WO2018126462A1

WO2018126462A1 - Communication method, related device and system

Info

Publication number: WO2018126462A1
Application number: PCT/CN2017/070513
Authority: WO
Inventors: 董雪峰
Original assignee: 华为技术有限公司
Priority date: 2017-01-06
Filing date: 2017-01-06
Publication date: 2018-07-12
Also published as: CN110178433A; CN110178433B; CN113727455A; WO2018126547A1

Abstract

Disclosed are a communication method, a related device and a system. The method is applied to a dual-connection scenario, wherein a terminal respectively maintains a connection with a first base station and a second base station via a radio resource control link, the throughput of the first base station being higher than that of the second base station. The method comprises: the terminal obtains a first signal quality and a first bandwidth of the terminal in the first base station; when the first signal quality is higher than a preset second signal quality and the first bandwidth satisfies a requirement for bearing a service of the terminal, the terminal sends a link maintain command, the link maintain command being used for instructing the second base station to configure the radio resource control link between the terminal and the second base station to be in a dormant state. The present invention saves communication overheads between base stations and a core network.

Description

Communication method, related device and system

Technical field

The present invention relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a communication method, related device, and system.

Background technique

A double connection (Dual Connectivity, DC for short) in the communication technology is a user equipment (User Equipment, UE for short), which refers to a radio resource control (English: Radio Resource Control, RRC) connection state RRC_CONNECTED In the working mode, the UE needs to access a primary cell group (English: Master Cell Group, MCG for short) and a secondary cell group (English: Secondary Cell Group, SCG for short). If the base station (Evolved NodeB, eNB for short) in the Long Term Evolution (LTE) supports DC, the UE in the RRC_CONNECTED state may be configured to use the radio resources provided by two different eNBs, one as the primary base station ( The master eNodeB (MeNB) provides the MCG, and the secondary eNB (English: Secondary eNB, SeNB for short) provides the SCG. The two eNBs are connected by the X2 interface.

The bearer situation of each link between the UE, the MeNB, the SeNB, and the core network (English: Core Network, CN for short) is as shown in FIG. 1. In FIG. 1, the UE is in the link in the MCG, and the UE is in the SCG. The link between the link between the MeNB and the SeNB, the link between the MeNB and the CN, and the link between the SeNB and the CN can carry the control plane (English: control plane, CP: data) and the user plane. User plane, referred to as UP data, the line in Figure 1 represents the link, the larger ellipse indicates the range of the MCG, and the smaller ellipse indicates the range of the SCG. If the UE is in the RRC_CONNECTION state and the DC connection already exists, when the radio signal quality or the traffic bearer satisfies the DC exit condition, the network configures the UE to exit the DC mode (along with modifying the link between the UE and the eNB, and the eNB and the EPC). Between the links). If the UE is in the RRC_CONNECTION state and there is no DC connection, when the radio signal quality or traffic bearer satisfies the condition of DC entry, the network configures the UE to enter the DC (with the modification of the UE and the eNB) The link between, and the link between the eNB and the EPC).

However, after the fifth-generation mobile communication technology (English: 5th-Generation, 5G) network deployment, the MCG in the Tight interworking mode using the DC mode adopts the LTE technology, and the SCG adopts the 5G technology, which is adopted by the LTE technology and the 5G technology. The technology will vary in throughput and latency, causing the network to frequently switch to the DC state and exit the DC state. Switching to the DC state is accompanied by the establishment of the link, and exiting the DC state is accompanied by the logout of the link; The establishment or deregistration of the link in the MCG/SCG requires the interaction between the MeNB/SeNB and the CN. Therefore, when the 5G technology and the LTE technology are involved in the DC, the number of interaction signaling between the MeNB/SeNB and the CN is significantly improved. , greatly increased communication overhead.

Summary of the invention

The embodiment of the invention discloses a communication method, a related device and a system, which can save communication overhead between the base station and the core network.

In a first aspect, the embodiment of the present invention provides a communication method, where the method is applied to a dual connectivity scenario, in which the terminal maintains a connection with the first base station and the second base station by using a radio resource control link, and the The throughput of the first base station is higher than the throughput of the second base station, the method includes: the terminal acquiring the first signal quality and the first bandwidth of the terminal in the first base station; when the first signal quality is higher than the pre- When the second signal quality is set, and the first bandwidth meets the requirement of the service that carries the terminal, the terminal sends a link maintenance command, where the link maintenance command is used to instruct the second base station to connect the terminal to the second base station. The RRC link is configured as a dormant state.

By performing the above steps, if the first signal quality of the terminal in the dual connectivity DC scenario in the first base station is good enough, and the first bandwidth of the terminal in the first base station satisfies the requirement of the service carrying the terminal, then The terminal requests the second base station to configure the link between the terminal and the second base station to be in a dormant state, so that the terminal can transmit control plane data through the link between the terminal and the second base station. User plane data, without transmitting control plane data and user plane data through the link between the terminal and the first base station; since the base station configures the link to sleep state without canceling the link, it does not exist The second base station and the core network exchange signaling according to the link logout, which greatly saves the base. The cost of the station and the core network.

In conjunction with the first aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the second signal quality is a real-time signal quality of the terminal in the second base station, or a preset signal quality threshold.

With reference to the first aspect, or a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the terminal sends a link maintenance command, including: sending, by the terminal, the first base station The link maintenance command is configured to enable the first base station to send the link maintenance command to the second base station through an X2 interface; or the terminal sends the link maintenance command to the second base station.

With reference to the first aspect, or a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, or two possible implementation manners of the first aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the terminal sends a link After the command is maintained, the method further includes: acquiring, by the terminal, a third signal quality and a second bandwidth of the terminal in the first base station; when the third signal quality is lower than a preset fourth signal quality, or the second bandwidth is not When the requirement for the service of the terminal is met, the terminal sends a service start command, where the service start command is used to instruct the second base station to configure the radio resource control link of the terminal and the second base station to be in an active state.

