

The embodiment of the application relates to the technical field of communication, in particular to an information acquisition method, an information providing device, information providing equipment and a storage medium.

Background

The third generation partnership project protocol (3rd Generation Partnership Project,3GPP) sets up a high reliability low latency enhancement project, the major technical enhancements of which include: time sensitive communication (Time Sensitive Communication, TSC) services are supported.

In order to ensure the accurate transmission delay requirement of the TSC service, accurate time synchronization in a communication system is required. In an implementation, the network device provides time synchronization information to the terminal device by sending reference time information (Reference time information), which includes a reference system frame number (System Frame Number, SFN), a reference time (several hours, minutes, seconds), and the like.

When the terminal device resides in a long term evolution (Long Term Evolution, LTE) cell, the related art has not provided a better solution how to obtain accurate reference time information for time synchronization.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the application provides an information acquisition method, an information providing device, equipment and a storage medium. The technical scheme is as follows:

according to an aspect of the embodiments of the present application, there is provided an information acquisition method, the method being performed by a terminal device, the terminal device camping on a serving cell, the method comprising:

and acquiring reference time information of a target cell, wherein the version of a communication system corresponding to the target cell is higher than that of a communication system corresponding to the service cell.

According to an aspect of the embodiments of the present application, there is provided an information providing method, which is performed by a network device, the method including:

and providing the reference time information of the target cell for the terminal equipment, wherein the terminal equipment resides in the service cell, and the version of the communication system corresponding to the target cell is higher than that of the communication system corresponding to the service cell.

According to an aspect of the embodiments of the present application, there is provided an information processing apparatus, the apparatus camping on a serving cell, the apparatus comprising: an information acquisition module;

The information acquisition module is configured to acquire reference time information of a target cell, where a version of a communication system corresponding to the target cell is higher than a version of a communication system corresponding to the serving cell.

According to an aspect of the embodiments of the present application, there is provided an information providing apparatus including: an information providing module;

the information providing module is configured to provide reference time information of a target cell to a terminal device, where the terminal device resides in a serving cell, and a version of a communication system corresponding to the target cell is higher than a version of a communication system corresponding to the serving cell.

According to an aspect of the embodiments of the present application, there is provided a terminal device, the terminal device camping on a serving cell, the terminal device including a transceiver;

the transceiver is configured to obtain reference time information of a target cell, where a version of a communication system corresponding to the target cell is higher than a version of a communication system corresponding to the serving cell.

According to one aspect of embodiments of the present application, there is provided a network device comprising a transceiver;

the transceiver is configured to provide reference time information of a target cell to a terminal device, where the terminal device resides in a serving cell, and a version of a communication system corresponding to the target cell is higher than a version of a communication system corresponding to the serving cell.

According to an aspect of the embodiments of the present application, there is provided a computer-readable storage medium having stored therein a computer program for execution by a processor to implement the above-described information acquisition method on the terminal device side or the information providing method on the network device side.

According to an aspect of the embodiments of the present application, there is provided a chip, where the chip includes a programmable logic circuit and/or program instructions, and when the chip is running, the chip is configured to implement the method for obtaining information on the terminal device side or the method for providing information on the network device side.

According to an aspect of the embodiments of the present application, there is provided a computer program product or a computer program, which includes computer instructions stored in a computer-readable storage medium, from which a processor reads and executes the computer instructions to implement the above-described information acquisition method on the terminal device side, or the information providing method on the network device side.

The technical scheme provided by the embodiment of the application can bring the following beneficial effects:

under the condition that the terminal equipment resides in the service cell, the terminal equipment acquires the reference time information of the target cell, and the accuracy of the reference time information of the target cell is generally higher than that of the reference time information of the service cell because the version of the communication system corresponding to the target cell is higher than that of the communication system corresponding to the service cell, so that the terminal equipment is helped to acquire the reference time information with higher accuracy.

Drawings

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

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a communication system provided in an exemplary embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an EN-DC architecture provided by an exemplary embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of various dual connectivity architectures provided by one exemplary embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of an information acquisition method provided by an exemplary embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of an information acquisition method provided by an exemplary embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of an information acquisition method provided by an exemplary embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a measurement report configuration information and measurement object configuration information association provided in an exemplary embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of an information acquisition method provided by an exemplary embodiment of the present application;

Fig. 9 is a block diagram of an information acquisition apparatus provided in an exemplary embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of an information providing apparatus provided by an exemplary embodiment of the present application;

fig. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

For the purpose of making the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present application more apparent, the embodiments of the present application will be described in further detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

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

Referring to fig. 1, a block diagram of a communication system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present application is shown, where the communication system may include: a terminal device 10 and an access network device 20.

Terminal device 10 may refer to a User Equipment (UE), an access terminal, a subscriber unit, a subscriber station, a mobile station, a remote terminal, a mobile device, a wireless communication device, a User agent, or a User Equipment. Alternatively, the terminal device 10 may also be a cellular phone, a cordless phone, a session initiation protocol (Session Initiation Protocol, SIP) phone, a wireless local loop (Wireless Local Loop, WLL) station, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a handheld device with wireless communication function, a computing device or other processing device connected to a wireless modem, a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, a terminal device in a fifth generation mobile communication system (5th Generation System,5GS) or a terminal device in a future evolved Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN), etc., which the embodiments of the present application are not limited to. For convenience of description, the above-mentioned devices are collectively referred to as terminal devices. The number of terminal devices 10 is typically plural, and one or more terminal devices 10 may be distributed within a cell managed by each access network device 20.

The access network device 20 is a device deployed in the access network to provide wireless communication functionality for the terminal device 10. The access network device 20 may include various forms of macro base stations, micro base stations, relay stations, access points, and the like. The names of access network device-capable devices may vary in systems employing different radio access technologies, for example in 5G NR systems, called gndeb or gNB. As communication technology evolves, the name "access network device" may change. For convenience of description, in the embodiment of the present application, the above-mentioned devices for providing the terminal device 10 with the wireless communication function are collectively referred to as an access network device. Alternatively, a communication relationship may be established between the terminal device 10 and the core network device via the access network device 20. Illustratively, in an LTE system, the access network device 20 may be one or more eNodeBs in an Evolved Universal terrestrial radio network (E-UTRAN) or E-UTRAN; in a 5G New Radio (NR) system, the access network device 20 may be a Radio access network (Radio Access Network, RAN) or one or more gnbs in the RAN. In the embodiments of the present application, the network device refers to the access network device 20, such as a base station, unless specifically described.

The "5G NR system" in the embodiments of the present application may also be referred to as a 5G system or an NR system, but a person skilled in the art may understand the meaning thereof. The technical solution described in the embodiments of the present application may be applied to an LTE system, a 5G NR system, a subsequent evolution system of the 5G NR system, and other communication systems such as a narrowband internet of things (Narrow Band Internet of Things, NB-IoT) system, which is not limited in this application.

Before the technical scheme of the application is described, some nouns related to the application are described.

1. Multiple radio access technology-double connection (Multi RAT Dual Connectivity, MR-DC)

Currently, with the pursuit of speed, delay, high-speed mobility, energy efficiency and the diversity and complexity of future life services, the 3GPP international standards organization starts to develop 5G for this purpose. The main application scenario of 5G is: enhanced mobile ultra-wideband (enhanced Mobile Broadband, emmbb), low latency high reliability communications (Ultra Reliable and Low Latency Communication, URLLC), large scale machine type communications (massive Machine Type Communication, mctc).

embbs still target users to obtain multimedia content, services, and data, and their demand is growing very rapidly. On the other hand, since the eMBB may be deployed in different scenarios, such as indoor, urban, rural, etc., the capability and demand of the eMBB are also relatively different, so that detailed analysis must be performed in connection with a specific deployment scenario. Typical applications of URLLC include: industrial automation, electric automation, remote medical operations (such as surgery), traffic safety guarantee, and the like. Typical characteristics of mctc include: high connection density, small data volume, delay insensitive traffic, low cost and long service life of the module, etc.

At the early deployment of New Radio (NR), full NR coverage is difficult to acquire, so typical network coverage is wide area LTE coverage and the island coverage mode of NR. And a large amount of LTE is deployed below 6GHz, and the frequency spectrum below 6GHz which can be used for 5G is few. NR must study spectral applications above 6GHz while high-band coverage is limited and signal fading is fast. Meanwhile, in order to protect the early investment of the mobile operators in LTE, a working mode of Tight coupling (light-interference) between LTE and NR is proposed.

To enable 5G network deployment and commercial applications as soon as possible, 3GPP first completes the first 5G release, LTE-NR dual connectivity (E-UTRAN-NR Dual Connectivity, EN-DC), before 2017. Here, the LTE base station serves as a Master Node (MN), the NR base station serves as a Secondary Node (SN), the network deployment and networking architecture is as shown in fig. 2, the LTE base station 210 and the LTE base station 212 serve as the MN, and the NR base station 220 and the NR base station 222 serve as the SN.

Where the MN mainly provides RRC control functions and control plane to the Core Network (CN), the SN may configure auxiliary signaling, e.g. signaling radio bearer 3 (Signaling Radio Bearers, srb 3), mainly providing data transfer functions.

In the late stage of R15, in addition to EN-DC (as shown in (a) of fig. 3), other DC modes will be supported, such as: 5GC-EN-DC, as shown in (b) of FIG. 3, the LTE base station is an MN, the NR base station is an SN, and the connected core network is a 5G core network (5G core,5 GC); NR-LTE dual connectivity (LTE-E-UTRAN Dual Connectivity, NE-DC), as shown in (c) of FIG. 3, NR base station as MN, LTE base station as SN; NR-DC, as shown in (d) of FIG. 3, the NR base station acts as MN and the NR base station acts as SN. For EN-DC, the core network to which the access network is connected is a packet core network (Evolved Packet Core, EPC), while the core network to which the other DC mode is connected is a 5G core network.

