CN117793624A - Communication method and device - Google Patents

Abstract

The embodiment of the application provides a communication method and a communication device. The method may include: the terminal equipment receives first information and second information, wherein the first information comprises at least one MCCH configuration and at least one effective area of the MCCH configuration, and the second information is used for indicating a first area identifier or a cell identifier; if the first area identifier or the cell identifier belongs to the effective area, the terminal equipment receives the MCCH message from the second network equipment in an idle state or an inactive state according to the first MCCH configuration, and the first MCCH configuration is determined according to the first area or the cell identifier; if the first area identifier or the cell identifier does not belong to the effective area, the terminal equipment sends a Radio Resource Control (RRC) recovery request message to the second network equipment. In this way, the terminal device is enabled to obtain the MCCH configuration. In addition, the terminal equipment which does not join the multicast session can be prevented from acquiring the MCCH configuration, and the safety of the MCCH is ensured.

Description

Communication method and device

Technical Field

The embodiments of the present application relate to the field of communications, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for communications.

Background

Multicast broadcast services (multicast and broadcast service, MBS) can provide data simultaneously with fewer resources for a large number of users with the same demand so that network resources can be shared. In the third generation partnership project (3rd generation partnership project,3GPP) release (R) 17, terminal devices can only receive MBS in the connected state. For terminal equipment joining an MBS session, the network equipment may first send an MBS control channel (MBS control channel, MCCH) configuration to the terminal equipment, where the MCCH configuration includes configuration information of the MCCH, where the terminal equipment may obtain the MBS configuration, and further, the terminal equipment may receive the MBS according to the MBS configuration in a connected state.

In order to alleviate network congestion, R18 proposes supporting terminal devices to receive MBS in RRC inactive state. For example, when the terminal device has no unicast service and only the MBS, the network may release the terminal device to the RRC inactive state, and the terminal device may receive the MBS in the RRC inactive state. Therefore, the number of the terminal devices in the RRC connection state in the network can be reduced, the network congestion can be relieved, and the energy saving of the terminal devices is also facilitated.

However, how the terminal device obtains the MCCH configuration before receiving the MBS is not defined in the protocol.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides a communication method and device, which enable terminal equipment to obtain MCCH configuration. In addition, the terminal equipment which does not join the multicast session can be prevented from acquiring the MCCH configuration, and the safety of the MCCH is ensured.

In a first aspect, a communication method is provided, which may be performed by a terminal device, or may also be performed by a component part (such as a chip or a circuit) of the terminal device, which is not limited in this application.

The method may include: the method comprises the steps that a terminal device receives first information from a first network device, wherein the first information comprises at least one MCCH configuration and an effective area of the at least one MCCH configuration; the terminal equipment receives second information from second network equipment, wherein the second information is used for indicating a first area identifier or a cell identifier; if the first area identifier or the cell identifier belongs to the effective area, the terminal equipment receives the MCCH information from the second network equipment in an idle state or an inactive state according to the first MCCH configuration, wherein at least one MCCH configuration comprises the first MCCH configuration; if the first area identifier or the cell identifier does not belong to the effective area, the terminal equipment sends a Radio Resource Control (RRC) recovery request message to the second network equipment.

Based on the above scheme, the effective area of the MCCH configuration may be preconfigured to the terminal device through dedicated signaling, when the terminal device needs to receive the MCCH information, the terminal device may determine the first area through common signaling, when the first area identifier or the cell identifier belongs to the effective area, the terminal device may receive the MCCH information by using the preconfigured MCCH configuration in the dedicated signaling, and when the first area identifier or the cell identifier does not belong to the effective area, the terminal device may receive the MCCH configuration in the further dedicated signaling through RRC recovery procedure. In this way, the terminal device is enabled to obtain the MCCH configuration. In addition, the terminal equipment which does not join the multicast session can be prevented from acquiring the MCCH configuration, and the safety of the MCCH is ensured.

On the other hand, if the first information includes a plurality of MCCH configurations and effective areas of the plurality of MCCH configurations, the terminal device may further determine the corresponding MCCH configuration according to the first area. Therefore, the terminal can acquire the MCCH configuration more quickly, and the communication efficiency is improved.

Specifically, the first MCCH configuration is determined according to a first area identifier or a cell identifier, for example, the first area identifier or the cell identifier has a correspondence relationship with the first MCCH configuration.

Optionally, the first information is carried on an RRC release message or an RRC reconfiguration message.

Optionally, the second information is carried on a paging message or a system message.

Illustratively, the first region is identified as any one of: tracking area identity, radio access network area identity, or MCCH area identity.

Illustratively, the validation area includes: at least one cell, at least one TA, at least one RNA, or at least one MCCH region.

Based on the above scheme, if the effective area is at least one cell, at least one tracking area TA, or at least one RNA, the first area for making the determination may be a cell, a tracking area, or an RNA, so that the second information may be information already defined by a standard, for example, the second information is an identification of a serving cell of a terminal device (UE), so that it is possible to reduce signaling overhead without adding additional signaling indicating the second information.

As an example, the first area identity or cell identity belongs to an effective area, comprising: the identification of the first area is one of the identifications corresponding to the effective area.

Optionally, if the first area identifier or the cell identifier does not belong to the effective area, the RRC recovery request message includes an MCCH configuration acquisition or multicast reception as a cause value.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the method further includes: the terminal equipment receives a second MCCH configuration from second network equipment; and the terminal equipment receives the MCCH information from the second network equipment in an idle state or an inactive state according to the second MCCH configuration.

Based on the above scheme, even if the first area identifier or the cell identifier associated with the UE does not belong to the effective area or the UE does not belong to the effective area, the UE can still acquire the MCCH configuration parameters of the serving cell, which is helpful for ensuring continuous information of the multicast session.

Optionally, the second MCCH configuration is carried in an RRC release message.

With reference to the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the first information further includes an identifier of a multicast broadcast service MBS corresponding to each MCCH configuration in the at least one MCCH configuration.

Based on the scheme, the MCCH configuration can be associated with the MBS, so that different MCCH configurations can be determined for each MBS, and the method has stronger flexibility.

Optionally, the first MCCH configuration includes one or more of: window information of MCCH, MCCH modification period, frequency domain resource of MCCH and wireless network temporary identifier of MCCH.

In a second aspect, a method of communication is provided, which may be performed by the first network device, or may also be performed by a component (e.g., a chip or a circuit) of the first network device, which is not limited in this application.

The method comprises the following steps: the method comprises the steps that first network equipment sends first information to terminal equipment, wherein the first information comprises at least one MCCH configuration and an effective area of the at least one MCCH configuration, and the at least one MCCH configuration comprises a first MCCH configuration; and the first network equipment sends the MCCH information on a first MCCH channel, wherein the first MCCH channel is configured by using the first MCCH.

With reference to the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the method further includes: the first network device sends second information to the terminal device, the second information is used for indicating a first area identifier or a cell identifier, and the first area identifier or the cell identifier is used for determining a first MCCH configuration.

Specifically, the first area identifier or the cell identifier has a corresponding relationship with the first MCCH configuration.

Optionally, the second information is carried on a paging message or a system message.

Optionally, the first information is carried on an RRC release message or an RRC reconfiguration message.

With reference to the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the method further includes: the first network device receives third information from a third network device, the third information comprising N MCCH configurations and N effective areas of the MCCH configurations, the at least one multicast configuration information comprising N MCCH configurations, the at least one effective area of the MCCH configurations comprising N effective areas of the MCCH configurations, the at least one MCCH configuration information and the effective areas being determined according to the third information, and N being a positive integer.

With reference to the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the method further includes: the first network equipment determines fourth information, wherein the fourth information comprises R MCCH configurations and effective areas of the R MCCH configurations, the at least one piece of multicast configuration information comprises R MCCH configurations, the effective areas of the at least one MCCH configuration comprise the effective areas of the R MCCH configurations, and R is a positive integer; the first network device sends fourth information to the third network device.

Based on the scheme, the first network device and the third network device can coordinate and determine MCC configuration, so that the synchronization of MCCH configuration between the network devices can be ensured, and the method has stronger feasibility.

With reference to the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the method further includes: the first network device receives an RRC restoration message from the terminal device; the first network device sends a second MCCH configuration to the terminal device.

Optionally, the RRC recovery request message includes a cause value that is MCCH configuration acquisition or multicast reception.

Optionally, the second MCCH configuration is carried in an RRC release message.

Illustratively, the first region is any one of: tracking area identity, radio access network area identity, or MCCH area identity.

Illustratively, the validation area includes: at least one cell, at least one TA, at least one RNA, or at least one MCCH region.

Optionally, the first information further includes an identifier of a multicast broadcast service MBS corresponding to each MCCH configuration in the at least one MCCH configuration.

As one example, the first MCCH configuration includes one or more of the following: window information of MCCH, MCCH modification period, frequency domain resource of MCCH and wireless network temporary identifier of MCCH.

It should be appreciated that the second aspect and advantageous effects of certain implementations of the second aspect may refer to the first aspect and the first aspect, and are not described herein.

In a third aspect, there is provided a communication apparatus, which may be a terminal device, or may also be a component (such as a chip or a circuit) of the terminal device, and the application is not limited thereto.

The apparatus may include: the device comprises a receiving and transmitting unit and a processing unit, wherein the receiving and transmitting unit is used for receiving first information from first network equipment, and the first information comprises at least one MCCH configuration and at least one effective area of the MCCH configuration; the transceiver unit is also configured to: second information is received from the second network device, the second information being indicative of a first area identity or a cell identity. The processing unit is used for: if the first area identifier or the cell identifier belongs to the effective area, receiving MCCH information from the second network equipment in an idle state or an inactive state according to a first MCCH configuration, wherein at least one MCCH configuration comprises a first MCCH configuration; and if the first area identifier or the cell identifier does not belong to the effective area, sending a Radio Resource Control (RRC) recovery request message to the second network equipment.

