CN118104302A

CN118104302A - Frequency band switching method, device and storage medium

Info

Publication number: CN118104302A
Application number: CN202280003754.5A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 郭胜祥
Original assignee: Beijing Xiaomi Mobile Software Co Ltd
Current assignee: Beijing Xiaomi Mobile Software Co Ltd
Priority date: 2022-09-26
Filing date: 2022-09-26
Publication date: 2024-05-28
Also published as: WO2024065089A1

Abstract

The application discloses a frequency band switching method, a frequency band switching device and a storage medium, and relates to the field of mobile communication. The method comprises the following steps: and the terminal determines a switching mode of the frequency band according to the priority of at least one frequency band supported by the terminal. The application provides a scheme for determining the switching mode of the frequency band according to the priority of the frequency band, and the frequency band can be switched according to the priority of the frequency band, so that the dynamic switching of the terminal is realized, and the energy consumption of the terminal for switching the frequency band is reduced.

Description

Frequency band switching method, device and storage medium

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of mobile communications, and in particular, to a method and apparatus for switching frequency bands, and a storage medium.

Background

A scheme is provided in a mobile communication system in which a terminal can perform uplink transmission through a frequency band (band). At present, the terminal can switch the uplink antenna, that is, switch the frequency band pointed by the uplink antenna, and if the terminal supports different numbers of frequency bands, how to switch the frequency bands becomes a problem to be solved.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the application provides a frequency band switching method, a frequency band switching device and a storage medium, which realize dynamic switching of a terminal and reduce energy consumption of the terminal for frequency band switching. The technical scheme is as follows:

According to an aspect of the present application, there is provided a frequency band switching method, the method being performed by a terminal, the method comprising:

And determining a switching mode of the frequency bands according to the priority of at least one frequency band supported by the terminal.

According to another aspect of the present application, there is provided a method of band switching, the method being performed by a network device, the method comprising:

And determining the priority of at least one frequency band supported by the terminal, wherein the priority of the at least one frequency band is used for determining the switching mode of the frequency band by the terminal.

According to another aspect of the present application, there is provided a frequency band switching apparatus, the apparatus comprising:

and the processing module is used for determining a switching mode of the frequency bands according to the priority of at least one frequency band supported by the terminal.

The processing module is used for determining the priority of at least one frequency band supported by the terminal, and the priority of the at least one frequency band is used for determining the switching mode of the frequency band by the terminal.

According to another aspect of the present application, there is provided a terminal including: a processor; a transceiver coupled to the processor; a memory for storing executable instructions of the processor; wherein the processor is configured to load and execute executable instructions to implement the band switching method as described above.

According to another aspect of the present application, there is provided a network device comprising: a processor; a transceiver coupled to the processor; a memory for storing executable instructions of the processor; wherein the processor is configured to load and execute executable instructions to implement the band switching method as described above.

According to another aspect of the present application, there is provided a communication system including a terminal for implementing the band switching method as set forth in the above aspect and a network device for implementing the band switching method as set forth in the above aspect.

According to another aspect of the present application, there is provided a computer-readable storage medium having stored therein executable program code loaded and executed by a processor to implement the band switching method of the above aspect.

According to another aspect of the present application there is provided a chip comprising programmable logic and/or program instructions for implementing the frequency band switching method of the above aspect when the chip is run on a terminal or network device.

According to another aspect of the present application there is provided a computer program product for implementing the frequency band switching method of the above aspects when the computer program product is executed by a processor of a terminal or network device.

The application provides a scheme for determining the switching mode of the frequency band according to the priority of the frequency band, and the frequency band can be switched according to the priority of the frequency band, so that the dynamic switching of the terminal is realized, and the energy consumption of the terminal for switching the frequency band is reduced.

Drawings

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

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

fig. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a frequency band switching method according to an exemplary embodiment of the present application;

fig. 3 is a flowchart of a frequency band indication method according to an exemplary embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 4 illustrates a flow chart of a capability indication method provided by an exemplary embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 shows a block diagram of a frequency band switching device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present application;

Fig. 6 shows a block diagram of another band switching device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present application;

fig. 7 is a block diagram of a frequency band indicating device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 8 illustrates a block diagram of another band indicating device provided by an exemplary embodiment of the present application;

Fig. 9 shows a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

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

Reference will now be made in detail to exemplary embodiments, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. The following description, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, refers to the same or similar elements in different drawings, 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 terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the application. As used in this specification 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 herein to describe various information, these information should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one type of information from another. For example, first information may also be referred to as second information, and similarly, second information may also be referred to as first information, without departing from the scope of the application. Depending on the context, for example, the word "if" as used herein may be interpreted as "at … …" or "at … …" or "in response to a determination.