2. Reference time information (Reference Time Information)

In order to better support applications in the vertical industry, such as industrial internet (Industry Internet of Things, IIoT), smart grid, etc., 3GPP has established an enhanced project with high reliability and low delay, and the design goal is to support time synchronization accuracy of 1us, air interface delay of 0.5ms, and reliability transmission of 99.999%. The main technical enhancements of the project include: support time sensitive communications (Time Sensitive Communication, TSC), data replication and multilink enhancements, intra-user priority/multiplexing enhancements, and the like.

In order to ensure the accurate transmission delay requirement of TSC service, accurate time synchronization in the system is required. In the implementation process, the base station provides time synchronization information including reference system frame number (System Frame Number, SFN), reference time (several hours, minutes, seconds) and the like to the terminal device by including reference time information cell (ReferenceTimeInfo IE) in SIB9 or downlink information transfer (dlinfo transfer).

For an LTE system, the configuration of the reference time information cell is:

for an NR system, the configuration of the reference time information cell is:

as can be seen from the configuration of the reference time information cells in the above two communication systems, the NR system can provide reference time information with higher accuracy than the LTE system, for example, the minimum granularity of synchronization time of the LTE system is 1/4 microsecond and the minimum granularity of synchronization time of the NR system is 10 nanoseconds. However, for EN-DC or LTE independent networking (SA) architecture, the terminal device can only acquire reference time information according to the reference time information cells acquired under the LTE system to determine the synchronization time. The embodiment of the application discusses how the terminal equipment obtains more accurate reference time information aiming at the two architectures.

In the embodiment of the application, under the condition that the terminal equipment resides in the service cell, the terminal equipment acquires the reference time information of the target cell, and because the version of the communication system corresponding to the target cell is higher than that of the communication system corresponding to the service cell, the accuracy of the reference time information of the target cell is generally higher than that of the reference time information of the service cell, thereby helping the terminal equipment to acquire the reference time information with higher accuracy.

The following describes the technical scheme of the application through several embodiments.

Referring to fig. 4, a flowchart of an information obtaining method according to an embodiment of the present application is shown. The method is applicable to the communication system shown in fig. 1. The method may comprise the steps of:

step 402: the network device provides the reference time information of the target cell to the terminal device.

Step 404: the terminal equipment acquires the reference time information of the target cell, and the version of the communication system corresponding to the target cell is higher than that of the communication system corresponding to the service cell.

In the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device resides in the serving cell, the target cell is a neighboring cell different from the serving cell, and the version of the communication system corresponding to the target cell is higher than the version of the communication system corresponding to the serving cell, so that the terminal device obtains the reference time information provided by the target cell.

Optionally, since the version of the communication system corresponding to the target cell is higher than the version of the communication system corresponding to the serving cell, the accuracy of the reference time information of the target cell is higher than the accuracy of the reference time information of the serving cell.

The version of the communication system corresponding to the target cell is higher than the version of the communication system corresponding to the serving cell, which can be understood as: the version of the communication system corresponding to the target cell is a later introduced version compared with the version of the communication system corresponding to the serving cell; the version of the communication system corresponding to the target cell is a version obtained after evolution of the version of the communication system corresponding to the serving cell; the performance of the version of the communication system corresponding to the target cell is better than the performance of the version of the communication system corresponding to the serving cell, and so on.

The communication system corresponding to the target cell is an NR system, and the communication system corresponding to the serving cell is an LTE system.

The terminal device is illustratively in an EN-DC architecture, or LTE SA architecture.

Optionally, the terminal device acquires reference time information of the target cell from the target cell. Optionally, the terminal device obtains reference time information of the target cell from another cell where a connection is established with the target cell, for example: a serving cell. The following examples will be specifically described, and will not be described in detail herein.

In summary, in the method provided in this embodiment, when the terminal device resides in the serving cell, the terminal device obtains the reference time information of the target cell, and since the version of the communication system corresponding to the target cell is higher than that of the communication system corresponding to the serving cell, the accuracy of the reference time information of the target cell is generally higher than that of the reference time information of the serving cell, so as to help the terminal device obtain the reference time information with higher accuracy.

In the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device sends information to a certain cell, which can be understood as that the terminal device sends information to the network device corresponding to the cell; a certain cell sends information to a terminal device, which can be understood as that the network device corresponding to the cell sends information to the terminal device.

In an exemplary embodiment, the scheme of the terminal device acquiring the reference time information of the target cell includes at least one of the following:

(1) Performing measurements to determine a first cell; and receiving the broadcast message of the first cell, and acquiring first reference time information from the broadcast message.

Correspondingly, in response to the terminal device performing the measurement, determining a first cell, the first cell transmitting a broadcast message carrying the first reference time information.

That is, the terminal device determines the target cell as the first cell by performing measurement on neighbor cells of the serving cell, and acquires first reference time information from the first cell.

(2) Receiving measurement report configuration information, and determining a second cell based on the measurement report configuration information; and receiving the broadcast message of the second cell, and acquiring second reference time information from the broadcast message.

Correspondingly, the service cell sends measurement report configuration information to the terminal equipment, wherein the measurement report configuration information is used for indicating the second cell; the second cell transmits a broadcast message carrying second reference time information.

That is, the terminal device determines that the target cell is the second cell by receiving the measurement report configuration information and based on the configuration of the measurement report configuration information, and obtains second reference time information from the second cell.

(3) And acquiring third reference time information provided by a third cell corresponding to the SN in response to the terminal equipment being in an EN-DC dual-connection architecture, wherein the service cell is an LTE cell, and the third cell is an NR cell.

Correspondingly, in response to the terminal equipment being in the EN-DC dual-connection architecture, the network equipment provides third reference time information of a third cell corresponding to the SN to the terminal equipment, the service cell is an LTE cell, and the third cell is an NR cell.

That is, in the case that the terminal device is in the EN-DC dual-connection architecture, the serving cell in which the terminal device resides is an LTE cell, the third cell corresponding to SN is an NR cell, and the terminal device acquires third reference time information provided by the third cell.

Next, the above three schemes are exemplarily described.

(1) The terminal equipment performs measurement to determine a first cell; the terminal equipment receives the broadcast message of the first cell and acquires the first reference time information from the broadcast message.

Referring to fig. 5, a flowchart of an information obtaining method according to an embodiment of the present application is shown. The method is applicable to the communication system shown in fig. 1. The method may comprise the steps of:

step 502: the configuration cell transmits at least one measurement object configuration information to the terminal device, the measurement object configuration information being used for configuring the measurement object.

The configuration cell is a service cell where the terminal equipment resides, or the configuration cell is a cell where the terminal equipment resides before connection release.

Step 504: the terminal equipment receives at least one piece of measurement object configuration information sent by a configuration cell.

Optionally, the configuration cell sends a first message to the terminal device; the terminal equipment receives a first message sent by a configuration cell, wherein the first message carries at least one measurement object configuration information; wherein, in the case that the terminal device is in an inactive state or an idle state, the first message includes: a radio resource control release (RRCRelease) message, a system broadcast message; in the case that the terminal device is in a connected state, the first message includes: RRC message, system broadcast message.

The terminal device receives an RRCRelease message sent by a cell where the terminal device resides before connection release, where the RRCRelease message carries at least one measurement object configuration information, and after connection release, the terminal device is in rrc_inactive (i.e. INACTIVE state) or rrc_idle (i.e. IDLE state).

The terminal device is in rrc_inactive (i.e. INACTIVE) state or rrc_idle (i.e. IDLE) state, and receives a system broadcast message sent by the currently camping serving cell, where the system broadcast message carries at least one measurement object configuration information.

For example, the terminal device is in an rrc_connected state (i.e., CONNECTED state), and receives an RRC message sent by the currently camping serving cell, where the RRC message carries at least one measurement object configuration information.

The terminal device is in rrc_connected state (i.e. CONNECTED state), and receives a system broadcast message sent by the currently camping serving cell, where the system broadcast message carries at least one measurement object configuration information.

Optionally, the first message further includes third indication information, where the third indication information is used to indicate whether the terminal device can obtain reference time information of other cells.

For example, in case the third indication information indicates that the terminal device can acquire reference time information of other cells, the terminal device will perform the following steps in the present embodiment. For example, in case the third indication information indicates that the terminal device may not acquire the reference time information of other cells, the terminal device will not perform the following steps in the present embodiment.

Step 506: and the terminal equipment performs measurement according to the at least one measurement object configuration information to obtain a measurement result.

That is, the terminal device performs measurement on the measurement object in the at least one measurement object configuration information according to the at least one measurement object configuration information, obtaining a measurement result.

Optionally, the measurement object includes at least one of: the measured frequency point and the measured reference signal.

That is, the measurement object configuration information carries the measured frequency point and the measured reference signal, which are used for indicating to measure the reference signal under the cell/frequency point, so that the terminal device obtains the measurement result.

Exemplary, the reference signals include: a synchronization Signal block (Synchronization Signal Block, SSB) and a channel state information-Reference Signal (Channel State Information-Reference Signal, CSI-RS).

Step 508: the terminal device determines a first cell based on the measurement result.

That is, the terminal device determines a first cell among at least one cell according to the strength of the signal quality indicated by the measurement result.

Optionally, the terminal device determines the first cell based on the measurement result by any one of the following manners:

mode one: the cell with the strongest signal quality is determined as the first cell.

In one possible implementation, the terminal device directly determines the cell with the strongest signal quality as the first cell after obtaining the measurement result.

In another possible implementation, the terminal device feeds back the cell with the strongest signal quality to the serving cell; the terminal equipment receives second indication information sent by a service cell, wherein the second indication information is used for indicating whether a cell with the strongest signal quality is allowed to be used as a first cell or not; in response to the second indication information for indicating that the cell with the strongest signal quality is allowed as the first cell, the terminal device determines the cell with the strongest signal quality as the first cell. Correspondingly, the serving cell receives the cell with the strongest signal quality fed back by the terminal equipment; the serving cell transmits second indication information indicating whether or not the cell having the strongest signal quality is allowed as the first cell.

