CN117939555A

CN117939555A - Switching method, switching device, switching apparatus, switching storage medium, and switching program product

Info

Publication number: CN117939555A
Application number: CN202211262000.XA
Authority: CN
Inventors: 陈晓宇
Original assignee: Spreadtrum Communications Shanghai Co Ltd
Current assignee: Spreadtrum Communications Shanghai Co Ltd
Priority date: 2022-10-14
Filing date: 2022-10-14
Publication date: 2024-04-26

Abstract

The application provides a switching method, a device, equipment, a storage medium and a program product, wherein the method comprises the following steps: the method comprises the steps that first network equipment sends a first message to target network equipment, wherein the first message comprises source slice information; the target network device may store the source slice information and send a second message to the first network device; the first network device may send a third message to the terminal device; after the terminal equipment is accessed to the target network equipment, the target network equipment can provide corresponding slicing service for the terminal equipment and subsequently restore source slicing service. The first network device can also send the source slice information to the target network device through the third network device, so that the target network device can receive the source slice information, the subsequent restoration of the source slice service is facilitated, and the slice service quality requirement of the user is ensured.

Description

Switching method, switching device, switching apparatus, switching storage medium, and switching program product

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a handover method, apparatus, device, storage medium, and program product.

Background

Network slicing is to cut a physical network into multiple virtual end-to-end networks, each virtual network is logically independent, and any virtual network failure will not affect other virtual networks. Each virtual network may be referred to as a network slice or slice.

In the related art, since the resource usage of the current slice accessed by the terminal device exceeds a threshold value, or the target cell into which the terminal device enters does not support the current slice, in order to keep the slice service of the terminal device continuous, the current slice service of the terminal device may be remapped to another slice service. Because of mobility of the terminal device, it is a problem to be solved how to perform slice recovery by moving among a plurality of cells to ensure the quality of service (Quality of Service, qoS) requirements of the user.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides a switching method, a switching device, a storage medium and a program product, so that when slicing recovery is performed, the service quality requirement of a user is ensured, and the problem that source slicing service cannot be provided for the user after slicing mapping is avoided.

In a first aspect, the present application provides a handover method, including:

And sending a first message, wherein the first message comprises source slice information, and the source slice information is used for indicating source slice service information of the terminal equipment.

In one possible embodiment, the method further comprises:

And receiving a second message, wherein the second message comprises target slice information and/or slice information supported by target network equipment, and the target slice information is used for indicating the slice information used in the switching process.

In one possible embodiment, the method further comprises:

and sending a third message, wherein the third message comprises target slice information and/or slice information supported by target network equipment, and the third message is used for indicating to access the target network equipment.

In a possible implementation manner, the third message further includes priority information;

the method further comprises the steps of:

and determining priority information according to the second message, wherein the priority information is used for indicating the priority of the candidate network equipment.

In a possible implementation manner, slice information supported by the second network device is further included in the second message.

In a possible implementation manner, the determining priority information according to the second message includes:

And determining at least one candidate network device from at least one second network device according to the slice information supported by the second network device and/or the target slice information, and determining the priority information of the candidate network device.

In a possible implementation manner, the determining the priority information of the candidate network device includes:

determining the priority of candidate network devices supporting the source slice as a first priority;

determining a priority of the candidate network device supporting the current slice and not supporting the source slice as a second priority;

Determining the priority of candidate network equipment which supports the source slice and can be mapped and does not support the source slice and the current slice as a third priority;

determining the priority of candidate network equipment which supports the current slice and can be mapped by the current slice and does not support the source slice and the current slice as a fourth priority;

wherein, the order from high to low according to the priority is: the first priority, the second priority, the third priority, and the fourth priority.

In one possible embodiment, the target slice information is any one of the following:

Source slice information;

Current slice information;

first slice information.

In a possible embodiment, the first message further includes indication information, where the indication information is used to indicate that slice remapping is allowed to be performed.

In a possible implementation manner, the first message further includes current slice information and/or a slice remapping rule, where the slice remapping rule is used to indicate a mapping relationship of slices.

In a second aspect, the present application provides a handover method, including:

and receiving a first message and/or a fifth message, wherein the first message and the fifth message comprise source slice information, and the source slice information is used for indicating source slice service information of terminal equipment.

In a possible implementation manner, the first message further includes current slice information and/or slice remapping rules; and/or the number of the groups of groups,

The fifth message further includes the current slice information and/or the slice remapping rule, where the slice remapping rule is used to indicate a mapping relationship of a slice.

In one possible embodiment, the method further comprises:

Determining target slice information, wherein the target slice information is used for indicating slice information used in a switching process;

and sending a second message and/or a sixth message, wherein the second message comprises the target slice information and/or the slice information supported by the target network equipment, and the sixth message comprises the target slice information and/or the slice information supported by the target network equipment.

In a possible implementation manner, the determining the target slice information includes:

when source slice resources exist, determining the target slice information as the source slice information;

when the source slice resource does not exist and the current slice resource exists, determining that the target slice information is the current slice information;

when the source slice resource does not exist and the current slice resource does not exist, if the first slice resource exists, the first slice is a slice which can be mapped by the source slice, and the target slice information is determined to be first slice information;

When the source slice resource does not exist and the current slice resource does not exist, if a second slice resource exists, the second slice is a slice which can be mapped by the current slice, and the target slice information is determined to be second slice information;

And determining that the target slice information is default slice information when none of the source slice resource, the current slice resource, the resource of the slice to which the source slice can be mapped and the resource of the slice to which the current slice can be mapped exists.

In one possible embodiment, the method further comprises:

And if the target slice information is not the current slice information, sending a fourth message, wherein the fourth message is used for indicating that the slice information is changed, and the fourth message comprises the current slice information and/or the changed slice information.

In a third aspect, the present application provides a handover method, including:

And receiving a third message, wherein the third message comprises target slice information and/or slice information supported by target network equipment, the third message is used for indicating access to the target network equipment, and the target slice information is used for indicating slice information used in a switching process.

In a possible implementation manner, the third message further includes priority information, where the priority information is used to indicate a priority of the candidate network device.

In one possible embodiment, the method further comprises:

and determining the target network equipment from at least one candidate network equipment according to the priority information.

In a possible implementation manner, the third message further includes slice information supported by at least one candidate network device, where the slice information supported by the candidate network device is used to determine the target network device.

In a fourth aspect, the present application provides a handover method, including:

Receiving a first message, wherein the first message comprises source slice information, and the source slice information is used for indicating source slice service information of terminal equipment;

A fifth message is sent, the fifth message including the source slice information.

In a possible implementation manner, the first message further includes current slice information and/or a slice remapping rule, wherein the slice remapping rule is used for indicating a mapping relation of slices.

In one possible embodiment, the method further comprises:

Receiving a sixth message, wherein the sixth message comprises target slice information and/or slice information supported by target network equipment, and the target slice information is used for indicating slice information used in a switching process;

And sending a second message, wherein the second message comprises target slice information and/or slice information supported by target network equipment.

In one possible embodiment, the method further comprises:

Receiving a fourth message, wherein the fourth message comprises current slice information and/or changed slice information, and the fourth message is used for indicating that the slice information is changed;

A seventh message is sent, the seventh message for slice management.