By performing the above steps, if the third signal quality of the terminal in the dual-connected DC scenario in the second base station is not good enough, or the second bandwidth of the terminal in the second base station does not satisfy the service that carries the terminal. The request, the terminal requests the second base station to configure the link of the terminal in the second base station to be in an active state, and the process does not need to re-establish the link between the terminal and the second base station, so there is no new The establishment of the link causes the base station to exchange signaling with the core network, which further saves the overhead of the base station and the core network.

In a second aspect, the embodiment of the present invention provides a communication method, where the method is applied to a dual connectivity scenario, in which the terminal maintains a connection with a base station and a first base station through a radio resource control link, and the base station The throughput is higher than the throughput of the first base station. The base station here may also be referred to as a second base station. The method includes: the base station receives a link maintenance command generated by the terminal; and the base station maintains an instruction according to the link. The indication is that the terminal and the line resource control link of the base station are configured as a dormant state.

By performing the above steps, if the first signal quality of the terminal in the dual connectivity DC scenario in the first base station is good enough, and the first bandwidth of the terminal in the first base station satisfies the requirement of the service carrying the terminal, then The terminal requests the second base station to configure the link between the terminal and the second base station to be in a dormant state, so that the terminal can transmit control plane data through the link between the terminal and the second base station. User plane data, without transmitting control plane data and user plane data through the link between the terminal and the first base station; since the base station configures the link to sleep state without canceling the link, it does not exist The second base station exchanges signaling with the core network due to the logoff of the link, which greatly saves the overhead of the base station and the core network. The base station described herein refers to the second base station.

With reference to the second aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the base station receives the link maintenance command generated by the terminal, including:

Receiving, by the base station, a link maintenance command sent by the first base station, where the link maintenance command of the first base station is generated by the terminal and sent to the first base station; or the base station receives the link maintained by the terminal and sent by the terminal instruction.

With reference to the second aspect, or the first possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the base station, according to the indication of the link maintenance instruction, the terminal and the base station After the line resource control link is configured as the dormant state, the base station further includes: the base station receives the service start command; and the base station configures the line resource control link of the terminal and the base station to be active according to the indication of the service start command. State.

By performing the above steps, if the third signal quality of the terminal in the dual-connected DC scenario in the second base station is not good enough, or the second bandwidth of the terminal in the second base station does not satisfy the service that carries the terminal. The request, the terminal requests the second base station to configure the link of the terminal in the second base station to be in an active state, and the process does not need to re-establish the link between the terminal and the second base station, so there is no new The establishment of the link causes the base station to exchange signaling with the core network, which further saves the overhead of the base station and the core network. A base station as described herein refers to a second base station.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a terminal, where the terminal maintains a connection with a first base station and a second base station by using a RRC link, and the throughput of the first base station is higher than that of the second base station. Throughput, the terminal includes: a processor and a transmitter coupled to the processor, wherein: the processor is configured to: acquire a first signal quality and a first bandwidth of the terminal in the first base station; Transmitting a link maintenance command, where the first signal quality is higher than a preset second signal quality, and the first bandwidth satisfies a requirement of a service carrying the terminal, where the link maintenance command is used to indicate the first The second base station configures the radio resource control link of the terminal and the second base station to a dormant state.

By performing the above operation, if the first signal quality of the terminal in the dual connectivity DC scenario in the first base station is good enough, and the first bandwidth of the terminal in the first base station satisfies the requirement of the service carrying the terminal, then The terminal requests the second base station to configure the link between the terminal and the second base station to be in a dormant state, so that the terminal can transmit control plane data through the link between the terminal and the second base station. User plane data, without transmitting control plane data and user plane data through the link between the terminal and the first base station; since the base station configures the link to sleep state without canceling the link, it does not exist The second base station exchanges signaling with the core network due to the logoff of the link, which greatly saves the overhead of the base station and the core network.

With reference to the third aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the second signal quality is a real-time signal quality of the terminal in the second base station, or a preset signal quality threshold.

With the third aspect, or the first possible implementation manner of the third aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the transmitter sends a link maintenance command, specifically: sending the first base station The link maintenance command is configured to enable the first base station to send the link maintenance command to the second base station through an X2 interface; or send the link maintenance command to the second base station.

With reference to the third aspect, or the first possible implementation manner of the third aspect, or the second possible implementation manner of the third aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the transmitter sending chain After the path is maintained, the processor is further configured to: acquire a third signal quality and a second bandwidth of the terminal in the first base station; the transmitter is further configured to: when the third signal quality is lower than a preset And transmitting, by the service start command, the service start command, where the second base station is used to indicate the radio resource control link between the terminal and the second base station, where the second signal quality does not meet the requirement of the service that carries the terminal. Configured to be active state.

By performing the foregoing operations, the third signal quality of the terminal in the dual-connected DC scenario in the second base station is not good enough, or the second bandwidth of the terminal in the second base station does not satisfy the service that carries the terminal. The request, the terminal requests the second base station to configure the link of the terminal in the second base station to be in an active state, and the process does not need to re-establish the link between the terminal and the second base station, so there is no new The establishment of the link causes the base station to exchange signaling with the core network, which further saves the overhead of the base station and the core network.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a base station, which may also be referred to as a second base station, and the base station and the first base station respectively maintain a connection with the terminal through a RRC link, and the throughput of the first base station is high. For the throughput of the base station, the base station includes a processor and a receiver, wherein: the receiver is configured to: receive a link maintenance instruction generated by the terminal; the processor is configured to: according to the indication of the link maintenance instruction, The line resource control link of the terminal and the base station is configured as a dormant state.

By performing the above operation, if the first signal quality of the terminal in the dual-connected DC scenario in the first base station is sufficiently good, and the first bandwidth of the terminal in the first base station satisfies the requirement of the service carrying the terminal, then The terminal requests the second base station to configure the link between the terminal and the second base station to be in a dormant state, so that the terminal can transmit control plane data through the link between the terminal and the second base station. User plane data, without transmitting control plane data and user plane data through the link between the terminal and the first base station; since the base station configures the link to sleep state without canceling the link, it does not exist The second base station exchanges signaling with the core network due to the logoff of the link, which greatly saves the overhead of the base station and the core network.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the receiver receives a link maintenance command generated by the terminal, specifically, receiving a link maintenance command sent by the first base station, where the A link maintenance command of a base station is sent by the terminal and sent to the first base station; or the link maintenance command generated and transmitted by the terminal is received.