The terminal device feeds back to the serving cell, by way of example, the cell with the strongest signal quality: and the terminal equipment responds to the measurement report configuration in the measurement report configuration information issued by the network equipment and feeds back the cell with the strongest signal quality to the service cell.

Mode two: a cell whose signal quality is not less than a first threshold is determined as a first cell.

Optionally, the first threshold is indicated to the terminal device by the network device. The first threshold is illustratively indicated to the terminal device by the configuration cell via a first message as above.

Optionally, the first threshold is predefined in the communication protocol.

Alternatively, in the case where there is more than one cell whose signal quality is not less than the first threshold, the terminal device optionally determines a cell whose signal quality is not less than the first threshold as the first cell.

Mode three: reporting the measurement result to a service cell; receiving first indication information sent by a serving cell, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating the first cell; the first cell is determined based on the first indication information.

Correspondingly, the service cell receives the measurement result reported by the terminal equipment; the serving cell indicates first indication information to the terminal device, where the first indication information is used to indicate the first cell.

In one possible implementation, the terminal device periodically reports the measurement results to the serving cell. The duration of the period is illustratively predefined in the communication protocol or indicated to the terminal device by the serving cell.

In another possible implementation, the terminal device reports the measurement results to the serving cell based on the triggering of the measurement reporting event as defined in the prior art. Exemplary, measurement reporting events include: event A1, event A2, event A3, event A4, event A5, event A6, event B1, and event B2.

In another possible implementation manner, a new measurement report event is introduced, and the terminal device reports the measurement result to the serving cell based on the trigger of the measurement report event, and the measurement report event is indicated to the terminal device by the serving cell through measurement report configuration.

Alternatively, the terminal device may determine the first cell by, in addition to the three possible implementations of step 508 above, determining the first cell based on the measurement results, determining the first cell by the terminal device in the following way four.

Mode four: the configured cell displays an indication of the first cell in a first message.

That is, the configured cell indicates the first cell through the first message display, and the terminal device determines the first cell according to the indication of the first message.

Illustratively, the terminal device determines the first cell in any of the above-described modes one, two and four in the case that the terminal device is in an inactive state or an idle state. Illustratively, in the case where the terminal device is in the connected state, the terminal device determines the first cell in any one of the above-described modes one, two, three and four.

Step 510: the first cell transmits a broadcast message carrying first reference time information.

Step 512: the terminal equipment receives the broadcast message of the first cell and acquires the first reference time information from the broadcast message.

Optionally, in response to the measurement object configuration information, the terminal device starts a first timer; and in the operation period of the first timer, the terminal equipment receives the broadcast message of the first cell and acquires the first reference time information from the broadcast message.

The terminal device is in a connection state, the first message carrying at least one measurement object configuration information issued by the network device further includes a measurement window, the terminal device starts a first timer after receiving the measurement object configuration information in the first message, and accurate first reference time information is acquired in the operation period (i.e., the measurement window) of the first timer.

Optionally, the terminal device receives a broadcast message of the first cell, reads a target system information block (System Information Block, SIB) in the broadcast message, and obtains the first reference time information. That is, the target SIB in the broadcast message of the first cell carries the first reference time information.

Optionally, the target SIB includes: SIB9. It is to be appreciated that the target SIB may also be other types of SIBs, as the embodiments of the present application are not limited in this regard.

Optionally, in case that the target SIB is not detected in the broadcast message of the first cell, the terminal device will further perform the following steps: the first cell is reselected.

The terminal device determines, as the first cell, a cell having a second strongest signal quality.

The terminal device may select the first cell again from among the cells having the signal quality not less than the first threshold. Optionally, the first threshold is indicated to the terminal device by the network device. The first threshold is illustratively indicated to the terminal device by the configuration cell via a first message as above. Optionally, the first threshold is predefined in the communication protocol.

In summary, in the method provided in this embodiment, when the terminal device resides in the serving cell, the terminal device determines, by performing measurement, a first cell with better signal quality as the target cell, and since the version of the communication system corresponding to the target cell is higher than that of the communication system corresponding to the serving cell, the accuracy of the reference time information of the target cell is generally higher than that of the reference time information of the serving cell, thereby helping the terminal device obtain the reference time information with higher accuracy.

Meanwhile, the method provided by the embodiment provides a plurality of terminal devices to execute measurement and determine the implementation mode of the first cell, so that the terminal devices are helped to efficiently determine the first cell, and further, the reference time information is acquired through the first cell.

Meanwhile, in the method provided by the embodiment, under the condition that the first reference time information cannot be acquired from the first cell which is currently determined, the terminal equipment reselects the first cell so as to acquire the first reference time information in the reselected first cell, and therefore the terminal equipment is ensured to effectively acquire the first reference time information.

(2) The terminal equipment receives measurement report configuration information and determines a second cell based on the measurement report configuration information; the terminal equipment receives the broadcast message of the second cell and acquires second reference time information from the broadcast message.

Referring to fig. 6, a flowchart of an information obtaining method according to an embodiment of the present application is shown. The method is applicable to the communication system shown in fig. 1. The method may comprise the steps of:

step 602: the service cell sends measurement report configuration information to the terminal equipment, wherein the measurement report configuration information comprises a first report type, the first report type comprises a physical cell identifier, and the physical cell identifier is used for indicating a second cell.

Optionally, step 602 includes: the service cell indicates to the terminal equipment to report the measurement; after the terminal equipment performs measurement based on the indication, reporting a measurement result to a service cell; and the service cell sends measurement report configuration information to the terminal equipment according to the measurement result.

Optionally, when the network device detects that the specific service arrives, the terminal device is instructed to perform measurement reporting. Exemplary, specific services include: URLLC traffic, TSN traffic.

Step 604: and the terminal equipment receives the measurement report configuration information sent by the service cell.

The measurement report configuration information is information for configuring measurement report of the terminal device.

Optionally, the terminal device receives measurement configuration information sent by the serving cell, where the measurement configuration information includes associated measurement reporting configuration information and measurement object configuration information, and the measurement object configuration information is used to configure a measurement object. Correspondingly, the serving cell sends measurement configuration information to the terminal equipment, wherein the measurement configuration information comprises associated measurement reporting configuration information and measurement object configuration information, and the measurement object configuration information is used for configuring a measurement object.

Illustratively, referring to fig. 7 in combination, measurement report configuration information and measurement object configuration information are associated by measurement identifiers, such as: the measurement identifier 1 corresponds to the associated measurement object 1 and reporting configuration 1, and is used for instructing the terminal device to determine a second cell based on the reporting configuration 1, and acquiring second reference time information from the second cell in the measurement object 1.

Optionally, the measurement report configuration information is carried in RRC dedicated signaling. That is, in this embodiment, the terminal device is in a connected state, and the terminal device obtains measurement report configuration information through RRC dedicated signaling.

Step 606: the terminal equipment determines a second cell based on the physical cell identification in the first reporting type.

The first reporting type includes a physical cell identifier (Physical Cell Identity, PCI), which is used for indicating the terminal device to obtain the reference time information of the second cell corresponding to the PCI. It may be understood that other types of identifiers may be carried in the first reporting type, so as to help the terminal device determine the second cell, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

Optionally, the first reporting type is a reporting type newly introduced in the measurement reporting configuration information, and the first reporting type is used for indicating the terminal device to acquire accurate reference time information.

Optionally, the first reporting type further includes fourth indication information, where the fourth indication information is used to indicate whether the terminal device uses an autonomous interval (gap) when acquiring the second reference time information.

The terminal device performs the measurements in a gap, which typically includes: a gap configured by the network equipment; or, autonomous gap. In the case where the fourth instruction information instructs the terminal device whether or not to use autonomous gap when acquiring the second reference time information, the terminal device uses autonomous gap when performing measurement.

Illustratively, the measurement report configuration information (ReportConfigNR) includes a first report type, which is denoted as ReportRefTime.

The ReportRefTime includes cellforwhachtopreportreftime for indicating the second cell and useautomomousgap-r 1 for indicating whether autonomous gap is used. Specific references are as follows:

step 608: the second cell transmits a broadcast message carrying second reference time information.

Step 610: the terminal equipment receives the broadcast message of the second cell and acquires second reference time information from the broadcast message.

Optionally, in response to the measurement reporting configuration information, the terminal device starts a second timer; and in the second timer running period, the terminal equipment receives the broadcast message of the second cell and acquires second reference time information from the broadcast message.

The terminal device is in a connection state, measurement configuration information sent by the serving cell further comprises a measurement window, the terminal device starts a second timer after receiving measurement report configuration information in the measurement configuration information, and accurate second reference time information is obtained in the second timer operation period (namely, the measurement window).

Optionally, in response to the second timer expiring, the terminal device will further perform the steps of: stopping receiving the broadcast message of the second cell, and acquiring second reference time information from the broadcast message; or reporting first notification information to the service cell, where the first notification information is used to notify the service cell that the terminal device has not successfully acquired the second reference time information. Correspondingly, the service cell receives first notification information reported by the terminal equipment, wherein the first notification information is used for notifying the terminal equipment of unsuccessful acquisition of second reference time information to the service cell.

Optionally, in case step 610 is successfully performed, the terminal device will also perform the following steps: reporting second reference time information to the serving cell; or reporting second notification information to the serving cell, where the second notification information is used to notify the serving cell that the terminal device successfully acquires the second reference time information. Correspondingly, the service cell receives second reference time information reported by the terminal equipment; or the service cell receives second notification information reported by the terminal equipment, wherein the second notification information is used for notifying the terminal equipment to successfully acquire second reference time information.

In summary, in the method provided in this embodiment, when the terminal device resides in the serving cell, the terminal device determines, according to the configuration of the measurement reporting configuration information, a second cell as the target cell, and since the version of the communication system corresponding to the target cell is higher than that of the communication system corresponding to the serving cell, the accuracy of the reference time information of the target cell is generally higher than that of the reference time information of the serving cell, thereby helping the terminal device obtain the reference time information with higher accuracy.

