CN117882435A - Reason indicating method, device, equipment and storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

The embodiment of the disclosure discloses a cause indication method and a device thereof, which can be applied to a communication system, wherein the method comprises the following steps when being executed by first network equipment: indicating a reason to a second network device or acquiring the reason indicated by the second network device; wherein the reason is used for indicating the relevant information of the path switching of the side link SL and/or indicating the relevant information of the relay of the side link SL. By implementing the method disclosed by the invention, the reason related to the lateral link SL path switching is effectively indicated, the comprehensiveness of the indicated reason among network devices is improved, and the reason indication effect is improved.

Description

Reason indicating method, device, equipment and storage medium Technical Field

The disclosure relates to the technical field of communication, and in particular relates to a cause indication method, a cause indication device, cause indication equipment and a storage medium.

Background

In a communication system, in order to support direct communication between a terminal Equipment (UE) and a terminal Equipment, a Side Link (SL) communication scheme is introduced. One terminal device may not directly connect to the base station, but may communicate with the base station through a relay function of another terminal device, where a UE that is not directly connected to the base station is called a remote UE (remote UE), a UE that provides a relay function is called a relay UE (relay UE), and unicast communication between the remote UE and the relay UE may be performed through a side uplink SL. In some versions of the communication protocol, remote UEs are supported for path switching between Direct Link (Direct Link) and Indirect Link (Indirect Link), and next generation base stations (gNB) are unchanged. In other versions of the communication protocol, in the supported path switching manner, the gNB connected to the remote UE is changed, and signaling between nodes is generally sent to complete the corresponding path switching process.

In the related art, in a Side Link (SL) path switching process, a cause indicated by a network device is not comprehensive enough, and a cause indication effect is not good.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the disclosure provides a cause indication method, a device, equipment, a chip system, a storage medium, a computer program and a computer program product, which can be applied to the technical field of communication, and can be used for effectively indicating causes related to lateral link SL path switching, so that the comprehensiveness of indicated causes among network equipment is improved, and the cause indication effect is improved.

In a first aspect, embodiments of the present disclosure provide a cause indication method performed by a first network device, the method comprising: indicating a reason to a second network device or acquiring the reason indicated by the second network device; wherein the reason is used for indicating the relevant information of the path switching of the side link SL and/or indicating the relevant information of the relay of the side link SL.

In one embodiment, the indicating the reason to the second network device, or acquiring the reason indicated by the second network device, includes:

sending a first message to the second network device, wherein the first message contains a reason; or alternatively

And receiving a second message sent by the second network equipment, wherein the second message contains the indicated reason.

In one embodiment, the first message or the second message comprises at least one of:

a handover request message;

a handover preparation failure message;

a serial number SN state transmission message;

a handover cancel message.

In one embodiment, the indicating side uplink SL path switch related information includes at least one of:

indicating a side uplink SL path switch;

indicating that a timer associated with the path switch has timed out;

indicating a path switch configuration change;

the reason for indicating the request for path switching is radio-dependent;

the reason for indicating cancellation of the path switch is related to the radio;

indicating a partial path switch.

In one embodiment, the indicating side uplink SL relay related information includes at least one of:

indicating that the relay is not available;

indicating that the relay is not supported;

indicating that relay is not allowed;

indicating that the reserved resources for the first terminal device configured as the remote terminal device are changed;

indicating that a second terminal device determined for a first terminal device configured as a remote terminal device is changed, wherein the second terminal device provides a relay function;

Indicating failure of configuring the second terminal equipment;

indicating that the second terminal equipment is out of connection;

indicating that the first terminal equipment is out of connection.

In one embodiment, the indicating the cause to the second network device includes:

and in response to the occurrence of the setting event, sending a reason indicating the occurrence of the setting event to the second network equipment.

In one embodiment, the setting event includes at least one of:

sending a first specified message to the second network device;

and receiving a second designated message sent by the second network equipment.

In one embodiment, the method comprises, among other things,

the first designation message is a handover request message, and the reason is used to indicate that the reason for requesting path handover is radio-related.

In one embodiment, the method comprises, among other things,

the second indication message is a handover preparation failure message, and the reason is used to indicate at least one of:

indicating that the relay is not available;

indicating that the relay is not supported;

indicating that relay is not allowed;

indicating that a timer associated with the path switch has timed out;

and indicating the second terminal equipment to lose connection, wherein the second terminal equipment provides a relay function.

In one embodiment, the cause is at least one of:

a radio network layer reason;

a transport layer reason;

protocol layer reasons.

In one embodiment, the value of the cause is used to indicate side-uplink SL path switch related information and/or to indicate side-uplink SL relay related information.

In a second aspect, embodiments of the present disclosure provide another cause indication method performed by a second network device, the method comprising:

acquiring a reason indicated by first network equipment or indicating the reason to the first network equipment;

wherein the reason is used for indicating the relevant information of the path switching of the side link SL and/or indicating the relevant information of the relay of the side link SL.

In one embodiment, the obtaining the reason indicated by the first network device or indicating the reason to the first network device includes:

receiving a first message sent by the first network device, wherein the first message contains a reason; or alternatively

And sending a second message to the first network equipment, wherein the second message contains the indicated reason.

In one embodiment, the first message or the second message comprises at least one of:

A handover request message;

a handover preparation failure message;

a serial number SN state transmission message;

a handover cancel message.

In one embodiment, the indicating side uplink SL path switch related information includes at least one of:

indicating a side uplink SL path switch;

indicating that a timer associated with the path switch has timed out;

indicating a path switch configuration change;

the reason for indicating the request for path switching is radio-dependent;

the reason for indicating cancellation of the path switch is related to the radio;

indicating a partial path switch.

In one embodiment, the indicating side uplink SL relay related information includes at least one of:

indicating that the relay is not available;

indicating that the relay is not supported;

indicating that relay is not allowed;

indicating that the reserved resources for the first terminal device configured as the remote terminal device are changed;

indicating that a second terminal device determined for a first terminal device configured as a remote terminal device is changed, wherein the second terminal device provides a relay function;

indicating failure of configuring the second terminal equipment;

indicating that the second terminal equipment is out of connection;

indicating that the first terminal equipment is out of connection.

In one embodiment, the acquiring the reason indicated by the first network device includes:

And receiving a reason which is sent by the first network equipment and indicates the occurrence of a setting event, wherein the reason is sent by the first network equipment in response to the occurrence of the setting event.

In one embodiment, the method further comprises:

receiving a first designated message sent by the first network device; or alternatively

A second designated message is sent to the first network device.

In one embodiment, the method comprises, among other things,

the first designation message is a handover request message, the reason for indicating that the reason for requesting a path handover is related to a radio and/or the reason for indicating that a path handover is cancelled is related to a radio.

In one embodiment, the method comprises, among other things,

the second indication message is a handover preparation failure message, and the reason is used to indicate at least one of:

indicating that the relay is not available;

indicating that the relay is not supported;

indicating that relay is not allowed;

indicating that a timer associated with the path switch has timed out;

and indicating the second terminal equipment to lose connection, wherein the second terminal equipment provides a relay function.

In one embodiment, the cause is at least one of:

a radio network layer reason;

a transport layer reason;

protocol layer reasons.

In one embodiment, the value of the cause is used to indicate side-uplink SL path switch related information and/or to indicate side-uplink SL relay related information.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a communications apparatus that performs some or all of the functions of the first network device in the method described in the first aspect, for example, the functions of the communications apparatus may perform some or all of the functions of the embodiments of the present disclosure, or may perform the functions of any of the embodiments of the present disclosure alone. The functions may be implemented by hardware, or may be implemented by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more units or modules corresponding to the functions described above.

In one embodiment, the communication device may include a transceiver module and a processing module configured to support the communication device to perform the corresponding functions of the method. The transceiver module is used for supporting communication between the communication device and other equipment. The communication device may further comprise a memory module for coupling with the transceiver module and the processing module, which holds the necessary computer programs and data of the communication device.

As an example, the processing module may be a processor, the transceiver module may be a transceiver or a communication interface, and the storage module may be a memory.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides another communications apparatus having a function of implementing part or all of the second network device in the method example described in the second aspect, for example, a function of the communications apparatus may be provided with a function of some or all of the embodiments of the present disclosure, or may be provided with a function of implementing any one of the embodiments of the present disclosure separately. The functions may be implemented by hardware, or may be implemented by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more units or modules corresponding to the functions described above.

Optionally, in an embodiment of the disclosure, the structure of the communication device may include a transceiver module and a processing module, where the processing module is configured to support the communication device to perform the corresponding functions in the method described above. The transceiver module is used for supporting communication between the communication device and other equipment. The communication device may further comprise a memory module for coupling with the transceiver module and the processing module, which holds the necessary computer programs and data of the communication device.