With reference to the fourth aspect, or the first possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the processor, according to the indication of the link maintenance instruction, the terminal and the base station After the line resource control link is configured as a dormant state, the receiver is also used to: The service start command is received; the processor is further configured to: configure the line resource control link of the terminal and the base station to be an active state according to the indication of the service start command.

In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a terminal, where the terminal maintains a connection with a first base station and a second base station by using a radio resource control link, and a throughput of the first base station is higher than a throughput of the second base station. The terminal includes a first acquiring unit and a first sending unit, where the first acquiring unit is configured to acquire a first signal quality and a first bandwidth of the terminal in the first base station; When the first signal quality is higher than the preset second signal quality, and the first bandwidth satisfies the requirement of the service that carries the terminal, the link maintenance command is used to indicate that the second base station is the terminal The radio resource control link with the second base station is configured as a dormant state.

By running the above unit, if the first signal quality of the terminal in the dual connectivity DC scenario in the first base station is good enough, and the first bandwidth of the terminal in the first base station satisfies the requirement of the service carrying the terminal, then The terminal requests the second base station to configure the link between the terminal and the second base station to be in a dormant state, so that the terminal can transmit control plane data through the link between the terminal and the second base station. User plane data, without transmitting control plane data and user plane data through the link between the terminal and the first base station; since the base station configures the link to sleep state without canceling the link, it does not exist The second base station exchanges signaling with the core network due to the logoff of the link, which greatly saves the overhead of the base station and the core network.

With reference to the fifth aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, the second signal quality is a real-time signal quality of the terminal in the second base station, or a preset signal quality threshold.

With reference to the fifth aspect, or a possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, the first sending unit sends a link maintenance command, specifically: A base station sends a link maintenance command to enable the first base station to send the link maintenance command to the second base station through an X2 interface; or send the link maintenance command to the second base station.

With reference to the fifth aspect, or a possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, or the two possible implementation manners of the fifth aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, the terminal further includes And a second obtaining unit, configured to acquire a third signal quality and a second bandwidth of the terminal in the first base station after the first sending unit sends a link maintenance command; a sending unit, configured to send a service start instruction, where the third signal quality is lower than a preset fourth signal quality, or the second bandwidth does not meet the requirement of the service that carries the terminal, where the service start command is used to indicate The second base station configures the radio resource control link of the terminal and the second base station to an active state.

By running the foregoing unit, if the third signal quality of the terminal in the dual-connected DC scenario in the second base station is not good enough, or the second bandwidth of the terminal in the second base station does not satisfy the service that carries the terminal The request, the terminal requests the second base station to configure the link of the terminal in the second base station to be in an active state, and the process does not need to re-establish the link between the terminal and the second base station, so there is no new The establishment of the link causes the base station to exchange signaling with the core network, which further saves the overhead of the base station and the core network.

In a sixth aspect, the embodiment of the present invention provides a base station, where the base station is also referred to as a second base station, and the base station and the first base station respectively maintain a connection with the terminal through a RRC link, and the first base station The throughput is higher than the throughput of the base station, the base station includes a processor and a receiver, the base station includes a first receiving unit and a first configuration unit, wherein the first receiving unit is configured to receive a link maintained by the terminal The first configuration unit is configured to configure, according to the indication of the link maintenance instruction, the line resource control link of the terminal and the base station to a dormant state.

By running the above unit, if the first signal quality of the terminal in the dual connectivity DC scenario in the first base station is good enough, and the first bandwidth of the terminal in the first base station satisfies the industry carrying the terminal The terminal requests the second base station to configure the link between the terminal and the second base station to be in a dormant state, so that the terminal can pass the link between the terminal and the second base station. Transmitting control plane data and user plane data without transmitting control plane data and user plane data through a link between the terminal and the first base station; since the base station configures the link to sleep state, the chain is not logged out Therefore, there is no interaction between the second base station and the core network due to the logout of the link, which greatly saves the overhead of the base station and the core network.

With reference to the sixth aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, the first receiving unit receives a link maintenance command that is generated by the terminal, specifically: receiving a link maintenance command sent by the first base station, where The link maintenance command of the first base station is generated by the terminal and sent to the first base station; or the link maintenance command generated and transmitted by the terminal is received.

With reference to the sixth aspect, or the first possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, the base station further includes a second receiving unit and a second configuration unit, where the The receiving unit is configured to: after the first configuration unit configures the line resource control link of the terminal and the base station to be in a dormant state according to the indication of the link maintenance instruction, receive a service start command; the second configuration unit And configured to configure the line resource control link of the terminal and the base station to be in an active state according to the instruction of the service start command.

In a seventh aspect, the embodiment of the present invention provides a communication system, where the communication system includes a terminal and a base station, where the terminal is the third aspect, or any possible implementation manner of the third aspect, or the fifth aspect, or the fifth The terminal described in any of the possible implementations of the aspect; the base station is the fourth aspect, or any possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, or the sixth aspect, or any possible implementation of the sixth aspect The base station described in the manner.

By implementing the embodiment of the present invention, if the first signal quality of the terminal in the dual-connected DC scenario is good enough in the first base station, and the first bandwidth of the terminal in the first base station meets the requirement of the service carrying the terminal Then, the terminal requests the second base station to configure the link between the terminal and the second base station to be in a dormant state, so that the terminal can transmit a control plane through the link between the terminal and the second base station. Data and user plane data, without transmitting control plane data and user plane data through a link between the terminal and the first base station; since the base station configures the link to sleep state without deregistering the link, There is no interaction between the second base station and the core network due to the logout of the link, which greatly saves the overhead of the base station and the core network. Optionally, if the third signal quality of the terminal in the dual-connected DC scenario is not good enough, or the second bandwidth of the terminal in the second base station does not meet the service requirement of the terminal Then, the terminal requests the second base station to configure the link of the terminal in the second base station to be in an active state, and the process does not need to re-establish the link between the terminal and the second base station, so there is no new link The establishment of the path causes the base station to exchange signaling with the core network, which further saves the overhead of the base station and the core network.