Meanwhile, in the method provided by the embodiment, the first reporting type is newly introduced in the measurement reporting configuration information, and is used for indicating the terminal equipment to acquire the accurate reference time information, so that the terminal equipment accurately and efficiently determines the second cell according to the indication of the physical cell identifier in the first reporting type, and further acquires the reference time information through the second cell.

Meanwhile, according to the method provided by the embodiment, the terminal equipment reports the notification information to the service cell, and whether the terminal equipment successfully acquires the second reference time information is notified to the service cell, so that the network equipment side can synchronize the second reference time information acquisition condition of the terminal equipment.

(3) And in response to the terminal equipment being in the EN-DC architecture, the terminal equipment acquires third reference time information provided by a third cell corresponding to the SN, wherein the service cell is an LTE cell, and the third cell is an NR cell.

Referring to fig. 8, a flowchart of an information obtaining method according to an embodiment of the present application is shown. The method is applicable to the communication system shown in fig. 1. The method may comprise the steps of:

in one possible implementation, the terminal device obtains the third reference time information through steps 802 to 804 as follows.

Step 802: and the third cell corresponding to the SN sends a first RRC message to the terminal equipment, wherein the first RRC message carries third reference time information.

Optionally, the MN sends fifth indication information to the SN through the X2 interface, where the fifth indication information is used to instruct the SN to provide third reference time information; and responding to the fifth indication information, and sending the first RRC message to the terminal equipment by the third cell corresponding to the SN.

Optionally, the third cell corresponding to the SN also sends response information to the serving cell corresponding to the MN. Optionally, the response message includes at least one of the following: whether to agree to provide the third reference time information; whether to transmit the third reference time information through SRB 3; and third reference time information.

Step 804: the terminal equipment receives a first RRC message sent by a third cell corresponding to the SN, wherein the first RRC message carries third reference time information.

That is, the terminal device in the connected state directly acquires the third reference time information of the third cell from the third cell corresponding to the SN.

Optionally, in response to establishing the signaling radio bearer3 (Signaling Radio Bearer, SRB 3) between the third cell corresponding to the SN and the terminal device, and the secondary cell group (Secondary Cell Group, SCG) is in an active state, the terminal device receives the first RRC message sent by the third cell corresponding to the SN through the SRB 3. Correspondingly, in response to the establishment of the signaling radio bearer 3SRB3 between the third cell corresponding to the SN and the terminal equipment, and the secondary cell group SCG is in an active state, the third cell corresponding to the SN sends a first RRC message to the terminal equipment through the SRB 3.

In another possible implementation, the terminal device obtains the third reference time information through steps 806 to 808 as follows.

Step 806: the service cell corresponding to the MN sends a second RRC message to the terminal equipment, the second RRC message carries third reference time information, and the third reference time information is sent to the service cell corresponding to the MN by a third cell corresponding to the SN.

Optionally, the MN sends sixth indication information to the SN through the X2 interface, where the sixth indication information is used to instruct the SN to provide third reference time information; when the SRB3 is not established between the third cell corresponding to the SN and the terminal equipment, or the SCG is in a non-activated state, responding to the sixth indication information, and sending response information carrying third reference time information to the service cell corresponding to the MN by the third cell corresponding to the SN; the serving cell corresponding to the MN sends a second RRC message carrying third reference time information to the terminal equipment.

Step 808: the terminal equipment receives a second RRC message sent by the serving cell corresponding to the MN, wherein the second RRC message carries third reference time information, and the third reference time information is sent to the serving cell corresponding to the MN by a third cell corresponding to the SN.

That is, the terminal device in the connected state acquires third reference time information of a third cell corresponding to the SN from the serving cell corresponding to the MN.

Optionally, in response to the fact that the SRB3 is not established between the third cell corresponding to the SN and the terminal device, or the SCG is in an inactive state, the terminal device receives a second RRC message sent by the serving cell corresponding to the MN through the SRB 1. Correspondingly, through SRB1, the service cell corresponding to MN sends a second RRC message to the terminal equipment.

Optionally, in response to the fact that the SRB3 is not established between the third cell corresponding to the SN and the terminal device, or the SCG is in an inactive state, the terminal device receives a second RRC message sent by the serving cell corresponding to the MN through the SRB 2. Correspondingly, through SRB2, the service cell corresponding to MN sends a second RRC message to the terminal equipment.

For example, in the case that the SRB3 is not established between the third cell corresponding to the SN and the terminal device, the terminal device receives the second RRC message sent by the serving cell corresponding to the MN through the SRB 2.

For example, in the case that the SCG is in the inactive state, the terminal device receives the second RRC message sent by the serving cell corresponding to the MN through the SRB 2.

For example, in the case that the SRB3 is not established between the third cell corresponding to the SN and the terminal device, and the SCG is in the inactive state, the terminal device receives the second RRC message sent by the serving cell corresponding to the MN through the SRB 2.

In summary, in the method provided in this embodiment, when the terminal device is in the EN-DC architecture, the terminal device uses the third cell corresponding to the SN as the target cell, and since the version of the communication system corresponding to the target cell is higher than that of the communication system corresponding to the serving cell, the accuracy of the reference time information of the target cell is generally higher than that of the reference time information of the serving cell, so as to help the terminal device obtain the reference time information with higher accuracy.

Meanwhile, in the method provided by the embodiment, under the EN-DC architecture, the MN sends the indication information to the SN, and the indication information is used for indicating the SN to provide the third reference time information, so that the interaction flow is simple, and the efficiency of acquiring the high-precision reference time information by the terminal equipment is improved.

It will be appreciated that the above method embodiments may be implemented alone or in combination, and are not limited in this application.

In the above-described respective embodiments, the steps performed by the terminal device may be individually implemented as the information acquisition method on the terminal device side, and the steps performed by the network device may be individually implemented as the information providing method on the network device side.

The following are device embodiments of the present application, which may be used to perform method embodiments of the present application. For details not disclosed in the device embodiments of the present application, please refer to the method embodiments of the present application.

Referring to fig. 9, a block diagram of an information acquisition apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application is shown. The device has the function of realizing the method example of the terminal equipment side, the function can be realized by hardware, and also can be realized by executing corresponding software by hardware, and the device resides in a service cell. The device may be the terminal device described above, or may be provided in the terminal device. As shown in fig. 9, the apparatus 900 may include: an information acquisition module 910;

the information obtaining module 910 is configured to obtain reference time information of a target cell, where a version of a communication system corresponding to the target cell is higher than a version of a communication system corresponding to the serving cell.

In an alternative embodiment, the information obtaining module 910 is configured to perform measurements to determine a first cell; receiving a broadcast message of the first cell, and acquiring first reference time information from the broadcast message;

or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the information obtaining module 910 is configured to receive measurement report configuration information sent by the serving cell, and determine a second cell based on the measurement report configuration information; receiving a broadcast message of the second cell, and acquiring second reference time information from the broadcast message;

Or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the information obtaining module 910 is configured to obtain third reference time information provided by a third cell corresponding to SN in response to the device being in an EN-DC dual-connection architecture, where the serving cell is an LTE cell and the third cell is an NR cell.

In an alternative embodiment, the information acquisition module 910 includes: a first cell determining unit, configured to:

receiving at least one measurement object configuration information sent by a configuration cell, wherein the measurement object configuration information is used for configuring a measurement object;

performing measurement according to the at least one measurement object configuration information to obtain a measurement result;

determining the first cell based on the measurement result;

the configuration cell is the service cell, or the configuration cell is the cell where the device resides before connection release.

In an alternative embodiment, the first cell determining unit is configured to:

determining the cell with the strongest signal quality as the first cell;

or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

determining a cell with signal quality not less than a first threshold as the first cell;

or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

reporting the measurement result to the service cell; receiving first indication information sent by the service cell, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating the first cell; the first cell is determined based on the first indication information.

In an alternative embodiment, the first cell determining unit is configured to:

feeding back the cell with the strongest signal quality to the serving cell;

receiving second indication information sent by the serving cell, wherein the second indication information is used for indicating whether the cell with the strongest signal quality is allowed to be used as the first cell;

and in response to the second indication information being used for indicating that the cell with the strongest signal quality is allowed to be used as the first cell, determining the cell with the strongest signal quality as the first cell.

In an alternative embodiment, the first threshold is indicated to the apparatus by a network device; or, the first threshold is predefined in the communication protocol.

In an alternative embodiment, the measurement object includes at least one of: the measured frequency point and the measured reference signal.

In an optional embodiment, the first cell determining unit is configured to receive a first message sent by the configuration cell, where the first message carries the configuration information of the at least one measurement object;

wherein, in a case where the apparatus is in an inactive state or an idle state, the first message includes: RRCRelease message, system broadcast message; in the case where the device is in a connected state, the first message includes: RRC message, system broadcast message.

In an alternative embodiment, the first cell is also indicated in the first message.

In an optional embodiment, the first message further includes third indication information, where the third indication information is used to indicate whether the apparatus may acquire reference time information of other cells.

In an alternative embodiment, the information acquisition module 910 includes: a first information acquisition unit configured to:

starting a first timer in response to the measurement object configuration information;

and in the operation period of the first timer, receiving the broadcast message of the first cell, and acquiring the first reference time information from the broadcast message.

and receiving a broadcast message of the first cell, and reading a target SIB in the broadcast message to acquire the first reference time information.

And reselecting the first cell under the condition that the target SIB is not detected in the broadcast message of the first cell.

In an alternative embodiment, the target SIB includes: SIB9.

In an alternative embodiment, the information acquisition module 910 includes: a second cell determining unit, configured to:

receiving the measurement report configuration information sent by the service cell, wherein the measurement report configuration information comprises a first report type;

and determining the second cell based on the physical cell identification in the first reporting type.