In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a communication apparatus, which includes a processor, and when the processor invokes a computer program in a memory, performs the cause indication method described in the first aspect.

In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a communication apparatus including a processor that executes the cause indication method described in the second aspect above when the processor invokes a computer program in a memory.

In a seventh aspect, embodiments of the present disclosure provide a communication apparatus comprising a processor and a memory, the memory having a computer program stored therein; the processor executes the computer program stored in the memory to cause the communication device to perform the cause indication method of the first aspect described above.

In an eighth aspect, embodiments of the present disclosure provide a communication apparatus comprising a processor and a memory, the memory having a computer program stored therein; the processor executes the computer program stored in the memory to cause the communication device to perform the cause indication method of the second aspect described above.

In a ninth aspect, an embodiment of the disclosure provides a communication device, the device including a processor and an interface circuit, the interface circuit being configured to receive code instructions and transmit the code instructions to the processor, the processor being configured to execute the code instructions to cause the device to perform the cause indication method described in the first aspect.

In a tenth aspect, embodiments of the present disclosure provide a communications apparatus comprising a processor and interface circuitry for receiving code instructions and transmitting to the processor, the processor for executing the code instructions to cause the apparatus to perform the cause indication method of the second aspect described above.

In an eleventh aspect, an embodiment of the disclosure provides a communication system, where the system includes a communication device according to the third aspect and a communication device according to the fourth aspect, or where the system includes a communication device according to the fifth aspect and a communication device according to the sixth aspect, or where the system includes a communication device according to the seventh aspect and a communication device according to the eighth aspect, or where the system includes a communication device according to the ninth aspect and a communication device according to the tenth aspect.

In a twelfth aspect, an embodiment of the disclosure provides a computer readable storage medium storing instructions for use by the first network device, where the instructions, when executed, cause the first network device to perform the cause indication method of the first aspect.

In a thirteenth aspect, an embodiment of the disclosure provides a readable storage medium storing instructions for use by the second network device, where the instructions, when executed, cause the second network device to perform the cause indication method of the second aspect.

In a fourteenth aspect, the present disclosure also provides a computer program product comprising a computer program which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the cause indication method of the first aspect described above.

In a fifteenth aspect, the present disclosure also provides a computer program product comprising a computer program which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the cause indication method of the second aspect described above.

In a sixteenth aspect, the present disclosure provides a chip system comprising at least one processor and an interface for supporting a first network device to implement the functionality referred to in the first aspect, e.g. to determine or process at least one of data and information referred to in the above-described method.

In one possible design, the system-on-chip further includes a memory to hold the computer programs and data necessary for the first network device. The chip system can be composed of chips, and can also comprise chips and other discrete devices.

In a seventeenth aspect, the present disclosure provides a chip system comprising at least one processor and an interface for supporting a second network device to implement the functionality referred to in the second aspect, e.g. to determine or process at least one of data and information referred to in the above method.

In one possible design, the system-on-chip further includes a memory to hold the computer programs and data necessary for the second network device. The chip system can be composed of chips, and can also comprise chips and other discrete devices.

In an eighteenth aspect, the present disclosure provides a computer program which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the cause indication method of the first aspect described above.

In a nineteenth aspect, the present disclosure provides a computer program which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the cause indication method of the second aspect described above.

In summary, the reason indicating method, apparatus, device, chip system, storage medium, computer program and computer program product provided in the embodiments of the present disclosure may implement the following technical effects:

the reason is indicated to the second network device or the reason indicated by the second network device is obtained, wherein the reason is used for indicating the relevant information of the lateral link SL path switching and/or indicating the relevant information of the lateral link SL relay, so that the reason relevant to the lateral link SL path switching is effectively indicated, the comprehensiveness of the indicated reason among the network devices is improved, and the reason indication effect is improved.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments or the background of the present disclosure, the following description will explain the drawings that are required to be used in the embodiments or the background of the present disclosure.

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

fig. 1b is a schematic diagram of path switching according to an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 1c is a schematic diagram of another path switch provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 1d is a schematic diagram of another path switch provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 1e is a schematic diagram of another path switch provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of a cause indication method provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of a cause indication method provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 4 is a flow chart of a cause indication method provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a flow chart of another cause indication method provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a flow chart of another cause indication method provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 is a flow chart of another cause indication method provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 is a flow chart of another cause indication method provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 9 is a flow chart of another cause indication method provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure;

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

fig. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of a chip of an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

Reference will now be made in detail to exemplary embodiments, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. When the following description refers to the accompanying drawings, the same numbers in different drawings refer to the same or similar elements, unless otherwise indicated. The implementations described in the following exemplary embodiments do not represent all implementations consistent with the embodiments of the present disclosure. Rather, they are merely examples of apparatus and methods consistent with aspects of embodiments of the present disclosure as detailed in the accompanying claims.

The terminology used in the embodiments of the disclosure is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the embodiments of the disclosure. As used in this disclosure of embodiments and the appended claims, the singular forms "a," "an," and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It should also be understood that the term "and/or" as used herein refers to and encompasses any or all possible combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

It should be understood that although the terms first, second, third, etc. may be used in embodiments of the present disclosure to describe various information, these information should not be limited to these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one type of information from another. For example, the first information may also be referred to as second information, and similarly, the second information may also be referred to as first information, without departing from the scope of embodiments of the present disclosure. The words "if" and "if" as used herein may be interpreted as "at … …" or "at … …" or "in response to a determination", depending on the context.

For ease of understanding, the terms referred to in this disclosure are first introduced.

1. District (Mobile communication term)

A cell, which may also be referred to as a cell, refers to an area covered by one of the base stations or a part of the base stations (sector antenna) in a cellular mobile communication system, in which a mobile station can reliably communicate with the base station through a radio channel. In one cell, there may be one or more beams.

2. Handover

Handover is one of measures for mobility management in a communication system in which a terminal device can perform a cell handover or a beam handover operation to change a channel used in a communication process between the terminal device and a network device.

3. The radio resource control (Radio Resource Control, RRC) means that radio resource management, control and scheduling are performed by a set policy and means, and under the condition that the requirements of quality of service are met, limited radio network resources are fully utilized as much as possible, reaching a planned coverage area is ensured, and service capacity and resource utilization rate are improved as much as possible.

4. Radio generally refers to radio waves, which refer to electromagnetic waves in the radio frequency range that propagate in free space (including air and vacuum). The shorter the wavelength of the radio wave, the higher the frequency, the more information is transmitted in the same time. The propagation mode of radio waves in space is as follows: direct, reflected, refracted, transmitted, diffracted (diffracted), and scattered.

In order to better understand a cause indication method disclosed in the embodiments of the present disclosure, a description is first given below of a communication system to which the embodiments of the present disclosure are applicable.

Referring to fig. 1a, fig. 1a is a schematic architecture diagram of a communication system according to an embodiment of the disclosure. The communication system may include, but is not limited to, two network devices and two terminal devices, and the number and form of the devices shown in fig. 1a are only for example and not limiting the embodiments of the present disclosure, and may include two or more network devices and one or more terminal devices in practical applications. The communication system shown in fig. 1a is exemplified by a communication system comprising two network devices (one network device 101 being a network device before a side-link SL path switch, which may also be referred to as a source network device, and the other network device 102 being a network device after a side-link SL path switch, which may also be referred to as a target network device), one terminal device 103 providing a relay function, and one terminal device 104 configured as a far-end, wherein the terminal device 103 provides the relay function to the terminal device 104 configured as a far-end.

It should be noted that the technical solution of the embodiment of the present disclosure may be applied to various communication systems. For example: a long term evolution (long term evolution, LTE) system, a fifth generation (5th generation,5G) mobile communication system, a 5G New Radio (NR) system, or other future new mobile communication systems, etc.

The network device in the embodiments of the present disclosure is an entity for transmitting or receiving signals at the network side. For example, the network device may be an evolved NodeB (eNB), a transmission point (transmission reception point, TRP), a next generation NodeB (gNB) in an NR system, a base station in other future mobile communication systems, or an access node in a wireless fidelity (wireless fidelity, wiFi) system, etc. The embodiments of the present disclosure do not limit the specific technology and specific device configuration employed by the network device.

The network device provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure may be composed of a Central Unit (CU) and a Distributed Unit (DU), where the CU may also be referred to as a control unit (control unit), the structure of the CU-DU may be used to split the protocol layers of the network device, such as a base station, and the functions of part of the protocol layers are placed in the CU for centralized control, and the functions of part or all of the protocol layers are distributed in the DU, so that the CU centrally controls the DU.