Specifically, the first MCCH configuration is determined according to a first area identifier or a cell identifier, for example, the first area identifier or the cell identifier has a correspondence relationship with the first MCCH configuration.

Optionally, the first information is carried on an RRC release message or an RRC reconfiguration message.

Optionally, the second information is carried on a paging message or a system message.

Illustratively, the first region is any one of: tracking area identity, radio access network area identity, or MCCH area identity.

Illustratively, the validation area includes: at least one cell, at least one tracking area TA, at least one RNA, or at least one MCCH area.

As an example, the first area identity or cell identity belongs to an effective area, comprising: the identification of the first area is one of the identifications corresponding to the effective area.

Optionally, if the first area identifier or the cell identifier does not belong to the effective area, the RRC recovery request message includes an MCCH configuration acquisition or multicast reception as a cause value.

With reference to the third aspect, in certain implementations of the third aspect, the transceiver unit is further configured to: receiving a second MCCH configuration from a second network device; and receiving the MCCH information from the second network equipment in an idle state or an inactive state according to the second MCCH configuration.

Optionally, the second MCCH configuration is carried in an RRC release message.

With reference to the third aspect, in some implementations of the third aspect, the first information further includes an identifier of a multicast broadcast service MBS corresponding to each MCCH configuration in the at least one MCCH configuration.

Optionally, the first MCCH configuration includes one or more of: window information of MCCH, MCCH modification period, frequency domain resource of MCCH and wireless network temporary identifier of MCCH.

In a fourth aspect, an apparatus for communication is provided, where the apparatus may be a first network device, or may also be a component (such as a chip or a circuit) of the first network device, and this application is not limited thereto.

The device comprises: a transceiver unit, configured to send first information to a terminal device, where the first information includes at least one MCCH configuration and an effective area of the at least one MCCH configuration, and the at least one MCCH configuration includes a first MCCH configuration; the transceiver unit is further configured to: and sending the MCCH information on a first MCCH channel, wherein the first MCCH channel is configured by using the first MCCH.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in some implementations of the fourth aspect, the transceiver unit is further configured to: and sending second information to the terminal equipment, wherein the second information is used for indicating a first area identifier or a cell identifier, and the first area identifier or the cell identifier is used for determining a first MCCH configuration.

Specifically, the first area identifier or the cell identifier has a corresponding relationship with the first MCCH configuration.

Optionally, the second information is carried on a paging message or a system message.

Optionally, the first information is carried on an RRC release message or an RRC reconfiguration message.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in some implementations of the fourth aspect, the transceiver unit is further configured to: and receiving third information from a third network device, wherein the third information comprises N MCCH configurations and N effective areas of the MCCH configurations, at least one piece of multicast configuration information comprises N MCCH configurations, the effective area of at least one MCCH configuration comprises N effective areas of the MCCH configurations, the at least one piece of MCCH configuration information and the effective area are determined according to the third information, and N is a positive integer.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in some implementations of the fourth aspect, the transceiver unit is further configured to: determining fourth information, wherein the fourth information comprises R MCCH configurations and effective areas of the R MCCH configurations, the at least one multicast configuration information comprises R MCCH configurations, the effective areas of the at least one MCCH configurations comprise the effective areas of the R MCCH configurations, and R is a positive integer; and sending fourth information to the third network device.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in some implementations of the fourth aspect, the transceiver unit is further configured to: receiving an RRC recovery message from the terminal device; and sending the second MCCH configuration to the terminal equipment.

Optionally, the RRC recovery request message includes a cause value that is MCCH configuration acquisition or multicast reception.

Optionally, the second MCCH configuration is carried in an RRC release message.

Illustratively, the first region is any one of: tracking area identity, radio access network area identity, or MCCH area identity.

Illustratively, the validation area includes: at least one cell, at least one tracking area TA, at least one RNA, or at least one MCCH area.

Optionally, the first information further includes an identifier of a multicast broadcast service MBS corresponding to each MCCH configuration in the at least one MCCH configuration.

As one example, the first MCCH configuration includes one or more of the following: window information of MCCH, MCCH modification period, frequency domain resource of MCCH and wireless network temporary identifier of MCCH.

It should be appreciated that the advantages of the third aspect to the fourth aspect and some implementations thereof described above may refer to the first aspect to the second aspect and some implementations thereof, and are not described herein.

In a fifth aspect, there is provided a communication apparatus comprising: at least one processor configured to execute a computer program or instructions stored in a memory to perform a method according to any one of the possible implementations of the first to second aspects. Optionally, the apparatus further comprises a memory for storing a computer program or instructions. Optionally, the apparatus further comprises a communication interface through which the processor reads the computer program or instructions stored in the memory.

In one implementation, the apparatus is a terminal device or a first network device.

In another implementation, the apparatus is a chip, a system-on-chip or a circuit for a terminal device or a first network device.

In a sixth aspect, the present application provides a processor for performing the method provided in the first to second aspects above.

The operations such as transmitting and acquiring/receiving, etc. related to the processor may be understood as operations such as outputting and receiving, inputting, etc. by the processor, or may be understood as operations such as transmitting and receiving by the radio frequency circuit and the antenna, if not specifically stated, or if not contradicted by actual function or inherent logic in the related description, which is not limited in this application.

In a seventh aspect, a computer readable storage medium is provided, the computer readable storage medium storing program code for device execution, the program code comprising instructions for performing the method of any one of the possible implementations of the first to second aspects.

In an eighth aspect, there is provided a computer program product comprising instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of any one of the possible implementations of the first to second aspects described above.

Drawings

Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a wireless communication system suitable for use in an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 2 is a flow diagram of a multicast broadcast session.

Fig. 3 is a flow diagram and a protocol stack diagram of a multicast broadcast session.

Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of transmission resources of information for a multicast broadcast session.

Fig. 5 shows a schematic diagram of handover of an RRC state of a UE.

Fig. 6 is an example of a terminal device connection recovery.

Fig. 7 is yet another example of terminal device connection recovery.

Fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of a method 400 of communication provided in an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 9 is a schematic flow chart diagram of a communication method 500 provided in an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 10 is a schematic diagram of a communication device 2800 provided in an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 11 is a schematic diagram of another communication device 2900 provided in an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 12 is a schematic diagram of a chip system 3000 provided in an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The technical scheme provided by the application can be applied to various communication systems, such as: fifth generation (5th generation,5G) or New Radio (NR) systems, long term evolution (long term evolution, LTE) systems, LTE frequency division duplex (frequency division duplex, FDD) systems, LTE time division duplex (time division duplex, TDD) systems, and the like. The technical scheme provided by the application can also be applied to future communication systems, such as a sixth generation mobile communication system. The technical solutions provided herein may also be applied to device-to-device (D2D) communication, vehicle-to-device (V2X) communication, machine-to-machine (machine to machine, M2M) communication, machine type communication (machine type communication, MTC), and internet of things (internet of things, ioT) communication systems or other communication systems. As an example, V2X may include vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-pedestrian (V2P), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I). The infrastructure is, for example, a Road Side Unit (RSU) or a network device.

The terminal device in the embodiment of the present application includes various devices having a wireless communication function, which can be used for connecting people, things, machines, and the like. The terminal device can be widely applied to various scenes, for example: cellular communication, D2D, V2X, peer to peer (P2P), M2M, MTC, ioT, virtual Reality (VR), augmented reality (augmented reality, AR), industrial control, autopilot, telemedicine, smart grid, smart furniture, smart office, smart wear, smart transportation, smart city drone, robot, remote sensing, passive sensing, positioning, navigation and tracking, autonomous delivery, etc. The terminal device may be a terminal in any of the above scenarios, such as an MTC terminal, an IoT terminal, etc. The terminal device may be a User Equipment (UE) standard of the third generation partnership project (3rd generation partnership project,3GPP), a terminal (terminal), a fixed device, a mobile station (mobile station) device or a mobile device, a subscriber unit (subscriber unit), a handheld device, a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, a cellular phone (smart phone), a smart phone (smart phone), a SIP phone, a wireless data card, a personal digital assistant (personal digital assistant, PDA), a computer, a tablet computer, a notebook computer, a wireless modem, a handheld device (handset), a laptop computer (laptop computer), a computer with a wireless transceiver function, a smart book, a vehicle, a satellite, a global positioning system (globalpositioning system, GPS) device, a target tracking device, an aircraft (e.g., a drone, a helicopter, a multi-helicopter, a tetra helicopter, a plane, etc.), a ship, a remote control smart home device, an industrial device, or a device built into the above device (e.g., a demodulator, a communication chip or a modem module in the above device), or a wireless modem to connect to other processing device. For convenience of description, the terminal device will be described below by taking a terminal or UE as an example.

It should be appreciated that in some scenarios, the UE may also be used to act as a base station. For example, the UEs may act as scheduling entities that provide sidelink signals between UEs in a V2X, D2D or P2P or the like scenario.

In the embodiment of the present application, the device for implementing the function of the terminal device, that is, the terminal device, may be the terminal device, or may be a device capable of supporting the terminal device to implement the function, for example, a chip system or a chip, and the device may be installed in the terminal device. In the embodiment of the application, the chip system may be formed by a chip, and may also include a chip and other discrete devices.