DRAWINGS

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention, the drawings to be used in the embodiments will be briefly described below.

1 is a schematic diagram of a scenario of a communication system in the prior art;

2 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

3 is a schematic diagram of a scenario of a communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

4 is a schematic flowchart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of interaction of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of interaction of still another communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a terminal according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of a base station according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of still another terminal according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of another base station according to an embodiment of the present invention.

detailed description

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

The terminal in the embodiment of the present invention may be a user equipment UE, for example, a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a notebook computer, a palmtop computer, a mobile internet device (English: mobile internet device, abbreviated as: MID), and a wearable device (such as a smart watch (such as The iWatch, etc.), the smart phone, the pedometer, etc., may also be other devices that can be accessed in the cellular mobile network. The subsequent description may be described by taking the user equipment UE as an example. The user equipment in the embodiment of the present invention may be connected to the network based on the dual connectivity DC technology, the dual connectivity technology involves the MCG and the SCG, the base station providing the MCG is referred to as the second base station, and the base station providing the SCG is referred to as the first base station. The MCG and the SCG in the embodiment of the present invention adopt different wireless communication technologies (may also be described as different wireless communication technologies used by the first base station and the second base station), and the throughput of the communication technology adopted by the SCG is higher than the MCG. The throughput of the adopted communication technology (which may also be described as the throughput of the first base station is higher than the throughput of the second base station), for example, 5G, fourth generation mobile communication technology (English: the 4th Generation mobile communication, referred to as : 4G), LTE, third-generation mobile communication technology (English: 3rd-Generation, referred to as: 3G), second-generation mobile communication technology specifications (English: 2-Generation wireless telephone technology, referred to as: 2G) are different communication Technology, in which the throughput is 5G, 4G, LTE, 3G, 2G in order from high to low. New communication technologies are also likely to be introduced in the future, and the throughput of new communication technologies is usually higher.

Referring to FIG. 2, FIG. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The communication system includes a core network CN, a UE, an LTE-based base station eNB, and a 5G-based base station gNB, where the core network CN can The 5G next-generation core network (English: Next Gen Core) can also be a 4G core network (English: Evolved Packet Core, EPC for short). The UE uses Tight Interworking based on dual-connected DC technology to access the network. The eNB provides the MCG for the UE, that is, the eNB here assumes the task of the MeNB in the background art, and the gNB provides the SCG for the UE, that is, the gNB here assumes the task of the SeNB in the background art, and it can be understood that The UE has a radio resource control link (ie, a radio resource control link between the UE and the second base station) in the MCG, and the UE has a radio resource control link in the SCG (ie, between the UE and the first base station) Radio resource control link), there is a radio resource control link between the eNB and the gNB, and the eNB and the CN There is a radio resource control link between the gNB and the CN, and a radio resource control link exists between the gNB and the CN. 3 is a schematic diagram of a corresponding scenario. The largest ellipse in FIG. 3 indicates the range of the MCG, and the second largest ellipse indicates the range of the SCG. The smallest ellipse indicates that the signal quality of the UE in the MCG is stronger than that in the SCG. In part, the connection between any two nodes indicates the link between the two nodes. These links can carry control plane (English: control plane, CP for short) data and user plane (English: user plane, abbreviation: UP) data, but under what conditions can carry control plane data and user plane data can be carried out Control, the embodiment of the present invention will focus on how to control the UE's link in the MCG (corresponding to the dotted line connecting the UE and the eNB in FIG. 3) to transmit data. The implementation of the communication system 20 can refer to the specific execution flow in the embodiment shown in FIG.

Referring to FIG. 4, FIG. 4 is a schematic flowchart diagram of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention, where the method includes but is not limited to the following steps.

Step S401: The terminal acquires the first signal quality and the first bandwidth of the first base station.

Specifically, the UE can detect the signal quality of the cell in which the UE resides in real time, so the UE can obtain the signal quality of the SCG in the SCG. Since the SCG is provided by the first base station, it can also be described as acquiring the UE. The signal quality in a base station, the currently acquired signal quality may be referred to as a first signal quality. The UE measures the signal strength of the cell in which the UE resides. It is not described here. It can be understood that the signal quality can be received by the reference signal (English: Reference Signal Receiving Power, RSRP for short). ), reference signal reception quality (English: ReferenceSignalReceivingQuality, referred to as: RSRQ), received signal strength indication (English: Received Signal Strength Indication, referred to as: RSSI) and other parameters to measure.

When the UE is connected to a certain cell, the bandwidth of the link of the UE in the cell is a certain value, and the UE can directly obtain the value. For example, the bandwidth sent by the cell can be used to obtain the bandwidth of the link. The bandwidth of the link may also be detected by itself, and the bandwidth of the currently acquired link may be referred to as a first bandwidth.

When the first signal quality is higher than the preset second signal quality, and the first bandwidth meets the requirement of the service that carries the terminal, step S402 may be performed, otherwise, the radio resource between the terminal and the second base station is reserved. The current state of the control link (ie, the service state) is unchanged. Optional, the second signal quality here The quantity may be the real-time signal quality of the terminal in the second base station (which may also be described as the real-time signal quality of the terminal in the SCG), or a preset signal quality threshold.

The service requirements here may include data transmission requirements. For example, the UE needs to download a high-definition video with a very large amount of data. At this time, the UE needs to receive more data in a unit time to ensure that the HD video is downloaded as soon as possible; The relatively large bandwidth of the UE receiving data facilitates the UE to receive the HD video in a shorter time, and the UE can determine the required bandwidth according to the size of the data that it is currently transmitting. If the first bandwidth is greater than or equal to the bandwidth required by the UE to transmit data, it indicates that the first bandwidth meets the requirement of the service that carries the terminal. For example, if the SCG can provide 10 megabits (M) for the UE and the UE actually needs 15 megabits (M), the SCG cannot meet the requirements of the service carrying the UE, if the SCG can The bandwidth provided for the UE is 10 megabits (M), and the bandwidth actually required by the UE is 5 megabits (M), so the SCG can meet the requirements of the service carrying the UE.