The terminal device 103 providing the relay function and the terminal device 104 configured as the remote end in the embodiment of the present disclosure are one entity for receiving or transmitting signals on the user side, such as a cellular phone. The terminal device may also be referred to as a terminal device (terminal), a User Equipment (UE), a Mobile Station (MS), a mobile terminal device (MT), etc. The terminal device may be an automobile with a communication function, a smart car, a mobile phone (mobile phone), a wearable device, a tablet computer (Pad), a computer with a wireless transceiving function, a Virtual Reality (VR) terminal device, an augmented reality (augmented reality, AR) terminal device, a wireless terminal device in industrial control (industrial control), a wireless terminal device in unmanned-driving (self-driving), a wireless terminal device in teleoperation (remote medical surgery), a wireless terminal device in smart grid (smart grid), a wireless terminal device in transportation safety (transportation safety), a wireless terminal device in smart city (smart city), a wireless terminal device in smart home (smart home), or the like.

The embodiment of the present disclosure does not limit the specific technology and the specific device configuration adopted by the terminal device.

The first terminal device mentioned in the embodiments of the present disclosure may refer to the terminal device 104 configured as a remote end, the second terminal device may refer to the terminal device 103 providing the relay function, the first network device may refer to the source network device 101, and the second network device is the target network device 102.

Before the side-link SL path is switched, the terminal device 104 configured as a remote end may perform data communication with the source network device 101 by means of the relay function provided by the terminal device 103, and after the side-link SL path is switched, the terminal device 104 configured as a remote end may perform data communication with the target network device 102 by means of the relay function.

It may be understood that, the communication system described in the embodiments of the present disclosure is for more clearly describing the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present disclosure, and is not limited to the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present disclosure, and those skilled in the art can know that, with the evolution of the system architecture and the appearance of new service scenarios, the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present disclosure are equally applicable to similar technical problems.

Among these, the following is illustrated for the side-uplink SL path switch:

first, gNB inter-to-direct path switching:

For example, a first terminal device configured as a remote terminal device, a second terminal device providing a relay function, a first network device; the switching is as follows: a first terminal device configured as a remote terminal device, a second network device.

In this handover scenario, the indication of the cause between the first terminal device and the second network device may be shown in fig. 1b, where fig. 1b is a schematic diagram of path handover according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Second, direct to indirect path switching within the gNB:

for example, a first terminal device configured as a remote terminal device, a first network device; the switching is as follows: a first terminal device configured as a remote terminal device, a second terminal device providing a relay function, a second network device.

In this handover scenario, the indication of the cause between the first terminal device and the second network device may be shown in fig. 1c, where fig. 1c is another schematic diagram of path switching provided in the embodiment of the present disclosure.

Third, gNB externally interfaces to indirect path switching:

for example, a first terminal device configured as a remote terminal device, a second terminal device providing a relay function, a first network device; the switching is as follows: a first terminal device configured as a remote terminal device, a third terminal device providing a relay function (i.e. a terminal device providing a relay function changes), a first network device.

In this switching scenario, as shown in fig. 1d, fig. 1d is another schematic diagram of path switching provided in the embodiment of the present disclosure, since the network device does not switch, the reason may not be indicated, and the first network device itself may learn the reason, which is not limited.

Fourth, in-gNB indirect to indirect path switching:

for example, a first terminal device configured as a remote terminal device, a second terminal device providing a relay function, a first network device; the switching is as follows: a first terminal device configured as a remote terminal device, a third terminal device providing a relay function (i.e. a terminal device providing a relay function changes), a second network device.

In this handover scenario, the indication of the cause between the first terminal device and the second network device may be shown in fig. 1e, where fig. 1e is another schematic path switching diagram provided in the embodiment of the present disclosure.

The cause indication method in the embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied to the above-mentioned handover scenario, which is not limited.

The reason indicating method and device provided by the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Fig. 2 is a flowchart of a cause indication method provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure, where the method is performed by a first network device.

Wherein the first network device may be a source base station communicating before the side-link SL path switch and the second network device may be a destination base station communicating after the side-link SL path switch.

As shown in fig. 2, the method may include, but is not limited to, the steps of:

s102: indicating the reason to the second network equipment or acquiring the reason indicated by the second network equipment; wherein the reason is used for indicating the side-link SL path switching related information and/or indicating the side-link SL relay related information.

Wherein the cause may be indicated to the second network device by the first network device based on the situation related to the actual handover of the side-uplink SL path.

In the cause indication method provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure, the value of the cause may be used to indicate side uplink SL path switching related information and/or to indicate side uplink SL relay related information.

For example, the first network device may configure the value of the reason according to the situation related to the actual handover of the side uplink SL path, and carry the value of the reason in the indication message, and indicate the reason to the second network device based on the indication message, which is not limited.

In the method for indicating the reason provided in the embodiment of the present disclosure, the corresponding reason may also be directly indicated to the second network device, that is, the content indicated by the reason is sent to the second network device, which is not limited.

For example, the reason may be configured by the first network device according to the case related to the actual handover of the side uplink SL path, and the content indicated by the reason may be directly provided to the second network device, which is not limited.

Of course, any other possible manner may be used to indicate the reason to the second network device, such as an implicit indication manner, a display indication manner, etc., which is not limited thereto.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the second network device may also configure the value of the reason according to the situation related to the actual switching of the side uplink SL path, and carry the value of the reason in the indication message, and instruct the reason to the first network device based on the indication message, so that the first network device may receive the indication message sent by the second network device to obtain the indicated reason, which is not limited.

Of course, the second network device may also indicate the reason to the first network device in any other possible manner, such as an implicit indication manner, a display indication manner, etc., which is not limited thereto.

Wherein the value of the indicated cause is used for indicating side-link SL path switching related information and/or indicating side-link SL relay related information, for example, the cause is used for indicating side-link SL path switching related information, or the cause is used for indicating side-link SL relay related information, or the cause is used for indicating side-link SL path switching related information and indicating side-link SL relay related information, so that flexible indication of the cause related to side-link SL path switching can be realized.

The information related to the side link SL path switching is used to describe information related to the side link SL path switching in the above example switching scenario, such as a side link SL path switching delay, a side link SL path switching response rate, whether the side link SL path switching is successful, and the like, which is not limited.

The information related to the relay function in the side-link SL relay is used to describe information related to the relay function in the above example handover scenario, for example, whether the terminal device providing the relay function is changed during the side-link SL path handover, whether the terminal device resource providing the relay function is sufficient, etc., which is not limited.

The reason indicating method provided in the embodiment of the present disclosure, the content indicated by the reason Cause may be the value of the reason Cause, which is not limited.

The reason indicating method provided in the embodiments of the present disclosure may be a Relay UE (Relay UE, i.e., a terminal device that provides a Relay function) in a U2N architecture or a Relay UE in a U2U architecture, which is not limited.

In the U2N architecture, the UE may not directly connect to the base station but communicate with the base station through a relay of another UE, and the UE that is not connected to the base station is called a remote UE (remote UE), and the UE that provides the relay function is called a relay UE (relay UE), where the remote UE and the relay UE communicate through a side link unicast. In the U2U architecture, a UE may establish a connection with one relay UE, which establishes a connection with another relay UE, which in turn establishes a connection with a base station.

The node may be a next generation base station gNB according to the cause indication method provided in the embodiments of the present disclosure. The reason indicating method provided in the embodiments of the present disclosure is due to at least one of: the wireless network layer reason (Radio Network Layer cause), the transmission layer reason (Transport Layer cause) and the Protocol layer reason (Protocol cause) are adopted, so that the comprehensiveness of the reason indication is improved.

In this embodiment, the reason is indicated to the second network device, or the reason indicated by the second network device is obtained, where the reason is used to indicate the relevant information of the side uplink SL path switch and/or indicate the relevant information of the side uplink SL relay, so as to effectively indicate the relevant reason of the side uplink SL path switch, improve the comprehensiveness of the indicated reason between the network devices, and improve the reason indication effect.

Fig. 3 is a flowchart of a cause indication method provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure, where the method is performed by a first network device.

As shown in fig. 3, the method may include, but is not limited to, the steps of:

s103: and sending a first message to the second network equipment, wherein the first message contains a reason, and the reason is used for indicating the side-link SL path switching related information and/or indicating the side-link SL relay related information.

That is, the embodiment of the present disclosure further supports the reason indication in a manner of transmitting a message, where a message transmitted by the first network device to the second network device for indicating the reason may be referred to as a first message.

Wherein the first message comprises at least one of: a handover request message; a handover preparation failure message; a Sequence Number (SN) status transmission message; a handover cancel message.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the value of the cause may also be carried in a first message, where the first message is sent to a second network device by the first network device, then the second network device analyzes the first message to obtain the value of the cause, and then the cause indicated by the value of the cause is known.

In the embodiment of the disclosure, the reason may also be carried in the first message in any other possible manner, so as to indicate the reason to the second network device, which is not limited.