In a fifth aspect, the present application provides a switching device, including:

and the sending module is used for sending a first message, wherein the first message comprises source slice information, and the source slice information is used for indicating source slice service information of the terminal equipment.

In one possible embodiment, the apparatus further comprises:

And the receiving module is used for receiving a second message, wherein the second message comprises target slice information and/or slice information supported by target network equipment, and the target slice information is used for indicating the slice information used in the switching process.

In a possible implementation manner, the sending module is further configured to:

The apparatus further comprises:

and the determining module is used for determining priority information according to the second message, wherein the priority information is used for indicating the priority of the candidate network equipment.

In one possible implementation manner, the determining module is specifically configured to:

In one possible implementation, the determining module is further configured to:

Source slice information;

Current slice information;

first slice information.

In a sixth aspect, the present application provides a switching device, including:

The receiving module is used for receiving a first message and/or a fifth message, wherein the first message and the fifth message comprise source slice information, and the source slice information is used for indicating source slice service information of the terminal equipment.

In one possible embodiment, the apparatus further comprises: a processing module;

the processing module is used for:

In a possible implementation manner, the processing module is specifically configured to:

In one possible embodiment, the apparatus further comprises:

And the sending module is used for sending a fourth message if the target slice information is not the current slice information, wherein the fourth message is used for indicating the change of the slice information, and the fourth message comprises the current slice information and/or the changed slice information.

In a seventh aspect, the present application provides a switching device, including:

The receiving module is configured to receive a third message, where the third message includes target slice information and/or slice information supported by the target network device, the third message is used to indicate access to the target network device, and the target slice information is used to indicate slice information used in a handover process.

In one possible embodiment, the apparatus further comprises:

and the determining module is used for determining the target network equipment from at least one candidate network equipment according to the priority information.

In an eighth aspect, the present application provides a switching device, including:

The receiving module is used for receiving a first message, wherein the first message comprises source slice information, and the source slice information is used for indicating source slice service information of terminal equipment;

And a sending module, configured to send a fifth message, where the fifth message includes the source slice information.

In a possible implementation manner, the receiving module is further configured to:

The sending module is further configured to:

And transmitting a seventh message, wherein the seventh message is used for slice information management.

In a ninth aspect, the present application provides a network device comprising: a processor, and a memory communicatively coupled to the processor;

The memory stores computer-executable instructions;

the processor executes computer-executable instructions stored in the memory to implement the handover method as described in the first aspect.

In a tenth aspect, the present application provides a network device comprising: a processor, and a memory communicatively coupled to the processor;

The memory stores computer-executable instructions;

the processor executes computer-executable instructions stored by the memory to implement the handover method as described in the second aspect.

In an eleventh aspect, the present application provides a terminal device, including: a processor, and a memory communicatively coupled to the processor;

The memory stores computer-executable instructions;

the processor executes computer-executable instructions stored by the memory to implement the handover method as described in the third aspect.

In a twelfth aspect, the present application provides a network device comprising: a processor, and a memory communicatively coupled to the processor;

The memory stores computer-executable instructions;

the processor executes computer-executable instructions stored by the memory to implement the handover method as described in the fourth aspect.

In a thirteenth aspect, the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium having stored therein computer-executable instructions for implementing the handover method according to any of the first to fourth aspects when executed by a processor.

In a fourteenth aspect, the present application provides a computer program product comprising a computer program which, when executed by a processor, implements the handover method according to any one of the first to fourth aspects.

In a fifteenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a chip on which a computer program is stored, which when executed by the chip, implements the switching method according to any one of the first to fourth aspects.

In one possible embodiment, the chip is a chip in a chip module.

The application provides a switching method, a switching device, a storage medium and a program product, wherein first network equipment sends a first message to target network equipment, and the first message comprises source slice information; the target network device may store the source slice information and send a second message to the first network device, where the second message includes the target slice information and/or slice information supported by the target network device; the first network device may send a third message to the terminal device, where the third message includes the target slice information and/or slice information supported by the target network device; after the terminal equipment is accessed to the target network equipment, the target network equipment can provide corresponding slicing service for the terminal equipment and subsequently restore source slicing service. The first network device can also send source slice information to the target network device through the third network device, and the target network device can receive the source slice information, so that the source slice service can be recovered later, and the slice service quality requirement of the user is ensured.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments consistent with the application and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the application.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an application scenario to which the present application is applicable;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of another application scenario to which the present application is applicable;

fig. 3 is a flow chart of a switching method according to a first embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4 is a flow chart of another switching method according to the second embodiment of the present application;

Fig. 5 is a flow chart of another switching method according to the third embodiment of the present application;

Fig. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a switching device according to a fourth embodiment of the present application;

fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a switching device according to a fifth embodiment of the present application;

fig. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of a switching device according to a sixth embodiment of the present application;

fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of a switching device according to a seventh embodiment of the present application;

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

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

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

Fig. 13 is a schematic structural diagram of a network device according to an eleventh embodiment of the present application.

Specific embodiments of the present application have been shown by way of the above drawings and will be described in more detail below. The drawings and the written description are not intended to limit the scope of the inventive concepts in any way, but rather to illustrate the inventive concepts to those skilled in the art by reference to the specific embodiments.

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 examples do not represent all implementations consistent with the application. Rather, they are merely examples of apparatus and methods consistent with aspects of the application as detailed in the accompanying claims.

The technical scheme of the embodiment of the application can be applied to various communication systems, such as: long term evolution (Long Term Evolution, LTE) system, LTE frequency division duplex (Frequency Division Duplex, FDD) system, LTE time division duplex (Time Division Duplex, TDD), universal mobile telecommunications system (Universal Mobile Telecommunication System, UMTS), worldwide interoperability for microwave access (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, wiMAX) telecommunications system, fifth generation (5 th-generation, 5G) mobile telecommunications system, or new radio access technology (New Radio Access Technology, NR). The 5G mobile communication system may include a Non-independent networking (Non-Standalone, NSA) and/or an independent networking (Standalone, SA), among others.

The technical scheme provided by the embodiment of the application can be also applied to future communication systems, such as a sixth generation mobile communication system, a seventh generation mobile communication information and the like. The application is not limited in this regard.

The technical scheme provided by the application can be also suitable for Machine type Communication (MACHINE TYPE Communication, MTC), inter-Machine Communication long term evolution (Long Term Evolution-Machine, LTE-M), device-to-Device (D2D) network, machine-to-Machine (Machine to Machine, M2M) network, internet of things (Internet of Things, ioT) network or other networks. The IoT network may include, for example, an internet of vehicles. The communication modes in the internet of vehicles system are generally called as Vehicle to other devices (V2X, X may represent anything), for example, the V2X may include: vehicle-to-vehicle (Vehicle to Vehicle, V2V) communication, vehicle-to-infrastructure (Vehicle to Infrastructure, V2I) communication, vehicle-to-pedestrian communication (Vehicle to Pedestrian, V2P) or vehicle-to-network (Vehicle to Network, V2N) communication, etc.

Related terms or nouns to which the present application relates are first introduced to facilitate understanding by those skilled in the art.