It should be noted that the sequence of operations for obtaining the first signal quality and the operation for acquiring the first bandwidth are not limited herein. In addition, the throughput of the SCG in which the UE is located is higher than the throughput of the MCG in which the UE is located. . For example, the SCG adopts 5G technology, and the MCG adopts LTE technology, so that the throughput of the SCG is higher than the throughput of the MCG.

Step S402: The UE sends a link maintenance command.

Specifically, the link maintenance command is used to trigger the second base station to configure the link of the UE in the MCG to a dormant state. In the embodiment of the present invention, the second base station may configure the link of the UE in the MCG to be in a different state according to the requirement of the UE, and the state of the link may be a dormant state (English: dormant state) or an active state ( English: active state), etc., where the active state refers to the state in which the link is transmitting traffic, and the dormant state refers to the state in which the link is in an inactive state, but is ready to transmit a new service; therefore, the UE can be It is also possible to configure the base station to make the link of the UE in the MCG in a dormant state, and when the link in the MCG is in a dormant state, the link may transmit information for maintaining the link uninterrupted. However, the user plane data may not be transmitted. Similarly, the UE (and possibly the base station) may be configured such that the UE's link in the MCG is in a dormant state, and the UE's link in the MCG is in an active state. When the link can Normally transfer various control plane data and user plane data.

It can be understood that the UE sends an instruction to the second base station to trigger the base station to configure the UE in the MCG as a dormant state, and the UE sends another command to the second base station to trigger the base station to The link of the UE in the MCG is configured to be in an active state. The instruction in the embodiment of the present invention that indicates that the link of the UE in the MCG is configured to be in a sleep state is a link maintenance command; The link configured as an active state is a service start command. Generally, when the UE sends a link maintenance command, the link of the UE in the MCG is not in a dormant state, and the link enters the dormant state after the base station configures according to the link maintenance command; the UE sends the service. When the command is started, the link of the UE in the MCG is not in an active state, and the link enters the active state after the base station performs configuration according to the service start command.

Step S403: The base station receives the link maintenance command.

Specifically, the base station is a base station that provides the MCG, that is, the second base station, and the base station receives and receives the link maintenance command to include at least two possibilities. The possibility is that after the UE sends the link maintenance command, the first base station receives The link maintains the command, and then the first base station forwards the link maintenance command to the base station, and accordingly, the base station receives the link maintenance command sent by the first base station; and secondly, the base station receives the sent by the UE. Link maintenance instructions.

Step S404: The base station configures the link of the UE in the MCG to be in a dormant state according to the link maintenance command.

Specifically, the base station configuring the UE in the MCG to be in a dormant state may be implemented by unilaterally setting some parameters for the base station, or may be implemented by the base station negotiating with the UE; when the base station confirms that the After the link in the MCG is configured to be in the dormant state, the UE may send a response response to the UE to notify that the link of the UE in the MCG is in a dormant state. Of course, the response may not be sent to the UE. After the link is configured to be in a dormant state, the UE's transmit power and received power on the link can be saved.

In an optional solution, steps S405-S408 may be performed after steps S401-S404, and steps S405-S408 are described as follows.

Step S405: The terminal acquires its third signal quality and the second bandwidth in the first base station.

Specifically, the manner in which the terminal acquires the third signal quality is the same as the manner in which the first signal quality is obtained, except that the acquisition timings of the two signal qualities are different, and the third signal quality is a link between the UE and the second base station. The quality of the signal acquired while in the sleep state. The manner in which the terminal acquires the second bandwidth is the same as the method of obtaining the first bandwidth, except that the acquisition timing of the two bandwidths is different, and the second bandwidth is the bandwidth acquired when the link between the UE and the second base station is in the dormant state. . Further, the embodiment of the present invention further determines whether the third signal quality is smaller than the fourth signal quality, and determines whether the second bandwidth meets the requirement of the service of the bearer terminal. Optionally, the fourth signal quality herein may be a real-time signal quality of the terminal in the second base station (which may also be described as a real-time signal quality of the terminal in the SCG), or a preset signal. The quality threshold, where the fourth signal quality and the previous second signal quality are both preset signal quality thresholds, the second signal quality and the fourth signal quality may or may not be equal.

If any of the following situations occurs, step S406 may be performed. Case 1: the UE determines that the third signal quality of the UE in the secondary cell group SCG is smaller than the fourth signal quality, and the second case: the UE determines the SCG. The requirements for the service carrying the UE are not met, and in the third case, both situation 1 and case 2 are established.

Step S406: The UE sends a service start command, where the service start command is used to trigger the second base station to configure the link of the UE in the MCG as an active state.

Step S407: The base station receives the service start instruction.

Specifically, since the UE is in the dual-connected DC scenario, the receiving, by the base station, the service start command includes at least two possibilities. The first possibility is that after the UE sends the service start command, the first base station receives the service start command. The first base station forwards the service start command to the base station (ie, the second base station), and correspondingly, the base station receives the service start command sent by the first base station; and secondly, the base station receives the service start command sent by the UE .

Step S408: The base station configures the link of the UE in the MCG as an active state according to the service start command.

Specifically, the base station configuring the link of the UE in the MCG to be in an active state may be implemented by unilaterally setting some parameters for the base station, or may be implemented by negotiating the base station with the UE; After the station confirms that the link of the UE in the MCG is configured to be in an active state, it may send a response response to the UE to notify that the link of the UE in the MCG is configured to be in an active state. The UE sends a response response. FIG. 5 is an interaction diagram of the above possibility one, and FIG. 6 is an interaction diagram of the above possibility 2.