It should be noted that, the information (including but not limited to user equipment information, user personal information, etc.), data (including but not limited to data for analysis, stored data, presented data, etc.), and signals related to the present application are all authorized by the user or are fully authorized by the parties, and the collection, use, and processing of the related data is required to comply with the relevant laws and regulations and standards of the relevant countries and regions.

First, terms related to the present application will be described.

Band (band): band refers to the frequency range. The frequency bands may have identifications, and frequency ranges corresponding to the frequency bands of different identifications are different. For example, the frequency bands include band1, band22, band72, and so on, each band corresponding to a frequency range.

Frequency band switching: the terminal supports at least two uplink antennas and supports at least one frequency band, each uplink antenna being capable of pointing to one frequency band, and one frequency band being pointed at most by two uplink antennas. Wherein, the pointing means that the terminal can send uplink data to the pointed frequency band through the uplink antenna. And the frequency band switching refers to that one uplink antenna used by the terminal is switched from pointing to one wave band to another wave band.

Priority level: refers to the priority corresponding to each band. The priority corresponding to each band is used for indicating whether the handover can be performed between the bands.

In some embodiments, the priorities include a high priority and a low priority, i.e., for a band, either the high priority or the low priority.

Next, an application scenario of the present application will be described:

fig. 1 shows a block diagram of a communication system provided by an exemplary embodiment of the present application, which may include: a terminal 10 and a network device 20.

The number of terminals 10 is typically plural and one or more terminals 10 may be distributed within a cell managed by each network device 20. The terminal 10 may include various handheld devices, vehicle mount devices, wearable devices, computing devices, or other processing devices connected to a wireless modem, as well as various forms of User Equipment (UE), mobile Station (MS), and the like, having wireless communication capabilities. For convenience of description, in the embodiment of the present application, the above-mentioned devices are collectively referred to as a terminal.

Network device 20 is a means deployed in an access network to provide wireless communication functionality for terminal 10. For convenience of description, the above-described devices for providing the wireless communication function for the terminal 10 are collectively referred to as a network device in the embodiments of the present application. A connection may be established between the network device 20 and the terminal 10 over an air interface so that communication, including interaction of signaling and data, may take place over the connection. The number of network devices 20 may be plural, and two adjacent network devices 20 may communicate with each other by wired or wireless means. The terminal 10 may perform beam report transmission between different network devices 20, i.e. establish a connection with different network devices 20.

The network device 20 may include various forms of macro base stations, micro base stations, relay stations, access points, and the like. The names of network device-capable devices may vary in systems employing different Radio access technologies, such as in 5G NR (New Radio) systems, referred to as gNodeB or gNB. As communication technology evolves, the name "network device" may change.

The "5G NR system" in the embodiment of the present application may also be referred to as a 5G system or an NR system, but the meaning thereof will be understood by those skilled in the art. The technical scheme described by the embodiment of the application can be applied to a 5G NR system and also can be applied to a subsequent evolution system of the 5G NR system.

Fig. 2 is a flowchart of a frequency band switching method according to an exemplary embodiment of the present application, which may be exemplarily applied to the terminal shown in fig. 1, and includes at least some of the following contents:

step 201: and the terminal determines a switching mode of the frequency band according to the priority of at least one frequency band supported by the terminal.

In the embodiment of the application, the terminal can acquire at least one frequency band supported by the terminal, and the terminal can also determine the priority of each frequency band according to the supported at least one frequency band, wherein the priority of the frequency band is used for indicating whether the frequency bands can be switched, so that the terminal can determine the switching mode of the frequency band according to the priority of the supported at least one frequency band, and further switch the frequency bands based on the switching mode.

The switching mode refers to a mode of whether switching is supported between at least two bands. For example, the bands 1 and2 may be switched with each other, or other bands may be switched with each other, and the embodiment of the present application is not limited to the switching manner.

The embodiment of the application is described by taking a switching mode of determining the frequency band by the terminal according to the priority of the frequency band supported by the terminal as an example. In another embodiment, the network device also determines the priority of the frequency band supported by the terminal, so that the network device and the terminal both determine the priority of the frequency band supported by the terminal, and further determine the switching mode of the frequency band.

In the embodiment of the application, the network equipment determines the priority of at least one frequency band supported by the terminal, and the priority of the at least one frequency band is used for the terminal to determine the switching mode of the frequency band.

The network device may learn the priority of at least one frequency band supported by the terminal, and determine whether the frequency bands can be switched based on the priority of the at least one frequency band. The handover method refers to a method of whether handover is supported between at least two bands. For example, the bands 1 and2 may be switched with each other, or other bands may be switched with each other, and the embodiment of the present application is not limited to the switching manner.

The embodiment shown in fig. 2 illustrates how a terminal may determine a handover mode according to the priority of a frequency band, and how to configure the priority of the frequency band is described below.

First kind: the network device configures the priority of the frequency band for the terminal.