(1) Slicing

With the advent of 5G and cloud era diversified new services, different industries, services or users put various QoS requirements on the network, so that the 5G network should have massive access, deterministic latency, extremely high reliability and other capabilities, and needs to construct a flexible and dynamic network to meet the diversified service demands of users and vertical industries.

In this context, the Network slicing technique has been developed, and each virtual Network or physical Network may be referred to as a Network slice or slice, which is a virtual Network or physical Network sliced by a physical Network, where a plurality of virtual networks or physical networks are logically isolated from each other in terms of devices, access networks (Radio Access Network, RAN), transport networks, and Core Networks (CN), and can provide a complete communication service, so that a plurality of virtual networks or physical networks adapt to various types of traffic, and in the present application, a Network slice is referred to as a slice.

The slice resource isolation can be divided into hard isolation and soft isolation according to the isolation degree, the slice is a virtual network or an entity network, the slice is the entity network depending on the hard isolation or the soft isolation of the slice, and the slice is the virtual network.

Hard isolation refers to the allocation of completely exclusive network resources in a network for different network slices, and aims at industry users with higher requirements, such as power grids, factories and the like. Soft isolation refers to that a network slice has partially independent resources, and different shares exist for other resources in the network, so that certain statistical multiplexing capability can be maintained while isolation characteristics meeting service requirements are provided.

The mapping between slices refers to remapping from a virtual network of one network resource allocation to a virtual network of another network resource allocation, and is a switching process of network resources. For example, when a terminal device moves from one coverage area of a base station to another coverage area of the base station, or network signals are degraded due to external interference, or resources of a current slice of the network are insufficient, the current slice needs to be remapped to a new slice to keep providing slice services for the terminal device. It will be appreciated that remapping between slices is not limited to the above, but is not repeated here.

The Slice may be identified by single network Slice selection assistance information (Single Network Slice Selection Assistance Information, S-NSSAI) consisting of two parts, slice/service type (Slice/SERIVE TYPE, SST) and Slice differential (Slice Differentiator, SD). The slice may also be identified by a network slice access layer packet (Network Slice AS Group, NSAG), where NSAG contains a set of slice information.

(2) Access and mobility management functions (ACCESS AND Mobility Management Function, AMF)

The AMF is mainly responsible for the functions of connection management, access management, mobility management and the like of the terminal equipment, provides a session management message transmission channel for the terminal equipment and session management functions (Session Management Function, SMF), provides authentication and authentication functions for user access, and is an access point of a control plane of the terminal equipment and a wireless core network.

The AMF handles terminal device location update and user plane function (User Plane Function, UPF) selection when the terminal device initially accesses the network or moves to a new coverage area.

In the related art, due to movement of the terminal device, when a target cell into which the terminal device enters does not support a current slice to which the terminal device accesses, or when resource usage of the current slice to which the terminal device accesses exceeds a threshold, the current slice service of the terminal device may be remapped to another slice service to keep the slice service of the terminal device continuous. When the resource of the source slice of the network device is recovered or the cell entered by the terminal device supports the source slice, there is a need to recover the mapped slice to the source slice, where the source slice refers to the slice used by the terminal device before accessing the current slice, and theoretically, the source slice can provide better QoS for the service requirement of the user.

In the current slice switching, only current slice information is carried, and after multiple times of switching, a network can not sense source slice information of terminal equipment, so that even if slice resources are proper, source slice service can not be provided for the terminal equipment. How to perform slice recovery to ensure the QoS requirements of users is a problem to be solved.

Therefore, the application provides a switching method, the source network equipment can send the source slice information to the target network equipment, so that the target network equipment stores the source slice information, the terminal equipment can resume the use of the source slice service when the condition is proper, and the QoS requirement of the user is ensured.

In order to facilitate understanding, an application scenario to which the embodiments of the present application are applicable will be described below with reference to the examples of fig. 1 and 2.

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of an application scenario to which the present application is applicable. Referring to fig. 1, the network device includes a first network device 101, a target network device 102, and terminal devices 103 and a third network device 104.

The application scene can be divided into an Xn-based switching scene and an NG-based switching scene. The Xn-based switching scene is based on switching of Xn interfaces, and the Xn interfaces are interfaces of a base station and a base station directly. In the LTE system, an interface between a base station (eNB) and a base station (eNB) is an X2 interface, and in the system, a handover between base stations is performed as an X2-based handover.

The NG-based handover scenario is a handover based on an NG interface, which refers to an interface between a base station and a core network device (such as an AMF).

In an Xn-based handoff scenario, the first network device 101 sends source slice information to the target network device 102 via a first message so that the target network device 102 can store the source slice information. The terminal device 103 accesses the target network device 102 so that the target network device 102 resumes the source slice service for the terminal device 103 when the conditions are appropriate.

In the NG-based handover scenario, the first network device 101 may send source slice information to the target network device 102 through the third network device 104 so that the target network device 102 may store the source slice information. The terminal device 103 accesses the target network device 102 so that the target network device 102 resumes the source slice service for the terminal device 103 when the conditions are appropriate.

The first network device 101 may be a source base station, the target network device 102 may be a target base station, and the third network device 104 may be an AMF, which may be understood that the number of the first network device 101, the target network device 102, the terminal device 103, and the third network device 104 may be multiple, which is not shown in the figure.

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of another application scenario to which the present application is applicable. Referring to fig. 2, a first network device 201, a terminal device 202, and a second network device 203 are included.

The application scenario may be a conditional switch scenario, where the first network device 201 sends source slice information to the second network device 204 via the first message, and the second network device 203 sends a second message, where the first network device 201 may receive the second message, where the second message includes target slice information and/or slice information supported by the second network device 203. The first network device 201 may determine priority information of the candidate network devices according to the second message, and send the priority information to the terminal device 202 through the third message, so that the terminal device 202 may determine, from at least one candidate network device, a target network device according to the priority information and/or other information, such as measurement information, slice information supported by the second network device 203, etc., where the terminal device 202 accesses the target network device, so that the target network device may restore source slice service for the terminal device 202 when conditions are appropriate, where the target network device is one of the second network devices.

In this conditional handover scenario, the third message may be conditional handover (Conditional Handover, CHO) configuration information, or may be other RRC messages, etc., so that the terminal device 102 may select a cell that can provide better slicing service when CHO is performed.

The first network device 201 may be a source base station, the target network device may be a target base station, and the second network device 203 may be a potential base station, which may be understood that the number of the first network device 201, the terminal device 202, and the second network device 203 may be multiple, which is not shown in the figure.

In the embodiment of the application, the network device can be any device with a wireless receiving and transmitting function. The apparatus includes, but is not limited to: an Evolved Node B (eNB), a radio network controller (Radio Network Controller, RNC), a Node B (Node B, NB), a base station controller (Base Station Controller, BSC), a base transceiver station (Base Transceiver Station, BTS), a Home base station (e.g., home Evolved NodeB, or Home Node B, HNB), a Base Band Unit (BBU), an Access Point (AP) in a wireless fidelity (WIRELESS FIDELITY, WIFI) system, a radio relay Node, a radio backhaul Node, a transmission Point (Transmission Point, TP), or a transmission reception Point (Transmission and Reception Point, TRP), etc., may also be 5G, such as NR, a next generation base station (The Next Generation Node B, gNB) in the system, or a transmission Point (TRP or TP), one or a group of antenna panels (including multiple antenna panels) of a base station in the 5G system, or may also be a network Node constituting the gNB or the transmission Point, such as a Baseband Unit (BBU), or a Distributed Unit (DU), etc.