In the method shown in FIG. 4, if the first signal quality of the terminal in the dual-connected DC scenario in the first base station is good enough, and the first bandwidth of the terminal in the first base station satisfies the service carrying the terminal. The request, the terminal requests the second base station to configure the link between the terminal and the second base station to be in a dormant state, so that the terminal can transmit through the link between the terminal and the second base station. Controlling surface data and user plane data without transmitting control plane data and user plane data through a link between the terminal and the first base station; since the base station configures the link to sleep state, the link is not logged out Therefore, there is no interaction between the second base station and the core network due to the logoff of the link, which greatly saves the overhead of the base station and the core network. Optionally, if the third signal quality of the terminal in the dual-connected DC scenario is not good enough, or the second bandwidth of the terminal in the second base station does not meet the service requirement of the terminal Then, the terminal requests the second base station to configure the link of the terminal in the second base station to be in an active state, and the process does not need to re-establish the link between the terminal and the second base station, so there is no new link The establishment of the path causes the base station to exchange signaling with the core network, which further saves the overhead of the base station and the core network.

The method of the embodiments of the present invention is described in detail above. In order to facilitate the implementation of the above embodiments of the embodiments of the present invention, correspondingly, the apparatus of the embodiments of the present invention is provided below.

Referring to FIG. 7, FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a terminal 70. The terminal 70 includes a processor 701 and a transmitter 702 coupled to the processor 701. The processor 701 and the transmitter 702 are connected to each other through a bus. .

The processor 701 may be one or more central processing units (English: Central Processing Unit, CPU for short). In the case that the processor 701 is a CPU, the CPU may be a single core CPU or a multi-core CPU. Transmitter 702 is configured to transmit a signal to transmit data, wherein:

The processor 701 is configured to: acquire a first signal quality and a first band of the terminal in the first base station The transmitter 702 is configured to: send a link maintenance command, where the first signal quality is higher than a preset second signal quality, and the first bandwidth meets a requirement of a service carrying the terminal, the chain The path maintenance command is used to instruct the second base station to configure the radio resource control link of the terminal and the second base station to a dormant state.

In an optional solution, the second signal quality is a real-time signal quality of the terminal in the second base station, or is a preset signal quality threshold.

In another optional solution, the transmitter sends a link maintenance command, specifically: sending a link maintenance command to the first base station, so that the first base station sends the link maintenance command to the first base station through the X2 interface. The second base station; or transmitting the link maintenance command to the second base station.

In still another optional solution, after the transmitter sends a link maintenance command, the processor is further configured to: acquire a third signal quality and a second bandwidth of the terminal in the first base station; And transmitting, when the third signal quality is lower than a preset fourth signal quality, or the second bandwidth does not meet the requirement of the service that carries the terminal, sending a service start instruction, where the service start command is used to indicate the second The base station configures the radio resource control link of the terminal and the second base station to an active state.

By performing the foregoing operations, the third signal quality of the terminal in the dual-connected DC scenario in the second base station is not good enough, or the second bandwidth of the terminal in the second base station does not satisfy the service that carries the terminal. The request, the terminal requests the second base station to configure the link of the terminal in the second base station to be in an active state, and the process does not need to re-establish the link between the terminal and the second base station, There is also no interaction between the base station and the core network due to the establishment of the new link, which further saves the overhead of the base station and the core network.

It should be noted that the specific implementation of each operation in FIG. 7 may correspond to the corresponding description of the method embodiment shown in FIG. 4.

In the terminal 70 shown in FIG. 7, if the first signal quality of the terminal in the dual connectivity DC scenario in the first base station is good enough, and the first bandwidth of the terminal in the first base station satisfies the terminal carrying the terminal The demand of the service, the terminal requests the second base station to configure the link between the terminal and the second base station to be in a dormant state, so that the terminal can pass the link between the terminal and the second base station. Transmitting control plane data and user plane data without transmitting control plane data and user plane data through a link between the terminal and the first base station; since the base station configures the link to sleep state, the chain is not logged out Therefore, there is no interaction between the second base station and the core network due to the logout of the link, which greatly saves the overhead of the base station and the core network.

Referring to FIG. 8, FIG. 8 is a base station 80 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The base station 80 may also be referred to as a second base station, and the base station 80 and the first base station respectively maintain a connection with the terminal through a radio resource control link. And the throughput of the first base station is higher than the throughput of the base station, and the base station 80 includes a processor 801 and a receiver 802 coupled to the processor 801.

The processor 801 may be one or more central processing units (English: Central Processing Unit, CPU for short). In the case that the processor 801 is a CPU, the CPU may be a single core CPU or a multi-core CPU. Receiver 802 is configured to receive signals for transmission of data, wherein:

The receiver 802 is configured to receive a link maintenance command generated by the terminal, and the processor 801 is configured to: configure the line resource control link of the terminal and the base station to be in a sleep state according to the indication of the link maintenance instruction. Dormant state.

By performing the above operation, if the first signal quality of the terminal in the dual-connected DC scenario in the first base station is sufficiently good, and the first bandwidth of the terminal in the first base station satisfies the requirement of the service carrying the terminal, then The terminal requests the second base station to configure the link between the terminal and the second base station to be in a dormant state, so that the terminal can transmit control through the link between the terminal and the second base station. Face data and user plane data, without transmitting control plane data and user plane data through a link between the terminal and the first base station; since the base station configures the link to sleep state, the link is not logged out Therefore, there is no interaction between the second base station and the core network due to the logoff of the link, which greatly saves the overhead of the base station and the core network.

In an optional solution, the receiver receives the link maintenance command generated by the terminal, specifically: receiving a link maintenance command sent by the first base station, where the link maintenance command of the first base station is used by the terminal And sending to the first base station; or receiving the link maintenance command generated and sent by the terminal.

In still another optional solution, after the processor configures the line resource control link of the terminal and the base station to be in a dormant state according to the indication of the link maintenance instruction, the processor is further configured to: receive The service startup command is further configured to: configure the line resource control link of the terminal and the base station to be an active state according to the indication of the service start instruction.

It should be noted that the specific implementation of each operation in the embodiment shown in FIG. 8 may correspond to the related description of the method embodiment shown in FIG. 4.

In the base station 80 shown in FIG. 8, if the first signal quality of the terminal in the dual-connected DC scenario in the first base station is good enough, and the first bandwidth of the terminal in the first base station satisfies the terminal carrying the terminal The demand of the service, the terminal requests the second base station to configure the link between the terminal and the second base station to be in a dormant state, so that the terminal can pass the link between the terminal and the second base station. Transmitting control plane data and user plane data without transmitting control plane data and user plane data through a link between the terminal and the first base station; since the base station configures the link to sleep state, the chain is not logged out Therefore, there is no interaction between the second base station and the core network due to the logout of the link, which greatly saves the overhead of the base station and the core network.