In this embodiment, by sending the first message to the second network device, where the first message includes the cause, it is achieved that based on the sent message, the relevant information indicating the side uplink SL path switch and/or the relevant information indicating the side uplink SL relay is indicated, which can effectively save the required indication overhead and improve the flexibility of the cause indication.

Fig. 4 is a flowchart of a cause indication method provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure, where the method is performed by a first network device.

As shown in fig. 4, the method may include, but is not limited to, the steps of:

s104: and receiving a second message sent by the second network equipment, wherein the second message contains an indicated reason, and the reason is used for indicating the side-link SL path switching related information and/or indicating the side-link SL relay related information.

The embodiment of the disclosure also supports the reason indication in a mode of transmitting a message, wherein the message transmitted by the second network device to the first network device for indicating the reason can be called a second message.

Wherein the second message comprises at least one of: a handover request message; a handover preparation failure message; a Sequence Number (SN) status transmission message; a handover cancel message.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the value of the cause may be carried in a second message, the second message is sent to the first network device by the second network device, then the second message is parsed by the first network device to obtain the value of the cause, and then the cause indicated by the value of the cause is known.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the reason may be carried in the second message in any other possible manner, so that the first network device may timely learn about the indication reason, which is not limited.

In this embodiment, by receiving the second message sent by the second network device, where the second message includes the indicated reason, it is achieved that the indication of the side uplink SL path switching related information and/or the indication of the side uplink SL relay related information based on the sent message can effectively save the required indication overhead, and improve the flexibility of the indication of the reason.

The reason indication method provided by the embodiment of the disclosure indicates the relevant information of the lateral uplink SL path switching, and comprises at least one of the following steps: indicating a side uplink SL path switch; indicating that a timer associated with the path switch has timed out; indicating a path switch configuration change; the reason for indicating the request for path switching is radio-dependent; the reason for indicating cancellation of the path switch is related to the radio; partial path switching is indicated, so that the comprehensiveness of indication of the relevant information of the side link SL path switching is effectively improved, and the referenceability of the relevant information of the indicated side link SL path switching is improved.

The indication of the side-link SL path switch may be, for example, an indication that the side-link SL path switch procedure is initiated due to a path switch, or an indication that the side-link SL path switch has occurred, which is not limited.

The timer time-out related to the path switch is indicated, for example, the timer timing time may be 10 ms, and the side uplink SL path switch process is continued for 10 ms and is not yet completed, which is not limited.

The indication of the change of the path switching configuration may be, for example, that the parameter initially configured for the path switching of the side uplink SL is a, and the parameter is modified to be B in the process of the path switching of the side uplink SL, which indicates that the path switching configuration is changed, or may be that a change is generated for a configuration file related to the path switching of the side uplink SL, or the like, which is not limited thereto.

Radio generally refers to radio waves, which refer to electromagnetic waves in the radio frequency range that propagate in free space (including air and vacuum). The shorter the wavelength of the radio wave, the higher the frequency, the more information is transmitted in the same time. The propagation mode of radio waves in space is as follows: direct, reflected, refracted, transmitted, diffracted (diffracted), and scattered.

The reason for indicating that the request for the path switch is related to radio may indicate that the side-link SL path switch is related to the situation related to the radio wave, for example, the quality of the radio wave is poor and the side-link SL path switch is to be performed, or any other possible related situation, which is not limited.

The reason for indicating cancellation of the path switch is related to radio, and the cancellation of the path switch of the side link SL may be indicated to be related to the situation related to the radio wave, for example, it may be determined that the quality of the radio wave after the switch is poor, and the cancellation of the path switch of the side link SL is to be performed, or any other possible related situation may be used, which is not limited.

The indication part of path switching can provide a reason for switching cancellation, and the indication source network equipment confirms that if the path switching is not continued to connect with the target network equipment, the service continuity of the remote terminal equipment UE is better, and the method is not limited.

The reason indication method provided by the embodiment of the disclosure indicates the relevant information of the side uplink SL relay, and comprises at least one of the following steps: indicating that the relay is not available; indicating that the relay is not supported; indicating that relay is not allowed; indicating that the reserved resources for the first terminal device configured as the remote terminal device are changed; indicating that a second terminal device determined for a first terminal device configured as a remote terminal device is changed, wherein the second terminal device provides a relay function; indicating failure of configuring the second terminal equipment; indicating that the second terminal equipment is out of connection; the first terminal equipment is instructed to lose connection, so that the comprehensiveness of the indication of the relay related information of the side link SL is effectively improved, and the referenceability of the indicated relay related information of the side link SL is improved.

The "unsupported" cause value indicates a related function deficiency. On the other hand, the cause value of "unavailable" indicates that the relevant function already exists, but there are insufficient resources to perform the requested operation.

Wherein, the indication relay is not available, for example, the relevant relay UE is not available for the indication, and the limitation is not made on the indication relay; indicating that the relay is not supported may, for example, be that the target cell currently accessed does not support the relay UE, which is not limited; indicating relay disallowance may be, for example, without limitation, for which it is indicated that the corresponding UE (such as a UE configured as a remote terminal device) is not allowed to access the current relay UE or the target relay UE.

Wherein the reserved resources of the first terminal device, which is indicated as being configured as a remote terminal device, are changed, and may be, for example, the reserved channel resources, signaling resources, etc. for the first terminal device are changed, which is not limited; indicating that the second terminal device determined for the first terminal device configured as the remote terminal device is changed may be, for example, for determining that the terminal device a is providing the relay function to the first terminal device, determining that the terminal device providing the relay function is changed from the terminal device a to the terminal device B, without limitation; indicating that the second terminal device has failed to be configured may, for example, indicate that the target node (the second network device that established the connection after the path switch) has reconfigured the target relay UE or has failed to establish a connection with the target relay UE.

Wherein the second terminal device is instructed to lose connection, which may be for example an instruction to request this action (side-uplink SL path switch) because the relay UE has lost wireless connection, without limitation; indicating that the first terminal device is out of connection may be, for example, an indication that this action is requested (side-uplink SL path switch) because the remote UE is out of radio connection, without limitation.

The reason indicating method provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure may also refer to path switching, which is not limited.

The Cause indication method provided in the embodiments of the present disclosure includes the Cause IE (Cause value) with a suitable value in the message between the nodes (between the base stations), which is not limited.

Fig. 5 is a flowchart of another cause indication method provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure, which is performed by a first network device.

As shown in fig. 5, the method may include, but is not limited to, the steps of:

s105: in response to the occurrence of the setup event, a cause indicating the occurrence of the setup event is sent to the second network device.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the reason related to the side link SL path switch may be indicated based on event triggering, where an event for determining the indication reason may be referred to as a setting event, and the setting event may be, for example, an event that a first network device sends a specific message to a second network device, or may be an event that the first network device receives a specific message sent by the second network device, or may be any other possible event related to the side link SL path switch, which is not limited.

The reason indicating method provided by the embodiment of the disclosure, the setting event comprises at least one of the following: sending a first specified message to a second network device; the second designated message sent by the second network device is received, so that the accuracy of event triggering can be effectively improved, and the reason can be conveniently carried in the message to be indicated.

The first assignment message may be, for example, a handover request message, a handover preparation failure message, a sequence number SN state transmission message, or a handover cancel message, and the second assignment message may be, for example, a handover request message, a handover preparation failure message, a sequence number SN state transmission message, or a handover cancel message, without limitation.

In this embodiment, by sending, in response to the occurrence of the setting event, a reason indicating the occurrence of the setting event to the second network device, where the reason is used to indicate information related to the side-link SL path switch and/or indicate information related to the side-link SL relay, indication of the reason related to the side-link SL path switch based on event triggering is achieved, timeliness of indication of the reason related to the side-link SL path switch is improved, and a reason indication effect is ensured.

Fig. 6 is a flowchart of another cause indication method provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure, which is performed by a second network device.

Wherein the second network device may be a destination base station for communication after the side-uplink SL path switch.

As shown in fig. 6, the method may include, but is not limited to, the steps of:

s106: acquiring a reason indicated by the first network equipment, or indicating the reason to the first network equipment; wherein the reason is used for indicating the side-link SL path switching related information and/or indicating the side-link SL relay related information.

The description of the terms in the steps performed by the second network device may be referred to together with the above embodiments, and will not be repeated here.

That is, in the embodiments of the present disclosure, the second network device may acquire the reason indicated by the first network device, and determine the relevant information for the path switching of the side uplink SL and/or instruct the relay of the side uplink SL based on the indicated reason, so as to obtain the relevant information in time.

In the embodiment of the disclosure, the second network device may also indicate the reason to the first network device; the reason is used for indicating the relevant information of the lateral link SL path switching and/or indicating the relevant information of the lateral link SL relay so that the first network equipment can know the relevant information in time.

In the cause indication method provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure, the value of the cause is used to indicate side-uplink SL path switching related information and/or indicate side-uplink SL relay related information.

