WO2018126547A1

WO2018126547A1 - Communication method, related device and system

Info

Publication number: WO2018126547A1
Application number: PCT/CN2017/079017
Authority: WO
Inventors: 董雪峰
Original assignee: 华为技术有限公司
Priority date: 2017-01-06
Filing date: 2017-03-31
Publication date: 2018-07-12
Also published as: CN113727455A; CN110178433B; CN110178433A; WO2018126462A1

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 communication connection with a first base station of a network side via a first radio resource link and a second base station of the network side via a second radio resource 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; 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 to the network side, the link maintain command being used for instructing the second base station to configure the second radio resource link to be in a dormant state or a light connection 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

Dual connectivity in the communication technology (English: Dual Connectivity, DC for short) is a kind of work of User Equipment (UE) in the RRC_CONNECTED of Radio Resource Control (RRC). In the 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 (along with modifying the link between the UE and the eNB, and between the eNB and the EPC). Link).

However, after the fifth-generation mobile communication technology (English: 5th-Generation, 5G) network is deployed, the MCG in the Tight interworking mode adopts 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 UE is at the MCG. The establishment or deregistration of the link in the /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 communication connection with the first base station on the network side through the first radio resource link, and Maintaining a communication connection with the second base station on the network side through the second radio resource link, where the throughput of the first base station is higher than the first The throughput of the second base station, the method includes: the terminal acquiring the first signal quality and the first bandwidth, wherein the first signal quality characterizes the current received signal quality of the terminal in the cell of the first base station, The first bandwidth represents a current bandwidth of the first radio resource link; when 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 terminal sends a link maintenance command to the network side, where the link maintenance command is used to instruct the second base station to configure the second radio resource link to be in a dormant state or a lightly connected state.

By performing the above steps, if the first signal quality of the terminal in the dual connectivity DC scenario in the cell of the first base station is good enough, and the first bandwidth of the first radio resource link satisfies the requirement of the service carrying the terminal, then The terminal requests the second base station (also referred to as a "base station" to distinguish it from the "first base station"), and configures the second radio resource link to be in a dormant state or a lightly connected state, so that the terminal can pass the The first radio resource link transmits control plane data and user plane data, and does not transmit control plane data and user plane data through the second radio resource link; since the base station configures the second radio resource link to a dormant state or The second radio resource link is not logged off, so there is no interaction between the second base station and the core network due to deregistration of the second radio resource link, which greatly saves the second base station and the core network. s expenses.

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

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, where the third signal quality characterizes a current received signal quality of the terminal in a cell of the first base station, the second bandwidth Determining a current bandwidth of the first radio resource link; when the third signal quality is lower than a preset fourth signal quality, or the second bandwidth does not meet the requirement of a service carrying the terminal, the terminal is to the network The side sends a service start command, where the service start command is used to instruct the second base station to configure the second radio resource link to be in an active state.

After the foregoing steps are performed, if the third signal quality of the terminal in the dual-connected DC scenario in the cell of the first base station is not good enough, or the first radio resource link does not meet the requirement of the service carrying the terminal, then the The terminal requests the second base station to configure the second radio resource link to be in an active state, and the process does not need to re-establish a new radio resource link, so there is no interaction between the second base station and the core network due to the newly established radio resource link. Therefore, the overhead of the second base station and the core network is further saved.

With reference to the first aspect or any one of the possible implementation manners of the first aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in the dormant state, the terminal and the second base station are not There is an air traffic channel and there is no context information for accessing the second base station.

With the first aspect or any one of the possible implementation manners of the first aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in the light connection state, between the terminal and the second base station There is no air traffic channel, but the terminal and the second base station respectively store context information for accessing the second base station.

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 communication connection with the first base station through the first radio resource link, and passes the second The wireless resource link maintains a communication connection with the base station, wherein the throughput of the first base station is higher than the throughput of the base station, and the base station here may also be referred to as a second base station, the method comprising: receiving, by the base station, the terminal The generated link maintains the command; the base station configures the second radio resource link to be in a dormant state or a lightly connected state according to the indication of the link maintenance command.

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 second radio resource chain After the path is configured to be in the dormant state or the lightly connected state, the method further includes: the base station receiving the service start command; and the base station configuring the second radio resource link to be in an active state according to the indication of the service start command.

After the foregoing steps are performed, if the third signal quality of the terminal in the dual-connected DC scenario in the cell of the first base station is not good enough, or the first radio resource link does not meet the requirement of the service carrying the terminal, then the The terminal requests the second base station (also referred to as "base station" for distinguishing from the "first base station") to configure the second radio resource link to be in an active state, and the process does not need to re-establish a new radio resource link, and therefore does not The second base station and the core network exchange signaling are caused by the new radio resource link, which further saves the overhead of the second base station and the core network.

With reference to the second aspect, or any one of the possible implementation manners of the second aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in the dormant state, between the terminal and the second base station There is no air traffic channel and there is no context information for accessing the second base station. With reference to the second aspect, or any one of the possible implementation manners of the second aspect, in the fourth possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in the light connection state, the terminal and the second base station There is no air traffic channel between them, but the terminal and the second base station respectively store context information for accessing the second base station.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a terminal that maintains a communication connection with a first base station on a network side by using a first radio resource link, and a second side of the network side through a second radio resource link and a network. The second base station maintains a communication connection, wherein the throughput of the first base station is higher than the throughput of the second base station, the terminal includes: a processor and a transmitter coupled to the processor, wherein: the processor is configured to: acquire a signal quality and a first bandwidth, wherein the first signal quality characterizes a current received signal quality of the terminal in a cell of the first base station, the first The bandwidth is used to represent the current bandwidth of the first radio resource link; the transmitter is configured to: when the first signal quality is higher than a preset second signal quality, and the first bandwidth meets a requirement for a service that carries the terminal In the case of the network, a link maintenance command is sent to the network side, where the link maintenance command is used to instruct the second base station to configure the second radio resource link to be in a dormant state or a lightly connected state.

By performing the foregoing operations, if the first signal quality of the terminal in the dual-connected DC scenario in the cell of the first base station is sufficiently good, and the first bandwidth of the first radio resource link satisfies the requirement of the service carrying the terminal, then The terminal requests the second base station (also referred to as a "base station" to distinguish it from the "first base station"), and configures the second radio resource link to be in a dormant state or a lightly connected state, so that the terminal can pass the The first radio resource link transmits control plane data and user plane data, and does not transmit control plane data and user plane data through the second radio resource link; since the base station configures the second radio resource link to a dormant state or The second radio resource link is not logged off, so there is no interaction between the second base station and the core network due to deregistration of the second radio resource link, which greatly saves the second base station and the core network. s expenses.

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

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, where the third signal quality characterizes a current received signal quality of the terminal in a cell of the first base station, The second bandwidth is used to represent the current bandwidth of the first radio resource link; 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 satisfy the bearer of the terminal When the service needs, the service start command is sent to the network side, where the service start command is used to instruct the second base station to configure the second radio resource link to be in an active state.

By performing the foregoing operations, if the third signal quality of the terminal in the dual-connected DC scenario in the cell of the first base station is not good enough, or the first radio resource link does not meet the requirement of the service carrying the terminal, then The terminal requests the second base station (also referred to as "base station" for distinguishing from the "first base station") to configure the second radio resource link to be in an active state, and the process does not need to re-establish a new radio resource link, and therefore does not The second base station and the core network exchange signaling are caused by the new radio resource link, which further saves the overhead of the second base station and the core network.

With reference to the third aspect, or any one of the possible implementation manners of the third aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the third aspect, in the dormant state, between the terminal and the second base station There is no air traffic channel and there is no context information for accessing the second base station.

With reference to the third aspect, or any one of the possible implementation manners of the third aspect, in the fifth possible implementation manner of the third aspect, in the light connection state, the terminal and the second base station There is no air traffic channel between them, but the terminal and the second base station respectively store context information for accessing the second base station.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a base station, where the base station may also be referred to as a second base station, and the base station passes the The second radio resource link maintains a communication connection with the terminal, and the first base station maintains a communication connection with the terminal through the first radio resource link, where the throughput of the first base station is higher than the throughput of the base station, and the base station includes processing And a receiver, wherein: the receiver is configured to: receive a link maintenance instruction generated by the terminal; the processor is configured to: configure the second radio resource link to a sleep state according to the indication of the link maintenance instruction Or lightly connected.

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 second radio resource After the link is configured to be in a dormant state or a lightly connected state, the receiver is further configured to: receive a service start instruction; the processor is further configured to: configure the second radio resource link to be activated according to the indication of the service start command state.