Referring to FIG. 9, FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of a terminal 90 according to an embodiment of the present invention. Maintaining a connection with the first base station and the second base station by using a radio resource control link, and the throughput of the first base station is higher than the throughput of the second base station, where the terminal includes the first obtaining unit 901 and the first sending The unit 902 is configured to acquire a first signal quality and a first bandwidth of the terminal in the first base station, where the first sending unit 902 is configured to use the first signal quality to be higher than a preset And transmitting, by the second base station, the radio resource control of the second base station and the second base station, when the first bandwidth meets the requirement of the service of the terminal, and sends a link maintenance command The link is configured as a dormant state.

In another optional solution, the first sending unit 902 sends a link maintenance command, specifically: sending a link maintenance command to the first base station, so that the first base station connects the link through the X2 interface. The maintenance command is sent to the second base station; or the link maintenance command is sent to the second base station.

In another optional solution, the terminal further includes a second obtaining unit and a second sending unit, where the second obtaining unit is configured to acquire, after the first sending unit sends 902 a link maintenance command, a third signal quality and a second bandwidth in the first base station; the second sending unit is configured to: when the third signal quality is lower than a preset fourth signal quality, or the second bandwidth does not meet the terminal carrying the terminal When the service is required, the service start command is sent to instruct the second base station to configure the radio resource control link of the terminal and the second base station to be in an active state.

By running the above unit, if the terminal in the dual connectivity DC scenario is in the second base station If the third signal quality is not good enough, or the second bandwidth of the terminal in the second base station does not meet the requirement of the service carrying the terminal, the terminal requests the second base station to link the terminal in the second base station. The configuration is activated. This process does not need to re-establish the link between the terminal and the second base station. Therefore, there is no interaction between the base station and the core network due to the establishment of the new link, which further saves the base station and the core. The overhead of the network.

It should be noted that the specific implementation of each unit in FIG. 9 may correspond to the corresponding description of the method embodiment shown in FIG. 4.

In the terminal 90 shown in FIG. 9, if the first signal quality of the terminal in the dual-connected DC scenario in the first base station is good enough, and the first bandwidth of the terminal in the first base station satisfies the terminal carrying the terminal The demand of the service, the terminal requests the second base station to configure the link between the terminal and the second base station to be in a dormant state, so that the terminal can pass the link between the terminal and the second base station. Transmitting control plane data and user plane data without transmitting control plane data and user plane data through a link between the terminal and the first base station; since the base station configures the link to sleep state, the chain is not logged out Therefore, there is no interaction between the second base station and the core network due to the logout of the link, which greatly saves the overhead of the base station and the core network.

Referring to FIG. 10, FIG. 10 is a base station 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The base station 100 may also be referred to as a second base station, and the base station 100 and the first base station respectively maintain a connection with the terminal through a radio resource control link. And the throughput of the first base station is higher than the throughput of the base station 100, the base station includes a processor and a receiver, and the base station 100 includes a first receiving unit 1001 and a first configuration unit 1002, wherein the first receiving The unit 1001 is configured to receive a link maintenance command generated by the terminal, where the first configuration unit 1002 is configured to configure, according to the indication of the link maintenance instruction, the line resource control link of the terminal and the base station as a dormant state. .

By running the above unit, if the first signal quality of the terminal in the dual connectivity DC scenario in the first base station is good enough, and the first bandwidth of the terminal in the first base station satisfies the requirement of the service carrying the terminal, then The terminal requests the second base station to configure the link between the terminal and the second base station to be in a dormant state, so that the terminal can transmit control through the link between the terminal and the second base station. Face data and user plane data, without transmitting control plane data and user plane data through a link between the terminal and the first base station; since the base station configures the link to sleep state, the link is not logged out Therefore, there is no interaction between the second base station and the core network due to the logoff of the link, which greatly saves the overhead of the base station and the core network.

In an optional solution, the first receiving unit 1001 receives the link maintenance command generated by the terminal, specifically: receiving a link maintenance command sent by the first base station, and the link maintenance command of the first base station Generated by the terminal and sent to the first base station; or received the link maintenance command generated and transmitted by the terminal.

In still another optional solution, the base station further includes a second receiving unit and a second configuration unit, where the second receiving unit is configured to: at the first configuration unit, according to the indication of the link maintenance instruction, After the line resource control link of the terminal and the base station is configured as a dormant state, the service start command is received; the second configuration unit is configured to control the link between the terminal and the base station according to the indication of the service start command. Configured to be active state.

It should be noted that the specific implementation of each unit in the embodiment shown in FIG. 10 may refer to the corresponding description of the method embodiment shown in FIG. 4, and the base station in FIG. 10 is equivalent to the second base station described in FIG.

In the base station 100 shown in FIG. 10, if the first signal quality of the terminal in the dual-connected DC scenario in the first base station is good enough, and the first bandwidth of the terminal in the first base station satisfies the terminal carrying the terminal. The demand of the service, the terminal requests the second base station to configure the link between the terminal and the second base station to be in a dormant state, so that the terminal can pass the link between the terminal and the second base station. Transmitting control plane data and user plane data without transmitting control plane data and user plane data through a link between the terminal and the first base station; since the base station configures the link to sleep state, the chain is not logged out Road, so there is no interaction between the second base station and the core network due to the logout of the link, It saves the overhead of the base station and the core network.

It should be noted that the terminal in the communication system 20 of the embodiment of the present invention may be the terminal 70 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 7 or the terminal 90 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 9; the base station in the communication system 20 may be a figure. The base station 80 in the embodiment shown in Fig. 8 or the base station 100 in the embodiment shown in Fig. 10.