For example, the first network device may configure the value of the reason according to the situation related to the actual handover of the side uplink SL path, and carry the value of the reason in the indication message, and instruct the reason to the second network device based on the indication message, then the second network device may parse the indication message, determine the corresponding reason according to the value of the reason, or the second network device may configure the value of the reason according to the situation related to the actual handover of the side uplink SL path, and carry the value of the reason in the indication message, instruct the reason to the first network device based on the indication message, which is not limited.

In the reason indicating method provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure, the content of the reason indicated by the first network device may also be received, or the content of the corresponding reason may be indicated to the first network device, which is not limited.

For example, the reason may be configured by the first network device according to the case related to the actual handover of the side uplink SL path, and the content indicated by the reason may be directly provided to the second network device, which receives the content indicated by the reason, without limitation.

The node may be a next generation base station gNB according to the cause indication method provided in the embodiments of the present disclosure. The reason indicating method provided in the embodiments of the present disclosure is due to at least one of: the wireless network layer reason (Radio Network Layer cause), the transmission layer reason (Transport Layer cause) and the Protocol layer reason (Protocol cause) are adopted, so that the comprehensiveness of the reason indication is improved.

In this embodiment, the cause indicated by the first network device is acquired, or the cause is indicated to the first network device; the reason is used for indicating the relevant information of the lateral link SL path switching and/or indicating the relevant information of the lateral link SL relay, so that the reason relevant to the lateral link SL path switching is effectively indicated, the comprehensiveness of the indicated reason among network devices is improved, and the reason indication effect is improved.

Fig. 7 is a flowchart of another cause indication method provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure, which is performed by a second network device.

As shown in fig. 7, the method may include, but is not limited to, the steps of:

s107: and receiving a first message sent by the first network equipment, wherein the first message contains a reason, and the reason is used for indicating the side uplink SL path switching related information and/or indicating the side uplink SL relay related information.

That is, the embodiment of the present disclosure further supports the reason indication in a manner of transmitting a message, where a message transmitted by the first network device to the second network device for indicating the reason may be referred to as a first message.

Wherein the first message comprises at least one of: a handover request message; a handover preparation failure message; a Sequence Number (SN) status transmission message; a handover cancel message.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the value of the cause may be carried in a first message, the first network device sends the first message to the second network device, then the second network device receives the first message, analyzes the first message to obtain the value of the cause, and then obtains the cause indicated by the value of the cause.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the reason may be carried in the first message in any other possible manner, so that the second network device may timely learn about the indication reason, which is not limited.

In this embodiment, by receiving the first message sent by the first network device, where the first message includes the cause, it is achieved that based on the sent message, the side uplink SL path switching related information is indicated and/or the side uplink SL relay related information is indicated, which can effectively save the required indication overhead and improve the flexibility of the cause indication.

Fig. 8 is a flowchart of another cause indication method provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure, which is performed by a second network device.

As shown in fig. 8, the method may include, but is not limited to, the steps of:

s108: and sending a second message to the first network equipment, wherein the second message contains an indicated reason, and the reason is used for indicating the side-link SL path switching related information and/or indicating the side-link SL relay related information.

That is, the embodiment of the present disclosure further supports the reason indication in a manner of transmitting a message, where a message transmitted by the second network device to the first network device for indicating the reason may be referred to as a second message.

Wherein the second message comprises at least one of: a handover request message; a handover preparation failure message; a Sequence Number (SN) status transmission message; a handover cancel message.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the value of the cause may also be carried in the second message, where the second message is sent to the first network device by the second network device, and then the first network device analyzes the second message to obtain the value of the cause, and then learns the cause indicated by the value of the cause.

In the embodiment of the disclosure, the reason may also be carried in the second message in any other possible manner, so as to indicate the reason to the first network device, which is not limited.

In this embodiment, by sending the second message to the first network device, where the second message includes the indicated reason, it is realized that the indication of the side uplink SL path switching related information and/or the indication of the side uplink SL relay related information based on the sent message can effectively save the required indication overhead, and improve the flexibility of the indication of the reason.

Fig. 9 is a flowchart of another cause indication method provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure, which is performed by a second network device.

As shown in fig. 9, the method may include, but is not limited to, the steps of:

s109: and receiving a reason which is sent by the first network equipment and indicates the occurrence of the setting event, wherein the reason is sent by the first network equipment in response to the occurrence of the setting event.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the reason related to the side link SL path switch may be indicated based on event triggering, where an event for determining the indication reason may be referred to as a setting event, and the setting event may be, for example, an event that a first network device sends a specific message to a second network device, or may be an event that the first network device receives a specific message sent by the second network device, or may be any other possible event related to the side link SL path switch, which is not limited.

The reason indicating method provided by the embodiment of the disclosure, the setting event comprises at least one of the following: the first network device sends a first designated message to the second network device; the first network device receives the second instruction message sent by the second network device, so that the accuracy of event triggering can be effectively improved, and the cause value can be conveniently carried in the message to be indicated.

According to the reason indicating method provided by the embodiment of the disclosure, the second network device can also receive the first designated message sent by the first network device or send the second designated message to the first network device, so that the flexibility of reason indication is improved.

The first assignment message may be, for example, a handover request message, a handover preparation failure message, a sequence number SN state transmission message, or a handover cancel message, and the second assignment message may be, for example, a handover request message, a handover preparation failure message, a sequence number SN state transmission message, or a handover cancel message, without limitation.

In this embodiment, by receiving a reason indicating that a setting event occurs and sent by the first network device, where the reason is sent by the first network device in response to the occurrence of the setting event, the reason is used to indicate side uplink SL path switching related information and/or indicate side uplink SL relay related information, so that indication of the reason related to side uplink SL path switching based on event triggering is achieved, timeliness of indication of the reason related to side uplink SL path switching is improved, and a reason indication effect is ensured.

The reason indicating method provided by the embodiment of the disclosure, when a setting event occurs, may include at least one of the following: transmitting a handover request message to a second network device; determining that a handover preparation failure message sent by the second network device is received; determining that the second network device sends a Serial Number (SN) state transmission message; transmitting a first handover get-cancel message to a second network device; and determining to receive a second handover cancel message sent by the second network device, which is not limited.

According to the reason indicating method provided by the embodiment of the disclosure, in response to the occurrence of the setting event, the second network device can send the reason configuration value indicating the occurrence of the setting event, namely, the value can characterize the corresponding reason, and then the reason is carried into the message and sent to the second network device, so that the reason is not limited.

According to the reason indicating method provided by the embodiment of the disclosure, if the first specified message is the switching request message, the reason is used for indicating that the reason for requesting path switching is related to the radio, so that the reason related to sending the switching request message is accurately indicated, and the second network equipment can conveniently know the reason for sending the switching request message by the first network equipment in time.

According to the reason indicating method provided by the embodiment of the disclosure, if the second indication message is a handover preparation failure message, the reason is used for indicating at least one of the following: indicating that the relay is not available; indicating that the relay is not supported; indicating that relay is not allowed; indicating that a timer associated with the path switch has timed out; and indicating the second terminal equipment to lose connection, wherein the second terminal equipment provides a relay function, so that the reason for sending the switching preparation failure message is accurately indicated, and the second network equipment can timely know the reason for sending the switching preparation failure message by the first network equipment.

The reason indicating method provided by the embodiment of the disclosure may indicate, to the second network device, a reason for occurrence of a setting event in response to determining that the handover request message is sent to the second network device, where the reason is used to indicate that the reason for requesting path handover is related to radio and/or that the reason for canceling path handover is related to radio.

For example, the source node (first network device) sends a handover request message to the target node (second network device), and the handover request message may carry a cause for indicating that the cause of requesting the path switch is related to the radio and/or that the cause of canceling the path switch is related to the radio.

According to the reason indicating method provided by the embodiment of the disclosure, the first network device may respond to determining that a handover preparation failure message sent by the second network device is received, where the handover preparation failure message may carry a reason for the handover preparation failure message sent by the second network device, where the reason is used to indicate at least one of the following: indicating that the relay is not available; indicating that the relay is not supported; indicating that relay is not allowed; indicating that a timer associated with the path switch has timed out; and indicating the second terminal equipment to lose connection, wherein the second terminal equipment provides a relay function.

For example, it is determined that the target node (the second network device) sends a handover preparation failure message to the source node (the first network device), and the reason may be carried in the handover preparation failure message, where the reason Cause is used to indicate at least one of the following: indicating that the relay is not available; indicating that the relay is not supported; indicating that relay is not allowed; indicating that a timer associated with the path switch has timed out; and indicating the second terminal equipment to lose connection, wherein the second terminal equipment provides a relay function.

According to the reason indicating method provided by the embodiment of the disclosure, the first network device can respond to determining that the second network device sends the sequence number SN state transmission message, and the sequence number SN state transmission message can carry the reason for the second network device to send the sequence number SN state transmission message, wherein the reason is used for indicating the side chain SL path switching.