With reference to the fourth aspect, or any one of the possible implementation manners of the fourth aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, in the dormant state, between the terminal and the second base station There is no air traffic channel and there is no context information for accessing the second base station. With reference to the fourth aspect, or any one of the possible implementation manners of the fourth aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, in the light connection state, the terminal and the second base station There is no air traffic channel between them, but the terminal and the second base station respectively store context information for accessing the second base station.

According to a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a terminal that maintains a communication connection with a first base station on a network side through a first radio resource link, and a second radio resource link and a second base station on a network side, respectively. a communication connection, wherein the throughput of the first base station is higher than the throughput of the second base station, the terminal includes a first acquiring unit and a first sending unit, wherein the first acquiring unit is configured to acquire the first signal quality and the first a bandwidth, wherein the first signal quality characterizes a current received signal quality of the terminal in a cell of the first base station, and the first bandwidth characterizes a current bandwidth of the first radio resource link; The first sending unit is configured to send a link maintenance command to the network side 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, The link maintenance command is used to instruct the second base station to configure the second radio resource link to be in a dormant state or a lightly connected state.

By running the above unit, if the first signal quality of the terminal in the dual connectivity DC scenario in the cell of the first base station is good enough, and the first bandwidth of the first radio resource link satisfies the requirement of the service carrying the terminal, then The terminal requests the second base station (also referred to as a "base station" to distinguish it from the "first base station"), and configures the second radio resource link to be in a dormant state or a lightly connected state, so that the terminal can pass the The first radio resource link transmits control plane data and user plane data, and does not transmit control plane data and user plane data through the second radio resource link; since the base station configures the second radio resource link to a dormant state or The second radio resource link is not logged off, so there is no interaction between the second base station and the core network due to deregistration of the second radio resource link, which greatly saves the second base station and the core network. s expenses.

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

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 after the first transmitting unit sends a link maintenance command, where the third signal quality represents the terminal a current received signal quality in a cell of the first base station, the second bandwidth characterizing a current bandwidth of the first radio resource link; and the second transmitting unit is configured to use the third signal quality lower than When the preset fourth signal quality, or the second bandwidth does not meet the requirement of the service that carries the terminal, the service start command is sent to the network side, where the service start command is used to instruct the second base station to use the second wireless resource chain. The path is configured to be active.

By running the foregoing unit, if the third signal quality of the terminal in the dual-connected DC scenario in the cell of the first base station is not good enough, or the first radio resource link does not meet the requirement of the service carrying the terminal, then The terminal requests the second base station (also referred to as "base station" for distinguishing from the "first base station") to configure the second radio resource link to be in an active state, and the process does not need to re-establish a new radio resource link, and therefore does not The second base station and the core network exchange signaling are caused by the new radio resource link, which further saves the overhead of the second base station and the core network.

With reference to the fifth aspect, or any one of the possible implementation manners of the fifth aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, in the dormant state, between the terminal and the second base station There is no air traffic channel and there is no context information for accessing the second base station. With reference to the fifth aspect, or any one of the possible implementation manners of the fifth aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, in the light connection state, the terminal and the second base station There is no air traffic channel between them, but the terminal and the second base station respectively store context information for accessing the second base station.

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 maintains a communication connection with the terminal through the second radio resource link, and the first base station passes the second radio resource chain. The road maintains a communication connection with the terminal, wherein the throughput of the first base station is higher than the throughput of the base station, the base station includes a processor and receiving The base station includes a first receiving unit and a first configuration unit, wherein the first receiving unit is configured to receive a link maintenance command generated by the terminal; the first configuration unit is configured to maintain an instruction according to the link And configuring the second radio resource link to be in a dormant state or a lightly connected state.

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 second receiving unit is configured to receive a service start command after the second configuration resource unit is configured to be in a dormant state or a lightly connected state according to the indication of the link maintenance instruction, where the second configuration unit is configured to: The second radio resource link is configured to be in an active state according to the indication of the service initiation command.

With reference to the sixth aspect, or any one of the possible implementation manners of the sixth aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, in the dormant state, between the terminal and the second base station There is no air traffic channel and there is no context information for accessing the second base station.

With reference to the sixth aspect, or any one of the possible implementation manners of the sixth aspect, in the fourth possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, in the light connection state, the terminal and the second base station There is no air traffic channel between them, but the terminal and the second base station respectively store context information for accessing the second base station.

In a seventh aspect, the embodiment of the present invention provides a communication method, which is applied to a dual connectivity scenario in which a terminal maintains a communication connection with a first base station through a first radio resource link and a second radio resource. The link maintains a communication connection with the base station, wherein the throughput of the first base station is higher than the throughput of the base station, the method comprising: the base station acquiring the first signal quality and the first bandwidth, wherein the first signal quality representation The current received signal quality of the terminal in the cell of the first base station, the first bandwidth characterizing a current bandwidth of the first radio resource link; when the first signal quality is higher than a preset Two signal qualities, and the first bandwidth satisfies the requirements of the service carrying the terminal The base station configures the second radio resource link to be in a dormant state or a lightly connected state.

By performing the above steps, if the first signal quality of the terminal in the dual connectivity DC scenario in the cell of the first base station is good enough, and the first bandwidth of the first radio resource link satisfies the requirement of the service carrying the terminal, then The second base station (also referred to as "base station" for distinguishing from the "first base station") configures the second radio resource link to be in a dormant state or a lightly connected state, so that the terminal can pass the first wireless The resource link transmits control plane data and user plane data, and does not transmit control plane data and user plane data through the second radio resource link; since the base station configures the second radio resource link to a sleep state or a light connection state The second radio resource link is not logged off, so there is no interaction between the second base station and the core network due to deregistration of the second radio resource link, which greatly saves the overhead of the second base station and the core network.

With reference to the seventh aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the seventh aspect, the second signal quality is a received signal quality of the terminal in the cell of the base station that is detected by the base station in real time, or is a fixed value.

With reference to the seventh aspect, or the first possible implementation manner of the seventh aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the seventh aspect, the base station configures the radio resource link of the terminal and the base station to be in a dormant state or After the light connection state, the method further includes: the base station acquiring a third signal quality and a second bandwidth of the terminal in the first base station, where the third signal quality characterizes that the terminal is currently in a cell of the first base station Received signal quality, the second bandwidth characterizing a current bandwidth of the first radio resource link; when the third signal quality is lower than a preset fourth signal quality, or the second bandwidth does not satisfy the bearer of the terminal The base station configures the second radio resource link to an active state when required by the service.

After the foregoing steps are performed, if the third signal quality of the terminal in the dual-connected DC scenario in the cell of the first base station is not good enough, or the first radio resource link does not meet the requirement of the service carrying the terminal, then the The second base station (also referred to as "base station" for distinguishing from the "first base station") configures the second radio resource link to be in an active state, and the process does not need to re-establish a new radio resource link, so there is no cause The new radio resource link is generated to cause the second base station to exchange signaling with the core network, which further saves the overhead of the second base station and the core network.

With reference to the seventh aspect, or the first possible implementation manner of the seventh aspect, or the second possible implementation manner of the seventh aspect, in the third possible implementation manner of the seventh aspect, in the dormant state The air traffic channel does not exist between the terminal and the second base station, and there is no context information for accessing the second base station.

With reference to the seventh aspect, or the first possible implementation manner of the seventh aspect, or the second possible implementation manner of the seventh aspect, in the fourth possible implementation manner of the seventh aspect, in the light connection In the state, there is no air traffic channel between the terminal and the second base station, but the terminal and the second base station respectively store context information for accessing the second base station.

According to an eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a base station, where the base station maintains a communication connection with a terminal by using a second radio resource link, where the first base station maintains a communication connection with the terminal by using a first radio resource link, where the first base station The throughput is higher than the throughput of the base station, the base station comprising a processor, wherein: the processor is configured to: acquire a first signal quality and a first bandwidth, wherein the first signal quality characterizes that the terminal is in the a current received signal quality in a cell of the first base station, the first bandwidth characterizing a current bandwidth of the first radio resource link; the processor is further configured to: when the first signal quality is higher than a preset The second radio resource link is configured to be in a dormant state or a lightly connected state when the first bandwidth meets the requirements of the service carrying the terminal.

By performing the above operation, if the terminal in the dual connectivity DC scenario is in the first signal quality in the cell of the first base station The quantity is good enough, and the first bandwidth of the first radio resource link meets the requirement of the service carrying the terminal, then the second base station (also referred to as "base station" for distinguishing from the "first base station") The radio resource link is configured to be in a dormant state or a lightly connected state, so that the terminal can transmit control plane data and user plane data through the first radio resource link without passing through the second radio resource link transmission control. Face data and user plane data; since the base station configures the second radio resource link to be in a dormant state or a lightly connected state without deregistering the second radio resource link, there is no second radio resource chain due to deregistration The road causes the second base station to exchange signaling with the core network, which greatly saves the overhead of the second base station and the core network.