Fig. 3 is a flowchart of a frequency band indication method according to an exemplary embodiment of the present application, which may be applied to a terminal and a network device as shown in fig. 1, where the method includes at least some of the following contents:

Step 301: the network device sends priority indication signaling to the terminal, where the priority indication signaling is used to indicate the priority of at least one frequency band.

Step 302: the terminal receives the priority indication signaling sent by the network equipment.

In the embodiment of the application, the network equipment can determine the priority of each frequency band in at least one frequency band supported by the terminal, then send the priority indication signaling to the terminal, the priority of at least one frequency band can be indicated for the terminal through the priority indication signaling, and the terminal can determine the priority of each frequency band supported by the terminal after receiving the priority indication signaling.

In some embodiments, the priority indication signaling includes a first number of bits, each bit of the first number of bits being used to indicate a priority of a corresponding frequency band.

Wherein the first number is agreed upon by a communication protocol or set by a network device, and embodiments of the present application are not limited. For example, the first number is 4, 6, or other value.

In the embodiment of the present application, the priority indication signaling includes a first number of bits, where each bit corresponds to a priority of a frequency band, that is, the priority indication signaling indicates the priorities of a plurality of frequency bands through a plurality of bits.

For example, the frequency bands supported by the terminal include 4 frequency bands, and then the priority indication signaling can indicate the priority of the 4 frequency bands through 4 bits, and the 4 bits are in one-to-one correspondence with the 4 frequency bands. If the 4 frequency bands supported by the terminal include frequency band 1, frequency band 2, frequency band 3 and frequency band 4, the priority indication signaling is indicated by 4 bits xxxxxx, wherein the first x corresponds to frequency band 1, the second x corresponds to frequency band 2, the third x corresponds to frequency band 3, and the fourth x corresponds to frequency band 4.

In some embodiments, the priorities of the frequency bands include a low priority and a high priority. Each bit may indicate a low priority and a high priority by 0 and1, respectively. For example, 0 indicates a low priority, 1 indicates a high priority, or 0 indicates a high priority, and1 indicates a low priority.

If 0 indicates low priority and 1 indicates high priority, the priority indication signaling includes 4 bits, 0011 respectively, indicating that band 1 and band 2 are low priority and band 3 and band 4 are high priority.

Alternatively, the first number of bits in the present application is represented by means of a bitmap (bit map). The bitmap includes a first number of bits.

In some embodiments, the priority indication signalling may comprise a first number of bits which is greater than a second number of frequency bands supported by the terminal, in which case the terminal needs to determine which bits are valid.

Optionally, in a case that the second number of frequency bands supported by the terminal is smaller than the first number, the high order bits of the second number of bits in the first number indicate the priority of the corresponding frequency band.

Wherein the second number of upper bits refers to the first second number of bits of the first number of bits. For example, the first number of bits is xyzmnl and the second number is 4, then the second number of high order bits is xyzm.

Optionally, in a case that the second number of frequency bands supported by the terminal is smaller than the first number, the low order bits of the second number in the first number of bits indicate the priority of the corresponding frequency band.

Wherein the second number of low order bits refers to a second number of bits after the first number of bits. For example, the first number of bits is xyzmnl and the second number is 4, then the second number of high order bits is zmnl.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the priority indication signaling includes a first number of bits, where each bit indicates a priority of a corresponding frequency band. In yet another embodiment, the priority indication signaling may also indicate the priorities of all frequency bands by including a third number of bits.

The priority indication signaling comprises a third number of bits, and code points corresponding to the third number of bits are used for indicating priorities of all frequency bands.

In the embodiment of the present application, the third number of bits may indicate different code points, where different code points correspond to different priorities, and the priorities corresponding to the code points indicated by the third number of bits are applicable to all frequency bands supported by the terminal.

In some embodiments, the third number has a value of1, that is to say the priority indication signaling indicates the priority of all frequency bands by 1 bit. For example, if the code point indicated by the third number of bits is 0, it indicates that the priorities of all the frequency bands are low, and if the code point indicated by the third number of bits is 1, it indicates that the priorities of all the frequency bands are high. Or if the code point indicated by the third number of bits is 0, it indicates that the priority of all the frequency bands is high priority, and if the code point indicated by the third number of bits is 1, it indicates that the priority of all the frequency bands is low priority.

Second kind: the priority of the frequency band is determined by default.

In the embodiment of the present application, if the priority indication information sent by the network device is invalid or the priority of the frequency band is not configured, the terminal defaults to the priority of at least one frequency band.

The priority of the default at least one frequency band is agreed by a communication protocol or specified in other manners, which is not limited by the embodiment of the present application.

Optionally, in the case that the priority indication signaling is invalid or not configured, at least one frequency band is defaulted to be low priority.