In some deployments, the gNB may include a Centralized Unit (CU) and DUs. The gNB may also include an active antenna Unit (ACTIVE ANTENNA Unit, AAU). The CU implements part of the functionality of the gNB and the DU implements part of the functionality of the gNB. For example, the CU is responsible for handling non-real-time protocols and services, implementing the functions of radio resource control (Radio Resource Control, RRC), PDCP layer. The DU is responsible for handling Physical layer protocols and real-time services, and implements functions of a radio link control (Radio Link Control, RLC) layer, a MAC layer, and a Physical (PHY) layer. The AAU realizes part of physical layer processing function, radio frequency processing and related functions of the active antenna. Since the information of the RRC layer may be eventually changed into or converted from the information of the PHY layer, under this architecture, higher layer signaling, such as RRC layer signaling, may also be considered to be transmitted by the DU or by the du+aau. It is understood that the network device may be a device comprising one or more of a CU node, a DU node, an AAU node. In addition, the CU may be divided into Network devices in an access Network (Radio Access Network, RAN), or may be divided into Network devices in a Core Network (CN), which the present application is not limited to.

The network device provides services for the cell, and the terminal device communicates with the cell through transmission resources (e.g., frequency domain resources, or spectrum resources) allocated by the network device, where the cell may belong to a macro base station (e.g., macro eNB or macro gNB, etc.), or may belong to a base station corresponding to a small cell (SMALL CELL), where the small cell may include: urban cells (Metro cells), micro cells (Micro cells), pico cells (Pico cells), femto cells (Femto cells) and the like, and the small cells have the characteristics of small coverage area and low transmitting power and are suitable for providing high-rate data transmission services.

In the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device may also be referred to as a User Equipment (UE), an access terminal, a subscriber unit, a subscriber station, a mobile station, a remote terminal, a mobile device, a User terminal, a wireless communication device, a User agent, or a User Equipment.

The terminal device may be a device providing voice/data connectivity to a user, e.g., a handheld device with wireless connectivity, an in-vehicle device, etc. Currently, some examples of terminals may be: a Mobile Phone (Mobile Phone), a tablet (Pad), a computer with wireless transceiving function (such as a notebook, a palm computer, etc.), a Mobile internet device (Mobile INTERNET DEVICE, MID), a Virtual Reality (VR) device, an augmented Reality (Augmented Reality, AR) device, an XR device, a wireless terminal in industrial control (industrial control), a wireless terminal in unmanned (SELF DRIVING), a wireless terminal in telemedicine (Remote Medical), a wireless terminal in Smart grid (SMART GRID), a wireless terminal in transportation security (Transportation Safety), a wireless terminal in Smart city (SMART CITY), a wireless terminal in Smart Home (Smart Home), a cellular Phone, a cordless Phone, a session initiation protocol (Session Initiation Protocol, SIP) Phone, a wireless local loop (Wireless Local Loop, WLL) station, a Personal digital assistant (Personal DIGITAL ASSISTANT, PDA), a handheld device with wireless communication function, a computing device or other processing device connected to a wireless modem, a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, a terminal device in a 5G network or a land-based communication terminal in an evolving Mobile PLMN (Public Land Mobile Network, etc.).

The wearable device can also be called as a wearable intelligent device, and is a generic name for intelligently designing daily wearing and developing wearable devices by applying a wearable technology, such as glasses, gloves, watches, clothes, shoes and the like. The wearable device is a portable device that is worn directly on the body or integrated into the clothing or accessories of the user. The wearable device is not only a hardware device, but also can realize a powerful function through software support, data interaction and cloud interaction. The generalized wearable intelligent device includes full functionality, large size, and may not rely on the smart phone to implement complete or partial functionality, such as: smart watches or smart glasses, etc., and focus on only certain types of application functions, and need to be used in combination with other devices, such as smart phones, for example, various smart bracelets, smart jewelry, etc. for physical sign monitoring.

The terminal device may also be a terminal device in an internet of things (Internet of things, ioT) system. IoT is an important component of future information technology development, and its main technical feature is to connect an item with a network through a communication technology, so as to implement man-machine interconnection and an intelligent network for object interconnection. IoT technology can achieve massive connectivity, deep coverage, and terminal power saving through, for example, narrowband (NB) technology.

The following describes the technical scheme of the present application and how the technical scheme of the present application solves the above technical problems in detail with specific embodiments. The following specific embodiments may exist alone or in combination with one another, and the same or similar concepts or processes may not be described in detail in some embodiments. Embodiments of the present application will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In the following, an exemplary handover method for an Xn-based handover scenario is described in detail, where in the embodiment of the present application, the first network device may be a source base station, the target network device may be a target base station, and the third network device may be an AMF.

Fig. 3 is a flowchart of a switching method according to a first embodiment of the present application, and referring to fig. 3, the method includes the following steps.

S301, the first network device sends a first message to the target network device, wherein the first message comprises source slice information.

Alternatively, the first message may be a Handover Request message or other message on the Xn interface, etc.

In a possible implementation manner, the first message may further include current slice information and/or a slice remapping rule, where the slice remapping rule is used to indicate a mapping relationship of slices.

Illustratively, the first message includes source slice information in the form of: source slice information { source slice information, current slice information } for each slice PDU session. Wherein the PDU session is a protocol data unit (Protocol Data Unit, PDU) session

Or the source slice information contained in the first message may be in the form of: source slice information { source slice information, current slice information, slice remapping rule } for each slice PDU session.

Or the source slice information contained in the first message may be: the source slice information { source slice information, slice remapping rule } for each slice PDU session, i.e. the current slice information is not included in the first message.

It should be noted that, the first message may also be in other forms, which are not limited by the present application, and the positions of the source slice information, the current slice information and the slice remapping rule in the above forms are not limited by the present application.

The slice remapping rule is for indicating the slices to which the respective slices can map, which can be referred to by the first network device when the target network device is providing the terminal device with the slice service.

In a possible implementation, the first message may further include indication information, where the indication information is used to indicate that the slice remapping is allowed to be performed, that is, when the indication information is further included in the first message, it indicates that the mapped slice is allowed to be mapped again.

In another possible implementation manner, the indication information included in the first message may be used to indicate whether to allow slice remapping, and illustratively, when the indication information is 0, it indicates that slice remapping is not allowed to be performed, and when the indication information is 1, it indicates that slice remapping is allowed to be performed. The above 0 and 1 are only examples, and other representations may be used to distinguish whether slice remapping is allowed or not.

And after the target network equipment receives the first message, storing the source slice information in the first message so as to facilitate subsequent slice recovery.

S302, the first network equipment receives a second message sent by the target network equipment, wherein the second message comprises target slice information and/or slice information supported by the target network equipment.

After receiving the first message, the target network device may determine target slice information, and then send a second message to the first network device, where the second message includes the target slice information and/or slice information supported by the target network device.

The target slice information is used for indicating slice information used in the switching process, and the target slice information can be any one of the following information: source slice information, current slice information, and first slice information. Wherein the first slice information is a source slice or a new slice to which the current slice may be mapped.