With reference to the eighth aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the eighth aspect, the second signal quality is a received signal quality of the terminal in the cell of the base station that is detected by the base station in real time, or is a fixed value.

With reference to the eighth aspect, or the first possible implementation manner of the eighth aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the eighth aspect, the processor configures the second radio resource link as a dormant state or a light connection Thereafter, the processor is further configured to: acquire a third signal quality and a second bandwidth, where the third signal quality characterizes a current received signal quality of the terminal in a cell of the first base station, the second bandwidth Characterizing the current bandwidth of the first radio resource link; the processor is further configured to: when the third signal quality is lower than a preset fourth signal quality, or the second bandwidth does not satisfy the service that carries the terminal The second radio resource link is configured to be in an active state when required.

By performing the foregoing operations, if the third signal quality of the terminal in the dual-connected DC scenario in the cell of the first base station is not good enough, or the first radio resource link does not meet the requirement of the service carrying the terminal, then The second base station (also referred to as "base station" for distinguishing from the "first base station") configures the second radio resource link to be in an active state, and the process does not need to re-establish a new radio resource link, so there is no cause The new radio resource link is generated to cause the second base station to exchange signaling with the core network, which further saves the overhead of the second base station and the core network.

With reference to the eighth aspect, or the first possible implementation manner of the eighth aspect, or the second possible implementation manner of the eighth aspect, in the third possible implementation manner of the eighth aspect, in the dormant state The air traffic channel does not exist between the terminal and the second base station, and there is no context information for accessing the second base station.

With reference to the eighth aspect, or the first possible implementation manner of the eighth aspect, or the second possible implementation manner of the eighth aspect, in the fourth possible implementation manner of the eighth aspect, In the state, there is no air traffic channel between the terminal and the second base station, but the terminal and the second base station respectively store context information for accessing the second base station.

According to a ninth aspect, the embodiment of the present invention provides a base station, which is applied to a dual connectivity scenario, in which the terminal maintains a communication connection with the base station through the second radio resource link, and through the first radio resource link. The first base station maintains a communication connection, wherein the throughput of the first base station is higher than the throughput of the base station, the base station includes an acquisition unit and a configuration unit, wherein the acquisition unit is configured to acquire the first signal quality and the first bandwidth, where Determining, by the first signal quality, a current received signal quality of the terminal in a cell of the first base station, where the first bandwidth represents a current bandwidth of the first radio resource link; 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, the second radio resource link is configured to be in a dormant state or a lightly connected state.

By running the above unit, if the first signal quality of the terminal in the dual connectivity DC scenario in the cell of the first base station is good enough, and the first bandwidth of the first radio resource link satisfies the requirement of the service carrying the terminal, then The first The second base station (also referred to as "the base station" is distinguished from the "first base station"), and the second radio resource link is configured to be in a dormant state or a lightly connected state, so that the terminal can pass the first radio resource. The link transmits control plane data and user plane data, and does not transmit control plane data and user plane data through the second radio resource link; since the base station configures the second radio resource link to a sleep state or a light connection state The second radio resource link is not logged off, so there is no interaction between the second base station and the core network due to deregistration of the second radio resource link, which greatly saves the overhead of the second base station and the core network.

In conjunction with the ninth aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the ninth aspect, the second signal quality is a signal quality of the terminal in the cell of the base station that is detected by the base station in real time, or is a fixed value.

With reference to the ninth aspect, or the first possible implementation manner of the ninth aspect, in the second possible implementation manner of the ninth aspect, the configuration unit configures the second radio resource link to be in a dormant state or a light connection After the state, the acquiring unit is further configured to acquire a third signal quality and a second bandwidth, where the third signal quality characterizes a current received signal quality of the terminal in a cell of the first base station, and the second bandwidth Characterizing the current bandwidth of the first radio resource link; the configuration unit 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 The second radio resource link is configured to be in an active state.

By running the foregoing unit, if the third signal quality of the terminal in the dual-connected DC scenario in the cell of the first base station is not good enough, or the first radio resource link does not meet the requirement of the service carrying the terminal, then The second base station (also referred to as "base station" for distinguishing from the "first base station") configures the second radio resource link to be in an active state, and the process does not need to re-establish a new radio resource link, so there is no cause The new radio resource link is generated to cause the second base station to exchange signaling with the core network, which further saves the overhead of the second base station and the core network.

With reference to the ninth aspect, or the first possible implementation manner of the ninth aspect, or the second possible implementation manner of the ninth aspect, in the third possible implementation manner of the ninth aspect, in the dormant state The air traffic channel does not exist between the terminal and the second base station, and there is no context information for accessing the second base station. With reference to the ninth aspect, or the first possible implementation manner of the ninth aspect, or the second possible implementation manner of the ninth aspect, in the fourth possible implementation manner of the ninth aspect, in the light connection In the state, there is no air traffic channel between the terminal and the second base station, but the terminal and the second base station respectively store context information for accessing the second base station.

According to a tenth aspect, an 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.

In an eleventh aspect, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a computer storage medium, which may be non-volatile, that is, the content is not lost after power off. The storage medium stores a software program that, when read and executed by one or more processors, implements the method provided by the first aspect or any one of the foregoing first aspects.

In a twelfth aspect, the embodiment of the present invention further provides a computer storage medium, which may be non-volatile, that is, the content is not lost after power off. The storage medium stores a software program that, when read and executed by one or more processors, implements the method provided by the second aspect or any one of the foregoing second aspects.

In a thirteenth aspect, the embodiment of the present invention further provides another computer storage medium, which may be a nonvolatile Sexual, that is, the content is not lost after power off. The storage medium stores a software program that, when read and executed by one or more processors, implements the method of any one of the seventh aspect or the seventh aspect described above.

The first signal quality of the terminal in the dual-connected DC scenario in the cell of the first base station is sufficiently good, and the first bandwidth of the first radio resource link satisfies the requirement of the service carrying the terminal. Then, the terminal requests the second base station (also referred to as "base station" to distinguish it from the "first base station"), and configures the second radio resource link to be in a dormant state or a lightly connected state, so that the terminal can Transmitting control plane data and user plane data through the first radio resource link without transmitting control plane data and user plane data through the second radio resource link; since the base station configures the second radio resource link to sleep The state or the light connection state does not cancel the second radio resource link, so there is no interaction between the second base station and the core network due to deregistration of the second radio resource link, which greatly saves the second base station and The cost of the core network. Optionally, if the third signal quality of the terminal in the dual-connected DC scenario is not good enough in the cell of the first base station, or the first radio resource link does not meet the requirement of the service that carries the terminal, the terminal Requesting a second base station (also referred to as "base station" for distinguishing from "first base station") to configure the second radio resource link to an active state, this process does not need to re-establish a new radio resource link, and therefore does not exist The second base station interacts with the core network to generate signaling due to the new radio resource link, which further saves the overhead of the second base station and the core network.

DRAWINGS

The drawings to be used in the background art or 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. 5A is a schematic diagram of interaction of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG.

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

6A is a schematic flowchart of still another communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

6B is a schematic flowchart diagram 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 disclosure;

FIG. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of another base station according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 12 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 iWatch, etc.), smart bracelets, pedometers, etc., can also be used in other cellular mobile networks. The following description can be made 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, and the base station providing the MCG is referred to as the second base station on the network side, and the base station providing the SCG is called The first base station on the network side, 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 communication technology adopted by the SCG The throughput is higher than the throughput of the communication technology adopted by the MCG (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 technologies, 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 link (ie, a radio resource link between the UE and the second base station) in the MCG, and the UE has a radio resource link in the SCG (that is, a radio resource between the UE and the first base station) Link), there is a radio resource link between the eNB and the gNB, a radio resource link exists between the eNB and the CN, and a radio resource link exists between the gNB and the CN, and the radio resource link may be referred to as a "link" for short. . 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. Optionally, the implementation of the communication system 20 may refer to the specific execution process in the embodiment shown in FIG. Alternatively, the implementation of the communication system 20 may refer to the specific execution flow in the embodiment shown in FIG. 6A.

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.

Specifically, the first signal quality characterizes the received signal quality of the terminal currently in the cell of the first base station, and the first bandwidth represents the current bandwidth of the first radio resource link. The UE can detect the received signal quality of the cell in which the UE resides in real time, so the UE can obtain the received signal quality in the SCG. Since the SCG is provided by the first base station, it can also be described as acquiring the UE at the first. The signal quality in the base station, the currently acquired signal quality may be referred to as the 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.