For example, if it is determined that the target node (the second network device) sends the SN status transmission message to the source node (the first network device), the reason why the second network device sends the SN status transmission message, which is used to indicate the side chain SL path switch, can be resolved from the SN status transmission message.

The reason indicating method provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure may indicate, to a second network device, a reason for occurrence of a setting event in response to sending a first handover get-away message to the second network device, where the reason is used to indicate at least one of: the reason for indicating the request for path switching is radio-dependent; the reason for indicating cancellation of the path switch is related to the radio; indicating partial path switching; indicating that the second terminal equipment is out of connection; and indicating the first terminal equipment to lose connection, wherein the second terminal equipment provides a relay function for the first terminal equipment.

For example, the source node (the first network device) sends a handover cancel message (the handover cancel message sent by the first network device may be referred to as a first handover get cancel message) to the target node (the second network device), and then the cause may be carried in the handover cancel message and sent to the target node (the second network device), where the cause is used to indicate at least one of the following: the reason for indicating the request for path switching is radio-dependent; the reason for indicating cancellation of the path switch is related to the radio; indicating partial path switching; indicating that the second terminal equipment is out of connection; and indicating the first terminal equipment to lose connection, wherein the second terminal equipment provides a relay function for the first terminal equipment.

According to the reason indicating method provided by the embodiment of the disclosure, the first network device can parse the second handover cancel message to obtain the reason for the second network device to send the second handover cancel message from the second handover cancel message in response to determining that the second handover cancel message sent by the second network device is received, wherein the reason is used for indicating at least one of the following: indicating that the reserved resources for the first terminal device configured as a remote end are changed; indicating that a second terminal device determined for a first terminal device configured as a remote end is changed, wherein the second terminal device provides a relay function; indicating a path switch configuration change; indicating that the first terminal device is out of connection.

For example, if the target node (the second network device) sends a handover cancel message (the handover cancel message sent by the second network device may be referred to as a second handover cancel message) to the source node (the first network device), the cause may be carried together in the handover cancel message to indicate the reason for sending the handover cancel message, where the cause is used to indicate at least one of the following: indicating that the reserved resources for the first terminal device configured as a remote end are changed; indicating that a second terminal device determined for a first terminal device configured as a remote end is changed, wherein the second terminal device provides a relay function; indicating a path switch configuration change; indicating that the first terminal device is out of connection.

The explanation for the cause indication method in the embodiments of the present disclosure may be as follows:

1. the message sent by the source node to the target node contains a Cause, which is used to indicate the Cause of the particular event.

2. The Cause may be used to indicate SL path switching and/or other SL Relay related conditions, including:

2.1 indicates SL path switching.

Illustratively, it indicates that this process is initiated due to a path switch, or that a path switch has occurred.

2.2 indicates that Relay is not available.

Illustratively, it indicates that the associated relay UE is not available.

2.3 indicates that Relay does not support.

Illustratively, it indicates that the current target cell does not support relay UEs.

2.4 indicates that Relay is not allowed (or target Relay is not allowed).

Illustratively, it indicates that the corresponding UE is not allowed to access the current relay UE or the target relay UE.

2.5 indicates that the path switch related timer has timed out.

2.6 indicates that the resources reserved for the Remote UE are changed.

2.7 indicates that the target relay UE determined for the Remote UE is changed.

2.8 indicates a path switch configuration change.

2.9 indicates that configuring the target relay UE fails.

Illustratively, it indicates that the target node either re-configures the target relay UE or fails to establish a connection with the target relay UE.

2.10 indicates that a path switch is required (or not required) for radio reasons, i.e. the reason why a path switch is requested (or cancelled) is radio dependent.

2.11 indicates partial path switching.

Illustratively, it provides a reason for handover cancellation, indicating that the source node considers that service continuity would be better if the path switch connection to the target node remote UE were not continued.

2.12 indicates that the relay UE loses connection.

Illustratively, the indication requests this action because the relay UE loses the wireless connection.

2.13 indicates that the remote UE loses connection.

Illustratively, the indication requests this action because the remote UE has lost the wireless connection.

Illustratively, the content indicated by the Cause is the value of the Cause.

For example, the Relay UE (Relay) may be a Relay UE in a U2N architecture or a Relay UE in a U2U architecture.

Illustratively, the node may be a gNB.

3. Based on 1, the specific event may be any one or more of the following:

and 3.1, the source node sends a switching request message to the target node.

Illustratively, the Cause in this message may be 2.10.

And 3.2, the target node sends a switching preparation failure message to the source node.

Illustratively, the Cause in this message may be 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 2.12.

3.3 the target node sends an SN status transfer message to the source node.

Illustratively, the Cause in this message may be 2.1.

And 3.4, the source node sends a handover cancel message to the target node.

Illustratively, the Cause in this message may be 2.10,2.11, 2.12, 2.13.

And 3.5, the target node sends a handover cancel message to the source node.

Illustratively, the Cause in this message may be 2.6, 2.7, 2.8, 2.13.

Exemplary above-described handoffs may also be referred to as path handoffs.

An exemplary inter-node message includes a Cause IE of an appropriate value.

4. The value of Cause is applicable only to SL or SL Relay. The Cause may be any of Radio Network Layer Cause, transport Layer Cause, protocol Cause.

Fig. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the disclosure. The communication device 100 shown in fig. 10 may include a transceiver module 1001 and a processing module 1002. The transceiver module 1001 may include a transmitting module for implementing a transmitting function and/or a receiving module for implementing a receiving function, and the transceiver module 1001 may implement the transmitting function and/or the receiving function.

The communication apparatus 100 may be a network device (such as the first network device and the second network device in the foregoing method embodiment), or may be an apparatus in a network device, or may be an apparatus that can be used in a matching manner with a network device. Alternatively, the communication device 100 may be a terminal device, a device in a terminal device, or a device that can be used in cooperation with a terminal device.

A communication apparatus 100, on a first network device side, comprising:

a transceiver module 1001, configured to indicate a cause to the second network device, or obtain a cause indicated by the second network device;

Wherein the reason is used for indicating the side-link SL path switching related information and/or indicating the side-link SL relay related information.

Optionally, the transceiver module 1001 is further configured to:

sending a first message to a second network device, wherein the first message contains a reason; or alternatively

And receiving a second message sent by the second network equipment, wherein the second message contains the indicated reason.

Optionally, the first message or the second message includes at least one of:

a handover request message;

a handover preparation failure message;

a serial number SN state transmission message;

a handover cancel message.

Optionally, the transceiver module 1001 is further configured to:

indicating a side uplink SL path switch;

indicating that a timer associated with the path switch has timed out;

indicating a path switch configuration change;

the reason for indicating the request for path switching is radio-dependent;

the reason for indicating cancellation of the path switch is related to the radio;

indicating a partial path switch.

Optionally, the transceiver module 1001 is further configured to:

indicating that the relay is not available;

indicating that the relay is not supported;

indicating that relay is not allowed;

indicating that the reserved resources for the first terminal device configured as the remote terminal device are changed;

indicating that a second terminal device determined for a first terminal device configured as a remote terminal device is changed, wherein the second terminal device provides a relay function;

Indicating failure of configuring the second terminal equipment;

indicating that the second terminal equipment is out of connection;

indicating that the first terminal device is out of connection.

Optionally, the transceiver module 1001 is further configured to:

in response to the occurrence of the setup event, a cause indicating the occurrence of the setup event is sent to the second network device.

Optionally, the setting event includes at least one of:

sending a first specified message to a second network device;

and receiving a second designated message sent by the second network equipment.

Alternatively, the method may comprise, among other things,

the first designation message is a handover request message, the reason is for indicating that the reason for requesting path handover is radio-related.

Alternatively, the method may comprise, among other things,

the second specifying message is a handover preparation failure message, the reason is for indicating at least one of:

indicating that the relay is not available;

indicating that the relay is not supported;

indicating that relay is not allowed;

indicating that a timer associated with the path switch has timed out;

and indicating the second terminal equipment to lose connection, wherein the second terminal equipment provides a relay function.

Optionally, the reason is at least one of:

a radio network layer reason;

a transport layer reason;

protocol layer reasons.

Optionally, the value of the cause is used to indicate side-uplink SL path switching related information and/or to indicate side-uplink SL relay related information.

Communication apparatus 100, on the second network device side, comprising:

a transceiver module 1001, configured to obtain a cause indicated by the first network device, or indicate the cause to the first network device;

wherein the reason is used for indicating the side-link SL path switching related information and/or indicating the side-link SL relay related information.

Optionally, the transceiver module 1001 is further configured to:

receiving a first message sent by first network equipment, wherein the first message contains a reason; or alternatively

And sending a second message to the first network equipment, wherein the second message contains the indicated reason.