Specifically, the target network device may determine the target slice information by:

And when the source slice resource exists, determining the target slice information as the source slice information.

When the source slice resource does not exist and the current slice resource exists, the target slice information is determined to be the current slice information.

When the source slice resource does not exist and the current slice resource does not exist, if the first slice resource exists, the first slice is a slice to which the source slice can be mapped, and the target slice information is determined to be the first slice information.

And when the source slice resource does not exist and the current slice resource does not exist, if the second slice resource exists, the second slice is a slice which can be mapped by the current slice, and the target slice information is determined to be second slice information.

And when the source slice resources, the current slice resources, the resources of the slices to which the source slice can be mapped and the resources of the slices to which the current slice can be mapped do not exist, determining that the target slice information is default slice information.

It can be understood that when the slice resources do not exist, and the source slice resources, the current slice resources, the resources of the slice to which the source slice can be mapped, the resources of the slice to which the current slice can be mapped, and the default slice resources do not exist, the slice service interruption is indicated, that is, the target network device cannot provide the slice service for the terminal device, the terminal device can perform normal session service through the universal resources, or terminate the slice session service, and the like.

In this embodiment, the second message is sent by the target network device to the first network device through the Xn interface, and optionally, the second message may be a handover request acknowledgement Handover Request Acknowledge message or other message delivered through the Xn interface.

The target slice information may be slice information used in the handover process or slice information used after the handover is completed, which is not limited to this aspect of the present application.

S303, the first network device sends a third message to the terminal device, wherein the third message comprises target slice information and/or slice information supported by the target network device, and the third message is used for indicating to access the target network device.

After the target network device sends the second message, the first network device receives the second message, and the first network device may send a third message to the terminal device to instruct the terminal device to access the target network device.

It should be noted that, the third message may also not carry the target slice information and/or slice information supported by the target network device, that is, may be a message for instructing the terminal device to access the target network device, which is not limited in this aspect of the present application.

Alternatively, the third message may be a radio resource control reconfiguration RRC Reconfiguration message or other RRC message, or the like.

S304, the terminal equipment accesses the target network equipment.

After receiving the third message, the terminal device can access the target network device, so that the target network device can provide slicing service for the terminal device.

And S305, the target network equipment provides slicing service for the terminal equipment according to the stored source slicing information.

After the terminal equipment is accessed to the target network equipment, the target network equipment can restore source slicing service for the terminal equipment when the target network equipment supports source slicing resources according to the stored source slicing information, so that slicing QoS requirements of users are guaranteed.

S306, the target network equipment sends a fourth message to the third network equipment, wherein the fourth message comprises current slice information and/or changed slice information, and the fourth message is used for indicating that the slice information is changed.

In one possible implementation, the change of slice information is indicated when the target slice information is the source slice information or the first slice information, i.e. the target slice information is not the current slice information. The target network device may send a fourth message to the third network device, where the fourth message includes current slice information and/or changed slice information, and the fourth message is used to indicate that the slice information is changed.

Alternatively, the fourth message may be any one of the following messages:

A path switch Request PATH SWITCH Request, a radio access network configuration update RAN Configuration Update, a protocol data unit session resource notification PDU Session Resource Notify, a protocol data unit session modification indication PDU Session Resource Modify Indication, a terminal device context release Request UE Context Release Request, a terminal device context modification response message UE Context Modification Response Message, a radio access network Control Plane migration indication RAN CP (Control Plane) Relocation Indication, retrieve terminal device information Retrieve UE Information, a terminal device context restoration Request UE Context Resume Request, a switch Request Handover Required, a switch notification Handover notification, a switch cancellation Handover Cancel, an uplink radio access network transmission state Uplink RAN Status Transfer, an uplink radio access network advance state transmission Uplink RAN Early Status Transfer, an uplink radio access network configuration transmission Uplink RAN Configuration Transfer, and the like.

After the third network device receives the fourth message, the third network device may notify the core network of slice information management through the seventh message.

Specifically, the third network device may further send a fourth message to the UPF and/or session management function (Session Management Function, SMF) to perform slice management, where slice management may be one or more of: including slice information management, slice resource management, slice lifecycle management, and the like.

It should be noted that, the third network device may send the fourth message, or after the first network device receives the second message sent by the target network device, that is, after S302, the present application is not limited thereto.

Or the fourth message may be that the first network device transmits to the third network device, i.e. the first network device transmits the fourth message to the third network device after S303.

In this embodiment, the first network device sends a first message to the target network device, where the first message includes source slice information; the target network device may store the source slice information and send the source slice information to the first network device, where the second message includes the target slice information and/or slice information supported by the target network device; the first network device may send a third message to the terminal device, where the third message includes the target slice information and/or slice information supported by the target network device; after the terminal equipment is accessed to the target network equipment, the target network equipment can provide corresponding slicing service for the terminal equipment and subsequently restore source slicing service, so that the QoS requirement of a user is ensured.

In embodiments of the present application, the source slice information, the current slice information, or the first slice information may include one or more of S-NSSAI, slice selection assistance information (Network Slice Selection Assistance Information, NSSAI), NSAG, slice service time, region information, and the like.

Next, a switching method of the NG-based switching scenario will be described in detail by way of example of embodiment two.

Fig. 4 is a flow chart of another switching method according to the second embodiment of the present application, and referring to fig. 4, the method includes the following steps.

S401, the first network device sends a first message to the third network device, where the first message includes source slice information.

In the NG-based handover scenario, the first network device may send source slice information to the target network device through the third network device, i.e., the first network device sends a first message to the third network device.

S402, the third network device sends a fifth message to the target network device, wherein the fifth message comprises source slice information.

The third network device receives the first message, and may send source slice information to the target network device, i.e., send a fifth message to the target network device.

In one possible implementation, when the first message further includes current slice information and/or slice remapping rules, the fifth message may further include current slice information and/or slice remapping rules.

Alternatively, the fifth message may be a Handover Request message or other message passed through the NG interface, etc.

And after the target network equipment receives the fifth message, storing the source slice information in the fifth message so as to facilitate subsequent slice recovery.

S403, the third network device receives a sixth message sent by the target network device, wherein the sixth message comprises target slice information and/or slice information supported by the target network device, and the target slice information is used for indicating slice information used in a switching process.

The third network device sends a fifth message, the target network device may receive the fifth message, and after determining the target slice information, the target network device may send a sixth message, where the third network device receives the sixth message, and the sixth message includes the target slice information and/or slice information supported by the target network device.

For determining the target slice information and the related description of the target slice information by the target network device, the description is omitted herein, and reference may be made to S302 of the first embodiment.

S404, the third network device sends a second message to the first network device, wherein the second message comprises target slice information and/or slice information supported by the target network device.

The target network device sends a sixth message, and after the third network device receives the sixth message, the third network device may send a second message to the first network device.

In this embodiment, the second message is sent by the third network device to the first network device through the NG interface, and optionally, the second message may be a Handover Command message or the like.

S405, the first network device sends a third message to the terminal device, wherein the third message comprises target slice information and/or slice information supported by the target network device, and the third message is used for indicating to access the target network device.

S406, the terminal equipment accesses the target network equipment.

And S407, the target network equipment provides slicing service for the terminal equipment according to the stored source slicing information.