In addition, the radio resource link between the UE and the first base station may be referred to as a first radio resource link, and the first radio resource link may refer to an uplink between the UE and the first base station from the perspective of uplink and downlink. The RRC link may also be a downlink radio resource link between the UE and the first base station, and may also be a downlink radio resource link and an uplink radio resource link between the UE and the first base station; The first radio resource link may refer to a radio resource control link between the UE and the first base station, and may also refer to a radio resource data link between the UE and the first base station. The path may also refer to a radio resource control link and a radio resource data link between the UE and the first base station. The radio resource link between the UE and the second base station may be referred to as a second radio resource link, and the second radio resource link may refer to an uplink radio resource between the UE and the second base station from the perspective of uplink and downlink. The link may also be a downlink radio resource link between the UE and the second base station, and may also be a downlink radio resource link and an uplink radio resource link between the UE and the second base station; The radio resource link may refer to a radio resource control link between the UE and the second base station, and may also refer to a radio resource data link between the UE and the second base station. It may also refer to a radio resource control link and a radio resource data link between the UE and the second base station.

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 link (ie, the service state) is unchanged. Optionally, the second signal quality herein may be the received signal quality of the terminal currently in the second base station (which may also be described as the received signal quality of the terminal in the SCG in real time), or according to history. A value that characterizes the signal quality in the record summarizes a fixed value that is used for reference.

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 (also referred to as “base station” to distinguish from the “first base station”), and configure the link of the UE in the MCG to be in a dormant state or a lightly connected state. In the embodiment of the present invention, the first The second base station can configure the link of the UE in the MCG to a different state according to the requirements of the UE, and the state of the link can be a dormant state (English: dormant state), a light connection state, a light RRC connection, an active state. :active state), etc., wherein the active state refers to a state in which the link is transmitting traffic; in the dormant state, there is no air traffic channel between the terminal and the second base station, and there is no connection for Context information of the second base station; there is no air traffic channel between the terminal and the second base station, but the terminal and the second base station respectively store context information for accessing the second base station.

It should be noted that in some cases, the connected state of the UE may be connected, and the Connected state is divided into two seed states, one is a Scheduled state, some is also called an active state, or a synchronous state, and the other is Non-Scheduled. State, some are also called deactivated state, or lost gait state; that is to say, there are other names in the activated state described in the embodiments of the present invention, but the essence of the embodiment is indeed the same. The following describes the context information. When the UE is in the attached state (non-idle state), its context may include, for example, mobile phone network capability, Tracking Area Identity (TAI), S1APID, base station number (eNodeBID), and authentication. Information, negotiated security algorithm, generated key, created connection information (such as Access Point Name (APN), Public Data Network (PDN) Gateway (PDN GateWay, PGW), QoS parameters) (QoS Class Identifier (QCI)), bearer information (Evolved Packet System Bearer Identifier (EBI), QCI, Aggregated Maximum Bit Rate (AMBR), traffic flow template (Traffic Flow Template) , TFT), control plane and user plane address, etc.) and so on. Before the UE is detached, the information is saved. Otherwise, when the UE performs the Tracking Area Update (TAU), the Service Request ServiceRequest, and the Detach Detach, it cannot be processed because the second The base station cannot find the context of the UE, and it is not clear about the protocol (IP Internet Protocol, IP) between its networks, the PGW it connects to, the carriers it creates, and the messages it can send cannot be decrypted. In the communication system, the term "context establishment" often occurs, which refers to the establishment of a context session, mainly refers to establishing a connection between functional entities for information transmission. For example, the RRC is established between the two functional entities of the UE and the second base station, and its communication link is the context. In the second generation wireless communication technology (The 2nd Generation, 2G), the third generation mobile communication technology (3rd-Generation, 3G), the context mainly refers to the Packet Data Protocol (PDP) context, which refers to the PDP activation gateway. The process of establishing a link between a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) support node (Gateway GPRS Support Node, GGSN). The context in LTE mainly refers to the EPS bearer context, which is a process of establishing a connection link between the UE and the PGW. The establishment of a context session consists of four parts: air interface encryption (for example, between UE and eNodeB), terminal capability query, signaling bearer (SRB2), and data bearer (DRB). When the terminal and the Mobility Management Entity (MME) need to communicate, the context session request needs to be established first, which is initiated by the MME. The session process is a process of establishing a bearer, including a signaling bearer (SRB2), and data. Bearer (DRB); after the signaling bearer is completed, signaling interaction can be performed. After the data bearer is completed, the data packet can be sent/received.

It should be noted that the target state (for example, the sleep state, the light connection state, and the like) described in the embodiment of the present invention is an IDLE state (also referred to as an "idle state") and a CONNECTED state (also referred to as a "connected state"). The state between the following, a brief introduction to the IDLE state and the CONNECTED state for easy understanding:

IDLE state: If there is no Non-Access Stratum (NAS) signaling connection between the UE and the network, the UE is in the IDLE state. In the IDLE state, the UE may perform cell selection/reselection or perform PLMN selection. The UE in the IDLE state has no UE context in the access network (Radio Access Network, RAN). In this case, there is neither the S1 control plane interface S1_MME connection nor the S1 user plane interface S1_U connection. The S1_MME connection refers to the evolved base station. (evolved NodeB, eNB) (in the embodiment of the present invention may refer to the second base station) and an interface connection between the MME, and the S1_U connection refers to an interface connection between the eNB and a Serving GateWay (S-GW).

CONNECTED state: In the CONNECTED state, the UE location information in the MME can be accurate to the extent of the eNB identity of the service. In this state, the UE can perform a handover procedure. If the TAI in the EMM system is not in the Timing Advance (TA) list when the UE is registered, the UE performs the TAU procedure, or if the TIN indication of the UE (the TIN is a parameter saved by the UE, it identifies itself under When the temporary identifier (temporary ID) used when transmitting the Attach Request/RAU/TAU Request is "P-TMSI", the TAU procedure is also executed when the RAN cell is switched. When the UE is in the CONNECTED state, there is a signaling connection between the UE and the MME. The signaling connection consists of two parts: an RRC connection and an S1_MME connection. If the signaling connection between the UE and the MME is released or interrupted, the UE enters the IDLE state.

The UE (and possibly the base station) may be configured such that the link of the UE in the MCG is switched to an active state, and when the link in the MCG is in an active state, the link can normally transmit various Control surface data and user plane data.

It can be understood that the UE sends an instruction to the second base station to trigger the second base station to configure the link of the UE in the MCG to be in a dormant state or a lightly connected state, and the UE sends another type to the second base station. The command may trigger the base station to configure the link of the UE in the MCG to be in an active state. In the embodiment of the present invention, the instruction to configure the link of the UE in the MCG to be in a dormant state or a lightly connected state is maintained for the link. The instruction; the instruction indicating that the link of the UE in the MCG is configured to be in an active state is a service start instruction. Generally, when the UE sends a link maintenance command, the link of the UE in the MCG is not in a sleep state or a light connection state, and the link enters the sleep state after the base station configures according to the link maintenance command. The light connection state; when the UE sends the service start command, 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 configures 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 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 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 chain sent by the UE The road maintains instructions.

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

Specifically, after the link is configured as the target state, the data transmitted by the link in a unit time may be reduced. The target state may be a state of a dormant state or a light connection state, and the base station links the UE in the MCG. The configuration of the path to the target state may be implemented by the base station unilaterally setting some parameters, or may be implemented by the base station to negotiate with the UE; when the base station confirms that the link of the UE in the MCG is configured as the target state, A response response may be sent to the UE to inform that the link configuration of the UE in the MCG is in a target state. Of course, the response response may not be sent to the UE. After the link is configured as a target state, the UE's transmit power and received power on the link can be saved.

In an optional solution, steps S405 to S408 may be performed after steps S401 to S404. The description of S405 to S408 is as follows.

Step S405: The terminal acquires a third signal quality and a second bandwidth.

Specifically, the third signal quality characterizes a received signal quality of the terminal currently in a cell of the first base station, and the second bandwidth represents a current bandwidth of the first radio resource link, the terminal The manner of obtaining the third signal quality is the same as the method of obtaining the first signal quality, except that the acquisition timings of the two signal qualities are different, and the third signal quality is obtained when the link between the UE and the second base station is in the target state. Signal quality. The manner in which the terminal acquires the second bandwidth is the same as the manner in which the first bandwidth is obtained, 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 target 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 carrying the current service of the UE are not satisfied, 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 base station receives the service start command and 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. A 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 of 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 active state, the UE may send a response response to the UE to inform that the link of the UE in the MCG is configured to be in an active state. Of course, the response may not be sent to the UE. FIG. 5A is an interaction diagram of the above possibility one, and FIG. 5B is an interaction diagram of the above possibility 2.