In an optional embodiment, the first report type further includes fourth indication information, where the fourth indication information is used to indicate whether the device uses an autonomous interval gap when acquiring the second reference time information.

In an optional embodiment, the second cell determining unit is configured to receive measurement configuration information sent by the serving cell, where the measurement configuration information includes associated measurement reporting configuration information and measurement object configuration information, and the measurement object configuration information is used to configure a measurement object.

In an alternative embodiment, the information acquisition module 910 includes: a second information acquisition unit configured to:

responding to the measurement report configuration information, and starting a second timer;

and in the operation period of the second timer, receiving the broadcast message of the second cell, and acquiring the second reference time information from the broadcast message.

In an alternative embodiment, the apparatus further comprises:

a stop receiving module, configured to stop receiving a broadcast message of the second cell in response to the second timer timeout, and acquire the second reference time information from the broadcast message;

or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

and the first reporting module is used for reporting first notification information to the service cell in response to the timeout of the second timer, wherein the first notification information is used for notifying the service cell that the device does not successfully acquire the second reference time information.

In an alternative embodiment, the apparatus further comprises:

the second reporting module is used for reporting the second reference time information to the service cell;

or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

and the third reporting module is used for reporting second notification information to the service cell, wherein the second notification information is used for notifying the network equipment that the device successfully acquires the second reference time information.

In an alternative embodiment, the measurement report configuration information is carried in RRC dedicated signaling.

In an alternative embodiment, the information acquisition module 910 includes: a third information acquisition unit configured to:

receiving a first RRC message sent by a third cell corresponding to the SN, wherein the first RRC message carries the third reference time information;

or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

and receiving a second RRC message sent by the serving cell corresponding to the MN, wherein the second RRC message carries the third reference time information, and the third reference time information is sent to the serving cell corresponding to the MN by a third cell corresponding to the SN.

In an optional embodiment, the third information obtaining unit is configured to respond to establishment of an SRB3 between the third cell corresponding to the SN and the device, where the SCG is in an active state, and receive the first RRC message sent by the third cell corresponding to the SN through the SRB 3.

In an alternative embodiment, the third information obtaining unit is configured to:

receiving the second RRC message sent by the serving cell corresponding to the MN through SRB1 in response to the fact that SRB3 is not established between the third cell corresponding to the SN and the device, or the SCG is in an inactive state;

Or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

and receiving the second RRC message sent by the serving cell corresponding to the MN through SRB2 in response to the fact that SRB3 is not established between the third cell corresponding to the SN and the device, or the SCG is in an inactive state.

Referring to fig. 10, a block diagram of an information providing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application is shown. The device has the function of realizing the method example of the network equipment side, and the function can be realized by hardware or can be realized by executing corresponding software by hardware. The apparatus may be the network device described above, or may be provided in the network device. As shown in fig. 10, the apparatus 1000 may include: an information providing module 1010;

the information providing module 1010 is configured to provide reference time information of a target cell to a terminal device, where the terminal device resides in a serving cell, and a version of a communication system corresponding to the target cell is higher than a version of a communication system corresponding to the serving cell.

In an alternative embodiment, the information providing module 1010 is configured to determine a first cell in response to the terminal device performing measurement, where the first cell sends a broadcast message, and the broadcast message carries first reference time information;

Or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the information providing module 1010 is configured to send measurement report configuration information to the terminal device by using the serving cell, where the measurement report configuration information is used to indicate a second cell; the second cell sends a broadcast message, wherein the broadcast message carries second reference time information;

or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the information providing module 1010 is configured to provide, to the terminal device, third reference time information of a third cell corresponding to SN in response to the terminal device being in an EN-DC dual-connection architecture, where the serving cell is an LTE cell and the third cell is an NR cell.

In an alternative embodiment, in case the terminal device performs measurement to determine the first cell, the apparatus further comprises: a measurement object configuration module;

the measurement object configuration module is configured to configure a cell to send at least one measurement object configuration information to the terminal device, where the measurement object configuration information is used to configure a measurement object;

the configuration cell is the service cell, or the configuration cell is the cell where the terminal equipment resides before connection release.

In an alternative embodiment, the apparatus further comprises: a first cell indication module;

The first cell indication module is configured to receive, by the serving cell, a measurement result reported by the terminal device; the service cell indicates first indication information to the terminal equipment, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating the first cell.

In an alternative embodiment, the apparatus further comprises: a first cell indication module, configured to:

the service cell receives the cell with the strongest signal quality fed back by the terminal equipment;

the serving cell transmits second indication information, where the second indication information is used to indicate whether the cell with the strongest signal quality is allowed to be used as the first cell.

In an optional embodiment, the measurement object configuration module is configured to send, by the configuration cell, a first message to the terminal device, where the first message carries the at least one measurement object configuration information;

wherein, in the case that the terminal device is in an inactive state or an idle state, the first message includes: RRCRelease message, system broadcast message; in the case that the terminal device is in a connected state, the first message includes: RRC message, system broadcast message.

In an optional embodiment, the first message further includes third indication information, where the third indication information is used to indicate whether the terminal device may acquire reference time information of other cells.

In an alternative embodiment, the first reference time information is carried in a target system information block SIB in a broadcast message of the first cell.

In an alternative embodiment, the target SIB includes: SIB9.

In an optional embodiment, the measurement report configuration information includes a first report type, where the first report type includes a physical cell identifier, and the physical cell identifier is used to indicate the second cell.

In an optional embodiment, the first reporting type further includes fourth indication information, where the fourth indication information is used to indicate whether the terminal device uses an autonomous interval gap when acquiring the second reference time information.

In an optional embodiment, the information providing module 1010 is configured to send measurement configuration information to the terminal device by using the serving cell, where the measurement configuration information includes the associated measurement reporting configuration information and measurement object configuration information, and the measurement object configuration information is used to configure a measurement object.

In an alternative embodiment, the apparatus further comprises:

the first receiving module is configured to receive, by using the serving cell, first notification information reported by the terminal device, where the first notification information is used to notify, to the serving cell, that the terminal device has not successfully acquired the second reference time information.

In an alternative embodiment, the apparatus further comprises:

the second receiving module is used for receiving the second reference time information reported by the terminal equipment by the service cell;

or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the third receiving module is configured to receive, by using the serving cell, second notification information reported by the terminal device, where the second notification information is used to notify, to the serving cell, that the terminal device successfully acquires the second reference time information.

In an alternative embodiment, the information providing module 1010 is configured to:

a third cell corresponding to the SN sends a first RRC message to the terminal equipment, wherein the first RRC message carries the third reference time information;

or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

and the service cell corresponding to the MN sends a second RRC message to the terminal equipment, wherein the second RRC message carries the third reference time information, and the third reference time information is sent to the service cell corresponding to the MN by a third cell corresponding to the SN.

In an optional embodiment, the information providing module 1010 is configured to, in response to establishing SRB3 between the third cell corresponding to the SN and the terminal device, where the secondary cell group SCG is in an active state, send, by using the SRB3, the first RRC message to the terminal device by the third cell corresponding to the SN.

the MN sends fifth indicating information to the SN through an X2 interface, wherein the fifth indicating information is used for indicating the SN to provide the third reference time information;

and responding to the fifth indication information, and sending the first RRC message to the terminal equipment by a third cell corresponding to the SN.

through SRB1, the service cell corresponding to the MN sends the second RRC message to the terminal equipment;

or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

and the serving cell corresponding to the MN sends the second RRC message to the terminal equipment through SRB 2.

the MN sends sixth indication information to the SN through an X2 interface, wherein the sixth indication information is used for indicating the SN to provide the third reference time information;

When the SRB3 is not established between the third cell corresponding to the SN and the terminal equipment, or the SCG is in an inactive state, responding to the sixth indication information, and sending response information carrying the third reference time information to the service cell corresponding to the MN by the third cell corresponding to the SN;

and the serving cell corresponding to the MN sends the second RRC message carrying the third reference time information to the terminal equipment.

It should be noted that, when the apparatus provided in the foregoing embodiment performs the functions thereof, only the division of the respective functional modules is used as an example, in practical application, the foregoing functional allocation may be performed by different functional modules according to actual needs, that is, the content structure of the device is divided into different functional modules, so as to perform all or part of the functions described above.

The specific manner in which the various modules perform the operations in the apparatus of the above embodiments have been described in detail in connection with the embodiments of the method, and will not be described in detail herein.

Referring to fig. 11, a schematic structural diagram of a communication device (terminal device or network device) according to an embodiment of the present application is shown. The communication device may include: a processor 1101, a receiver 1102, a transmitter 1103, a memory 1104 and a bus 1105.

The processor 1101 includes one or more processing cores, and the processor 1101 executes various functional applications and information processing by running software programs and modules.

The receiver 1102 and the transmitter 1103 may be implemented as one transceiver 1106, which transceiver 1106 may be a communication chip.

The memory 1104 is connected to the processor 1101 through a bus 1105.

The memory 1104 may be used for storing a computer program, and the processor 1101 is used for executing the computer program to implement the steps executed by the terminal device in the above-described method embodiment.

Further, the memory 1104 may be implemented by any type or combination of volatile or nonvolatile memory devices including, but not limited to: RAM (Random-Access Memory) and ROM (Read-Only Memory), EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory), EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory), flash Memory or other solid state Memory technology, CD-ROM (Compact Disc Read-Only Memory), DVD (Digital Video Disc, high density digital video disc) or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices.

When the communication device implements the terminal device, the processor and the transceiver in the embodiments of the present application may execute the steps executed by the terminal device in any of the methods shown in fig. 4 to 6 and 8, which are not described herein.

In one possible implementation, when the communication device implements the terminal device,

When the communication device implements the network device, the processor and the transceiver in the embodiments of the present application may execute the steps executed by the network device in any of the methods shown in fig. 4 to 6 and 8, which are not described herein.