S408, the target network device sends a fourth message to the third network device, wherein the fourth message comprises current slice information and/or changed slice information, and the fourth message is used for indicating that the slice information is changed.

For a description of the fourth message, reference is made to S303 of the first embodiment, which is not repeated here.

It should be noted that, the third network device may send the fourth message after the terminal device accesses the target network device, that is, after S405, the present application is not limited to this.

Or the fourth message may be that the first network device transmits to the third network device, i.e. after S405, the first network device transmits the fourth message to the third network device.

For details not disclosed in the present embodiment, please refer to embodiment one, and the details are not repeated here.

In this embodiment, the first network device may also send source slice information to the target network device through the third network device, that is, the first network device sends a first message to the third network device, where the first message includes the source slice information, and the third network device sends a fifth message to the target network device, where the fifth message includes the source slice information; the target network device may store the source slice information, and send a response message corresponding to the fifth message, that is, a sixth message, to the third network device, where the sixth message includes the target slice information and/or slice information supported by the target network device; the third network equipment sends a second message to the first network equipment, wherein the second message comprises target slice information and/or slice information supported by the target network equipment, and the first network equipment sends the third message to the terminal equipment; after the terminal equipment is accessed to the target network equipment, the target terminal equipment provides corresponding slicing service for the terminal equipment and subsequently resumes source slicing service, so that the QoS requirement of a user is ensured.

In the following, a detailed description is given of one handover method of the conditional handover scenario by way of a third exemplary embodiment, where in this embodiment, the second network device may be a potential base station, and the potential base station may be understood as a base station that may provide a slice service for the terminal device. The at least one second network device includes a target network device.

Fig. 5 is a flow chart of another switching method according to the third embodiment of the present application, and referring to fig. 5, the method includes the following steps.

S501, the first network device sends a first message to at least one second network device, where the first message includes source slice information.

In a conditional handover scenario, a first network device may send a first message to at least one second network device, including a target network device therein.

S502, the first network equipment receives a second message sent by at least one second network equipment, wherein the second message comprises target slice information and/or slice information supported by the target network equipment.

After the first network device sends the first message, a second message sent by at least one second network device may be received, where in this embodiment, the second message is sent by the second network device to the first network device through the Xn interface, and optionally, the second message may be a handover request acknowledgement Handover Request Acknowledge message.

In the conditional switching scenario, the target slice information included in the second message may be understood as potential target slice information, that is, if a certain second network device is a target network device, the potential target slice information corresponding to the second network device may be determined to be the target slice information.

S503, the first network device determines priority information according to the second message, wherein the priority information is used for indicating the priority of the candidate network device.

Optionally, the second message further includes slice information supported by the second network device.

In one possible implementation, the first network device may determine the priority information based on the second information. Specifically, the first network device may determine at least one candidate network device from at least one second network device according to slice information and/or target slice information supported by the second network device, and determine priority information of each candidate network device.

For example, the first network device may determine a second network device supporting at least one of the following slices as a candidate network device: a source slice, a current slice, a slice to which the source slice can map, a slice to which the current slice can map.

In one possible implementation, the first network device may determine the priority information of each candidate network device by:

the priority of the candidate network device supporting the source slice is determined as a first priority.

The priority of the network device that supports the current slice and does not support the source slice candidate is determined as the second priority.

The priority of the candidate network devices supporting the source slice and not supporting the source slice and the current slice, which can be mapped, is determined as the third priority.

The priority of the candidate network device that supports the slice to which the current slice can map and does not support the source slice and the current slice is determined as the fourth priority.

Wherein, the order from high to low according to the priority is: first, second, third, and fourth priorities.

In another possible implementation, the first network device may further determine the priority information of each candidate network device according to the following manner, for any one candidate network device:

When the slice supported by the candidate network device includes a source slice, determining that the priority information of the candidate network device includes a first priority, and when the candidate network device also supports the current slice, determining that the priority information of the candidate network device also includes a second priority. Similarly, when the candidate network device further supports a slice to which the source slice can be mapped, determining that the priority information of the candidate network device further includes a third priority, and when the candidate network device further supports a slice to which the current slice can be mapped, determining that the priority information of the candidate network device further includes a fourth priority.

It will be appreciated that in this manner of priority determination, the priority information for each candidate network device includes more than one priority, i.e. the candidate network device may have multiple priorities from which the terminal device may determine the target network device.

For example, the first network device may consider the highest priority (e.g., the first priority of the above-described priorities) among the plurality of priorities supported by the candidate network device as the priority of the candidate network device.

S504, the first network device sends a third message to the terminal device, wherein the third message comprises target slice information and/or slice information supported by the target network device, and the third message is used for indicating to access the target network device.

Optionally, the third message further includes priority information, where the priority information is used to indicate a priority of the candidate network device. In a conditional handover scenario, the information included in the third message may be CHO configuration information.

Alternatively, the third message may be an RRC reconfiguration message.

S505, the terminal equipment determines the target network equipment from at least one candidate network equipment.

After receiving the third message, the terminal device may determine the target network device from the at least one candidate network device.

In one possible implementation, the terminal device may determine the target network device from the at least one candidate network device according to the priority information in the third message.

Specifically, the terminal device may measure at least one candidate network device to obtain measurement information, and determine, according to the priority information, the target network device from the at least one candidate network device when the measurement information meets the requirement of conditional switching measurement.

The measurement information may include a reference signal received Power (REFERENCE SIGNAL RECEIVED Power, RSRP) measurement value, a reference signal received Power (REFERENCE SIGNAL RECEIVING Power, RSRQ) measurement value, and the like.

For example, the terminal device may determine the candidate network device having the first priority as the target network device. Or the terminal device may determine the candidate network device including the first priority in the priority information as the target network device.

It will be appreciated that if there are no candidate network devices with a first priority, the terminal device may determine a network device with a second priority as the target network device, and so on.

In another possible implementation manner, the third message further includes slice information supported by at least one candidate network device, and the terminal device may determine the target network device from the candidate network devices according to the slice information supported by the at least one candidate network device.

For example, the terminal device may determine the target network device from the candidate network devices supporting at least one of the following slices: a source slice, a current slice, a slice to which the source slice can map, a slice to which the current slice can map.

S506, the terminal equipment accesses the target network equipment.

And the target network equipment provides slicing service for the terminal equipment according to the stored source slicing information.

Or the fourth message may be that the first network device transmits to the third network device, i.e. the first network device transmits the fourth message to the third network device after S504.

For details not disclosed in the present embodiment, please refer to the above embodiment, and the details are not repeated here.

In this embodiment, the first network device sends a first message to at least one second network device, where the first message includes source slice information; the second network device may store the source slice information, and send a response message corresponding to the first message, that is, a second message, to the first network device, where the second message includes the target slice information and/or slice information supported by the target network device; the first network equipment sends a third message to the terminal equipment, wherein the third message comprises target slice information and/or slice information supported by the target network equipment, and the third message also comprises priority information and/or slice information supported by at least one candidate network equipment; the terminal equipment can determine the target network equipment from at least one candidate network equipment according to the third message, and after the terminal equipment is accessed to the target network equipment, the target terminal equipment can provide corresponding slicing service for the terminal equipment and restore source slicing service subsequently, so that the QoS requirement of the user is ensured.