Optionally, in the case that the priority indication signaling is invalid or not configured, at least one frequency band is defaulted to be high priority.

In some embodiments, the priority indication signaling invalidation includes all bits in the priority indication signaling invalidation or a portion of bits in the priority indication signaling invalidation.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the form of the priority indication signaling includes at least one of the following: RRC (Radio Resource Control ) signaling, MAC CE (MEDIA ACCESS Control Control Element, medium access control element), DCI (Downlink Control Information ) signaling. Wherein the RRC signaling is semi-static signaling. The DCI signaling is dynamic signaling.

That is, in the embodiment of the present application, the priority indication signaling is RRC signaling, or the priority indication signaling is MAC CE, or the priority indication signaling is DCI signaling, or a combination of at least two signaling, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present application.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the priority of at least one frequency band supported by the network device for configuring the terminal through the priority indication signaling is taken as an example for illustration. In another embodiment, the terminal is required to report the frequency band supported by the terminal, so that the network device configures the priority according to the frequency band reported by the terminal.

In some embodiments, the terminal sends capability information to the network device, where the capability information is used to indicate at least one frequency band supported by the terminal, and after the network device receives the capability information, the network device can determine at least one frequency band supported by the terminal according to the capability information.

For example, the terminal may report a pair of frequency bands to the network device, that is, report two frequency bands supported by itself to the network device. Or the terminal may report 3 frequency bands to the network device, or the terminal may report 4 frequency bands to the network device.

It should be noted that, the steps performed by the terminal in the embodiments of the present application may separately form a new embodiment, and the steps performed by the network device may also separately form a new embodiment.

In the scheme provided by the embodiment of the application, the network equipment configures the priority for at least one frequency band supported by the terminal through different forms of priority configuration signaling, so that the terminal can determine the switching mode based on the priority of the at least one frequency band, the dynamic switching of the terminal is realized, the switching mode of the frequency band is reduced by setting the priority, and the energy consumption of the terminal for switching the frequency band is reduced.

In the embodiment of the application, the terminal can report at least one frequency band supported by the terminal through the capability information so as to facilitate the network equipment to determine the capability information of the terminal.

Fig. 4 is a flowchart of a capability indicating method according to an exemplary embodiment of the present application, which may be exemplarily applied to a terminal and a network device as shown in fig. 1, where the method includes at least some of the following:

step 401: the terminal transmits capability information to the network device, the capability information being used to indicate at least one frequency band supported by the terminal.

Step 402: the network device receives capability information sent by the terminal.

In the embodiment of the application, the terminal sends the capability information to the network device, and the capability information is used for indicating at least one frequency band supported by the terminal, so that the network device can determine the at least one frequency band supported by the terminal according to the capability information after receiving the capability information.

In some embodiments, the terminal may also indicate the priority of at least one frequency band through the transmitted capability information.

In the embodiment of the application, the terminal determines the priority of at least one frequency band supported by the terminal, and the priority of the at least one frequency band supported by the terminal is carried in the reported capability information, so that the terminal can report the priority of the at least one frequency band to the network equipment, and the network equipment can determine the frequency band switching executed by the terminal subsequently.

Optionally, the capability information indicates an index identifier, where the index identifier has a correspondence with at least one frequency band supported by the terminal and a priority of each frequency band.

In the embodiment of the application, the terminal stores the index identifier, at least one frequency band and the corresponding relation of the priority of each frequency band in the at least one frequency band, and the at least one frequency band corresponding to the index identifier and the priority of each frequency band can be indicated through the capability information.

The correspondence between the index identifier and at least one frequency band supported by the terminal and the priority of each frequency band is agreed by a communication protocol, or configured by network equipment, or configured by the terminal, which is not limited by the embodiment of the present application.

In some embodiments, the index identifier, at least one frequency band, and the corresponding relation of the priority of each frequency band in the at least one frequency band are stored in a corresponding relation table, and the at least one frequency band supported by the terminal and the priority corresponding to each frequency band can be determined by querying the table.

For example, referring to table 1, 8 sets of correspondence are included in table 1, where "L" represents a low priority and "H" represents a high priority.

TABLE 1

Index identification

Frequency band

Priority level

NR_n3-n77-n78_1	n3，n77，n78	H，L，L
NR_n3-n77-n78_2	n3，n77，n78	L，H，L
NR_n3-n77-n78_3	n3，n77，n78	L，L，H
NR_n3-n77-n78_4	n3，n77，n78	H，H，L
NR_n3-n77-n78_5	n3，n77，n78	L，H，H
NR_n3-n77-n78_6	n3，n77，n78	H，H，H
NR_n3-n77-n78_7	n3，n77，n78	L，L，L

For example, if the index is identified as nr_n3-n77-n78_5, it indicates that the frequency bands supported by the terminal are n3, n77, and n78, and the corresponding priorities are low priority, high priority, and high priority, respectively. Or if the index mark is NR_n3-n77-n78_7, the frequency band supported by the terminal is indicated to be n3, n77 and n78, and the corresponding priorities are low priority, low priority and low priority respectively.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the priority of at least one frequency band supported by the terminal through the reporting of the capability information is described as an example. In another embodiment, the terminal does not indicate the priority of the at least one frequency band through the capability information, and determines the priority of the at least one frequency band by default.