The network device in the embodiments of the present application may be a device for communicating with a terminal device, which may also be referred to as an access network device or a radio access network device, e.g. the network device may be a base station. The network device in the embodiments of the present application may refer to a radio access network (radio access network, RAN) node (or device) that accesses the terminal device to the wireless network. The base station may broadly cover or replace various names in the following, such as: a node B (NodeB), an evolved NodeB (eNB), a next generation NodeB (gNB), a relay station, an access point, a transmission point (transmitting and receiving point, TRP), a transmission point (transmitting point, TP), a master station, a secondary station, a multi-mode wireless (motor slide retainer, MSR) node, a home base station, a network controller, an access node, a wireless node, an Access Point (AP), a transmission node, a transceiver node, a baseband unit (BBU), a remote radio unit (remote radio unit, RRU), an active antenna unit (active antenna unit, AAU), a radio head (remote radio head, RRH), a Central Unit (CU), a Distributed Unit (DU), a positioning node, and the like. The base station may be a macro base station, a micro base station, a relay node, a donor node, or the like, or a combination thereof. A base station may also refer to a communication module, modem, or chip for placement within the aforementioned device or apparatus. The base station may be a mobile switching center, a device that performs a base station function in D2D, V2X, M M communication, a network side device in a 6G network, a device that performs a base station function in a future communication system, or the like. The base stations may support networks of the same or different access technologies. The embodiment of the application does not limit the specific technology and the specific device form adopted by the network device.

The base station may be fixed or mobile. For example, a helicopter or drone may be configured to act as a mobile base station, and one or more cells may move according to the location of the mobile base station. In other examples, a helicopter or drone may be configured to function as a device to communicate with another base station.

Network devices and terminal devices may be deployed on land, including indoors or outdoors, hand-held or vehicle-mounted; the device can be deployed on the water surface; but also on aerial planes, balloons and satellites. In the embodiment of the application, the scene where the network device and the terminal device are located is not limited.

A network architecture suitable for the present application will first be briefly described as follows.

Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a wireless communication system suitable for use in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 1, the wireless communication system 100 may include at least one network device, such as the network device 110 shown in fig. 1, and may further include at least one terminal device, such as the terminal device 120 and the terminal device 130 shown in fig. 1. The network device and the terminal device may each be configured with multiple antennas, and the network device and the terminal device may communicate using multiple antenna technology. The terminal device 120 and the terminal device 130 may communicate directly or may communicate through the network device 110.

Wherein, when the network device and the terminal device communicate, the network device can manage one or more cells, and one or more terminal devices can be arranged in one cell. Alternatively, the network device and the terminal device constitute a single-cell communication system, and the cell is referred to as cell #1 without loss of generality. The network device 110 in fig. 1 may be a network device in cell #1, or the network device 110 may serve a terminal device (e.g., terminal device 120) in cell #1.

A cell is understood to be an area within the coverage of a radio signal of a network device.

The technical scheme provided by the embodiment of the application can be applied to wireless communication among communication equipment. The wireless communication between the communication devices may include: wireless communication between a network device and a terminal, wireless communication between a network device and a network device, and wireless communication between a terminal device and a terminal device. Wherein, in the embodiments of the present application, the term "wireless communication" may also be simply referred to as "communication", and the term "communication" may also be described as "data transmission", "information transmission" or "transmission".

It should also be understood that "terminal device" is also referred to as "terminal apparatus", "terminal", etc., and "network device" is also referred to as "network apparatus", "network side", etc., and "core network device" is also referred to as "core network apparatus", "core network", etc.

For ease of understanding, related concepts are briefly explained in advance.

1. Multicast broadcast service (multicast and broadcast service, MBS): is a service for a plurality of terminal devices, such as a live broadcast service, a public safety service, a batch software update service, and the like. As shown in fig. 2, the MBS service comes from a data server, and first the data server transmits MBS data to a core network device, then the core network device transmits the MBS data to a base station, and finally the base station transmits the MBS data to at least one UE receiving the MBS service.

When the MBS service is transmitted from the core network to the base station, the MBS service is transmitted through a common transmission channel MBS session, and each MBS session can comprise at least one MBS service quality (quality of service, qoS) flow. While when the data packet is sent from the base station to the UE, the data packet is transmitted through an MBS radio bearer, and for one MBS radio bearer, there are two transmission modes: the first may use a point-to-multipoint (PTM) transmission scheme, and the second may use a point-to-point (PTP) transmission scheme.

2. Multicast (multicast) traffic: multicast services are designed for high QoS demand services, which may offer the same QoS class as unicast services. Group management is required for multicast services, and specifically, as shown in fig. 3, for multicast services, a core network needs to manage the joining and exiting of UEs. MBS QoS flows (flows) are introduced for transmission between the core network and the base station by means of protocol data unit sessions (protocol data unit session, PDU sessions). A radio access network device (radio access network, RAN) supports PTP and PTM transmission modes for transmitting data to a UE and supports dynamic switching between PTP and PTM controlled by the RAN. Wherein for PTM transmission mode, multiple UEs can descramble with the same group radio network temporary identifier (group radio network temporary identifier, g-RNTI), and for PTP transmission mode, each UE listens with its own cell radio network temporary identifier (cell radio network temporary identifier, C-RNTI).

3. Multicast broadcast control channel and multicast broadcast traffic channel: two logical channels, a multicast broadcast control channel (MBS control channel, MCCH) and a multicast broadcast traffic channel (MBS traffic channel, MTCH), are introduced in the broadcast technology of the NR MBS, where the MCCH is used to transmit control information, and includes configuration information of the MTCH, such as g-RNTI corresponding to the MTCH and DRX parameters. The MCCH is transmitted in a periodic manner. The MTCH logical channel is used to carry user data of a broadcast service. MTCH is scheduled through MCCH. The configuration of the MTCH is in g-RNTI per (per) level, which can also be said to be per MBS service level. Wherein, the base station schedules service data to a plurality of UEs simultaneously through g-RNTIs, each g-RNTI may be associated with at least one broadcast service.

It should be appreciated that the above-described channels may correspond to different names in different communication systems. For example, in the fourth generation (4th generation,4G) communication system, the multicast broadcast service control channel may be a single cell multicast broadcast service control channel (SC-MCCH). As another example, in a 5G communication system, the multicast broadcast service control channel may be the MC-MCCH. In the future technological development, channels similar to the multicast broadcast service control channel function may be referred to by other names, or channels with the same function may be referred to by different names in different communication environments, communication scenes or communication technologies, but the different names of the channels with similar or same functions in different systems do not limit the content and the function of the channels. The multicast broadcast control channel in the present application may be used to transmit control information and the multicast broadcast traffic channel may be used to transmit user data.

The MCCH is used to represent the multicast broadcast traffic control channel and the MTCH is used to represent the multicast broadcast traffic channel in the present application unless otherwise specified. It should be further understood that other english abbreviations in this application are similar thereto and will not be repeated.

4. Multicast broadcast control channel modification notification (MCCH change notification): as shown in fig. 4, the MCCH is repeatedly transmitted in each modification period (Modification period, MP), which includes repetition periods (repetition period, RP). In one MP, the MCCH content is the same, and when the MCCH of a different MP changes, the network device transmits a PDCCH including a modification notification, and the modification notification is MCCH change notification. When the UE detects a field corresponding to MCCH change Notification, for example, 2 bits, on the PDCCH, that is, the UE considers that the modification notification is detected, the UE reacquires the MCCH. When the UE acquires the MCCH, the PDCCH scrambled by the MCCH-RNTI needs to be detected to acquire the scheduling information of the MCCH. Wherein, the first bit in the MCCH modification notification indicates that the cause of MCCH modification is session start, and the second bit in the MCCH modification notification indicates that the cause of MCCH modification is session modification, session stop or neighbor cell list update.

Rrc state: the RRC states in NR include three: an RRC IDLE state (rrc_idle), an RRC INACTIVE state (rrc_inactive), and an RRC CONNECTED state (rrc_connected). The following is a brief description of three RRC states.

(1) Rrc_connected (RRC CONNECTED state): the RAN has a UE context and the UE and the RAN have signaling connections. The UE may receive a message and a system message issued by the RAN for controlling the UE to perform data transmission, handover, and notify the UE of related scheduling information, and the RAN may receive channel quality information fed back by the UE. In this application, the RRC connected state may be simply referred to as a connected state.

(2) Rrc_inactive (RRC INACTIVE state): the RAN and the core network are connected, resources are not allocated to an air interface, so that services can be quickly recovered, delay sensitive application experience is improved, in addition, the power saving effect of a user in an inactive state can be close to an idle state, and the duration of a mobile phone is prolonged. In this application, the RRC inactive state may be simply referred to as an inactive state.

(3) Rrc_idle (RRC IDLE state): the RAN has no context for the UE and RAN have no signaling connection, in which state the UE may receive system messages and paging messages for cell selection and reselection. When the UE needs to establish a connection with the network for a certain purpose (service request, location update, paging, etc.), RRC connection establishment is triggered, and after RRC connection establishment, the UE enters an RRC connection state. In this application, the RRC idle state may be simply referred to as idle state.

Fig. 5 shows a schematic diagram of handover of an RRC state of a UE. As shown in fig. 5, the transition of the UE from the rrc_connected state to the RRC inactive state may be achieved through an RRC release message. When the UE is released from the RRC connected state to the RRC inactive state, the base station allocates an inactive radio network temporary identity (inactiveradio network temporary identifier, I-RNTI) of the UE and stores the context of the UE with the identity, which is also called last serving base station (nb) of the UE, or anchor base station (anchor gNB), where the connection between the UE and the core network is maintained. The anchor base station controls the UE to enter an RRC inactive state and assigns the UE a context identity of the UE, as well as RNA management area information (e.g., RNA). When the UE moves in the management area, the anchor base station does not need to inform the RAN node corresponding to the RNA (except the periodic RNA). Once the UE needs to send data or move beyond the RNA management area, the anchor area informs the RAN node to which the RNA node corresponds.

For example, when the UE requests to resume the previously suspended RRC connection or performs a radio access network notification area (RANnotification area, RNA) update, the UE transmits an RRC resume request (RRC resumerequest) message to the serving base station, which restores the UE to a connected state with the anchor base station. And is shown in particular in figure 6.

Fig. 6 is an example of a terminal device connection recovery. As shown in fig. 6, the method includes the following steps.