In one possible implementation, when the communication device is implemented as a network device,

The embodiment of the application also provides a computer readable storage medium, wherein the storage medium stores a computer program, and the computer program is used for being executed by a processor of a terminal device to realize the information acquisition method of the terminal device side, or is used for being executed by a processor of a network device to realize the information providing method of the network device side.

Alternatively, the computer-readable storage medium may include: ROM (Read-Only Memory), RAM (Random-Access Memory), SSD (Solid State Drives, solid State disk), optical disk, or the like. The random access memory may include ReRAM (Resistance Random Access Memory, resistive random access memory) and DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory ), among others.

The embodiment of the application also provides a chip, which comprises a programmable logic circuit and/or program instructions and is used for realizing the information acquisition method of the terminal equipment side when the chip runs on the terminal equipment or the information providing method of the network equipment side when the chip runs on the network equipment.

The embodiment of the application also provides a computer program product or a computer program, which comprises computer instructions, the computer instructions are stored in a computer readable storage medium, a processor of the terminal device reads and executes the computer instructions from the computer readable storage medium to realize the information acquisition method of the terminal device side, or a processor of the network device reads and executes the computer instructions from the computer readable storage medium to realize the information providing method of the network device side.

It should be understood that, in the embodiments of the present application, the "indication" may be a direct indication, an indirect indication, or an indication having an association relationship. For example, a indicates B, which may mean that a indicates B directly, e.g., B may be obtained by a; it may also indicate that a indicates B indirectly, e.g. a indicates C, B may be obtained by C; it may also be indicated that there is an association between a and B.

In the description of the embodiments of the present application, the term "corresponding" may indicate that there is a direct correspondence or an indirect correspondence between the two, or may indicate that there is an association between the two, or may indicate a relationship between the two and the indicated, configured, or the like.

References herein to "a plurality" means two or more. "and/or", describes an association relationship of an association object, and indicates that there may be three relationships, for example, a and/or B, and may indicate: a exists alone, A and B exist together, and B exists alone. The character "/" generally indicates that the context-dependent object is an "or" relationship.

In addition, the step numbers described herein are merely exemplary of one possible execution sequence among steps, and in some other embodiments, the steps may be executed out of the order of numbers, such as two differently numbered steps being executed simultaneously, or two differently numbered steps being executed in an order opposite to that shown, which is not limited by the embodiments of the present application.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that in one or more of the examples described above, the functions described in the embodiments of the present application may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, these functions may be stored on or transmitted over as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media includes both computer storage media and communication media including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another. A storage media may be any available media that can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer.

The foregoing description of the exemplary embodiments of the present application is not intended to limit the invention to the particular embodiments disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, alternatives, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims

An information acquisition method, wherein the method is performed by a terminal device, the terminal device camping on a serving cell, the method comprising:

and acquiring reference time information of a target cell, wherein the version of a communication system corresponding to the target cell is higher than that of a communication system corresponding to the service cell.
The method according to claim 1, wherein the obtaining the reference time information of the target cell comprises:

performing measurements to determine a first cell; receiving a broadcast message of the first cell, and acquiring first reference time information from the broadcast message;

or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

receiving measurement report configuration information sent by the service cell, and determining a second cell based on the measurement report configuration information; receiving a broadcast message of the second cell, and acquiring second reference time information from the broadcast message;

or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

and responding to the terminal equipment in an EN-DC dual-connection architecture, acquiring third reference time information provided by a third cell corresponding to an auxiliary node SN, wherein the service cell is a long-term evolution LTE cell, and the third cell is a new air interface NR cell.
The method of claim 2, wherein the performing measurements to determine the first cell comprises:

receiving at least one measurement object configuration information sent by a configuration cell, wherein the measurement object configuration information is used for configuring a measurement object;

performing measurement according to the at least one measurement object configuration information to obtain a measurement result;

determining the first cell based on the measurement result;

The configuration cell is the service cell, or the configuration cell is the cell where the terminal equipment resides before connection release.
A method according to claim 3, wherein said determining said first cell based on said measurement results comprises:

determining the cell with the strongest signal quality as the first cell;

or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

determining a cell with signal quality not less than a first threshold as the first cell;

or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

reporting the measurement result to the service cell; receiving first indication information sent by the service cell, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating the first cell; the first cell is determined based on the first indication information.
The method of claim 4, wherein the determining the cell with the strongest signal quality as the first cell comprises:

feeding back the cell with the strongest signal quality to the serving cell;

receiving second indication information sent by the serving cell, wherein the second indication information is used for indicating whether the cell with the strongest signal quality is allowed to be used as the first cell;

and in response to the second indication information being used for indicating that the cell with the strongest signal quality is allowed to be used as the first cell, determining the cell with the strongest signal quality as the first cell.
The method of claim 4, wherein the step of determining the position of the first electrode is performed,

the first threshold value is indicated to the terminal equipment by network equipment;

or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the first threshold is predefined in a communication protocol.
A method according to any one of claims 3 to 6, wherein,

the measurement object includes at least one of: the measured frequency point and the measured reference signal.
The method according to any one of claims 3 to 7, wherein receiving at least one measurement object configuration information transmitted by a configuration cell comprises:

receiving a first message sent by the configuration cell, wherein the first message carries configuration information of at least one measurement object;

wherein, in the case that the terminal device is in an inactive state or an idle state, the first message includes: the radio resource control releases RRCRelease message and system broadcast message; in the case that the terminal device is in a connected state, the first message includes: RRC message, system broadcast message.
The method of claim 8, wherein the step of determining the position of the first electrode is performed,

the first message also indicates the first cell.
The method of claim 8, wherein the step of determining the position of the first electrode is performed,

The first message further includes third indication information, where the third indication information is used to indicate whether the terminal device can obtain reference time information of other cells.
The method according to any one of claims 3 to 10, wherein the receiving the broadcast message of the first cell, and obtaining the first reference time information from the broadcast message, includes:

starting a first timer in response to the measurement object configuration information;

and in the operation period of the first timer, receiving the broadcast message of the first cell, and acquiring the first reference time information from the broadcast message.
The method according to any one of claims 2 to 11, wherein the receiving the broadcast message of the first cell, and obtaining the first reference time information from the broadcast message, includes:

and receiving a broadcast message of the first cell, and reading a target System Information Block (SIB) in the broadcast message to acquire the first reference time information.
The method according to claim 12, wherein the method further comprises:

and reselecting the first cell under the condition that the target SIB is not detected in the broadcast message of the first cell.
The method according to claim 12 or 13, wherein,

the target SIB includes: SIB9.
The method according to any one of claims 2 to 14, wherein the receiving measurement report configuration information sent by the serving cell, and determining the second cell based on the measurement report configuration information, includes:

receiving the measurement report configuration information sent by the service cell, wherein the measurement report configuration information comprises a first report type;

and determining the second cell based on the physical cell identification in the first reporting type.
The method of claim 15, wherein the step of determining the position of the probe is performed,

the first reporting type further includes fourth indication information, where the fourth indication information is used to indicate whether the terminal device uses the autonomous interval gap when obtaining the second reference time information.
The method according to claim 15 or 16, wherein said receiving the measurement report configuration information sent by the serving cell comprises:

and receiving measurement configuration information sent by the service cell, wherein the measurement configuration information comprises associated measurement reporting configuration information and measurement object configuration information, and the measurement object configuration information is used for configuring a measurement object.
The method according to any one of claims 2 to 17, wherein the receiving the broadcast message of the second cell, and obtaining the second reference time information from the broadcast message, includes:

responding to the measurement report configuration information, and starting a second timer;

and in the operation period of the second timer, receiving the broadcast message of the second cell, and acquiring the second reference time information from the broadcast message.
The method of claim 18, wherein the method further comprises:

stopping receiving the broadcast message of the second cell in response to the second timer timeout, and acquiring the second reference time information from the broadcast message;

or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

and responding to the overtime of the second timer, reporting first notification information to the service cell, wherein the first notification information is used for notifying the service cell that the terminal equipment does not successfully acquire the second reference time information.
The method according to any one of claims 2 to 19, further comprising:

reporting the second reference time information to the service cell;

or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

reporting second notification information to the service cell, where the second notification information is used to notify the service cell that the terminal device successfully acquires the second reference time information.
The method according to any one of claims 2 to 20, wherein,

the measurement report configuration information is carried in an RRC dedicated signaling.
The method according to any one of claims 2 to 21, wherein the obtaining third reference time information provided by a third cell corresponding to the secondary node SN includes:

receiving a first RRC message sent by a third cell corresponding to the SN, wherein the first RRC message carries the third reference time information;

or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

and receiving a second RRC message sent by a serving cell corresponding to the master node MN, wherein the second RRC message carries the third reference time information, and the third reference time information is sent to the serving cell corresponding to the MN by a third cell corresponding to the SN.
The method of claim 22, wherein the receiving the first RRC message sent by the third cell corresponding to the SN comprises:

and responding to the establishment of a signaling radio bearer 3SRB3 between the third cell corresponding to the SN and the terminal equipment, and receiving the first RRC message sent by the third cell corresponding to the SN through the SRB3 when the secondary cell group SCG is in an activated state.
The method as claimed in claim 22, wherein said receiving the second RRC message sent by the serving cell corresponding to the MN includes:

Receiving the second RRC message sent by the serving cell corresponding to the MN through SRB1 in response to the fact that SRB3 is not established between the third cell corresponding to the SN and the terminal equipment, or the SCG is in an inactive state;

or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

and receiving the second RRC message sent by the serving cell corresponding to the MN through SRB2 in response to the fact that SRB3 is not established between the third cell corresponding to the SN and the terminal equipment or the SCG is in an inactive state.
An information providing method, the method being performed by a network device, the method comprising:

and providing the reference time information of the target cell for the terminal equipment, wherein the terminal equipment resides in the service cell, and the version of the communication system corresponding to the target cell is higher than that of the communication system corresponding to the service cell.
The method according to claim 25, wherein said providing the reference time information of the target cell to the terminal device comprises:

determining a first cell in response to the terminal device performing measurement, the first cell transmitting a broadcast message carrying first reference time information;

or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the service cell sends measurement report configuration information to the terminal equipment, wherein the measurement report configuration information is used for indicating a second cell; the second cell sends a broadcast message, wherein the broadcast message carries second reference time information;