In some embodiments, the capability information does not indicate a priority of the at least one frequency band, the at least one frequency band is defaulted to be low priority.

In other embodiments, the capability information does not indicate a priority of the at least one frequency band, the at least one frequency band is defaulted to be high priority.

In the scheme provided by the embodiment of the application, the terminal can indicate the priority of at least one frequency band through the capability information reported to the network equipment, the scheme for indicating the priority of the frequency band is provided, the accuracy of the priority of the indicated frequency band is ensured, the terminal is further ensured to determine the switching mode based on the priority of the at least one frequency band, the dynamic switching of the terminal is realized, the switching mode of the frequency band is reduced by setting the priority, and the energy consumption of the terminal for switching the frequency band is reduced.

The embodiment shown in fig. 2 is a detailed description of the switching manner that the terminal can determine according to the priority of the frequency band.

In the embodiment of the present application, the switching manner includes any one of the following:

(1) Inter-switching is supported between frequency bands of the same priority.

In the embodiment of the application, if the priorities of the frequency bands are the same, the frequency bands support the mutual switching. For example, if the priorities of the frequency band 1 and the frequency band 2 are both low, the frequency band 1 and the frequency band 2 can be switched. If the terminal supports 4 frequency bands, namely, switching of the frequency band 1, the frequency band 2, the frequency band 3 and the frequency band 4, and the frequency band 1 and the frequency band 2 are of low priority, and the frequency band 3 and the frequency band 4 are of high priority, the terminal supports the mutual switching between the frequency band 1 and the frequency band 2, and the terminal supports the mutual switching between the frequency band 3 and the frequency band 4.

(2) The frequency bands with different priorities support mutual switching, and the frequency bands with the same priority do not support mutual switching.

In the embodiment of the application, if the priorities of the frequency bands are different from each other, the frequency bands support the mutual switching, and if the priorities of the frequency bands are the same, the frequency bands do not support the mutual switching.

For example, if band 1 is high priority and band 2 is low priority, then band 1 and band 2 may be switched to each other. If the frequency band 1 and the frequency band 2 are both high priority, the mutual switching is not supported between the frequency band 1 and the frequency band 2, if the terminal supports 4 frequency bands, namely the switching of the frequency band 1, the frequency band 2, the frequency band 3 and the frequency band 4 is respectively carried out, the frequency band 1 and the frequency band 2 are low priority, the frequency band 3 and the frequency band 4 are high priority, the mutual switching is supported between the frequency band 1 and the frequency band 3 or the frequency band 4, and the mutual switching is supported between the frequency band 2 and the frequency band 3 or the frequency band 4.

(3) The low priority frequency band supports switching to the high priority frequency band, and the high priority frequency band does not support switching to the low priority frequency band.

For example, if band 1 is high priority and band 2 is low priority, band 2 may be switched to band 1 without allowing band 1 to be switched to band 2. If the terminal supports 4 frequency bands, namely, switching of the frequency band 1, the frequency band 2, the frequency band 3 and the frequency band 4, and the frequency band 1 and the frequency band 2 are of low priority and the frequency band 3 and the frequency band 4 are of high priority, the frequency band 1 and the frequency band 2 support switching to the frequency band 3 or the frequency band 4.

(4) The high priority frequency band supports switching to the low priority frequency band, and the low priority frequency band does not support switching to the high priority frequency band.

For example, if band 1 is high priority and band 2 is low priority, band 1 may be switched to band 2 without allowing band 2 to be switched to band 1. If the terminal supports 4 frequency bands, namely, switching of the frequency band 1, the frequency band 2, the frequency band 3 and the frequency band 4, and the frequency band 1 and the frequency band 2 are of low priority and the frequency band 3 and the frequency band 4 are of high priority, the frequency band 3 and the frequency band 4 support switching to the frequency band 1 or the frequency band 2.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the frequency bands are taken as an example for illustration, and in another embodiment, each frequency band includes at least one carrier, and the priorities of the carriers belonging to the same frequency band are the same. And for the priority configuration related to the frequency band in the application, the scheme for determining the switching mode based on the priority of the frequency band can be applied to the carrier. The carrier according to the present application will be described below by way of example.