Fig. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a switching device according to a fourth embodiment of the present application. Referring to fig. 6, the switching device 60 includes: a transmitting module 601.

The sending module 601 is configured to send a first message, where the first message includes source slice information, and the source slice information is used to indicate source slice service information of a terminal device.

In one possible embodiment, the switching device 60 further comprises:

In one possible implementation, the sending module 601 is further configured to:

In one possible implementation, the third message further includes priority information.

The switching device 60 further includes:

In a possible implementation manner, the second message further includes slice information supported by the second network device.

In one possible implementation, the determining module is specifically configured to:

And determining at least one candidate network device from the at least one second network device according to the slice information and/or the target slice information supported by the second network device, and determining the priority information of the candidate network device.

Source slice information.

Current slice information.

First slice information.

In a possible embodiment, the first message further includes current slice information and/or a slice remapping rule, where the slice remapping rule is used to indicate a mapping relationship of the slices.

The device of the present embodiment may be used to execute any technical scheme of the switching method in the foregoing method embodiments, and the specific implementation manner and technical effects are similar, and are not repeated herein.

Fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a switching device according to a fifth embodiment of the present application. Referring to fig. 7, the switching device 70 includes: a receiving module 701.

The receiving module 701 is configured to receive a first message and/or a fifth message, where the first message and the fifth message each include source slice information, and the source slice information is used to indicate source slice service information of a terminal device.

In a possible implementation manner, the first message further comprises current slice information and/or slice remapping rules; and/or the number of the groups of groups,

The fifth message further includes current slice information and/or a slice remapping rule, where the slice remapping rule is used to indicate a mapping relationship of the slice.

In one possible embodiment, the switching device 70 further includes: and a processing module.

The processing module is used for:

And determining target slice information, wherein the target slice information is used for indicating slice information used in a switching process.

And sending a second message and/or a sixth message, wherein the second message comprises target slice information and/or slice information supported by target network equipment, and the sixth message comprises target slice information and/or slice information supported by target network equipment.

In one possible implementation, the processing module is specifically configured to:

In one possible embodiment, the switching device 70 further includes:

Fig. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of a switching device according to a sixth embodiment of the present application. Referring to fig. 8, the switching device 80 includes: a receiving module 801.

A receiving module 801, configured to receive a third message, where the third message includes target slice information and/or slice information supported by the target network device, the third message is used to indicate access to the target network device, and the target slice information is used to indicate slice information used in a handover procedure.

In a possible embodiment, the third message further comprises priority information for indicating a priority of the candidate network device.

In one possible embodiment, the switching device 80 further includes:

Fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of a switching device according to a seventh embodiment of the present application. Referring to fig. 9, the switching device 90 includes: a receiving module 901 and a transmitting module 902.

The receiving module 901 is configured to receive a first message, where the first message includes source slice information, and the source slice information is used to indicate source slice service information of a terminal device.

A sending module 902, configured to send a fifth message, where the fifth message includes source slice information.

In a possible embodiment, the first message further comprises current slice information and/or a slice remapping rule for indicating a mapping relation of the slices.

In one possible implementation, the receiving module is further configured to:

the sending module is further configured to:

In one possible implementation, the receiving module is further configured to:

and receiving a fourth message, wherein the fourth message comprises current slice information and/or changed slice information, and the fourth message is used for indicating that the slice information is changed.

The sending module is further configured to:

a seventh message is sent, the seventh message being for slice management.

Fig. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of a network device according to an eighth embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 10, the network device 100 may include: at least one processor 1001 and memory 1002.

Memory 1002 for storing programs. In particular, the program may include program code including computer-operating instructions.

The Memory 1002 may include random access Memory (Random Access Memory, RAM) and may also include Non-volatile Memory (Non-volatile Memory), such as at least one disk Memory.

The processor 1001 is configured to execute computer-executable instructions stored in the memory 1002 to implement the methods described in the foregoing method embodiments. The processor 1001 may be a central processing unit (Central Processing Unit, CPU), or an Application SPECIFIC INTEGRATED Circuit (ASIC), or one or more integrated circuits configured to implement embodiments of the present application.

Optionally, the network device 100 may further include: communication interface 1003. In a specific implementation, if the communication interface 1003, the memory 1002, and the processor 1001 are implemented independently, the communication interface 1003, the memory 1002, and the processor 1001 may be connected to each other through buses and perform communication with each other. The bus may be an industry standard architecture (Industry Standard Architecture, ISA) bus, an external device interconnect (PERIPHERAL COMPONENT, PCI) bus, or an extended industry standard architecture (Extended Industry Standard Architecture, EISA) bus, among others. Buses may be divided into address buses, data buses, control buses, etc., but do not represent only one bus or one type of bus.

Alternatively, in a specific implementation, if the communication interface 1003, the memory 1002, and the processor 1001 are implemented integrally on one chip, the communication interface 1003, the memory 1002, and the processor 1001 may complete communication through internal interfaces.

The network device 100 may be a chip, a chip module, an IDE, a base station, or the like.

The network device of the present embodiment may be used to execute the technical solutions of the foregoing method embodiments, and the specific implementation manner and the technical effects are similar, and are not repeated herein.

Fig. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of a network device according to a ninth embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 11, a network device 110 may include: at least one processor 1101 and a memory 1102.

A memory 1102 for storing programs. In particular, the program may include program code including computer-operating instructions.

The Memory 1102 may include random access Memory (Random Access Memory, RAM) and may also include Non-volatile Memory (Non-volatile Memory), such as at least one disk Memory.

The processor 1101 is configured to execute computer-executable instructions stored in the memory 1102 to implement the methods described in the foregoing method embodiments. The processor 1101 may be a central processing unit (Central Processing Unit, CPU), or an Application SPECIFIC INTEGRATED Circuit (ASIC), or one or more integrated circuits configured to implement embodiments of the present application.

Optionally, the network device 110 may further include: communication interface 1103. In a specific implementation, if the communication interface 1103, the memory 1102, and the processor 1101 are implemented independently, the communication interface 1103, the memory 1102, and the processor 1101 may be connected to each other and perform communication with each other through buses. The bus may be an industry standard architecture (Industry Standard Architecture, ISA) bus, an external device interconnect (PERIPHERAL COMPONENT, PCI) bus, or an extended industry standard architecture (Extended Industry Standard Architecture, EISA) bus, among others. Buses may be divided into address buses, data buses, control buses, etc., but do not represent only one bus or one type of bus.

Alternatively, in a specific implementation, if the communication interface 1103, the memory 1102, and the processor 1101 are implemented integrally on a single chip, the communication interface 1103, the memory 1102, and the processor 1101 may complete communication through internal interfaces.

The network device 110 may be a chip, a chip module, an IDE, a base station, or the like.

Fig. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of a terminal device according to a tenth embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 12, a terminal device 120 may include: at least one processor 1201 and memory 1202.

A memory 1202 for storing programs. In particular, the program may include program code including computer-operating instructions.

The Memory 1202 may include random access Memory (Random Access Memory, RAM) and may also include Non-volatile Memory (Non-volatile Memory), such as at least one disk Memory.