S201, the UE initiates an RRC resume request (RRC resume request) message.

For example, if the UE is to transmit data, the UE in the RRC inactive state may send an RRC resume request message to the serving base station.

S202, the serving base station initiates a UE context acquisition request (retrieveUE context request) message to the anchor base station.

S203, the anchor base station replies and acquires the UE context response (retrieveUE context response) to the service base station.

Wherein the obtaining UE context response message includes a UE connected state context.

S204, the service base station sends RRC recovery information to the UE.

Specifically, the serving base station triggers RRC connection restoration according to the context of the UE connection state, and sends an RRC restoration message to the UE. And the UE restores the RRC connection according to the RRC restoration message, thereby entering a connection state.

S205, after entering the connected state, the UE sends an RRC restoration complete (RRC resume complete) message.

And then, the service base station initiates a path switching process to the core network, and switches the connection between the UE and the core network from the anchor base station to the current service base station, namely, context migration is carried out, and the UE connection recovery process is completed. Specifically, S206-S209 are included.

S206, the service base station initiates an Xn-U address indication (Xn-U address indication) process to the anchor base station.

S207, the serving base station sends a path switch request (path switch resquest) message to the access and mobility management function (access and mobility management function, AMF) network element.

S208, the AMF sends a path switch response (path switch response) message to the serving base station.

S209, the serving base station sends a UE context release (UE context release) message to the anchor base station.

At present, the standard also supports a connection recovery process that does not enter a connection state, such as a connection recovery request that the UE triggers an RNA update, where the UE has no data to transmit, and the anchor base station may choose to continue to release the UE to an RRC inactive state, where context migration and state transition are not required, as shown in fig. 7.

Fig. 7 is yet another example of terminal device connection recovery. As shown in fig. 6, the method includes the following steps.

S301, the UE initiates an RRC resume request (RRC resume request) message.

For example, if the UE needs to perform RNA update, the UE in the RRC inactive state may send an RRC resume request message to the serving base station, and the RRC resume request message may include the reason for the request.

S302, the service base station initiates a UE context acquisition request (retrieve UE context request) message to the anchor base station.

S303, the anchor base station replies a failure (retrieve UE context failure) message of acquiring the UE context to the service base station.

S304, the service base station sends RRC release information to the UE to instruct the UE to suspend RRC connection.

So far, the UE is still in RRC inactive state.

In NR R17, a terminal device supporting NR MBS broadcasting may acquire a broadcast communication service in an RRC connected state, an RRC idle state, and an RRC inactive state. In Rel-17, MBS broadcast configuration adopts a two-step configuration manner, first, the network device indicates MCCH configuration for MBS broadcast in a system message, for example, a system information block (system information block, SIB) 20, including repetition period and offset of MCCH, MCCH window duration, MCCH window start slot, MCCH modification period, etc. The MCCH may be received according to the MCCH configuration, and the MCCH (or information transmitted through the MCCH channel) is periodically transmitted in a configured repetition period within a configured MCCH transmission window. The MCCH includes configuration information of a broadcast session and MTCH scheduling information, the configuration information of the broadcast session includes an identifier of the broadcast session, an MBS Radio Bearer (MRB) configuration, a G-RNTI, etc., and the configuration information of the broadcast session and the MTCH scheduling information are read, so that the terminal device can correctly receive the MBS broadcast session.

The terminal device should perform the MCCH message acquisition procedure when interested in receiving MBS broadcast services. The terminal device interested in receiving the MBS broadcast service should perform the MCCH message acquisition procedure upon entering the cell providing the SIB20, for example, when the terminal device receiving or interested in receiving the MBS broadcast service receives a modification notification, the SIB20 is reacquired to acquire a new MCCH. The terminal device may apply the previously acquired MCCH message before the terminal device acquires the new MCCH message. As another example, since the MCCH is configured per (per) cell, the MBS configuration carried by the MCCH of each cell may be different, and when the idle state or inactive state terminal device performs cell reselection, SIB20 of the reselected cell needs to be read to obtain the MCCH. It should be appreciated that MBS broadcast support employs MCCH modification notification to notify UEs of the start of a broadcast session and MCCH message modification of an ongoing broadcast session, including MBS session stop.

In R17, the terminal device can only receive data of the multicast session in the RRC connected state. For terminal devices in RRC connected state that join the multicast session, the network device sends MBS multicast configurations to the terminal devices through dedicated signaling, such as RRC reconfiguration message (RRCReconfiguration message), including multicast MRB configuration, multicast common frequency domain resource (common frequency resource, CFR) configuration, physical layer configuration (which may also be referred to as layer 1/L1 configuration), multicast G-RNTI, and so on. When (temporarily) there is no data for the multicast session to be sent to the terminal device, the network device may switch the terminal device to an RRC idle or RRC inactive state. When a network device supporting MBS activates a multicast session by a CN or when the network device has multicast session data to transmit, a group notification (group notification) mechanism is used to notify a terminal device in an RRC idle state or an RRC inactive state that multicast session data is to be delivered. For example, after CN paging, the CN may notify the RAN of multicast activation, trigger RAN paging, and for example, trigger RAN paging after multicast session data arrives at the RAN. After receiving the group notification, the terminal device re-establishes an RRC connection with the network device. The group notification is sent to the terminal device through a paging message, and the paging message used for the group notification includes an MBS session ID (i.e., TMGI) for paging all terminal devices in RRC idle and RRC inactive states that join an MBS multicast session. After the terminal equipment receives the paging message, the terminal equipment determines that the paging message contains the TMGI of the multicast session which the terminal equipment has joined, and the terminal equipment triggers the RRC connection establishment or the RRC connection recovery, and can receive the data of the multicast session after entering a connection state.

When the number of users receiving a multicast session in one cell is excessive, the following may occur: the number of users receiving multicast sessions exceeds the number of connected state users that the cell can accommodate, which can cause network congestion. In order to alleviate network congestion, the terminal device is supported in R18 to receive multicast in the RRC inactive state. For example, when the terminal device has no unicast service and only multicast service, the network may release the terminal device to the RRC inactive state to receive multicast. In this way, the number of terminal devices in RRC connected state in the network can be reduced, which is beneficial to alleviating network congestion and saving energy for the terminal devices.

However, there is no definition in the protocol as to how the terminal device receives the MBS in the RRC inactive state.

Specifically, similar to the broadcast session, for a terminal device receiving a multicast session in an RRC inactive state, the terminal device needs to acquire a multicast configuration before receiving the multicast session, so that data of the multicast session can be received according to the multicast configuration.

One possible way is to provide the multicast configuration to the terminal device by broadcasting via a system message broadcast by the cell, e.g. in a similar way as the broadcast session described above, the multicast configuration is sent to the terminal device in the MCCH, which may still indicate the MCCH in the SIB. However, by broadcasting, the terminal device that does not join the multicast session can also receive the MCCH configuration, so that the multicast configuration can be obtained, and there is a potential safety hazard.

Based on the above problems, the present application provides a scheme, which can enable only the UE joining the multicast service to acquire the multicast configuration, thereby improving the security of the MCCH.

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

It is also understood that in this application, "indicating" may include direct indication, indirect indication, display indication, implicit indication. When a certain indication information is described for indicating a, it can be understood that the indication information carries a, directly indicates a, or indirectly indicates a.

In the present application, information indicated by the indication information is referred to as information to be indicated. In a specific implementation process, there are various ways to indicate the information to be indicated, for example, but not limited to, the information to be indicated may be directly indicated, such as the information to be indicated itself or an index of the information to be indicated. The information to be indicated can also be indicated indirectly by indicating other information, wherein the other information and the information to be indicated have an association relation. It is also possible to indicate only a part of the information to be indicated, while other parts of the information to be indicated are known or agreed in advance. For example, the indication of the specific information may also be achieved by means of a pre-agreed (e.g., protocol-specified) arrangement sequence of the respective information, thereby reducing the indication overhead to some extent.

The method provided by the embodiment of the present application will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. The embodiments provided in the present application may be applied to the network architecture shown in fig. 1 and are not limited thereto.

Fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of a method 400 of communication provided in an embodiment of the present application. The method 400 may include the following steps.

S410, the first network device sends first information to the terminal device, and accordingly, the terminal device receives the first information.

Wherein the first information includes at least one MCCH configuration and an effective area of the at least one MCCH configuration.

As an example, the MCCH configuration may also be referred to as an MCCH configuration parameter or an MCCH reception parameter, which is used for the terminal device to determine time domain resources, frequency domain resources, descrambling, etc. for receiving the MCCH. As an example, the MCCH configuration may include at least one of: the MCCH comprises window information of the MCCH, MCCH modification period, frequency domain resources of the MCCH, radio network temporary identity (MCCH radio network temporary identifier, MCCH-RNTI) of the MCCH, and one MCCH configuration consists of at least one of the above items.

Wherein the effective area is also called an available area, an applicable area or an effective area. And the effective area of the MCCH configuration indicates that the terminal equipment can receive the MCCH by using the corresponding MCCH configuration in the effective area.

As an example, the validation area may be a cell list, a Tracking Area (TA) list, a radio access network notification area (RANnotification area, RNA) list, or a combination of at least two lists, either of which may also include only one element, i.e. the validation area may be one cell, one TA, or one RNA. The cell list may be a list of cell Identities (IDs), such as a list of physical cell identities (physical cell identifier, PCI), a list of cell global identities (cell global identifier, CGI), etc. The Tracking Area (TA) list may be a list of tracking area identities. The list of RNAs (RAN-notationna) may be a list of RAN area codes (RAN-area codes).

For example, the effective area corresponding to MCCH configuration #1 is cell 1, cell 2, cell 3, and the effective area corresponding to MCCH configuration 2 is cell 4, cell 5, or cell 6.