In the embodiment of the present application, the scheme of configuring the priority of the bearer may refer to the scheme of configuring the priority of the frequency band by the network device through the priority indication signaling in the above embodiment. Or see the scheme that the terminal configures the priority of the frequency band by itself in the above embodiment. Or after determining the priority of the frequency band, determining the priority of the carrier belonging to the frequency band according to the priority of the frequency band, that is to say, determining the priority of the frequency band as the priority of the carrier included in the frequency band.

In addition, the application also provides a scheme for determining the switching mode according to the priority of the carrier. In the embodiment of the present application, the switching manner includes any one of the following:

(1) Inter-handover is supported between bearers of the same priority.

In the embodiment of the application, if the priorities of the plurality of carriers are the same, the plurality of carriers support mutual switching. For example, if the priorities of the bearers 1 and 2 are both low, the bearers 1 and 2 can be switched to each other. If the terminal supports 4 bearers, namely, the bearer 1, the bearer 2, the bearer 3 and the bearer 4 are switched, and the bearer 1 and the bearer 2 are low priority, and the bearer 3 and the bearer 4 are high priority, the bearer 1 and the bearer 2 support the mutual switching, and the bearer 3 and the bearer 4 support the mutual switching.

(2) Mutual switching is supported between carriers of different priorities and not supported between carriers of the same priority.

In the embodiment of the application, if the priorities of the plurality of carriers are different from each other, the plurality of carriers support the mutual switching, and if the priorities of the plurality of carriers are the same, the plurality of carriers do not support the mutual switching.

For example, if the carrier 1 is of high priority and the carrier 2 is of low priority, the carriers 1 and 2 may be switched to each other. If the carriers 1 and 2 are both high priority, the mutual switching is not supported between the carriers 1 and 2, if the terminal supports 4 carriers, namely, the switching of the carriers 1,2, 3 and 4 is respectively supported between the carriers 1 and 2, and the carriers 1 and 2 are low priority, and the carriers 3 and 4 are high priority, the mutual switching is supported between the carriers 1 and 3 or 4, and the mutual switching is supported between the carriers 2 and 3 or 4.

(3) The low priority bearers support switching to the high priority bearers and the high priority bearers do not support switching to the low priority bearers.

For example, if bearer 1 is high priority and bearer 2 is low priority, bearer 2 may switch to bearer 1 without allowing bearer 1 to switch to bearer 2. If the terminal supports 4 bearers, namely, the bearer 1, the bearer 2, the bearer 3 and the bearer 4 are switched, and the bearer 1 and the bearer 2 are low priority, and the bearer 3 and the bearer 4 are high priority, the bearer 1 and the bearer 2 support switching to the bearer 3 or the bearer 4.

(4) The high priority bearers support switching to the low priority bearers and the low priority bearers do not support switching to the high priority bearers.

For example, if bearer 1 is high priority and bearer 2 is low priority, bearer 1 may switch to bearer 2 without allowing bearer 2 to switch to bearer 1. If the terminal supports 4 bearers, namely, the handover of the bearer 1, the bearer 2, the bearer 3 and the bearer 4, and the bearers 1 and 2 are low priority and the bearers 3 and 4 are high priority, the bearers 3 and 4 support the handover to the bearer 1 or the bearer 2.

It should be noted that the above embodiments may be split into new embodiments or combined with other embodiments to form new embodiments, and the combination of the embodiments is not limited by the present application.

Fig. 5 shows a block diagram of a frequency band switching device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present application, referring to fig. 5, the device includes:

And the processing module 501 is configured to determine a switching manner of the frequency bands according to the priority of at least one frequency band supported by the terminal.

In some embodiments, referring to fig. 6, the apparatus further comprises:

A receiving module 502, configured to receive a priority indication signaling sent by a network device, where the priority indication signaling is used to indicate a priority of the at least one frequency band.

In some embodiments, in a case where the second number of frequency bands supported by the terminal is smaller than the first number, the high order bits of the second number of bits in the first number indicate the priority of the corresponding frequency band; or in the case that the second number of frequency bands supported by the terminal is smaller than the first number, the low-order bits of the second number in the first number indicate the priority of the corresponding frequency band.

In some embodiments, the priority indication signaling includes a third number of bits, where a code point corresponding to the third number of bits is used to indicate priorities of all frequency bands.

In some embodiments, defaulting the at least one frequency band to a low priority if the priority indication signaling is invalid or not configured; or defaulting the at least one frequency band to a high priority if the priority indication signaling is not valid.

In some embodiments, the form of priority indication signaling includes at least one of: RRC signaling, MAC CE, DCI signaling.

In some embodiments, referring to fig. 6, the apparatus further comprises:

a sending module 503, configured to send capability information to a network device, where the capability information is used to indicate at least one frequency band supported by the terminal.

In some embodiments, the capability information is further for indicating a priority of the at least one frequency band.