Optionally, the first message or the second message includes at least one of:

a handover request message;

a handover preparation failure message;

a serial number SN state transmission message;

a handover cancel message.

Optionally, the transceiver module 1001 is further configured to:

indicating a side uplink SL path switch;

indicating that a timer associated with the path switch has timed out;

indicating a path switch configuration change;

the reason for indicating the request for path switching is radio-dependent;

the reason for indicating cancellation of the path switch is related to the radio;

indicating a partial path switch.

Optionally, the transceiver module 1001 is further configured to:

Indicating that the relay is not available;

indicating that the relay is not supported;

indicating that relay is not allowed;

indicating that the reserved resources for the first terminal device configured as the remote terminal device are changed;

indicating that a second terminal device determined for a first terminal device configured as a remote terminal device is changed, wherein the second terminal device provides a relay function;

indicating failure of configuring the second terminal equipment;

indicating that the second terminal equipment is out of connection;

indicating that the first terminal device is out of connection.

Optionally, the transceiver module 1001 is further configured to:

and receiving a reason which is sent by the first network equipment and indicates the occurrence of the setting event, wherein the reason is sent by the first network equipment in response to the occurrence of the setting event.

Optionally, the transceiver module 1001 is further configured to:

receiving a first designated message sent by first network equipment; or alternatively

A second designated message is sent to the first network device.

Alternatively, the method may comprise, among other things,

the first designation message is a handover request message, the reason is for indicating that the reason for requesting a path handover is radio-related and/or the reason for indicating that a path handover is cancelled is radio-related.

Alternatively, the method may comprise, among other things,

the second specifying message is a handover preparation failure message, the reason is for indicating at least one of:

Indicating that the relay is not available;

indicating that the relay is not supported;

indicating that relay is not allowed;

indicating that a timer associated with the path switch has timed out;

and indicating the second terminal equipment to lose connection, wherein the second terminal equipment provides a relay function.

Optionally, the reason is at least one of:

a radio network layer reason;

a transport layer reason;

protocol layer reasons.

Optionally, the value of the cause is used to indicate side-uplink SL path switching related information and/or to indicate side-uplink SL relay related information.

In this embodiment, the reason is indicated to the second network device, or the reason indicated by the second network device is obtained, where the reason is used to indicate the relevant information of the side uplink SL path switch and/or indicate the relevant information of the side uplink SL relay, so as to effectively indicate the relevant reason of the side uplink SL path switch, improve the comprehensiveness of the indicated reason between the network devices, and improve the reason indication effect.

Fig. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The communication device 110 may be a terminal device, a network device (e.g., the first network device or the second network device in the foregoing method embodiment), a chip system, or a processor that supports the network device to implement the foregoing method, or the like, or may be a chip, a chip system, or a processor that supports the terminal device to implement the foregoing method. The device can be used for realizing the method described in the method embodiment, and can be particularly referred to the description in the method embodiment.

The communication device 110 may include one or more processors 1101. The processor 1101 may be a general purpose processor or a special purpose processor, or the like. For example, a baseband processor or a central processing unit. The baseband processor may be used to process communication protocols and communication data, and the central processor may be used to control communication devices (e.g., base stations, baseband chips, terminal equipment chips, DUs or CUs, etc.), execute computer programs, and process data of the computer programs.

Optionally, the communication device 110 may further include one or more memories 1102, on which a computer program 1104 may be stored, and in which the processor 1101 may store a computer program 1103, and the processor 1101 executes the computer program 1104 and/or the computer program 1103, so that the communication device 110 performs the method described in the above method embodiments. Optionally, the memory 1102 may also store data. The communication device 110 and the memory 1102 may be provided separately or may be integrated.

Optionally, the communication device 110 may further include a transceiver 1105, an antenna 1106. The transceiver 1105 may be referred to as a transceiver unit, a transceiver circuit, or the like, for implementing a transceiver function. The transceiver 1105 may include a receiver, which may be referred to as a receiver or a receiving circuit, etc., for implementing a receiving function; the transmitter may be referred to as a transmitter or a transmitting circuit, etc., for implementing a transmitting function.

Optionally, one or more interface circuits 1107 may also be included in the communication device 110. Interface circuit 1107 is configured to receive code instructions and transmit them to processor 1101. The processor 1101 executes the code instructions to cause the communication device 110 to perform the method described in the method embodiments described above.

In one implementation, a transceiver for implementing the receive and transmit functions may be included in the processor 1101. For example, the transceiver may be a transceiver circuit, or an interface circuit. The transceiver circuitry, interface or interface circuitry for implementing the receive and transmit functions may be separate or may be integrated. The transceiver circuit, interface or interface circuit may be used for reading and writing codes/data, or the transceiver circuit, interface or interface circuit may be used for transmitting or transferring signals.

In one implementation, the processor 1101 may store a computer program 1103, where the computer program 1103 runs on the processor 1101, and may cause the communication device 110 to perform the method described in the above method embodiments. The computer program 1103 may be solidified in the processor 1101, in which case the processor 1101 may be implemented by hardware.

In one implementation, the communication device 110 may include circuitry that may implement the functions of transmitting or receiving or communicating in the foregoing method embodiments. The processors and transceivers described in this disclosure may be implemented on integrated circuits (integrated circuit, ICs), analog ICs, radio frequency integrated circuits RFICs, mixed signal ICs, application specific integrated circuits (application specific integrated circuit, ASIC), printed circuit boards (printed circuit board, PCB), electronic devices, and the like. The processor and transceiver may also be fabricated using a variety of IC process technologies such as complementary metal oxide semiconductor (complementary metal oxide semiconductor, CMOS), N-type metal oxide semiconductor (NMOS), P-type metal oxide semiconductor (positive channel metal oxide semiconductor, PMOS), bipolar junction transistor (bipolar junction transistor, BJT), bipolar CMOS (BiCMOS), silicon germanium (SiGe), gallium arsenide (GaAs), etc.

The communication apparatus described in the above embodiment may be a terminal device or a network device (such as the first network device or the second network device in the foregoing method embodiment), but the scope of the communication apparatus described in the present disclosure is not limited thereto, and the structure of the communication apparatus may not be limited by fig. 11. The communication means may be a stand-alone device or may be part of a larger device. For example, the communication device may be:

(1) A stand-alone integrated circuit IC, or chip, or a system-on-a-chip or subsystem;

(2) A set of one or more ICs, optionally including storage means for storing data, a computer program;

(3) An ASIC, such as a Modem (Modem);

(4) Modules that may be embedded within other devices;

(5) A receiver, a terminal device, an intelligent terminal device, a cellular phone, a wireless device, a handset, a mobile unit, a vehicle-mounted device, a network device, a cloud device, an artificial intelligent device, and the like;

(6) Others, and so on.

For the case where the communication device may be a chip or a chip system, reference may be made to the schematic structural diagram of the chip shown in fig. 12. The chip shown in fig. 12 includes a processor 1201 and an interface 1202. Wherein the number of processors 1201 may be one or more, and the number of interfaces 1202 may be a plurality.

For the case where the chip is used to implement the function of the first network device in the embodiment of the present application:

the interface 112 is used to implement S102 in fig. 2, or S103 in fig. 3, or S104 in fig. 4, or the like.

For the case where the chip is used to implement the function of the second network device in the embodiment of the present application:

An interface 112 for realizing S106 in fig. 6, or for realizing S107 in fig. 7, or the like.

Optionally, the chip further comprises a memory 1203, the memory 1203 being for storing the necessary computer programs and data.

Those of skill in the art will further appreciate that the various illustrative logical blocks (illustrative logical block) and steps (step) described in connection with the embodiments of the disclosure may be implemented by electronic hardware, computer software, or combinations of both. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design requirements of the overall system. Those skilled in the art may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation is not to be understood as beyond the scope of the embodiments of the present disclosure.

The disclosed embodiments also provide a communication system including the communication apparatus as the terminal device and the communication apparatus as the network device (e.g., the first network device or the second network device in the foregoing method embodiment) in the foregoing fig. 10 embodiment, or the system includes the communication apparatus as the network device (e.g., the first network device or the second network device in the foregoing method embodiment) and the communication apparatus as the terminal device in the foregoing fig. 11 embodiment.

The present disclosure also provides a readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a computer, perform the functions of any of the method embodiments described above.

The present disclosure also provides a computer program product which, when executed by a computer, performs the functions of any of the method embodiments described above.

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 comprises one or more computer programs. When the computer program is loaded and executed on a computer, the flow or functions described in accordance with the embodiments of the present disclosure are produced in whole or in part. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable apparatus. The computer program 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 (digital subscriber line, DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) means from one website, computer, server, or data center. 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. The usable medium may be a magnetic medium (e.g., a floppy disk, a hard disk, a magnetic tape), an optical medium (e.g., a high-density digital video disc (digital video disc, DVD)), or a semiconductor medium (e.g., a Solid State Disk (SSD)), or the like.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that: the various numbers of first, second, etc. referred to in this disclosure are merely for ease of description and are not intended to limit the scope of embodiments of this disclosure, nor to indicate sequencing.