In the method shown in FIG. 4, if the terminal in the dual-connected DC scenario is sufficiently good in the first signal quality of the cell in the first base station, and the first bandwidth of the first radio resource link satisfies the service carrying the terminal The terminal requests the second base station (also referred to as "base station" to distinguish it from the "first base station"), and configures the second wireless resource link to be in a dormant state or a lightly connected state, so that the terminal Control plane data and user plane data may be transmitted through the first radio resource link without transmitting control plane data and user plane data through the second radio resource link; since the base station configures the second radio resource link The second radio resource link is not logged off for the dormant state or the light connection state, so there is no interaction between the second base station and the core network due to deregistration of the second radio resource link, which greatly saves the second. Base station and core network overhead. Optionally, if the terminal in the dual connectivity DC scenario is at the first If the third signal quality in the cell of the base station is not good enough, or the first radio resource link does not meet the requirement of the service that carries the terminal, the terminal requests the second base station (also referred to as "base station" for the first base station). Configuring the second radio resource link to be in an active state, the process does not need to re-establish a new radio resource link, and therefore there is no interaction between the second base station and the core network due to the newly established radio resource link. Further saving the overhead of the second base station and the core network.

Referring to FIG. 6A, FIG. 6A 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 S601: The base station acquires the first signal quality and the first bandwidth.

Specifically, the first signal quality characterizes a received signal quality of the terminal currently in a cell of the first base station, and the first bandwidth represents a current bandwidth of the first radio resource link. The base station (the "base station" is abbreviated as "second base station" for the purpose of distinguishing from the first base station) to detect the received signal quality of the cell in which the terminal is camped in the terminal, so that the base station can acquire The received signal quality of the UE in the SCG, as the SCG is provided by the first base station, can also be described as acquiring the signal quality of the UE in the first base station, and the currently acquired received signal quality may be referred to as the first signal quality. . At present, the base station side detects the signal strength of the UE in the camped cell as the prior art, and details are not described herein. It can be understood that the parameter of the signal quality can receive power through the reference signal (English: Reference Signal Receiving Power) , referred to as: RSRP), 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 bandwidth may be determined when the link is established, and the other device on the base station or the network side may be stored. The bandwidth information, when the base station does not store the bandwidth information of the link, can obtain the bandwidth information of the link by performing data interaction with the other device. The bandwidth of the link between the UE and the first base station (ie, the first radio resource link) acquired by the base station 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 S602 may be performed, otherwise, the radio resource between the terminal and the second base station is reserved. Link (ie second Line resource link) The current state (ie, traffic state) is unchanged. Optionally, the second signal quality herein may be the real-time signal quality of the terminal in the base station (which may also be described as the real-time signal quality of the terminal in the SCG), or according to the signal quality in the history record. The value summarizes a fixed value that is used as a reference.

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 high-definition video in a shorter time. The UE can determine the required bandwidth according to the size of the data that it is currently transmitting, and then the terminal will itself The required bandwidth information is sent to the base station, and the base station can determine the bandwidth required by the UE to currently transmit data based on the bandwidth information. 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.

Step S602: The base station configures the second radio resource link as a target state.

Specifically, after the link is configured as the target state, the data transmitted by the link in a unit time may be reduced, and the target state may be a state of a sleep state or a light connection state, and the RRC link is configured as the target. After the status, the data transmitted in the unit time becomes less. 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), a light connection state. Light RRC connection, active state, etc.; there is no air traffic channel between the terminal and the second base station, and there is no context information for accessing the second base station; There is no air traffic channel between the terminal and the second base station, but the terminal and the second base station respectively store context information for accessing the second base station.

It should be noted that in some cases, the connected state of the UE may be connected, and the Connected state is divided into two seed states, one is a Scheduled state, some is also called an active state, or a synchronous state, and the other is Non-Scheduled. State, some are also called deactivated state, or lost gait state; that is to say, there are other names in the activated state described in the embodiments of the present invention, but the essence of the embodiment is indeed the same. The following describes the context information. When the UE is in the attached state (non-idle state), its context may include, for example, mobile phone network capability, Tracking Area Identity (TAI), S1APID, base station number (eNodeBID), and authentication. Information, negotiated security algorithm, generated key, created connection information (such as Access Point Name (APN), Public Data Network (PDN) Gateway (PDN GateWay, PGW), QoS parameters) (QoS Class Identifier (QCI)), bearer information (Evolved Packet System Bearer Identifier (EBI), QCI, Aggregated Maximum Bit Rate (AMBR), traffic flow template (Traffic Flow Template) , TFT), control plane and user plane address, etc.) and so on. Before the UE is detached, the information is saved. Otherwise, the UE performs Tracking Area Update (TAU), service request ServiceRequest, When the behavior such as Detach is attached, it cannot be processed. Because the second base station cannot find the context of the UE, it is not clear about the protocol (IP Internet Protocol, IP) connected to it, the PGW to which it is connected, It creates those bearers, and it is possible that the messages it sends cannot be decrypted. In the communication system, the term "context establishment" often occurs, which refers to the establishment of a context session, mainly refers to establishing a connection between functional entities for information transmission. For example, the RRC is established between the two functional entities of the UE and the second base station, and its communication link is the context. In the second generation wireless communication technology (The 2nd Generation, 2G), the third generation mobile communication technology (3rd-Generation, 3G), the context mainly refers to the Packet Data Protocol (PDP) context, which refers to the PDP activation gateway. The process of establishing a link between a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) support node (Gateway GPRS Support Node, GGSN). The context in LTE mainly refers to the EPS bearer context, which is a process of establishing a connection link between the UE and the PGW. The establishment of a context session consists of four parts: air interface encryption (for example, between UE and eNodeB), terminal capability query, signaling bearer (SRB2), and data bearer (DRB). When the terminal and the Mobility Management Entity (MME) need to communicate, the context session request needs to be established first, which is initiated by the MME. The session process is a process of establishing a bearer, including a signaling bearer (SRB2), and data. Bearer (DRB); after the signaling bearer is completed, signaling interaction can be performed. After the data bearer is completed, the data packet can be sent/received.

It can be understood that when the UE in the MCG is in the target state, the base station can configure the UE (and possibly the base station) so that the UE in the MCG switches to the active state, the UE When the link in the MCG is in an active state, the link can normally transmit various control plane data and user plane data.

The base station configuring the link of the UE in the MCG as the target state may be implemented by unilaterally setting some parameters of the base station, or may be implemented by the base station negotiating with the UE; when the base station confirms that the UE is successfully in the MCG Medium After the link is configured as the target state, a response response can be sent to the UE to inform that the link configuration of the UE in the MCG is in the target state. Of course, the response response may not be sent to the UE. After the link is configured as a target state, the UE's transmit power and received power on the link can be saved.

In an optional solution, steps S603-S604 may be performed after steps S601-S602, and steps S603-S604 are described as follows.

Step S603: The base station acquires a third signal quality and a second bandwidth.

In one case, the third signal quality characterizes the received signal quality of the terminal currently in the cell of the first base station, and the second bandwidth characterizes the current bandwidth of the first radio resource link The manner in which the base station (ie, the "second base station") 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 in the UE and the second. The quality of the signal acquired when the link between the base stations (ie, the second radio resource link) is in the target state. The manner in which the base station acquires the second bandwidth is the same as the manner in which the first bandwidth is obtained, except that the acquisition timing of the two bandwidths is different, and the second bandwidth is a link between the UE and the second base station (ie, the second radio resource chain). Road) The bandwidth acquired when it is in the target state. In another case, the acquiring manner of the third signal quality and the second bandwidth may refer to acquiring the third signal quality and the second bandwidth in the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, where the UE acquires the third signal quality and the second After the bandwidth, the information of the third signal quality and the information of the second bandwidth are sent to the base station.

The embodiment of the present invention further determines whether the third signal quality is less 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 quality threshold. Where the fourth signal quality and the previous second signal quality are both preset signal quality thresholds, the second signal quality may or may not be equal to the fourth signal quality.

If any of the following occurs, step S406 may be performed. Case 1: the base station 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 base: the base station determines the SCG. The requirements for carrying the current service of the UE are not satisfied, and in the third case, both situation 1 and case 2 are established.

Step S604: The base station configures the second radio resource link to an active state.

Specifically, the base station configuring the second radio resource link (that is, 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 negotiate for the base station to negotiate with the UE. After the base station confirms that the link of the UE in the MCG is successfully configured, the response may be sent to the UE to notify that the link of the UE in the MCG is configured to be in an active state, of course, The response response may not be sent to the UE.