The processor 1201 is configured to execute computer-executable instructions stored in the memory 1202 to implement the methods described in the foregoing method embodiments. The processor 1201 may be a central processing unit (Central Processing Unit, CPU), or an Application SPECIFIC INTEGRATED Circuit (ASIC), or one or more integrated circuits configured to implement embodiments of the present application.

Optionally, the terminal device 120 may further include: a communication interface 1203. In a specific implementation, if the communication interface 1203, the memory 1202 and the processor 1201 are implemented independently, the communication interface 1203, the memory 1202 and the processor 1201 may be connected to each other by a bus and perform communication with each other. The bus may be an industry standard architecture (Industry Standard Architecture, ISA) bus, an external device interconnect (PERIPHERAL COMPONENT, PCI) bus, or an extended industry standard architecture (Extended Industry Standard Architecture, EISA) bus, among others. Buses may be divided into address buses, data buses, control buses, etc., but do not represent only one bus or one type of bus.

Alternatively, in a specific implementation, if the communication interface 1203, the memory 1202 and the processor 1201 are integrated on a chip, the communication interface 1203, the memory 1202 and the processor 1201 may complete communication through internal interfaces.

The terminal device 120 may be a chip, a chip module, an IDE, or the like.

The terminal device of the present embodiment may be used to execute the technical solutions of the foregoing method embodiments, and the specific implementation manner and the technical effects are similar, and are not repeated herein.

Fig. 13 is a schematic structural diagram of a network device according to an eleventh embodiment of the present application, where, as shown in fig. 13, a network device 130 may include: at least one processor 1301 and a memory 1302.

A memory 1302 for storing programs. In particular, the program may include program code including computer-operating instructions.

The Memory 1302 may include random access Memory (Random Access Memory, RAM) and may also include Non-volatile Memory (Non-volatile Memory), such as at least one disk Memory.

Processor 1301 is configured to execute computer-executable instructions stored in memory 1302 to implement the methods described in the foregoing method embodiments. Processor 1301 may be a central processing unit (Central Processing Unit, CPU), or an Application SPECIFIC INTEGRATED Circuit (ASIC), or one or more integrated circuits configured to implement embodiments of the present application.

Optionally, the network device 130 may further include: communication interface 1303. In a specific implementation, if the communication interface 1303, the memory 1302, and the processor 1301 are implemented independently, the communication interface 1303, the memory 1302, and the processor 1301 may be connected to each other through a bus and complete communication with each other. The bus may be an industry standard architecture (Industry Standard Architecture, ISA) bus, an external device interconnect (PERIPHERAL COMPONENT, PCI) bus, or an extended industry standard architecture (Extended Industry Standard Architecture, EISA) bus, among others. Buses may be divided into address buses, data buses, control buses, etc., but do not represent only one bus or one type of bus.

Alternatively, in a specific implementation, if the communication interface 1303, the memory 1302, and the processor 1301 are integrated on a chip, the communication interface 1303, the memory 1302, and the processor 1301 may complete communication through internal interfaces.

The network device 130 may be a chip, a chip module, an IDE, an AMF, or the like.

A twelfth embodiment of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium, which may include: various media capable of storing computer execution instructions, such as a usb disk, a removable hard disk, a Read-Only Memory (ROM), a RAM, a magnetic disk, or an optical disc, etc., specifically, the computer execution instructions are stored in the computer readable storage medium, and when the computer execution instructions are executed by a processor, the computer execution instructions are used to implement the technical schemes shown in the above method embodiments, and specific implementation manners and technical effects are similar, and are not repeated herein.

The thirteenth embodiment of the present application provides a computer program product, which includes a computer program, and when the computer program is executed by a processor, implements the technical solutions shown in the foregoing method embodiments, and specific implementation manners and technical effects are similar, and are not repeated herein.

The fourteenth embodiment of the application provides a chip, on which a computer program is stored, and when the computer program is executed by the chip, the method shown in the above embodiment of the method is implemented.

In one possible implementation, the chip may also be a chip module.

Other embodiments of the application will be apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of the specification and practice of the application disclosed herein. This application is intended to cover any variations, uses, or adaptations of the application following, in general, the principles of the application and including such departures from the present disclosure as come within known or customary practice within the art to which the application pertains. It is intended that the specification and examples be considered as exemplary only, with a true scope and spirit of the application being indicated by the following claims.

It is to be understood that the application is not limited to the precise arrangements and instrumentalities shown in the drawings, which have been described above, and that various modifications and changes may be effected without departing from the scope thereof. The scope of the application is limited only by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A method of handover, the method comprising:

2. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

3. The method as recited in claim 2, further comprising:

4. A method according to claim 3, wherein the third message further comprises priority information;

the method further comprises the steps of:

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the second message further includes slice information supported by a second network device.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein said determining priority information from said second message comprises:

7. The method of claim 6, wherein said determining priority information for the candidate network device comprises:

8. The method according to any of claims 1-7, wherein the target slice information is any of the following:

Source slice information;

Current slice information;

first slice information.

9. The method according to any of claims 1-7, wherein the first message further comprises indication information, the indication information being used to indicate that slice remapping is allowed to be performed.

10. The method according to any of claims 1-7, wherein the first message further comprises current slice information and/or a slice remapping rule, the slice remapping rule being for indicating a mapping relation of slices.

11. A method of handover, the method comprising:

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the first message further comprises current slice information and/or slice remapping rules; and/or the number of the groups of groups,

13. The method as recited in claim 12, further comprising:

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the determining target slice information comprises:

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the method further comprises:

16. A method of handover, comprising:

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the third message further comprises priority information indicating a priority of the candidate network device.

18. The method as recited in claim 17, further comprising:

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the third message further includes slice information supported by at least one candidate network device, the slice information supported by the candidate network device being used to determine the target network device.

20. A method of handover, comprising:

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the first message further comprises current slice information and/or a slice remapping rule, the slice remapping rule being for indicating a mapping relationship of slices.

22. The method as recited in claim 20, further comprising:

23. The method according to any one of claims 20-22, further comprising:

A seventh message is sent, the seventh message for slice management.

24. A switching device, comprising:

25. A switching device, comprising:

26. A switching device, comprising:

27. A switching device, comprising:

28. A network device, comprising: a processor, and a memory communicatively coupled to the processor;

The memory stores computer-executable instructions;

The processor executes computer-executable instructions stored in the memory to implement the handover method of any one of claims 1-10.

29. A network device, comprising: a processor, and a memory communicatively coupled to the processor;

The memory stores computer-executable instructions;

The processor executes computer-executable instructions stored in the memory to implement the handover method of any one of claims 11-15.

30. A terminal device, comprising: a processor, and a memory communicatively coupled to the processor;

The memory stores computer-executable instructions;

the processor executes computer-executable instructions stored in the memory to implement the handover method of any one of claims 16-19.

31. A network device, comprising: a processor, and a memory communicatively coupled to the processor;

The memory stores computer-executable instructions;

the processor executes computer-executable instructions stored in the memory to implement the handover method of any one of claims 20-23.

32. A computer readable storage medium having stored therein computer executable instructions which when executed by a processor are adapted to implement the handover method of any of claims 1-23.

33. A computer program product comprising a computer program which, when executed by a processor, implements the handover method of any of claims 1-23.