At least one of the present disclosure may also be described as one or more, a plurality may be two, three, four or more, and the present disclosure is not limited. In the embodiment of the disclosure, for a technical feature, the technical features in the technical feature are distinguished by "first", "second", "third", "a", "B", "C", and "D", and the technical features described by "first", "second", "third", "a", "B", "C", and "D" are not in sequence or in order of magnitude.

The correspondence relationships shown in the tables in the present disclosure may be configured or predefined. The values of the information in each table are merely examples, and may be configured as other values, and the present disclosure is not limited thereto. In the case of the correspondence between the configuration information and each parameter, it is not necessarily required to configure all the correspondence shown in each table. For example, in the table in the present disclosure, the correspondence shown by some rows may not be configured. For another example, appropriate morphing adjustments, e.g., splitting, merging, etc., may be made based on the tables described above. The names of the parameters indicated in the tables may be other names which are understood by the communication device, and the values or expressions of the parameters may be other values or expressions which are understood by the communication device. When the tables are implemented, other data structures may be used, for example, an array, a queue, a container, a stack, a linear table, a pointer, a linked list, a tree, a graph, a structure, a class, a heap, a hash table, or a hash table.

Predefined in this disclosure may be understood as defining, predefining, storing, pre-negotiating, pre-configuring, curing, or pre-sintering.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the various illustrative elements and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, or combinations of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the solution. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present disclosure.

It will be clear to those skilled in the art that, for convenience and brevity of description, specific working procedures of the above-described systems, apparatuses and units may refer to corresponding procedures in the foregoing method embodiments, and are not repeated herein.

The foregoing is merely specific embodiments of the disclosure, but the protection scope of the disclosure is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art can easily think about changes or substitutions within the technical scope of the disclosure, and it is intended to cover the scope of the disclosure. Therefore, the protection scope of the present disclosure shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims (28)

1. A method of cause indication, performed by a first network device, the method comprising:

   indicating a reason to a second network device or acquiring the reason indicated by the second network device;

   wherein the reason is used for indicating the relevant information of the path switching of the side link SL and/or indicating the relevant information of the relay of the side link SL.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the indicating the cause to the second network device or obtaining the cause indicated by the second network device comprises:

   sending a first message to the second network device, wherein the first message contains the reason; or alternatively

   And receiving a second message sent by the second network equipment, wherein the second message contains the indicated reason.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein the first message or the second message comprises at least one of:

   a handover request message;

   a handover preparation failure message;

   a serial number SN state transmission message;

   a handover cancel message.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the indicating side-link SL path switch related information comprises at least one of:

   Indicating a side uplink SL path switch;

   indicating that a timer associated with the path switch has timed out;

   indicating a path switch configuration change;

   the reason for indicating the request for path switching is radio-dependent;

   the reason for indicating cancellation of the path switch is related to the radio;

   indicating a partial path switch.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the indicating side uplink SL relay related information comprises at least one of:

   indicating that the relay is not available;

   indicating that the relay is not supported;

   indicating that relay is not allowed;

   indicating that the reserved resources for the first terminal device configured as the remote terminal device are changed;

   indicating that a second terminal device determined for a first terminal device configured as a remote terminal device is changed, wherein the second terminal device provides a relay function;

   indicating failure of configuring the second terminal equipment;

   indicating that the second terminal equipment is out of connection;

   indicating that the first terminal equipment is out of connection.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein the indicating the cause to the second network device comprises:

   and in response to the occurrence of the setting event, sending a reason indicating the occurrence of the setting event to the second network equipment.
7. The method of claim 6, wherein the set event comprises at least one of:

   sending a first specified message to the second network device;

   and receiving a second designated message sent by the second network equipment.
8. The method of claim 7, wherein,

   the first designation message is a handover request message, and the reason is used to indicate that the reason for requesting path handover is radio-related.
9. The method of claim 7, wherein,

   the second indication message is a handover preparation failure message, and the reason is used to indicate at least one of:

   indicating that the relay is not available;

   indicating that the relay is not supported;

   indicating that relay is not allowed;

   indicating that a timer associated with the path switch has timed out;

   and indicating the second terminal equipment to lose connection, wherein the second terminal equipment provides a relay function.
10. The method of claim 1, wherein the cause is at least one of:

    a radio network layer reason;

    a transport layer reason;

    protocol layer reasons.
11. The method according to any of claims 1-10, wherein the value of the cause is used to indicate side-uplink SL path switch related information and/or to indicate side-uplink SL relay related information.
12. A method of cause indication, performed by a second network device, the method comprising:

    acquiring a reason indicated by first network equipment or indicating the reason to the first network equipment;

    wherein the reason is used for indicating the relevant information of the path switching of the side link SL and/or indicating the relevant information of the relay of the side link SL.
13. The method of claim 12, wherein the obtaining the cause indicated by the first network device or indicating the cause to the first network device comprises:

    receiving a first message sent by the first network device, wherein the first message contains the reason; or alternatively

    And sending a second message to the first network equipment, wherein the second message contains the indicated reason.
14. The method of claim 13, wherein the first message or the second message comprises at least one of:

    a handover request message;

    a handover preparation failure message;

    a serial number SN state transmission message;

    a handover cancel message.
15. The method of claim 12, wherein the indicating side-link SL path switch related information comprises at least one of:

    Indicating a side uplink SL path switch;

    indicating that a timer associated with the path switch has timed out;

    indicating a path switch configuration change;

    the reason for indicating the request for path switching is radio-dependent;

    the reason for indicating cancellation of the path switch is related to the radio;

    indicating a partial path switch.
16. The method of claim 12, wherein the indicating side uplink SL relay related information comprises at least one of:

    indicating that the relay is not available;

    indicating that the relay is not supported;

    indicating that relay is not allowed;

    indicating that the reserved resources for the first terminal device configured as the remote terminal device are changed;

    indicating that a second terminal device determined for a first terminal device configured as a remote terminal device is changed, wherein the second terminal device provides a relay function;

    indicating failure of configuring the second terminal equipment;

    indicating that the second terminal equipment is out of connection;

    indicating that the first terminal equipment is out of connection.
17. The method of claim 12, wherein the obtaining the cause indicated by the first network device comprises:

    and receiving a reason which is sent by the first network equipment and indicates the occurrence of a setting event, wherein the reason is sent by the first network equipment in response to the occurrence of the setting event.
18. The method as recited in claim 17, further comprising:

    receiving a first designated message sent by the first network device; or alternatively

    A second designated message is sent to the first network device.
19. The method of claim 18, wherein,

    the first designation message is a handover request message, the reason for indicating that the reason for requesting a path handover is related to a radio and/or the reason for indicating that a path handover is cancelled is related to a radio.
20. The method of claim 18, wherein,

    the second indication message is a handover preparation failure message, and the reason is used to indicate at least one of:

    indicating that the relay is not available;

    indicating that the relay is not supported;

    indicating that relay is not allowed;

    indicating that a timer associated with the path switch has timed out;

    and indicating the second terminal equipment to lose connection, wherein the second terminal equipment provides a relay function.
21. The method of claim 12, wherein the cause is at least one of:

    a radio network layer reason;

    a transport layer reason;

    protocol layer reasons.
22. The method according to any of claims 12-21, wherein the value of the cause is used to indicate side-uplink SL path switch related information and/or to indicate side-uplink SL relay related information.
23. A communication device, the device comprising:

    the receiving and transmitting module is used for indicating the reason to the second network equipment or acquiring the reason indicated by the second network equipment;

    wherein the reason is used for indicating the relevant information of the path switching of the side link SL and/or indicating the relevant information of the relay of the side link SL.
24. A communication device, the device comprising:

    the receiving and transmitting module is used for acquiring the reason indicated by the first network equipment or indicating the reason to the first network equipment;

    wherein the reason is used for indicating the relevant information of the path switching of the side link SL and/or indicating the relevant information of the relay of the side link SL.
25. A communication device, characterized in that the device comprises a processor and a memory, the memory having stored therein a computer program, the processor executing the computer program stored in the memory to cause the device to perform the method according to any of claims 1-11.
26. A communication device, characterized in that the device comprises a processor and a memory, the memory having stored therein a computer program, the processor executing the computer program stored in the memory to cause the device to perform the method according to any of claims 12-22.
27. A computer readable storage medium storing instructions which, when executed, cause a method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 11 to be implemented.
28. A computer readable storage medium storing instructions which, when executed, cause a method as claimed in any one of claims 12 to 22 to be implemented.