FIG. 6B is a more detailed flow diagram of the embodiment shown in FIG. 6A. FIG. 6B includes a terminal UE, a second base station (referred to as “base station”) eNB, a first base station gNB, and a user plane function (User plane function, The UPF) unit, when in the dual connectivity scenario, the part of the data sent by the UPF to the UE goes to the MCG, and the other part goes to the SCG, and the data of the MCG goes through the eNB, and the data can be called Data-MCG, and the data of the SCG is taken. To pass the gNB, this part of the data can be called Data-SCG. Initially, the Data-MCG is transmitted from the UPF to the eNB, and then transmitted from the eNB to the UE; the Data-SCG is transmitted from the UPF to the gNB, and then transmitted from the gNB to the UE; thereafter, the eNB determines according to the first signal quality and the first bandwidth. When the link between the UE and the eNB needs to be configured as a target state, the eNB configures the link between the UE and the eNB as a target state, and the configuration process may involve interaction between the eNB and the UE; Then, the eNB interacts with the gNB to inform the UE that the link configuration with the eNB is the target state, the subsequent Data-MCG is transmitted from the UPF to the eNB, and the eNB sends the Data-MCG to the gNB, since the Data-SCG still receives from the UPF. Transfer to gNB, so Data-MCG and Data-SCG will eventually be sent from the gNB to the UE. Further, when the eNB determines that the link between the UE and the eNB needs to be configured to be in an active state according to the third signal quality and the second bandwidth, the eNB configures the link between the UE and the eNB as an active state. The process may involve interaction between the eNB and the UE; then, the eNB interacts with the gNB to inform the UE that the link between the eNB and the eNB is configured to be active, and subsequently, the Data-MCG is transmitted from the UPF to the eNB, and then remains The data is transmitted from the eNB to the UE; the Data-SCG is transmitted from the UPF to the gNB, and then transmitted from the gNB to the UE. It should be noted that the process shown in FIG. 6B is only an optional refinement manner of the process shown in FIG. 6A. In addition, the description of the data flow direction in the process shown in FIG. 6B can also be applied to the processes shown in FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B. However, the foregoing embodiments are not described by way of example.

In the method shown in FIG. 6A, if the first signal quality of the terminal in the dual-connected DC scenario in the cell of the first base station is good enough, and the first bandwidth of the first radio resource link satisfies the service carrying the terminal The second base station (also referred to as "base station" for distinguishing it from the "first base station") configures the second radio resource link to be in a dormant state or a lightly connected state, so that the terminal can pass The first radio resource link transmits control plane data and user plane data, and does not transmit control plane data and user plane data through the second radio resource link; since the base station configures the second radio resource link to be in a dormant state Or the light connection state does not cancel the second radio resource link, so there is no interaction between the second base station and the core network due to deregistration of the second radio resource link, which greatly saves the second base station and the core. The overhead of the network. Optionally, if the third signal quality of the terminal in the dual-connected DC scenario is not good enough in the cell of the first base station, or the first radio resource link does not meet the service requirement of the terminal, The second base station (also referred to as "base station" for distinguishing from the "first base station") configures the second radio resource link to be in an active state, and the process does not need to re-establish a new radio resource link, so there is no new The radio resource link causes the second base station to exchange signaling with the core network, which further saves the overhead of the second 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 bandwidth in the first base station, where the first signal quality characterizes a current received signal quality of the terminal in a cell of the first base station, The first bandwidth represents a current bandwidth of the first radio resource link; the transmitter 702 is configured to: when the first signal quality is higher than a preset second signal quality, and the first bandwidth satisfies the bearer In the case of the service of the terminal, the link maintenance command is used to instruct the second base station to configure the second radio resource link to be in a dormant state or a lightly connected state.

By performing the foregoing operations, if the first signal quality of the terminal in the dual-connected DC scenario in the cell of the first base station is sufficiently good, and the first bandwidth of the first radio resource link satisfies the requirement of the service carrying the terminal, then The terminal requests the second base station (also referred to as "base station" for distinguishing from the "first base station") to connect the second radio resource link Configured to be in a dormant state or a lightly connected state, so that the terminal can transmit control plane data and user plane data through the first radio resource link, and not transmit control plane data and users through the second radio resource link. Face data; since the base station configures the second radio resource link to be in a dormant state or a lightly connected state without deregistering the second radio resource link, there is no such problem caused by deregistering the second radio resource link The second base station exchanges signaling with the core network, which greatly saves the overhead of the second base station and the core network.

In an optional solution, the second signal quality is a real-time received signal quality of the terminal in a cell of 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, where the third signal quality characterizes that the terminal is in the Determining a current received signal quality in a cell of the first base station, the second bandwidth characterizing a current bandwidth of the first radio resource link; the transmitter is further configured to: when the third signal quality is lower than a preset When the fourth signal quality, or the second bandwidth does not meet the requirement of the service that carries the terminal, the service start command is sent to instruct the second base station to configure the second radio resource link to be in an active state.

In a further possible implementation, in the dormant state, there is no air traffic channel between the terminal and the second base station, and there is no context information for accessing the second base station. In a further possible implementation, in the light connection state, there is no air traffic channel between the terminal and the second base station, but the terminal and the second base station are respectively stored for receiving Context information of the second base station.

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 terminal in the dual-connected DC scenario is sufficiently good in the first signal quality in the cell of the first base station, and the first bandwidth of the first radio resource link satisfies the terminal carrying the terminal The demand of the service, the terminal requests the second base station (also referred to as "the base station" to distinguish it from the "first base station"), and configures the second radio resource link to be in a dormant state or a lightly connected state, so that the terminal The terminal may transmit the control plane data and the user plane data through the first radio resource link, and not transmit the control plane data and the user plane data through the second radio resource link; since the base station uses the second radio resource link The second radio resource link is not logged out in the sleep state or the light connection state, so there is no interaction between the second base station and the core network due to the deregistration of the second radio resource link, which greatly saves the The cost of the two base stations 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. The base station 80 maintains a communication connection with the terminal through the second radio resource link. Wireless resource chain The path maintains a communication connection with the terminal, 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 second radio resource link to be in a dormant state or a lightly connected state according to the indication of the link maintenance command. .

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 second radio resource link to be in a dormant state or a lightly connected state according to the indication of the link maintenance instruction, the receiver is further configured to: receive service start The processor is further configured to: configure the second radio resource link to be in 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 cell of the first base station is good enough, and the first bandwidth of the first radio resource link satisfies the terminal carrying the terminal The demand of the service, the terminal requests the second base station (also referred to as "the base station" to distinguish it from the "first base station"), and configures the second radio resource link to be in a dormant state or a lightly connected state, so that the terminal The terminal may transmit the control plane data and the user plane data through the first radio resource link, and not transmit the control plane data and the user plane data through the second radio resource link; since the base station uses the second radio resource link Configured as a sleep state or a lightly connected state without logging out of the second wireless The resource link, so there is no interaction between the second base station and the core network due to the cancellation of the second radio resource link, which greatly saves the overhead of the second base station and the core network.

Referring to FIG. 9, FIG. 9 is a terminal 90 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The terminal 90 maintains a communication connection with a first base station through a first radio resource link, and a second radio resource link and a second The base station maintains a communication connection, wherein the throughput of the first base station is higher than the throughput of the second base station, and the terminal includes a first obtaining unit 901 and a first sending unit 902, where the first acquiring unit 901 is used by Obtaining a first signal quality and a first bandwidth, wherein the first signal quality characterizes a current received signal quality of the terminal in a cell of the first base station, the first bandwidth characterizing the first a current bandwidth of the RRC link; the first sending unit 902 is configured to send a link when 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 And maintaining the command, the link maintenance command is used to instruct the second base station to configure the second radio resource link to be in a dormant state or a lightly connected 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 still another optional solution, the terminal further includes a second obtaining unit and a second sending unit, where the second acquiring unit is configured to acquire a third signal after the first sending unit sends 902 a link maintenance command. a quality and a second bandwidth, the third signal quality characterizing a current received signal quality of the terminal in a cell of the first base station, the second bandwidth characterizing a current bandwidth of the first radio resource link The second sending unit is configured to send a service start command when the third signal quality is lower than a preset fourth signal quality, or when the second bandwidth does not meet the requirement of the service carrying the terminal, the service start command And configured to instruct the second base station to configure the second radio resource link to be in an active state.

In a further possible implementation, in the dormant state, there is no air traffic channel between the terminal and the second base station, and there is no context information for accessing the second base station. In another possible implementation In the light connection state, there is no air traffic channel between the terminal and the second base station, but the terminal and the second base station respectively store a context for accessing the second base station. information.