In some embodiments, the capability information is further used to indicate an index identifier, where the index identifier has a correspondence with the at least one frequency band supported by the terminal and a priority of each frequency band.

In some embodiments, the switching manner includes any one of the following:

The frequency bands with the same priority support mutual switching;

The frequency bands with different priorities support mutual switching, and the frequency bands with the same priority do not support mutual switching;

The low-priority frequency band supports switching to the high-priority frequency band, and the high-priority frequency band does not support switching to the low-priority frequency band;

the high priority frequency band supports switching to the low priority frequency band, and the low priority frequency band does not support switching to the high priority frequency band.

In some embodiments, each of the frequency bands includes at least one bearer, and the bearers belonging to the same frequency band have the same priority.

It should be noted that, in the apparatus provided in the foregoing embodiment, when implementing the functions thereof, only the division of the foregoing functional modules is used as an example, in practical application, the foregoing functional allocation may be implemented by different functional modules, that is, the internal structure of the device is divided into different functional modules, so as to implement all or part of the functions described above. In addition, the apparatus and the method embodiments provided in the foregoing embodiments belong to the same concept, and specific implementation processes of the apparatus and the method embodiments are detailed in the method embodiments and are not repeated herein.

Fig. 7 shows a block diagram of a frequency band switching device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present application, referring to fig. 7, the device includes:

A processing module 701, configured to determine a priority of at least one frequency band supported by a terminal, where the priority of the at least one frequency band is used for the terminal to determine a switching manner of the frequency band.

In some embodiments, referring to fig. 8, the apparatus further comprises:

A sending module 702, configured to send a priority indication signaling to a terminal, where the priority indication signaling is used to indicate a priority of at least one frequency band.

In some embodiments, referring to fig. 8, the apparatus further comprises:

and a receiving module 703, configured to receive capability information sent by the terminal, where the capability information is used to indicate at least one frequency band supported by the terminal.

In some embodiments, the switching manner includes any one of the following:

The frequency bands with the same priority support mutual switching;

Fig. 9 shows a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present application, including: a processor 901, a receiver 902, a transmitter 903, a memory 904, and a bus 905.

The processor 901 includes one or more processing cores, and the processor 901 executes various functional applications and information processing by running software programs and modules.

The receiver 902 and the transmitter 903 may be implemented as one communication component, which may be a communication chip.

The memory 904 is coupled to the processor 901 via a bus 905.

The memory 904 may be used for storing at least one program code for execution by the processor 901 for performing the various steps in the method embodiments described above.

Furthermore, the communication device may be a terminal or a network device. The memory 904 may be implemented by any type of volatile or nonvolatile memory device, including but not limited to: magnetic or optical disks, electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), static Random Access Memory (SRAM), read-only memory (ROM), magnetic memory, flash memory, programmable read-only memory (PROM).

In an exemplary embodiment, there is also provided a computer readable storage medium having stored therein executable program code loaded and executed by a processor to implement the band switching method performed by a communication device provided by the above respective method embodiments.

In an exemplary embodiment, a chip is provided, which includes programmable logic circuits and/or program instructions for implementing the frequency band switching method as provided by the various method embodiments when the chip is run on a terminal or a network device.

In an exemplary embodiment, a communication system is provided, where the communication system includes a terminal for implementing the frequency band switching method described above, and a network device for implementing the frequency band switching method described above.

In an exemplary embodiment, a computer program product is provided for implementing the frequency band switching method provided by the above respective method embodiments, when said computer program product is executed by a processor of a terminal or network device.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that all or part of the steps for implementing the above embodiments may be implemented by hardware, or may be implemented by a program for instructing relevant hardware, where the program may be stored in a computer readable storage medium, and the storage medium may be a read-only memory, a magnetic disk or an optical disk, etc.

The foregoing description of the preferred embodiments of the present application is not intended to limit the application, but rather, the application is to be construed as limited to the appended claims.

Claims

A method for switching a frequency band, the method being performed by a terminal, the method comprising:

And determining a switching mode of the frequency bands according to the priority of at least one frequency band supported by the terminal.
The method according to claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

And receiving priority indication signaling sent by the network equipment, wherein the priority indication signaling is used for indicating the priority of the at least one frequency band.
The method of claim 2, wherein the priority indication signaling comprises a first number of bits, each bit of the first number of bits being used to indicate a priority of a corresponding frequency band.
A method according to claim 3, characterized in that in case the second number of frequency bands supported by the terminal is smaller than the first number, the higher order bits of the second number of bits in the first number indicate the priority of the corresponding frequency band; or in the case that the second number of frequency bands supported by the terminal is smaller than the first number, the low-order bits of the second number in the first number indicate the priority of the corresponding frequency band.
The method of claim 2, wherein the priority indication signaling comprises a third number of bits, and wherein code points corresponding to the third number of bits are used to indicate priorities of all frequency bands.
The method according to claim 2, wherein the at least one frequency band is defaulted to a low priority if the priority indication signaling is invalid or not configured; or defaulting the at least one frequency band to a high priority if the priority indication signaling is not valid.
The method according to any of claims 2 to 6, wherein the form of the priority indication signalling comprises at least one of: radio resource control, RRC, signaling, medium access control, MAC CE, downlink control information, DCI, signaling.
The method according to claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