Or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

and providing third reference time information of a third cell corresponding to the auxiliary node SN to the terminal equipment in response to the terminal equipment being in an EN-DC dual-connection architecture, wherein the service cell is a long term evolution LTE cell, and the third cell is a new air interface NR cell.
The method according to claim 26, wherein in case the terminal device performs measurements to determine the first cell, the method further comprises:

the configuration cell sends at least one measurement object configuration information to the terminal equipment, wherein the measurement object configuration information is used for configuring a measurement object;

the configuration cell is the service cell, or the configuration cell is the cell where the terminal equipment resides before connection release.
The method of claim 27, wherein the method further comprises:

the service cell receives the measurement result reported by the terminal equipment; the service cell indicates first indication information to the terminal equipment, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating the first cell.
The method of claim 27, wherein the method further comprises:

the service cell receives the cell with the strongest signal quality fed back by the terminal equipment;

The serving cell transmits second indication information, where the second indication information is used to indicate whether the cell with the strongest signal quality is allowed to be used as the first cell.
The method according to any one of claims 27 to 29, wherein,

the measurement object includes at least one of: the measured frequency point and the measured reference signal.
The method according to any of the claims 27 to 30, wherein said configuring the cell to send at least one measurement object configuration information to the terminal device comprises:

the configuration cell sends a first message to the terminal equipment, wherein the first message carries the configuration information of the at least one measurement object;

wherein, in the case that the terminal device is in an inactive state or an idle state, the first message includes: the radio resource control releases RRCRelease message and system broadcast message; in the case that the terminal device is in a connected state, the first message includes: RRC message, system broadcast message.
The method of claim 31, wherein the step of determining the position of the probe is performed,

the first message also indicates the first cell.
The method of claim 31, wherein the step of determining the position of the probe is performed,

The first message further includes third indication information, where the third indication information is used to indicate whether the terminal device can obtain reference time information of other cells.
The method according to any one of claims 26 to 33, wherein,

and carrying the first reference time information in a target System Information Block (SIB) in a broadcast message of the first cell.
The method of claim 34, wherein the step of determining the position of the probe is performed,

the target SIB includes: SIB9.
The method according to any one of claims 26 to 35, wherein,

the measurement report configuration information comprises a first report type, wherein the first report type comprises a physical cell identifier, and the physical cell identifier is used for indicating the second cell.
The method of claim 36, wherein the step of determining the position of the probe is performed,

the first reporting type further includes fourth indication information, where the fourth indication information is used to indicate whether the terminal device uses the autonomous interval gap when obtaining the second reference time information.
The method according to claim 36 or 37, wherein the serving cell sending measurement report configuration information to the terminal device comprises:

The service cell sends measurement configuration information to the terminal equipment, wherein the measurement configuration information comprises associated measurement reporting configuration information and measurement object configuration information, and the measurement object configuration information is used for configuring a measurement object.
The method according to any one of claims 26 to 38, further comprising:

the service cell receives first notification information reported by the terminal equipment, wherein the first notification information is used for notifying the service cell that the terminal equipment does not successfully acquire the second reference time information.
The method of any one of claims 26 to 39, further comprising:

the service cell receives the second reference time information reported by the terminal equipment;

or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the service cell receives second notification information reported by the terminal equipment, wherein the second notification information is used for notifying the service cell that the terminal equipment successfully acquires the second reference time information.
The method of any one of claims 26 to 40, wherein,

the measurement report configuration information is carried in an RRC dedicated signaling.
The method according to any one of claims 26 to 41, wherein the providing the third reference time information of the third cell corresponding to the SN to the terminal device includes:

A third cell corresponding to the SN sends a first RRC message to the terminal equipment, wherein the first RRC message carries the third reference time information;

or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

and the serving cell corresponding to the master node MN sends a second RRC message to the terminal equipment, wherein the second RRC message carries the third reference time information, and the third reference time information is sent to the serving cell corresponding to the MN by a third cell corresponding to the SN.
The method of claim 42, wherein the third cell corresponding to the SN sends a first RRC message to the terminal device, comprising:

and in response to the establishment of a signaling radio bearer 3SRB3 between the third cell corresponding to the SN and the terminal equipment, and the secondary cell group SCG is in an activated state, the third cell corresponding to the SN sends the first RRC message to the terminal equipment through the SRB 3.
The method of claim 42 or 43, wherein the sending, by the third cell corresponding to the SN, the first RRC message to the terminal device includes:

the MN sends fifth indicating information to the SN through an X2 interface, wherein the fifth indicating information is used for indicating the SN to provide the third reference time information;

And responding to the fifth indication information, and sending the first RRC message to the terminal equipment by a third cell corresponding to the SN.
The method of claim 42, wherein the serving cell corresponding to the MN sends a second RRC message to the terminal device, comprising:

through SRB1, the service cell corresponding to the MN sends the second RRC message to the terminal equipment;

or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

and the serving cell corresponding to the MN sends the second RRC message to the terminal equipment through SRB 2.
A method according to claim 42 or 45, wherein the serving cell to which the MN corresponds sends a second RRC message to the terminal device, comprising:

the MN sends sixth indication information to the SN through an X2 interface, wherein the sixth indication information is used for indicating the SN to provide the third reference time information;

when the SRB3 is not established between the third cell corresponding to the SN and the terminal equipment, or the SCG is in an inactive state, responding to the sixth indication information, and sending response information carrying the third reference time information to the service cell corresponding to the MN by the third cell corresponding to the SN;

and the serving cell corresponding to the MN sends the second RRC message carrying the third reference time information to the terminal equipment.
An information acquisition apparatus, wherein the apparatus resides in a serving cell, the apparatus comprising: an information acquisition module;

the information acquisition module is configured to acquire reference time information of a target cell, where a version of a communication system corresponding to the target cell is higher than a version of a communication system corresponding to the serving cell.
The apparatus of claim 47, wherein the device comprises,

the information acquisition module is used for executing measurement and determining a first cell; receiving a broadcast message of the first cell, and acquiring first reference time information from the broadcast message;

or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the information acquisition module is used for receiving measurement report configuration information sent by the service cell and determining a second cell based on the measurement report configuration information; receiving a broadcast message of the second cell, and acquiring second reference time information from the broadcast message;

or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the information acquisition module is configured to acquire third reference time information provided by a third cell corresponding to the auxiliary node SN in response to the device being in an EN-DC dual-connection architecture, where the serving cell is a long term evolution LTE cell, and the third cell is a new air interface NR cell.
The apparatus of claim 48, wherein the information acquisition module comprises: a first cell determining unit, configured to:

receiving at least one measurement object configuration information sent by a configuration cell, wherein the measurement object configuration information is used for configuring a measurement object;

performing measurement according to the at least one measurement object configuration information to obtain a measurement result;

determining the first cell based on the measurement result;

the configuration cell is the service cell, or the configuration cell is the cell where the device resides before connection release.
The apparatus of claim 49, wherein the first cell determination unit is configured to:

determining the cell with the strongest signal quality as the first cell;

or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

determining a cell with signal quality not less than a first threshold as the first cell;

or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

reporting the measurement result to the service cell; receiving first indication information sent by the service cell, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating the first cell; the first cell is determined based on the first indication information.
The apparatus of claim 50, wherein the first cell determination unit is configured to:

Feeding back the cell with the strongest signal quality to the serving cell;

receiving second indication information sent by the serving cell, wherein the second indication information is used for indicating whether the cell with the strongest signal quality is allowed to be used as the first cell;

and in response to the second indication information being used for indicating that the cell with the strongest signal quality is allowed to be used as the first cell, determining the cell with the strongest signal quality as the first cell.
The apparatus of claim 50, wherein the device comprises,

the first threshold is indicated to the apparatus by a network device;

or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the first threshold is predefined in a communication protocol.
The apparatus of any one of claims 49 to 52, wherein,

the measurement object includes at least one of: the measured frequency point and the measured reference signal.
The apparatus of any one of claims 49 to 53, wherein,

the first cell determining unit is configured to receive a first message sent by the configuration cell, where the first message carries configuration information of the at least one measurement object;

wherein, in a case where the apparatus is in an inactive state or an idle state, the first message includes: the radio resource control releases RRCRelease message and system broadcast message; in the case where the device is in a connected state, the first message includes: RRC message, system broadcast message.
The apparatus of claim 54, wherein the device comprises,

the first message also indicates the first cell.
The apparatus of claim 54, wherein the device comprises,

the first message further includes third indication information, where the third indication information is used to indicate whether the device can acquire reference time information of other cells.
The apparatus of any one of claims 49 to 56, wherein the information acquisition module comprises: a first information acquisition unit configured to:

starting a first timer in response to the measurement object configuration information;

and in the operation period of the first timer, receiving the broadcast message of the first cell, and acquiring the first reference time information from the broadcast message.
The apparatus of any one of claims 48 to 57, wherein the information acquisition module comprises: a first information acquisition unit configured to:

and receiving a broadcast message of the first cell, and reading a target System Information Block (SIB) in the broadcast message to acquire the first reference time information.
The apparatus of claim 58, wherein the information acquisition module comprises: a first cell determining unit, configured to:

And reselecting the first cell under the condition that the target SIB is not detected in the broadcast message of the first cell.
The apparatus of claim 58 or 59, wherein the device comprises,

the target SIB includes: SIB9.
The apparatus of any one of claims 48 to 60, wherein the information acquisition module comprises: a second cell determining unit, configured to:

receiving the measurement report configuration information sent by the service cell, wherein the measurement report configuration information comprises a first report type;

and determining the second cell based on the physical cell identification in the first reporting type.
The apparatus of claim 61, wherein the device comprises,

the first reporting type further includes fourth indication information, where the fourth indication information is used to indicate whether the device uses the autonomous interval gap when acquiring the second reference time information.
The apparatus of claim 61 or 62, wherein the device comprises,

the second cell determining unit is configured to receive measurement configuration information sent by the serving cell, where the measurement configuration information includes associated measurement reporting configuration information and measurement object configuration information, and the measurement object configuration information is used to configure a measurement object.
The apparatus of any one of claims 48 to 63, wherein the information acquisition module comprises: a second information acquisition unit configured to:

responding to the measurement report configuration information, and starting a second timer;

and in the operation period of the second timer, receiving the broadcast message of the second cell, and acquiring the second reference time information from the broadcast message.
The apparatus of claim 64, further comprising:

a stop receiving module, configured to stop receiving a broadcast message of the second cell in response to the second timer timeout, and acquire the second reference time information from the broadcast message;

or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

and the first reporting module is used for reporting first notification information to the service cell in response to the timeout of the second timer, wherein the first notification information is used for notifying the service cell that the device does not successfully acquire the second reference time information.
The apparatus of any one of claims 48 to 65, further comprising:

the second reporting module is used for reporting the second reference time information to the service cell;

Or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

and the third reporting module is used for reporting second notification information to the service cell, wherein the second notification information is used for notifying the network equipment that the device successfully acquires the second reference time information.
The apparatus of any one of claims 48 to 66, wherein,

the measurement report configuration information is carried in an RRC dedicated signaling.
The apparatus of any one of claims 48 to 67, wherein the information acquisition module comprises: a third information acquisition unit configured to:

receiving a first RRC message sent by a third cell corresponding to the SN, wherein the first RRC message carries the third reference time information;

or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

and receiving a second RRC message sent by a serving cell corresponding to the master node MN, wherein the second RRC message carries the third reference time information, and the third reference time information is sent to the serving cell corresponding to the MN by a third cell corresponding to the SN.
The apparatus of claim 68, wherein the device comprises,

the third information obtaining unit is configured to respond to the establishment of a signaling radio bearer 3SRB3 between the third cell corresponding to the SN and the device, where the secondary cell group SCG is in an active state, and receive the first RRC message sent by the third cell corresponding to the SN through the SRB 3.
The apparatus according to claim 68, wherein said third information obtaining unit is configured to:

receiving the second RRC message sent by the serving cell corresponding to the MN through SRB1 in response to the fact that SRB3 is not established between the third cell corresponding to the SN and the device, or the SCG is in an inactive state;

or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

and receiving the second RRC message sent by the serving cell corresponding to the MN through SRB2 in response to the fact that SRB3 is not established between the third cell corresponding to the SN and the device, or the SCG is in an inactive state.
An information providing apparatus, characterized in that the apparatus comprises: an information providing module;

the information providing module is configured to provide reference time information of a target cell to a terminal device, where the terminal device resides in a serving cell, and a version of a communication system corresponding to the target cell is higher than a version of a communication system corresponding to the serving cell.
The apparatus of claim 71, wherein the device comprises,

the information providing module is used for responding to the terminal equipment to execute measurement to determine a first cell, and the first cell sends a broadcast message which carries first reference time information;

Or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the information providing module is configured to send measurement report configuration information to the terminal device by using the serving cell, where the measurement report configuration information is used to indicate a second cell; the second cell sends a broadcast message, wherein the broadcast message carries second reference time information;

or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the information providing module is configured to provide, to the terminal device, third reference time information of a third cell corresponding to an auxiliary node SN in response to the terminal device being in an EN-DC dual-connection architecture, where the serving cell is a long term evolution LTE cell, and the third cell is a new air interface NR cell.
The apparatus of claim 72, wherein in the case where the terminal device performs measurements to determine the first cell, the apparatus further comprises: a measurement object configuration module;

the measurement object configuration module is configured to configure a cell to send at least one measurement object configuration information to the terminal device, where the measurement object configuration information is used to configure a measurement object;

the configuration cell is the service cell, or the configuration cell is the cell where the terminal equipment resides before connection release.
The apparatus of claim 73, further comprising: a first cell indication module;

The first cell indication module is configured to receive, by the serving cell, a measurement result reported by the terminal device; the service cell indicates first indication information to the terminal equipment, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating the first cell.
The apparatus of claim 73, further comprising: a first cell indication module, configured to:

the service cell receives the cell with the strongest signal quality fed back by the terminal equipment;

the serving cell transmits second indication information, where the second indication information is used to indicate whether the cell with the strongest signal quality is allowed to be used as the first cell.
The apparatus of any one of claims 73 to 75, wherein,

the measurement object includes at least one of: the measured frequency point and the measured reference signal.
The apparatus of any one of claims 73 to 76,

the measurement object configuration module is configured to send a first message to the terminal device by using the configuration cell, where the first message carries the at least one measurement object configuration information;

Wherein, in the case that the terminal device is in an inactive state or an idle state, the first message includes: the radio resource control releases RRCRelease message and system broadcast message; in the case that the terminal device is in a connected state, the first message includes: RRC message, system broadcast message.
The apparatus of claim 77,

the first message also indicates the first cell.
The apparatus of claim 77,

the first message further includes third indication information, where the third indication information is used to indicate whether the terminal device can obtain reference time information of other cells.
The apparatus of any one of claims 72 to 79,

and carrying the first reference time information in a target System Information Block (SIB) in a broadcast message of the first cell.
The apparatus of claim 80, wherein the device comprises,

the target SIB includes: SIB9.
The apparatus of any one of claims 72 to 81,

the measurement report configuration information comprises a first report type, wherein the first report type comprises a physical cell identifier, and the physical cell identifier is used for indicating the second cell.
The apparatus of claim 82, wherein the device comprises,

the first reporting type further includes fourth indication information, where the fourth indication information is used to indicate whether the terminal device uses the autonomous interval gap when obtaining the second reference time information.
The apparatus of claim 82 or 83, wherein the device comprises,

the information providing module is configured to send measurement configuration information to the terminal device by using the serving cell, where the measurement configuration information includes associated measurement reporting configuration information and measurement object configuration information, and the measurement object configuration information is used to configure a measurement object.
The apparatus of any one of claims 72 to 84, further comprising:

the first receiving module is configured to receive, by using the serving cell, first notification information reported by the terminal device, where the first notification information is used to notify, to the serving cell, that the terminal device has not successfully acquired the second reference time information.
The apparatus of any one of claims 72 to 85, further comprising:

the second receiving module is used for receiving the second reference time information reported by the terminal equipment by the service cell;

Or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the third receiving module is configured to receive, by using the serving cell, second notification information reported by the terminal device, where the second notification information is used to notify, to the serving cell, that the terminal device successfully acquires the second reference time information.
The apparatus of any one of claims 72 to 86, wherein,

the measurement report configuration information is carried in an RRC dedicated signaling.
The apparatus of any one of claims 72 to 87, wherein the information providing module is configured to:

a third cell corresponding to the SN sends a first RRC message to the terminal equipment, wherein the first RRC message carries the third reference time information;

or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

and the serving cell corresponding to the master node MN sends a second RRC message to the terminal equipment, wherein the second RRC message carries the third reference time information, and the third reference time information is sent to the serving cell corresponding to the MN by a third cell corresponding to the SN.
The apparatus of claim 88, wherein the device comprises,

the information providing module is configured to respond to the establishment of a signaling radio bearer 3SRB3 between the third cell corresponding to the SN and the terminal device, where the secondary cell group SCG is in an active state, and send the first RRC message to the terminal device through the SRB3 by the third cell corresponding to the SN.
The apparatus of claim 88 or 89, wherein the information providing module is configured to:

the MN sends fifth indicating information to the SN through an X2 interface, wherein the fifth indicating information is used for indicating the SN to provide the third reference time information;

and responding to the fifth indication information, and sending the first RRC message to the terminal equipment by a third cell corresponding to the SN.
The apparatus of claim 88, wherein the information providing module is configured to:

through SRB1, the service cell corresponding to the MN sends the second RRC message to the terminal equipment;

or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

and the serving cell corresponding to the MN sends the second RRC message to the terminal equipment through SRB 2.
The apparatus of claim 88 or 91, wherein the information providing module is configured to:

the MN sends sixth indication information to the SN through an X2 interface, wherein the sixth indication information is used for indicating the SN to provide the third reference time information;

when the SRB3 is not established between the third cell corresponding to the SN and the terminal equipment, or the SCG is in an inactive state, responding to the sixth indication information, and sending response information carrying the third reference time information to the service cell corresponding to the MN by the third cell corresponding to the SN;

And the serving cell corresponding to the MN sends the second RRC message carrying the third reference time information to the terminal equipment.
A terminal device, wherein the terminal device resides in a serving cell, the terminal device comprising a transceiver;

the transceiver is configured to obtain reference time information of a target cell, where a version of a communication system corresponding to the target cell is higher than a version of a communication system corresponding to the serving cell.
A network device, the network device comprising a transceiver;

the transceiver is configured to provide reference time information of a target cell to a terminal device, where the terminal device resides in a serving cell, and a version of a communication system corresponding to the target cell is higher than a version of a communication system corresponding to the serving cell.
A computer-readable storage medium, in which a computer program is stored for execution by a processor to implement the information acquisition method of any one of claims 1 to 24 or the information providing method of any one of claims 25 to 46.
A chip comprising programmable logic circuits and/or program instructions for implementing the information acquisition method of any one of claims 1 to 24 or the information providing method of any one of claims 25 to 46 when the chip is run.
A computer program product or computer program comprising computer instructions stored in a computer readable storage medium, from which a processor reads and executes the computer instructions to implement the information acquisition method of any one of claims 1 to 24 or the information providing method of any one of claims 25 to 46.