As another example, the effective area corresponding to MCCH configuration #1 is cell 1, and the effective area corresponding to MCCH configuration #2 is cell 2.

As yet another example, the validation area may also be an MCCH area defined by a protocol, denoted as MCCH-area, and each MCCH area may be indicated by a first identity, which may also be referred to as an MCCH area identity, i.e. MCCH-area ID. For example, MCCH-area-1, MCCH-area-2, MCCH-area-3, etc. are configured. Each MCCH region includes at least one cell. For example, if the MCCH configuration #1 corresponds to the MCCH area identified as MCCH-area-1, all cells belonging to MCCH-area-1 are considered as the effective area of the MCCH configuration # 1.

Optionally, each cell may broadcast, in the system message, an MCCH area identifier corresponding to the MCCH area to which the cell belongs.

Alternatively, the MCCH configuration may include a plurality, each adapted for a different session or service. For example, one MBS multicast or a group of MBS multicast services corresponds to one MCCH configuration. Or, part of parameters of the MCCH configuration of all the services are the same, and part of parameters are different, for example, for MCCH configuration of a plurality of services, parameters such as MCCH window parameters, modification period and the like in the MCCH configuration may be the same, but MCCH-RNTIs corresponding to different services are different.

Optionally, the first information includes an identifier of a multicast broadcast service MBS corresponding to each MCCH configuration in the at least one MCCH configuration. At this time, different MCCH configurations may be configured for different MBS services. For example, the terminal 1 receives the MBS service 1 through the MCCH channel 1, and the terminal 2 receives the MBS service 2 through the MCCH channel 2, so as to avoid that the terminal receiving the MBS service 2 knows the MCCH channel configuration of the MBS service 1, thereby further enhancing the security.

Alternatively, the terminal device may be in a connected state when receiving the first information.

As an example, the first information may be carried in dedicated signaling, e.g., RRC release message or RRC reconfiguration message.

Optionally, after receiving the first information, the terminal device may save the first information, since the MCCH configuration is determined later.

S420, the second network device sends second information to the terminal device, and accordingly, the terminal device receives the second information.

The second information is used for judging whether the serving cell belongs to an effective area of at least one MCCH configuration by the terminal.

Alternatively, the second information may be an identification of the first area or an identification of the cell.

Specifically, the second information may be a cell identifier, such as a PCI or CGI, and the terminal may determine, according to the cell identifier, whether the serving cell belongs to a cell list corresponding to the MCCH effective area.

Or, the second information may be a TA identifier, and the terminal may determine, according to the TA identifier, whether the serving cell belongs to a TA list corresponding to the MCCH effective area.

Or, the second information may be an MCCH area identifier, and the terminal may determine, according to the MCCH area identifier, whether the serving cell belongs to an MCCH area identifier list corresponding to an MCCH effective area.

The second network device and the first network device may be the same network device, for example, the terminal device does not perform cell reselection after receiving the first information, or the cell after the terminal device reselection is still managed by the first network device. The second network device and the first network device may be different network devices, e.g. the terminal device after receiving the first information cell reselection occurs and the terminal device reselected cell is managed by the second network device.

Optionally, if the second network device and the first network device are not the same network device, the second network device may be a base station to which the current serving cell of the terminal device belongs, and the first network device may be an anchor base station of the terminal device. If the second network device and the first network device are the same network device, the second network device may be a base station to which the current serving cell of the terminal device belongs, and also be an anchor base station of the terminal device.

It should be understood that the terminal device may be in an inactive state or an idle state when receiving the information of the first area.

Wherein the second information may be carried in common signaling, e.g. paging messages or system messages, or synchronization channels, or master information blocks (master information block, MIB). As an example, the system message transmitting the second information may be a system information block (system information block, SIB), e.g., SIB1, SIB20, etc.

When the second network device needs to send the MCCH information, or when the terminal device performs cell reselection and reselects to a cell managed by the second network device, the terminal device may acquire an identifier of the first area or an identifier of the cell sent by the second network device, and the terminal device may determine the corresponding MCCH configuration according to the identifier of the first area or the identifier of the cell, and then receive the MCCH information according to the corresponding MCCH configuration.

Optionally, when the second information is the MCCH area identifier, the second network device may send a group paging message to the UE when the MBS service is activated, and carry the MCCH area identifier in the group paging message. And when the terminal receives the group paging, determining the used MCCH configuration information according to the MCCH area identifier, and receiving the MCCH information according to the MCCH configuration information so that the terminal can acquire the MCCH configuration information in time when the service is activated.

When the terminal device performs cell reselection, the terminal device may acquire a system message broadcast by the network device (for example, the second network device) of the target cell after reselection, where the system message includes an identifier of the cell or an identifier of an effective area to which the cell belongs, and the cell is a serving cell of the terminal device. In other words, if the terminal device performs cell reselection, if the reselected target cell is in the service area, the terminal device may perform MCCH reception according to the MCCH configuration configured by the dedicated signaling. If the reselected target cell is not in the effective area, the terminal device may initiate a connection recovery procedure, and the network device may send the MCCH configuration to the terminal device through dedicated signaling.

The MCCH information may also be referred to as an MCCH message, which refers to a message transmitted through the MCCH. The MCCH information may include MBS configuration information, e.g., broadcast configuration information and/or multicast configuration information, according to which a terminal device may receive a multicast session.

S430, the second network device sends MCCH information on a first MCCH channel, the first MCCH channel uses a first MCCH configuration, and correspondingly, if a first area identifier or a cell identifier belongs to an effective area, the terminal device receives the MCCH information from the second network device in an idle state or an inactive state according to the first MCCH configuration; if the identifier of the first area or the identifier of the cell does not belong to the effective area, the terminal device sends a radio resource control RRC recovery request message to the second network device, and further the second network device sends a second MCCH configuration to the terminal device, and the terminal device may receive the MCCH message using the second MCCH configuration.

Specifically, if the identifier of the first area or the identifier of the cell belongs to the effective area, the terminal device may receive the MCCH information in an idle state or an inactive state according to the first MCCH configuration corresponding to the identifier of the first area or the identifier of the cell. The identifier of the first area or the identifier of the cell has a corresponding relationship with the first MCCH configuration, or in other words, the first MCCH configuration may be determined according to the identifier of the first area or the identifier of the cell. The first information comprises a first MCCH configuration and an identifier of a first area or an identifier of a cell, and the effective area corresponding to the first MCCH comprises the identifier of the first area or the identifier of the cell.

For example: the effective areas of MCCH configuration #1 are cell 1, cell 2, cell 3. The reselected cell is cell 1, cell 2, or cell 3, the terminal device determines that MCCH configuration #1 may be used to continue receiving MCCH information.

As another example, the effective area of the MCCH configuration #1 is MCCH-area-1, and the system message of the current cell indicates that the current cell belongs to MCCH-area-1, and the terminal device determines that the MCCH information can be received according to the MCCH configuration # 1.

For another example, the area identifier carrying the MCCH configuration in the paging message is area #1, and the ue determines whether the MCCH configuration can be obtained according to the area identifier in the paging message and the effective area in the first information stored in the ue. For example, whether the first information includes the area identifier in the paging message is determined, if yes, the MCCH configuration in the first information is used for receiving the MCCH information, and if the MCCH configuration cannot be acquired, the RRC connection recovery procedure is triggered.

If the identity of the first area or the identity of the cell does not belong to the active area, the terminal device may initiate an RRC restore message to the second network device. Further, the second network device may send a second MCCH configuration to the terminal device, and the terminal device may receive MCCH information according to the second MCCH. The second MCCH configuration may be the same as or different from the first MCCH configuration.

Based on the above scheme, the effective area of MCCH configuration may be preconfigured to the terminal device, when the terminal device needs to receive the MCCH information, the terminal device may obtain the identifier of the first area or the identifier of the cell through the common signaling, when the identifier of the first area or the identifier of the cell belongs to the effective area, the terminal device may use the MCCH configuration in the dedicated signaling to receive the MCCH information, and when the identifier of the first area or the identifier of the cell does not belong to the effective area, the terminal device may receive the MCCH configuration in the further dedicated signaling through the RRC reply procedure. In this way, the terminal device is enabled to obtain the MCCH configuration. In addition, the terminal equipment which does not join the multicast session can be prevented from acquiring the MCCH configuration, and the safety of the MCCH is ensured.

On the other hand, if the first information includes a plurality of MCCH configurations and effective areas of the plurality of MCCH configurations, the terminal device may further determine a corresponding MCCH configuration according to the identifier of the first area or the identifier of the cell. Therefore, the terminal can acquire the MCCH configuration more quickly, and the communication efficiency is improved.

Optionally, before the first network device sends the first information to the terminal device, the method further comprises: the first network equipment receives third information from third network equipment, wherein the third information comprises N MCCH configurations and effective areas of the MCCH configurations corresponding to the N MCCH configurations, N is a positive integer, and the first network generates the first information according to the third information. For example, the first network device may integrate the third information sent by the plurality of second network devices, determine a total area corresponding to one MCCH configuration information, and then send the total area to the third network device.

Optionally, the first network device may further determine fourth information, where the fourth information is determined according to MCCH configuration information used by the first network device, for example, the fourth information includes R MCCH configurations used by the first network device and corresponding effective areas thereof, and R is a positive integer. For example, the first network device uses MCCH channel 1 in cell 1 and MCCH channel 2 in cell 2, and the fourth information includes configuration parameters and validation area of MCCH channel 1 (cell 1) and configuration parameters and validation area of MCCH channel 2 (cell 2). The first network device may send fourth information to the third network device.

In one implementation manner, the first network device may synthesize third information sent by the plurality of second network devices, R MCCH configurations used and corresponding effective areas thereof, determine a total area corresponding to one MCCH configuration information, and then send the total area to the third network device.

Wherein the third network device may be a neighboring base station of the first network device.