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 terminal in the dual-connected DC scenario is sufficiently good in the first signal quality of the cell in the first base station, and the first bandwidth of the first radio resource link satisfies the terminal carrying the terminal The demand of the service, the terminal requests the second base station (also referred to as "the base station" to distinguish it from the "first base station"), and configures the second radio resource link to be in a dormant state or a lightly connected state, so that the terminal The terminal may transmit the control plane data and the user plane data through the first radio resource link, and not transmit the control plane data and the user plane data through the second radio resource link; since the base station uses the second radio resource link The second radio resource link is not logged out in the sleep state or the light connection state, so there is no interaction between the second base station and the core network due to the deregistration of the second radio resource link, which greatly saves the The cost of the two base stations 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. The base station 100 maintains a communication connection with a terminal through a second radio resource link. Maintaining a communication connection with the terminal by using a first radio resource link, where the throughput of the first base station is higher than the throughput of the base station 100, the base station 100 includes a first receiving unit 1001 and a first configuration unit 1002, The first receiving unit 1001 is configured to receive a link maintenance command generated by the terminal, where the first configuration unit 1002 is configured to configure the second radio resource link to be in a sleep state according to the indication of the link maintenance instruction. Or lightly connected.

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 second radio resource link is configured to be in a dormant state or a lightly connected state, the service start command is received; the second configuration unit is configured to configure the second radio resource link to be in an active state according to the indication of the service start command.

By running the foregoing unit, if the third signal quality of the terminal in the dual-connected DC scenario in the cell of the first base station is not good enough, or the first radio resource link does not meet the requirement of the service carrying the terminal, then The terminal requests the second base station (also referred to as "base station" for distinguishing from the "first base station") to configure the second radio resource link to be in an active state, and the process does not need to re-establish a new radio resource link, and therefore does not New wireless resource chain The road causes the second base station to exchange signaling with the core network, which further saves the overhead of the second base station and the core network.

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 is good enough in the cell of the first base station, and the first bandwidth of the first radio resource link satisfies the terminal carrying the terminal The demand of the service, the terminal requests the second base station (also referred to as "the base station" to distinguish it from the "first base station"), and configures the second radio resource link to be in a dormant state or a lightly connected state, so that the terminal The terminal may transmit the control plane data and the user plane data through the first radio resource link, and not transmit the control plane data and the user plane data through the second radio resource link; since the base station uses the second radio resource link The second radio resource link is not logged out in the sleep state or the light connection state, so there is no interaction between the second base station and the core network due to the deregistration of the second radio resource link, which greatly saves the The cost of the two base stations 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.

Referring to FIG. 11, FIG. 11 is a base station 110 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The base station 110 may also be referred to as a second base station. The base station 110 maintains a communication connection with a terminal through a second radio resource link. A communication connection is maintained with the terminal over the first radio resource link, wherein the throughput of the first base station is higher than the throughput of the base station 110, and the base station 110 includes a processor 1101.

The processor 1101 may be one or more central processing units (English: Central Processing Unit, CPU for short). In the case where the processor 1101 is a CPU, the CPU may be a single core CPU or a multi-core CPU. The receiver 1102 is configured to receive a signal to transmit data, wherein:

The processor 1101 is configured to: acquire a first signal quality and a first bandwidth, where the first signal quality characterizes a current received signal quality of the terminal in a cell of the first base station, the first bandwidth Characterizing the current bandwidth of the first radio resource link; the processor 1101 is further configured to: when the first signal quality is higher than a preset second signal quality, and the first bandwidth meets a service that carries the terminal When required, the second radio resource link is configured to be in a dormant state or a lightly connected state.

By performing the foregoing operations, if the first signal quality of the terminal in the dual-connected DC scenario in the cell of the first base station is sufficiently good, and the first bandwidth of the first radio resource link satisfies the requirement of the service carrying the terminal, then The terminal requests the second base station (also referred to as a "base station" to distinguish it from the "first base station"), and configures the second radio resource link to be in a dormant state or a lightly connected state, so that the terminal can pass the The first radio resource link transmits control plane data and user plane data, and does not transmit control plane data and user plane data through the second radio resource link; since the base station configures the second radio resource link to a dormant state or The light connection state does not cancel the second radio resource link, so there is no interaction signaling between the second base station and the core network due to deregistration of the second radio resource link. The overhead of the second base station and the core network is saved.

In a possible implementation manner, the second signal quality is a received signal quality of the terminal in the cell of the base station that is detected by the base station in real time, or is a preset signal quality threshold.

In a further possible implementation, after the processor configures the second radio resource link to be in a dormant state or a lightly connected state, the processor 1101 is further configured to: acquire a third signal quality and a second bandwidth, where The third signal quality characterizes the current received signal quality of the terminal in the cell of the first base station, and the second bandwidth represents the current bandwidth of the first radio resource link; the processor 1101 also uses After the third signal quality is lower than the preset fourth signal quality, or the second bandwidth does not meet the requirement of the service carrying the terminal, the second radio resource link is configured to be in an active state.

It should be noted that the specific implementation of each unit in the embodiment shown in FIG. 11 may refer to the corresponding description of the method embodiment shown in FIG. 6A, and the base station in FIG. 11 is equivalent to the second base station described in FIG. 6A.

In the base station 110 shown in FIG. 11, if the terminal in the dual-connected DC scenario is sufficiently good in the first signal quality of the cell in the first base station, and the first bandwidth of the first radio resource link satisfies the terminal carrying the terminal The second base station (also referred to as "base station" for distinguishing from the "first base station") is configured to configure the second radio resource link to be in a dormant state or a lightly connected state, so that the terminal Control plane data and user plane data may be transmitted over the first radio resource link without transmitting control plane data and user plane data over the second radio resource link; since the base station configures the second radio resource link as The sleep state or the light connection state does not cancel the second radio resource link, so there is no interaction between the second base station and the core network due to deregistration of the second radio resource link, which greatly saves the second base station. And the overhead of the core network.

Referring to FIG. 12, FIG. 12 is a base station 120 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The base station 120 may also be referred to as a second base station. The base station 120 maintains a communication connection with a terminal through a second radio resource link. Maintaining a communication connection with the terminal by using the first radio resource link, and the throughput of the first base station is higher than the throughput of the base station 120. The base station 120 includes an obtaining unit 1201 and a configuration unit 1202, where the acquiring unit 1201 uses Obtaining a first signal quality and a first bandwidth, wherein the first signal quality characterizes a current received signal quality of the terminal in a cell of the first base station, the first bandwidth characterizing the first The current bandwidth of the radio resource link; the configuration unit 1202 is configured to: 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, the second radio resource The link is configured to be in a sleep state or a lightly connected state.

By running the above unit, if the terminal in the dual connectivity DC scenario is in the first signal quality in the cell of the first base station The quantity is good enough, and the first bandwidth of the first radio resource link meets the requirement of the service carrying the terminal, then the terminal requests the second base station (also referred to as "base station" for distinguishing from the "first base station") The second radio resource link is configured to be in a dormant state or a lightly connected state, so that the terminal can transmit control plane data and user plane data through the first radio resource link without passing through the second radio resource chain. Transmitting control plane data and user plane data; since the base station configures the second radio resource link to be in a dormant state or a lightly connected state without deregistering the second radio resource link, there is no second due to deregistration The radio resource link causes the second base station to exchange signaling with the core network, which greatly saves the overhead of the second base station and the core network.

In another possible implementation manner, after the configuration unit 1202 configures the second radio resource link to be in a dormant state or a lightly connected state, the acquiring unit 1201 is further configured to acquire the third signal quality and the second bandwidth. The third signal quality characterizes the current received signal quality of the terminal in the cell of the first base station, and the second bandwidth represents the current bandwidth of the first radio resource link; the configuration unit 1202 also uses And configuring the second radio resource link to be in an active state 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.

It should be noted that the specific implementation of each unit in the embodiment shown in FIG. 12 may refer to the corresponding description of the method embodiment shown in FIG. 6A, and the base station in FIG. 12 is equivalent to the second base station described in FIG. 6A. In the base station 120 shown in FIG. 12, if the first signal quality of the terminal in the dual-connected DC scenario in the cell of the first base station is good enough, and the first bandwidth of the first radio resource link satisfies the terminal carrying the terminal The second base station (also referred to as "base station" for distinguishing from the "first base station") is configured to configure the second radio resource link to be in a dormant state or a lightly connected state, so that the terminal can Transmitting control plane data and user plane data through the first radio resource link without transmitting control plane data and user plane data through the second radio resource link; since the base station configures the second radio resource link to sleep The state or the light connection state does not cancel the second radio resource link, so there is no interaction between the second base station and the core network due to deregistration of the second radio resource link, which greatly saves the second base station and The cost of the core network.