In summary, if the first signal quality of the terminal in the dual-connected DC scenario is good enough in the first base station, and the first bandwidth of the terminal in the first base station satisfies the requirement of the service carrying the terminal, then The terminal requests the second base station to configure the link between the terminal and the second base station to be in a dormant state, so that the terminal can transmit control plane data through the link between the terminal and the second base station. User plane data, without transmitting control plane data and user plane data through the link between the terminal and the first base station; since the base station configures the link to sleep state without canceling the link, it does not exist The second base station exchanges signaling with the core network due to the logoff of the link, which greatly saves the overhead of the base station and the core network. Optionally, if the third signal quality of the terminal in the dual-connected DC scenario is not good enough, or the second bandwidth of the terminal in the second base station does not meet the service requirement of the terminal Then, the terminal requests the second base station to configure the link of the terminal in the second base station to be in an active state, and the process does not need to re-establish the link between the terminal and the second base station, so there is no new link The establishment of the path causes the base station to exchange signaling with the core network, which further saves the overhead of the base station and the core network.

A person skilled in the art can understand that all or part of the process of implementing the above embodiment method can be completed by a computer program to instruct related hardware, and the program can be stored in a computer readable storage medium. The flow of an embodiment of the methods as described above may be included. The foregoing storage medium includes various media that can store program codes, such as a ROM, a RAM, a magnetic disk, or an optical disk.

Claims

A communication method, characterized in that it is applied to a dual connectivity scenario in which a terminal maintains a connection with a first base station and a second base station through a radio resource control link, and the throughput of the first base station The amount is higher than the throughput of the second base station, and the method includes:

Obtaining, by the terminal, a first signal quality and a first bandwidth of the terminal in the first base station;

When the first signal quality is higher than a preset second signal quality, and the first bandwidth satisfies a requirement of a service that carries the terminal, the terminal sends a link maintenance command, where the link maintenance command is used. And instructing the second base station to configure the radio resource control link of the terminal and the second base station to a dormant state.
The method according to claim 1, wherein the second signal quality is a real-time signal quality of the terminal in the second base station, or is a preset signal quality threshold.
The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the terminal sends a link maintenance command, including:

Transmitting, by the terminal, a link maintenance instruction to the first base station, to enable the first base station to send the link maintenance command to the second base station by using an X2 interface; or the terminal to the second base station Sending the link maintenance command.
The method according to any one of claims 1-3, wherein after the terminal sends the link maintenance command, the method further includes:

Obtaining, by the terminal, a third signal quality and a second bandwidth of the terminal in the first base station;

When the third signal quality is lower than a preset fourth signal quality, or the second bandwidth does not meet the requirement of the service carrying the terminal, the terminal sends a service start instruction, where the service start instruction is used Instructing the second base station to configure the radio resource control link of the terminal and the second base station to be in an active state.
A communication method is applied to a dual connectivity scenario, in which, in the dual connectivity scenario, a terminal maintains a connection with a base station and a first base station through a RRC link, and the throughput of the base station is higher than The throughput of the first base station, the method includes:

The base station receives a link maintenance command generated by the terminal;

And the base station configures, according to the indication of the link maintenance instruction, a line resource control link of the terminal and the base station to a dormant state.
The method according to claim 5, wherein the base station receives a link maintenance command generated by the terminal, including:

Receiving, by the base station, a link maintenance command sent by the first base station, where the link maintenance command of the first base station is generated by the terminal and sent to the first base station; or the base station receiving is generated by the terminal And transmitting the link maintenance instruction.
The method according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the base station configures the line resource control link of the terminal and the base station to a dormant state after the dormant state according to the indication of the link maintenance command. Also includes:

Receiving, by the base station, a service start instruction;

The base station configures the line resource control link of the terminal and the base station to be in an active state according to the indication of the service start command.
A terminal, wherein the terminal maintains a connection with a first base station and a second base station by using a radio resource control link, and a throughput of the first base station is higher than a throughput of the second base station, where The terminal includes a processor and a transmitter coupled to the processor, wherein:

The processor is configured to: acquire a first signal quality and a first bandwidth of the terminal in the first base station;

The transmitter is configured to: at the first signal quality is higher than a preset second signal quality, and Transmitting a link maintenance command, where the first bandwidth meets the requirement of the service of the terminal, the link maintenance command is used to instruct the second base station to control the radio resource of the terminal and the second base station The link is configured as a dormant state.
The terminal according to claim 8, wherein the second signal quality is a real-time signal quality of the terminal in the second base station, or is a preset signal quality threshold.
The terminal according to claim 8 or 9, wherein the transmitter sends a link maintenance command, specifically:

Sending a link maintenance command to the first base station, so that the first base station sends the link maintenance command to the second base station through an X2 interface; or sending the link maintenance to the second base station instruction.
The terminal according to any one of claims 8 to 10, wherein after the transmitter transmits a link maintenance command,

The processor is further configured to: acquire a third signal quality and a second bandwidth of the terminal in the first base station;

The transmitter is further configured to: when the third signal quality is lower than a preset fourth signal quality, or the second bandwidth does not meet the requirement of the service that carries the terminal, send a service start instruction, where The service initiation command is used to instruct the second base station to configure the radio resource control link of the terminal and the second base station to be in an active state.
A base station, wherein the base station and the first base station are respectively connected to the terminal through a RRC link, and the throughput of the first base station is higher than the throughput of the base station, and the base station includes processing And receiver, where:

The receiver is configured to: receive a link maintenance instruction generated by the terminal;

The processor is configured to: according to the indication of the link maintenance instruction, the terminal and the base station The line resource control link is configured as a dormant state.
The base station according to claim 12, wherein the receiver receives a link maintenance command generated by the terminal, specifically:

Receiving a link maintenance command sent by the first base station, the link maintenance command of the first base station is sent by the terminal and sent to the first base station; or receiving the chain generated and sent by the terminal The road maintains instructions.
The base station according to claim 12 or 13, wherein the processor configures the line resource control link of the terminal and the base station to be in a dormant state after the dormant state according to the indication of the link maintenance command ,

The receiver is further configured to: receive a service start instruction;

The processor is further configured to: configure, according to the indication of the service start instruction, a line resource control link of the terminal and the base station as an active state.
A communication system, characterized in that the communication system comprises a terminal and a base station:

The terminal is the terminal according to any one of claims 8 to 11;

The base station is the base station according to any one of claims 12 to 14.