Specifically, before the first network device sends the MCCH configuration to the terminal device, the network devices in the effective area may perform coordination and synchronization of the MCCH configuration. For example, the MCCH configuration in the effective area is made the same by coordinating the configuration. As an example, the base station #1 (an example of the first network device) may first check whether there are other base stations (an example of the third network device) that send the MCCH configuration and its corresponding configuration index. If there is and base station #1 is willing to use the same MCCH configuration, then use the same MCCH configuration and send the MCCH configuration used by itself and its configuration index to the surrounding base stations so that the surrounding base stations know the MCCH configuration of the current base station. If not, or the base station #1 does not want to use the MCCH configuration sent by other base stations, the base station may generate the MCCH configuration and its corresponding index itself, and send these MCCH configurations and indexes to other surrounding base stations. Optionally, the identity of the cell managed by the base station may be carried during the interaction of MCCH configuration between the base stations.

Further, if the base station determines that a certain cell of the self-managed cell closes the MCCH, the base station may also notify other base stations of stopping the MCCH transmission, carrying the MCCH configuration index and the closing instruction.

Alternatively, the RRC recovery request may include a cause value of MCCH configuration acquisition or multicast reception.

Furthermore, the specific procedure of the terminal device to initiate connection recovery may be combined with fig. 6 and fig. 7.

Optionally, as an implementation manner, if the terminal device can receive the MCCH information according to the first MCCH configuration, the terminal device may obtain a multicast service receiving configuration parameter corresponding to the multicast session added by the terminal device according to the MCCH information, and receive the multicast service according to the multicast service receiving configuration parameter. Optionally, if the terminal device does not receive the MCCH information according to the first MCCH configuration, or the terminal device fails to acquire the multicast service receiving configuration parameter corresponding to the added multicast session added in the MCCH information, the terminal device may initiate a connection recovery procedure, and may set a cause value as multicast reception in the RRC recovery request message. Further, the second network device may send an RRC release message to the terminal device, carrying the MCCH configuration of the current cell, e.g. configured for the second MCCH. Wherein, the absence of detecting the MCCH information according to the MCCH configuration includes: and detecting MCCH windows, wherein the downlink control information (downlink control information, DCI) sent by the MCCH-RNTI is not detected in M continuous MCCH windows, and M is greater than or equal to 1.

Alternatively, if the second network device is an anchor base station of the terminal device, the second network device may send the second MCCH configuration directly to the terminal device. If the second network device is not an anchor base station for the terminal device, the second network device may coordinate with the anchor base station (e.g., for the first network device) to transmit the second MCCH configuration to the terminal device. As an example, the second network device may send a request to obtain the UE context to the anchor base station, the request including a cause value for MCCH configuration acquisition or multicast reception, the anchor base station sending the second MCC configuration to the second network device.

Specifically, this can be achieved in the following two ways.

The first mode comprises the following steps:

(1) The terminal device triggers a connection recovery procedure.

The first cause value is set in the RRC resume request message, and the specific first cause value may be to obtain MCCH configuration or multicast connection.

(2) After receiving the RRC recovery request message, the service base station judges that the MCCH configuration needs to be provided for the terminal equipment according to the first cause value, and the service base station can send the MCCH configuration of the current access cell of the terminal equipment to the anchor point base station.

The serving base station may determine according to the terminal equipment identifier carried by the RRC resume request message, where the current serving base station is not an anchor base station of the UE, and does not have key information of the UE, so that an encrypted RRC message cannot be generated, and MCCH configuration cannot be sent to the UE through the encrypted RRC message. Therefore, the serving base station may transmit MCCH configuration information of the current UE access cell to the anchor base station, and the anchor base station generates an encrypted RRC message and transmits the encrypted RRC message to the UE through the serving base station.

Specifically, the MCCH configuration information may be carried in the context acquisition request. Optionally, the serving base station further carries a first cause value in the context acquisition message. Or the serving base station carries indication information, where the indication information is used to instruct the anchor base station to carry the MCCH message in an RRC release message, and the RRC release message is an encrypted RRC message.

(3) And the anchor base station carries the MCCH configuration information in the RRC release message and sends the service base station.

Specifically, the RRC release message may be carried in a context acquisition failure message.

(4) The serving base station transmits an RRC release message to the UE so that the UE acquires the MCCH configuration.

And the UE acquires the MCCH configuration according to the RRC release message, continuously maintains the MCCH configuration in an RRC inactive state, reads the MCCH message according to the MCCH configuration, and further acquires the multicast service receiving configuration parameters.

Mode two, including the following step:

(1) Step (1) in the same manner as the first step.

(2) After receiving the RRC recovery request message, the service base station judges that the MCCH configuration needs to be provided for the terminal equipment according to the first cause value, and sends a context acquisition message to the anchor base station.

In the second mode, the serving base station may determine according to the UE identifier carried by the RRC resume request message, where the current serving base station is not an anchor base station of the UE, and does not have key information of the UE, so that an RRC message cannot be generated, and MCCH configuration cannot be sent to the UE through the encrypted RRC message. At this time, the serving base station may send a context acquisition request to the anchor base station, so as to migrate the UE context to the serving base station, so that the serving base station becomes a new anchor base station for the UE, and thus the serving base station may send an RRC message to the UE, where the RRC message is an encrypted RRC message, notifying the UE of the MCCH configuration information.

(3) The anchor base station transmits the UE context to the serving base station.

Specifically, the anchor base station sends the UE context to the serving base station through the context acquisition response message, after the serving base station receives the context, the serving base station may acquire the key of the UE, and the serving base station initiates a path switching process to the core network, and migrates the connection between the UE and the core network to the current serving base station, so that the serving base station becomes a new anchor base station for the UE.

(4) The service base station sends RRC release information to the UE and carries MCCH configuration information so that the UE can acquire the MCCH configuration.

And the UE acquires the MCCH configuration according to the RRC release message, and continuously maintains the MCCH configuration in an RRC inactive state, reads the MCCH message according to the MCCH configuration to further acquire the multicast service receiving configuration parameter, wherein the RRC release message is an encrypted RRC message.

Fig. 9 is a schematic flow chart diagram of a communication method 500 provided in an embodiment of the present application. The method 500 may be considered a specific implementation of the method 400, as shown in fig. 9, the method 500 comprising the following steps.

The UE (an example of a terminal device) if it desires to join the multicast session #1, the UE may initiate an RRC connection setup procedure or an RRC connection recovery procedure to the network device, depending on the state of the UE. The UE may send a join request of the multicast session #1 using the RRC connection, where the join request includes an identifier of the multicast session with a desired join to a core network, for example, the identifier of the multicast session is a TMGI, and after the core network authenticates that the UE may join the multicast session #1, the core network sends information indicating to an access network that the access network has joined the multicast session to which the UE has joined, where the information of the multicast session includes the identifier of the multicast session #1 and Qos information corresponding to the multicast session. Wherein the core network may carry the above indication through a protocol data unit (protocol data unit, PDU) session (session) setup or modification message.

The access network sends the multicast service receiving configuration parameters of the multicast session #1 to the UE according to the information of the multicast session added by the UE, for example, the multicast service receiving configuration parameters include: 1) multicast common frequency domain resources (common frequency resource, CFR), 2) G-RNTI used by multicast traffic, 3) search space of multicast traffic, control resource set (CORESET) information of multicast traffic, etc., 4) physical downlink shared channel (physical downlink shared channel, PDSCH) parameters of multicast traffic including scrambling codes, rate matching parameters, 5) MRB of multicast traffic including MRB ID, corresponding packet data convergence protocol (packet data convergence protocol, PDCP) parameters, etc. 6) Multicast radio link control (Radio Link Control, RLC) channel configuration includes information of an MRB ID associated with the RLC, a length of a Sequence Number (SN) of the RLC, RLC mode, and the like.

Step S501 may be performed if the access network determines to let the UE receive the multicast session in the connected state, otherwise the step may be skipped.

S501, the UE receives data of the multicast session # 1.

The UE may receive data of the multicast session #1 according to the multicast service reception configuration parameters configured by the access network in the connected state.

S502, the cell #1 determines to let the UE enter the inactive state to receive the multicast session #1.

Cell #1 may switch the UE to an inactive state for data reception based on some factors, e.g., too many users are currently in the cell connection state, more connected UEs have not been admitted, or this UE desires multicast service reception in a more power saving mode.

S503, cell #1 sends an RRC release message to the UE.

Cell #1 sends an RRC release message to the UE informing the UE to enter an inactive state to receive multicast.

The RRC release message may include information #1 (an example of the first information), where the information #1 includes MCCH configuration #1 and an effective area of the MCCH configuration #1, for example, the effective area is MCA 1 and MCA2, and the MCCH configuration #1 is used for the UE to receive multicast service reception configuration parameters from the MCCH channel. Wherein MCA is MCCH area.

The information #1 may be transmitted simultaneously with the RRC release message, or may be transmitted before the RRC release message, without limitation.

After S503, the UE enters an inactive state.

S504, cell #1 broadcasts SIB 1.

Cell #1 may include the MCCH area to which cell #1 belongs, i.e., MCA ID 1, in SIB 1. After the UE acquires SIB 1, it is determined that MCCH configuration #1 may be used according to the MCA ID 1 in SIB 1 belonging to the effective area.

S505, cell #1 broadcasts the MCCH.

And the UE receives the MCCH message according to the MCCH configuration #1 and obtains the multicast service receiving configuration parameters.

S506, the UE receives the data of the multicast session #1 in the inactive state.

And the UE receives the data of the multicast session #1 in the inactive state according to the multicast service receiving configuration parameters.

S507, cell reselection, UE reselects to cell #2.

S508, cell #2 broadcasts SIB 1.