In summary, if the first signal quality of the terminal in the dual-connected DC scenario is good enough in the cell of the first base station, and the first bandwidth of the first radio resource link satisfies the requirement of the service carrying the terminal, then The terminal requests the second base station (also referred to as a "base station" to distinguish it from the "first base station"), and configures the second radio resource link to be in a dormant state or a lightly connected state, so that the terminal can pass the The first radio resource link transmits control plane data and user plane data, and does not transmit control plane data and user plane data through the second radio resource link; since the base station will The second radio resource link is configured to be in a dormant state or a lightly connected state without deregistering the second radio resource link, so there is no interaction between the second base station and the core network due to deregistration of the second radio resource link. Therefore, the cost of the second base station and the core network is greatly saved. Optionally, if the third signal quality of the terminal in the dual-connected DC scenario is not good enough in the cell of the first base station, or the first radio resource link does not meet the requirement of the service that carries the terminal, the terminal Requesting a second base station (also referred to as "base station" for distinguishing from "first base station") to configure the second radio resource link to an active state, this process does not need to re-establish a new radio resource link, and therefore does not exist The second base station interacts with the core network to generate signaling due to the new radio resource link, which further saves the overhead of the second 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, which is characterized in that it is applied to a dual connectivity scenario in which a terminal maintains a communication connection with a first base station on a network side through a first radio resource link, and a second radio resource chain And maintaining a communication connection with the second base station on the network side, where the throughput of the first base station is higher than the throughput of the second base station, the method includes:

Obtaining, by the terminal, a first signal quality and a first bandwidth, where the first signal quality characterizes a current received signal quality of the terminal in a cell of the first base station, where the first bandwidth characterizes the The current bandwidth of the first radio resource link;

When the first signal quality is higher than a preset second signal quality, and the first bandwidth meets a requirement for carrying the service of the terminal, the terminal sends a link maintenance command to the network side, where The link maintenance command is used to instruct the second base station to configure the second radio resource link to be in a dormant state or a lightly connected state.
The method according to claim 1, wherein the second signal quality is a real-time received signal quality of the terminal in a cell of the second base station, or is a fixed value.
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, where the third signal quality characterizes a current received signal quality of the terminal in a cell of the first base station, and the second bandwidth represents the first The current bandwidth of the radio resource link;

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, the terminal sends a service start instruction to the network side, where The service initiation command is used to instruct the second base station to configure the second radio resource link to be in an active state.
The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein in the dormant state, there is no air traffic channel between the terminal and the second base station, and there is no access station The context information of the second base station is described.
The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein in the light connection state, there is no air traffic channel between the terminal and the second base station, but the terminal and the The second base station stores context information for accessing the second base station, respectively.
A communication method, applied to a dual connectivity scenario, in which, in the dual connectivity scenario, a terminal maintains a communication connection with a first base station through a first radio resource link, and a second radio resource link and a base station Maintaining a communication connection, wherein a throughput of the first base station is higher than a throughput of the base station, the method comprising:

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

The base station configures the second radio resource link to be in a dormant state or a lightly connected state according to the indication of the link maintenance command.
The method according to claim 7, 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 7 or 8, wherein the base station, after configuring the second radio resource link to be in a dormant state or a lightly connected state, according to the indication of the link maintenance instruction, further includes:

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

The base station configures the second radio resource link to be in an active state according to the indication of the service start command.
The method according to any one of claims 7-9, wherein in the dormant state, there is no air traffic channel between the terminal and the second base station, and there is no access station The context information of the second base station is described.
The method according to any one of claims 7-9, wherein in the light connection state, there is no air traffic channel between the terminal and the second base station, but the terminal and the The second base station stores context information for accessing the second base station, respectively.
A communication method, applied to a dual connectivity scenario, in which, in the dual connectivity scenario, a terminal maintains a communication connection with a first base station through a first radio resource link, and a second radio resource link and a base station Maintaining a communication connection, wherein a throughput of the first base station is higher than a throughput of the base station, the method comprising:

The base station acquires a first signal quality and a first bandwidth, wherein the first signal quality characterizes a current received signal quality of the terminal in a cell of the first base station, and the first bandwidth characterizes the The current bandwidth of the first radio resource link;

When 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 base station configures the second radio resource link as a dormant state Or lightly connected.
The method according to claim 12, wherein the second signal quality is a real-time received signal quality of the terminal in a cell of the base station, or is a fixed value.
The method according to claim 12 or 13, wherein after the base station configures the second radio resource link to be in a dormant state or a lightly connected state, the method further includes:

Obtaining, by the base station, a third signal quality and a second bandwidth, where the third signal quality characterizes a current received signal quality of the terminal in a cell of the first base station, and the second bandwidth represents the first Wireless resource link current bandwidth;

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 base station configures the second radio resource link to be activated. state.
The method according to any one of claims 12 to 14, wherein in the dormant state, there is no air traffic channel between the terminal and the second base station, and there is no access station The context information of the second base station is described.
The method according to any one of claims 12 to 14, wherein in the light connection state, there is no air traffic channel between the terminal and the second base station, but the terminal and the The second base station stores context information for accessing the second base station, respectively.
A terminal, wherein the terminal maintains a communication connection with a first base station on a network side through a first radio resource link, and maintains a communication connection with a second base station on the network side through a second radio resource link Wherein the throughput of the first base station is higher than the throughput of the second base station, the terminal comprising: a processor and a transmitter coupled to the processor, wherein:

The processor is configured to: acquire a first signal quality and a first bandwidth, where the first signal quality characterizes a current received signal quality of the terminal in a cell of the first base station, the first bandwidth representation The current bandwidth of the first radio resource link;

The transmitter is configured to send a chain to the network side if 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 path maintenance command is used to instruct the second base station to configure the second radio resource link to be in a dormant state or a lightly connected state.
The terminal according to claim 17, wherein the second signal quality is a real-time received signal quality of the terminal in a cell of the second base station, or is a fixed value.
The terminal according to claim 17 or 18, 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 17-18, wherein after the transmitter sends a link maintenance command,

The processor is further configured to: acquire a third signal quality and a second bandwidth, where the third signal quality characterizes a current received signal quality of the terminal in a cell of the first base station, and the second bandwidth representation The current bandwidth of the first radio resource link;

The transmitter is further configured to send a service to the network side when the third signal quality is lower than a preset fourth signal quality, or the second bandwidth does not meet a requirement of a service that carries the terminal. Start command, the service starts The instruction is configured to indicate that the second radio resource link is configured to be in an active state.
The terminal according to any one of claims 17 to 20, wherein in the dormant state, there is no air traffic channel between the terminal and the second base station, and there is no access station The context information of the second base station is described.
The terminal according to any one of claims 17 to 20, wherein in the light connection state, there is no air traffic channel between the terminal and the second base station, but the terminal and the The second base station stores context information for accessing the second base station, respectively.
A base station, wherein the base station maintains a communication connection with a terminal by using a second radio resource link, and the first base station maintains a communication connection with the terminal by using a first radio resource link, where the first base station The throughput is higher than the throughput of the base station, the base station comprising 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 configure the second radio resource link to be in a dormant state or a lightly connected state according to the indication of the link maintenance instruction.
The base station according to claim 23, 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 23 or 24, wherein the processor configures the second radio resource control link to be in a dormant state or a lightly connected 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 the second radio resource link to be in an active state according to the indication of the service start instruction.
The base station according to any one of claims 23-25, wherein in the dormant state, there is no air traffic channel between the terminal and the second base station, and there is no access station The context information of the second base station is described.
The base station according to any one of claims 23-25, wherein in the light connection state, there is no air traffic channel between the terminal and the second base station, but the terminal and the The second base station stores context information for accessing the second base station, respectively.
A base station, wherein the base station maintains a communication connection with a terminal by using a second radio resource link, and the first base station maintains a communication connection with the terminal by using a first radio resource link, where the first base station Throughput Above the throughput of the base station, the base station includes a processor, wherein:

The processor is configured to: acquire a first signal quality and a first bandwidth, where the first signal quality characterizes a current received signal quality of the terminal in a cell of the first base station, the first bandwidth representation The current bandwidth of the first radio resource link;

The processor is further configured to: when the first signal quality is higher than a preset second signal quality, and the first bandwidth meets a requirement of a service that carries the terminal, the second wireless resource chain The path is configured to be in a sleep state or a light connection state.
The base station according to claim 28, wherein the second signal quality is a signal quality of the terminal in the base station detected by the base station in real time, or is a fixed value.
The base station according to claim 28 or 29, wherein after the processor configures the second radio resource link to be in a dormant state or a lightly connected state,

The processor is further configured to: acquire a third signal quality and a second bandwidth, where the third signal quality characterizes a current received signal quality of the terminal in a cell of the first base station, and the second bandwidth representation The current bandwidth of the first radio resource link;

The processor 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, the second radio resource The link is configured to be active.
The base station according to any one of claims 28 to 30, wherein in the dormant state, there is no air traffic channel between the terminal and the second base station, and there is no access station The context information of the second base station is described.
The base station according to any one of claims 28 to 30, wherein in the light connection state, there is no air traffic channel between the terminal and the second base station, but the terminal and the The second base station stores context information for accessing the second base station, respectively.
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 17 to 22;

The base station is the base station according to any one of claims 23 to 27.