and sending capability information to network equipment, wherein the capability information is used for indicating at least one frequency band supported by the terminal.
The method of claim 8, wherein the capability information is further used to indicate a priority of the at least one frequency band.
The method of claim 9, wherein the capability information is further used to indicate an index identifier, the index identifier having a correspondence with the at least one frequency band supported by the terminal and a priority of each frequency band.
The method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein the switching means comprises any one of the following:

The frequency bands with the same priority support mutual switching;

The frequency bands with different priorities support mutual switching, and the frequency bands with the same priority do not support mutual switching;

The low-priority frequency band supports switching to the high-priority frequency band, and the high-priority frequency band does not support switching to the low-priority frequency band;

the high priority frequency band supports switching to the low priority frequency band, and the low priority frequency band does not support switching to the high priority frequency band.
A method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein each of said frequency bands comprises at least one bearer, the priorities of the bearers belonging to the same frequency band being the same.
A method of band switching, the method being performed by a network device, the method comprising:

And determining the priority of at least one frequency band supported by the terminal, wherein the priority of the at least one frequency band is used for determining the switching mode of the frequency band by the terminal.
The method of claim 13, wherein the method further comprises:

And sending priority indication signaling to the terminal, wherein the priority indication signaling is used for indicating the priority of the at least one frequency band.
The method of claim 14, wherein the priority indication signaling comprises a first number of bits, each bit of the first number of bits being used to indicate a priority of a corresponding frequency band.
The method according to claim 15, wherein in case the second number of frequency bands supported by the terminal is smaller than the first number, the higher order bits of the second number of bits in the first number indicate the priority of the corresponding frequency band; or in the case that the second number of frequency bands supported by the terminal is smaller than the first number, the low-order bits of the second number in the first number indicate the priority of the corresponding frequency band.
The method of claim 14, wherein the priority indication signaling comprises a third number of bits, and wherein code points corresponding to the third number of bits are used to indicate priorities of all frequency bands.
The method of claim 14, wherein the at least one frequency band is defaulted to a low priority if the priority indication signaling is invalid or not configured; or defaulting the at least one frequency band to a high priority if the priority indication signaling is not valid.
The method according to any of claims 14 to 18, wherein the form of the priority indication signalling comprises at least one of: RRC signaling, MAC CE, DCI signaling.
The method of claim 13, wherein the method further comprises:

and receiving capability information sent by the terminal, wherein the capability information is used for indicating at least one frequency band supported by the terminal.
The method of claim 20, wherein the capability information is further used to indicate a priority of the at least one frequency band.
The method of claim 21, wherein the capability information is further used to indicate an index identifier, the index identifier having a correspondence with the at least one frequency band supported by the terminal and a priority of each frequency band.
The method according to any one of claims 13 to 22, wherein the switching means comprises any one of:

The frequency bands with the same priority support mutual switching;

The frequency bands with different priorities support mutual switching, and the frequency bands with the same priority do not support mutual switching;

The low-priority frequency band supports switching to the high-priority frequency band, and the high-priority frequency band does not support switching to the low-priority frequency band;

the high priority frequency band supports switching to the low priority frequency band, and the low priority frequency band does not support switching to the high priority frequency band.
A method according to any one of claims 13 to 23, wherein each of said frequency bands comprises at least one bearer, the priorities of the bearers belonging to the same frequency band being the same.
A frequency band switching device, the device comprising:

and the processing module is used for determining a switching mode of the frequency bands according to the priority of at least one frequency band supported by the terminal.
A frequency band switching device, the device comprising:

The processing module is used for determining the priority of at least one frequency band supported by the terminal, and the priority of the at least one frequency band is used for determining the switching mode of the frequency band by the terminal.
A terminal, the terminal comprising:

A processor;

a transceiver coupled to the processor;

Wherein the processor is configured to load and execute executable instructions to implement the band switching method of any of claims 1 to 12.
A network device, the network device comprising:

A processor;

a transceiver coupled to the processor;

wherein the processor is configured to load and execute executable instructions to implement the band switching method of any of claims 13 to 24.
A communication system, characterized in that the communication system comprises a terminal for implementing the frequency band switching method according to any of claims 1 to 12 and a network device for implementing the frequency band switching method according to any of claims 13 to 24.
A computer readable storage medium having stored therein executable program code loaded and executed by a processor to implement the band switching method of any of claims 1 to 24.