Cell #1 may include the MCCH area to which cell #2 belongs in SIB 1, assuming that cell #2 also belongs to MCA ID 1. After the UE acquires SIB 1, it is determined that MCCH configuration #1 can be continuously used according to the fact that MCA ID 1 in SIB 1 belongs to the effective area.

S509, cell #1 broadcasts the MCCH.

And the UE receives the MCCH message according to the MCCH configuration #1 and obtains the multicast service receiving configuration parameters.

S5010, the UE receives the data of the multicast session #1 in the inactive state.

And the UE receives the data of the multicast session #1 in the inactive state according to the multicast service receiving configuration parameters.

In method 500, cell #1 and cell #2 may belong to the same network device, e.g., both belong to the first network device. Cell #1 and cell #2 may also belong to different network devices, e.g. cell #1 belongs to a first network device and cell #2 belongs to a second network device.

Based on the above scheme, the effective area of MCCH configuration may be preconfigured to the terminal device, when the terminal device needs to receive the MCCH information, the terminal device may determine the identifier of the first area or the identifier of the cell through the common signaling, when the identifier of the first area or the identifier of the cell belongs to the effective area, the terminal device may use the MCCH configuration in the dedicated signaling to receive the MCCH information, and when the identifier of the first area or the identifier of the cell does not belong to the effective area, the terminal device may receive the MCCH configuration in the further dedicated signaling through the RRC reverting procedure. Therefore, the terminal equipment which does not join the multicast session can be prevented from acquiring the MCCH configuration, and the safety of the MCCH is ensured.

On the other hand, if the first information includes a plurality of MCCH configurations and effective areas of the plurality of MCCH configurations, the terminal device may further determine a corresponding MCCH configuration according to the identifier of the first area or the identifier of the cell. Therefore, the terminal can acquire the MCCH configuration more quickly, and the communication efficiency is improved.

It will also be appreciated that some optional features of the various embodiments of the application may, in some circumstances, be independent of other features, or may, in some circumstances, be combined with other features, without limitation.

It is also to be understood that the aspects of the embodiments of the present application may be used in any reasonable combination, and that the explanation or illustration of the terms presented in the embodiments may be referred to or explained in the various embodiments without limitation.

It should also be understood that, in the foregoing embodiments of the methods and operations implemented by the terminal device, the methods and operations may also be implemented by component parts (e.g., chips or circuits) of the terminal device; furthermore, the methods and operations implemented by the network device may also be implemented by, but not limited to, constituent components (e.g., chips or circuits) of the network device.

Corresponding to the methods given by the above method embodiments, the embodiments of the present application also provide corresponding apparatuses, where the apparatuses include corresponding modules for performing the above method embodiments. The module may be software, hardware, or a combination of software and hardware. It will be appreciated that the technical features described in the method embodiments described above are equally applicable to the device embodiments described below.

Fig. 10 is a schematic diagram of a communication device 2800 provided in an embodiment of the present application. The apparatus 2800 includes a transceiver unit 2810, and the transceiver unit 2810 may be used to implement corresponding communication functions. The transceiver unit 2810 may also be referred to as a communication interface or a communication unit.

Optionally, the apparatus 2800 may further include a processing unit 2820, where the processing unit 2820 may be used to perform data processing.

Optionally, the apparatus 2800 further includes a storage unit, where the storage unit may be used to store instructions and/or data, and the processing unit 2820 may read the instructions and/or data in the storage unit, so that the apparatus implements actions performed by the terminal device or the network device in the foregoing method embodiments.

In one possible implementation, the apparatus 2800 may be a terminal device in the foregoing embodiment, or may be a component (such as a chip) of the terminal device. The apparatus 2800 may implement steps or processes performed by a terminal device in the above method embodiment, where the transceiver unit 2810 may be used to perform operations related to transceiver of the terminal device in the above method embodiment, and the processing unit 2820 may be used to perform operations related to processing of the terminal device in the above method embodiment.

In this implementation, the apparatus 2800 is used to implement the functionality of the terminal device in the method embodiment shown in method 400 or 500.

Illustratively, the transceiver unit 2810 is configured to receive first information from a first network device, the first information comprising at least one MCCH configuration and an effective area of the at least one MCCH configuration; the transceiver unit 2810 is also configured to: second information is received from the second network device, the second information being indicative of a first area identity or a cell identity. The processing unit 2820 is configured to: if the first area identifier or the cell identifier belongs to the effective area, receiving MCCH information from the second network equipment in an idle state or an inactive state according to a first MCCH configuration, wherein at least one MCCH configuration comprises the first MCCH configuration; and if the first area identifier or the cell identifier does not belong to the effective area, sending a Radio Resource Control (RRC) recovery request message to the second network equipment.

It should be understood that the foregoing is merely exemplary, and the apparatus 2800 can also implement other steps, actions, or methods related to a terminal device in the above method 400 or 500, which are not described herein.

It should also be understood that the specific process of each unit performing the corresponding steps has been described in detail in the above method embodiments, and is not described herein for brevity.

In another possible implementation manner, the apparatus 2800 may be the first network device in the foregoing embodiment, or may be a component (such as a chip) of the first network device. The apparatus 2800 may implement steps or processes performed by a first network device in the above method embodiment, where the transceiver unit 2810 may be configured to perform operations related to the transceiver of the first network device in the above method embodiment, and the processing unit 2820 may be configured to perform operations related to the processing of the first network device in the above method embodiment.

In this implementation, the apparatus 2800 is configured to implement the function of the first network device in the method embodiment shown in 400 or 500.

The transceiver unit 2810 is configured to send first information to a terminal device, where the first information includes at least one MCCH configuration and an effective area of the at least one MCCH configuration, and the at least one MCCH configuration includes a first MCCH configuration. The transceiver unit 2810 is further configured to send an MCCH message on the first MCCH channel using a first MCCH configuration.

It should be understood that the foregoing is merely exemplary, and the apparatus 2800 can also implement other steps, actions, or methods related to the first network device in the method 400 or 500 described above, which are not described herein.

It should also be understood that the specific process of each unit performing the corresponding steps has been described in detail in the above method embodiments, and is not described herein for brevity.

Furthermore, the apparatus 2800 herein is embodied in the form of functional units. The term "unit" herein may refer to an application specific integrated circuit (application specific integrated circuit, ASIC), an electronic circuit, a processor (e.g., a shared, dedicated, or group processor, etc.) and memory that execute one or more software or firmware programs, a combinational logic circuit, and/or other suitable components that support the described functionality. In an alternative example, it may be understood by those skilled in the art that the apparatus 2800 may be specifically configured to be a terminal device in the foregoing embodiment, and may be used to perform each flow and/or step corresponding to the terminal device in the foregoing method embodiments, or the apparatus 2800 may be specifically configured to be a first network device in the foregoing embodiment, and may be used to perform each flow and/or step corresponding to the first network device in the foregoing method embodiments, which are not repeated herein to avoid repetition.

The apparatus 2800 of each of the above schemes has a function of implementing a corresponding step performed by the terminal device in the above method, or the apparatus 2800 of each of the above schemes has a function of implementing a corresponding step performed by the first network device in the above method. The functions may be implemented by hardware, or may be implemented by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or the software comprises one or more modules corresponding to the functions; for example, the transceiver unit may be replaced by a transceiver (e.g., a transmitting unit in the transceiver unit may be replaced by a transmitter, a receiving unit in the transceiver unit may be replaced by a receiver), and other units, such as a processing unit, etc., may be replaced by a processor, to perform the transceiver operations and associated processing operations in the respective method embodiments, respectively.

The transceiver 2810 may be a transceiver circuit (e.g., may include a receiver circuit and a transmitter circuit), and the processing unit may be a processing circuit.

It should be noted that the apparatus in fig. 10 may be a network element or a device in the foregoing embodiment, or may be a chip or a chip system, for example: system on chip (SoC). The receiving and transmitting unit can be an input and output circuit and a communication interface; the processing unit is an integrated processor or microprocessor or integrated circuit on the chip. And are not limited herein.

Fig. 11 is a schematic diagram of another communication device 2900 provided in an embodiment of the present application. The apparatus 2900 includes a processor 2910, the processor 2910 being coupled to a memory 2920, the memory 2920 for storing computer programs or instructions and/or data, the processor 2910 for executing the computer programs or instructions stored by the memory 2920 or for reading data stored by the memory 2920 to perform the methods in the method embodiments above.

Optionally, the processor 2910 is one or more.

Optionally, memory 2920 is one or more.

Optionally, the memory 2920 is integrated with the processor 2910 or separately provided.

Optionally, as shown in fig. 11, the apparatus 2900 further includes an interface circuit 2930. The interface circuit 2930 is used for receiving and/or transmitting signals. The processor 2910 and the interface circuit 2930 are coupled to each other. For example, the processor 2910 is configured to control the interface circuit 2930 to receive and/or transmit signals. It is to be appreciated that the interface circuit 2930 may be a transceiver or an input-output interface.

When the apparatus 2900 is configured to implement the method shown in fig. 8 or fig. 9, the processor 2910 is configured to implement the functions of the processing unit 920, and the interface circuit 2930 is configured to implement the functions of the transceiver unit 910.

As an aspect, the apparatus 2900 is configured to implement the operations performed by the terminal device in the above method embodiments.

For example, the processor 2910 is configured to execute computer programs or instructions stored in the memory 2920 to implement the relevant operations of the terminal device in the method embodiments above. For example, the method performed by the terminal device in the embodiment shown in fig. 8 or fig. 9.

As an option, the apparatus 2900 is configured to implement the operations performed by the first network device in the method embodiments above.

For example, the processor 2910 is configured to execute computer programs or instructions stored in the memory 2920 to implement the relevant operations of the first network device in the method embodiments above. For example, the first network device in the embodiment shown in fig. 8 or fig. 9 performs the method.

When the communication device is a chip applied to the terminal, the terminal chip realizes the function of the terminal in the embodiment of the method. The terminal chip receives information from other modules (such as a radio frequency module or an antenna) in the terminal, and the information is sent to the terminal by the base station; alternatively, the terminal chip sends information to other modules in the terminal (e.g., radio frequency modules or antennas), which the terminal sends to the base station.

It should be appreciated that the processors referred to in the embodiments of the present application may be central processing units (central processing unit, CPU), but may also be other general purpose processors, digital signal processors (digital signal processor, DSP), application specific integrated circuits (application specific integrated circuit, ASIC), off-the-shelf programmable gate arrays (field programmable gate array, FPGA) or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components, or the like. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor or the processor may be any conventional processor or the like.

It should also be understood that the memories mentioned in the embodiments of the present application may be volatile memories and/or nonvolatile memories. The nonvolatile memory may be a read-only memory (ROM), a Programmable ROM (PROM), an Erasable PROM (EPROM), an electrically Erasable EPROM (EEPROM), or a flash memory. The volatile memory may be random access memory (random access memory, RAM). For example, RAM may be used as external cache. By way of example, and not limitation, RAM includes the following forms: static RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double data rate SDRAM (DDR SDRAM), enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), synchronous DRAM (SLDRAM), and direct memory bus RAM (DR RAM).

It should be noted that when the processor is a general purpose processor, DSP, ASIC, FPGA or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic device, discrete hardware components, the memory (storage module) may be integrated into the processor.

It should also be noted that the memory described herein is intended to comprise, without being limited to, these and any other suitable types of memory.

Fig. 12 is a schematic diagram of a chip system 3000 provided in an embodiment of the present application. The system-on-chip 3000 (or may also be referred to as a processing system) includes logic 3010 and input/output interface 3020.

Logic 3010 may be a processing circuit in system-on-chip 3000. Logic 3010 may be coupled to a memory unit to invoke instructions in the memory unit so that system-on-chip 3000 may implement the methods and functions of embodiments of the present application. The input/output interface 3020 may be an input/output circuit in the chip system 3000, outputting information processed by the chip system 3000, or inputting data or signaling information to be processed into the chip system 3000 for processing.

As an aspect, the chip system 3000 is configured to implement the operations performed by the terminal device in the above method embodiments.

For example, the logic circuit 3010 is configured to implement the operations related to processing performed by the terminal device in the above method embodiment, such as the operations related to processing performed by the terminal device in the embodiment shown in fig. 8 or fig. 9; the input/output interface 3020 is used to implement the above operations related to transmission and/or reception performed by the terminal apparatus in the method embodiment, for example, the operations related to transmission and/or reception performed by the terminal apparatus in the embodiment shown in fig. 8 or fig. 9.

Alternatively, the system-on-chip 3000 is configured to implement the operations performed by the first network device in the various method embodiments above.

For example, the logic circuit 3010 is configured to implement the operations related to the processing performed by the first network device in the above method embodiment, for example, the operations related to the processing performed by the first network device in the embodiment shown in fig. 8 or fig. 9; the input/output interface 3020 is used to implement the above operations related to transmission and/or reception performed by the first network device in the method embodiment, for example, the operations related to transmission and/or reception performed by the first network device in the embodiment shown in fig. 8 or fig. 9.

The embodiments of the present application also provide a computer readable storage medium having stored thereon computer instructions for implementing the method performed by the terminal device or the first network device in the above method embodiments.

For example, the computer program, when executed by a computer, enables the computer to implement the method performed by the terminal device or the first network device in the above-described method embodiments.

The embodiments of the present application also provide a computer program product containing instructions that, when executed by a computer, implement a method performed by a terminal device or a first network device in the above method embodiments.

The embodiment of the application also provides a communication system, which comprises the terminal device and the first network device in each embodiment. For example, the system comprises the terminal device and the first network device in the embodiment shown in fig. 8 or fig. 9.

The explanation and beneficial effects of the related content in any of the above-mentioned devices can refer to the corresponding method embodiments provided above, and are not repeated here.

In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed apparatus and method may be implemented in other ways. For example, the apparatus embodiments described above are merely illustrative, e.g., the division of the units is merely a logical function division, and there may be additional divisions when actually implemented, e.g., multiple units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted or not performed. Furthermore, the coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed with each other may be through some interface, device or unit indirect coupling or communication connection, which may be in electrical, mechanical or other form.

In the above embodiments, it may be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, may be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When the computer program instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, all or portions result in the procedures or functions described in embodiments of the present application. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable apparatus. For example, the computer may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc. The computer instructions may be stored in or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another, for example, by wired (e.g., coaxial cable, optical fiber, digital Subscriber Line (DSL)), or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.). The computer readable storage medium may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device such as a server, data center, etc. that contains an integration of one or more available media. For example, the aforementioned usable medium may include, but is not limited to, U disk, removable hard disk, read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (random access memory, RAM), magnetic disk or optical disk, among others, various media that can store program code.

The foregoing is merely specific embodiments of the present application, but the scope of the present application is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art who is familiar with the technical scope of the present application can easily think about the changes or substitutions, and the changes or substitutions are covered in the scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims (27)

1. A method of communication, comprising:

the method comprises the steps that a terminal device receives first information from a first network device, wherein the first information comprises at least one multicast and broadcast service control channel (MCCH) configuration and an effective area of the at least one MCCH configuration;

the terminal equipment receives second information from second network equipment, wherein the second information is used for indicating a first area identifier or a cell identifier;

if the first area identifier or the cell identifier belongs to the effective area, the terminal equipment receives an MCCH message from the second network equipment in an idle state or an inactive state according to a first MCCH configuration, the first MCCH configuration is determined according to the first area or the cell identifier, and the at least one MCCH configuration comprises the first MCCH configuration; or,

And if the first area identifier or the cell identifier does not belong to the effective area, the terminal equipment sends a Radio Resource Control (RRC) recovery request message to the second network equipment.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first information is carried on an RRC release message or an RRC reconfiguration message.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the second information is carried on a paging message or a system message.

4. A method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the first region is identified as any one of:

tracking area identity, radio access network area identity, or MCCH area identity.

5. The method of any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the validation area comprises:

at least one cell, at least one tracking area TA, at least one radio access network based notification area RNA, or at least one MCCH area.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the first zone identity belongs to an effective zone, comprising:

the first region identifier is one identifier of identifiers corresponding to the effective region.

7. The method according to any of claims 1 to 6, wherein if the first area identity or cell identity does not belong to the active area, the RRC restoration request message includes a cause value of MCCH configuration acquisition or multicast reception.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the method further comprises:

the terminal equipment receives a second MCCH configuration from the second network equipment;

and the terminal equipment receives the MCCH information from the second network equipment in an idle state or an inactive state according to the second MCCH configuration.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the second MCCH configuration is carried in an RRC release message.

10. The method according to any of the claims 1 to 9, wherein the first information further comprises an identification of a multicast broadcast service, MBS, corresponding to each of the at least one MCCH configuration.

11. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein the first MCCH configuration comprises one or more of:

window information of MCCH, MCCH modification period, frequency domain resource of MCCH and wireless network temporary identifier of MCCH.

12. A method of communication, comprising:

the method comprises the steps that first network equipment sends first information to terminal equipment, wherein the first information comprises at least one MCCH configuration and an effective area of the at least one MCCH configuration, and the at least one MCCH configuration comprises a first MCCH configuration;

the first network device sends an MCCH message on a first MCCH channel, and the first MCCH channel is configured by using the first MCCH.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the method further comprises:

the first network device sends second information to the terminal device, wherein the second information is used for indicating a first area identifier or a cell identifier, and the first area identifier or the cell identifier is used for determining the first MCCH configuration.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the second information is carried on a paging message or a system message.

15. The method according to any one of claims 12 to 14, further comprising:

the first network device receives third information from a third network device, wherein the third information comprises N MCCH configurations and effective areas corresponding to the MCCH configurations, at least one MCCH configuration information and the effective areas are determined according to the third information, and N is a positive integer.

16. The method according to any one of claims 12 to 15, further comprising:

the first network device determines fourth information, wherein the fourth information comprises R MCCH configurations and effective areas of the R MCCH configurations, and R is a positive integer;

the first network device sends the fourth information to a third network device.

17. The method according to any of claims 12 to 16, wherein the first information is carried on an RRC release message or an RRC reconfiguration message.

18. The method according to any one of claims 12 to 17, further comprising:

the first network device receives an RRC recovery message from the terminal device;

and the first network equipment sends a second MCCH configuration to the terminal equipment.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the RRC recovery request message includes a cause value of MCCH configuration acquisition or multicast reception.

20. The method of any one of claims 12 to 19, wherein the first region is identified as any one of:

tracking area identity, radio access network area identity, or MCCH area identity.

21. The method of any one of claims 12 to 20, wherein the validation area comprises:

at least one cell, at least one tracking area TA, at least one radio access network based notification area RNA, or at least one MCCH area.

22. The method according to any of the claims 12 to 21, wherein the first information further comprises an identification of a multicast broadcast service, MBS, corresponding to each of the at least one MCCH configuration.

23. The method according to any one of claims 12 to 22, wherein the first MCCH configuration comprises one or more of:

window information of MCCH, MCCH modification period, frequency domain resource of MCCH and wireless network temporary identifier of MCCH.

24. A communication device, characterized in that the device comprises means for performing the steps of the method according to any of claims 1 to 11 or the device comprises means for performing the steps of the method according to any of claims 12 to 23.

25. A communications device, the device comprising a processor coupled to a memory, the memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 11 or to perform the method of any one of claims 12 to 23.

26. A computer readable storage medium for storing a computer program which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 11 or to perform the method of any one of claims 12 to 23.

27. A computer program product, the computer program product comprising: computer program code which, when executed, implements the method of any of claims 1 to 11 or performs the method of any of claims 12 to 23.