WO2020211727A1

WO2020211727A1 - Communication method and apparatus

Info

Publication number: WO2020211727A1
Application number: PCT/CN2020/084545
Authority: WO
Inventors: 刘琼; 晋英豪; 谭巍
Original assignee: 华为技术有限公司
Priority date: 2019-04-17
Filing date: 2020-04-13
Publication date: 2020-10-22
Also published as: CN111836357A; CN111836357B

Abstract

The present application relates to the technical field of communications, and provides a communication method and apparatus, capable of resolving the problem of frequent execution of TAU by a terminal in a non-territorial network. The method comprises: a terminal receives a broadcast message from an access network device, and stores information of a tracking area, wherein the broadcast message comprises the information of the tracking area, and the information of the tracking area comprises information of a serving gateway. The method is applied to a location management process of a terminal.

Description

Communication method and device

This application claims the priority of a Chinese patent application filed with the State Intellectual Property Office of China, the application number is 201910310680.X, and the invention title is "communication method and device" on April 17, 2019, the entire content of which is incorporated into this application by reference in.

Technical field

This application relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular to a communication method and device.

Background technique

In a mobile network, a tracking area (TA) method is used to track the location of the terminal, so as to facilitate location management and paging of the terminal. Specifically, the core network device configures a tracking area list (tracking area list, TA list) for the terminal. Generally, a TA list contains one or more tracking area codes (TAC), and one TAC is used to identify one TA. A TA can contain one or more cells. Subsequently, if the terminal moves within the cell indicated by the configured TA list, it does not need to perform tracking area update (TAU). Correspondingly, when the terminal has a service arrival, the core network device pages the terminal in the area corresponding to the configured TA list. Conversely, if the terminal moves out of the cell indicated by the TA list, the core network equipment does not know the latest location of the terminal, and the terminal needs to perform TAU so that the core network equipment knows the current TA of the terminal, and the core network equipment can update the terminal’s TA list.

In order to make up for the coverage holes of terrestrial base stations, non-terrestrial networks (NTN) are currently introduced, in which part of the functions of terrestrial base stations or base stations are deployed on airborne platforms or satellites to provide seamless coverage for terminals.

If the TAU mechanism of the above mobile network is directly applied to a non-terrestrial network, due to the high-speed movement of airborne platforms or satellites, even if the terminal does not move or moves at a low speed, the terminal’s serving cell is also changing, and the terminal is likely to frequently move out of the TA list. The indicated cell causes the terminal to frequently perform TAU and the signaling overhead increases.

Summary of the invention

The embodiments of the present application provide a communication method and device, in order to avoid frequent execution of TAU by terminals in non-terrestrial networks.

In order to achieve the foregoing objectives, the following technical solutions are adopted in the embodiments of this application:

In the first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, which is applied to a terminal or a chip of the terminal, and the method includes: the terminal receives a broadcast message from an access network device and stores information about a tracking area. Wherein, the broadcast message includes information about the tracking area, and the information about the tracking area includes information about the service gateway.

In the communication method provided by the embodiment of the present application, the terminal receives the information of the tracking area and stores the information of the tracking area. Among them, the information of the tracking area includes information of the service gateway. Compared with the prior art, due to the unloaded platform or the high-speed movement of satellites, the serving cell of the terminal is also changing, causing the terminal to frequently perform TAU. The communication method according to the embodiment of the application performs management based on the information of the serving gateway. On the ground, and the location of the serving gateway is fixed, when the serving cell of the terminal changes, the serving gateway to which the terminal belongs may not necessarily change, so as to avoid frequent TAU execution by the terminal.

In a possible design, the terminal may also perform the following steps: if the tracking area information in the received broadcast message is not in the tracking area list TA List of the terminal, the terminal executes the tracking area update TAU.

In this way, the terminal only needs to determine whether the currently received service gateway information exists in the TA List to determine whether to perform TAU. It can be inferred from the above method that when the serving cell of the terminal or the accessed access network equipment changes, the serving gateway to which the terminal belongs does not necessarily change, and therefore, the tracking area information does not necessarily change. In this way, the tracking area information does not exceed the range indicated by the TA List, and the terminal does not perform TAU. Compared with the frequent execution of TAU due to changes in the serving cell in the prior art, the number of times that the terminal executes TAU can be greatly reduced, and the terminal frequently executes TAU.

In a possible design, after the terminal receives the broadcast message from the access network device, the terminal may also perform the following steps:

If the information of the tracking area with the granularity of the serving gateway is not in the TA List of the terminal, the terminal performs TAU.

In a possible design, the tracking area information also includes the information of the sub-area, which belongs to the coverage area of the service gateway; after the terminal receives the broadcast message from the access network device, the terminal can also perform the following steps:

If the information of the tracking area with the granularity of the sub-area is not in the TA List of the terminal, the terminal performs TAU.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, which is applied to an access network device or a chip of an access network device, and the method includes: the access network device obtains tracking area information and sends a broadcast message. Among them, the information of the tracking area includes the information of the service gateway, and the broadcast message includes the information of the tracking area.

In a possible design method, the access network equipment obtains the tracking area information, including:

The access network device determines the service gateway; the service gateway is the ground gateway to which the access network device is connected, and the access network device is only connected to one ground gateway; or, the service gateway is the gateway with the best signal strength among the N ground gateways, and the connection The networked equipment is connected to N ground gateways, where N>1, N is an integer;

The access network device obtains the information of the tracking area according to the information of the service gateway.

In this way, the access network device selects the service gateway to ensure the communication quality between the access network device and the service gateway. Also, because the tracking area information is obtained based on the information of the service gateway, and the geographic location of the service gateway relative to the ground is different. If changes occur, the tracking area information can accurately characterize the tracking area where the terminal is located.

In one possible design, the access network equipment obtains the tracking area information, including:

The access network device obtains the information of the tracking area according to the first correspondence; where the first correspondence includes the correspondence between the information of the service gateway and the information of the time period.

In this way, the access network device directly determines the tracking area information based on the first corresponding relationship, such as an ephemeris, which reduces the amount of calculation of the access network device and simplifies the processing flow. In addition, since the information of the determined tracking area includes the information of the serving gateway, and the geographic location of the serving gateway is relatively fixed on the ground, the information of the tracking area can more accurately indicate the location of the terminal.

In one possible design, the broadcast message sent by the access network device includes:

In the first time period, the access network device sends a first broadcast message, where the first broadcast message includes information of the service gateway corresponding to the first time period;

In the second time period, the access network device sends a second broadcast message, the second broadcast message includes information of the service gateway corresponding to the second time period, and the information of the service gateway included in the first broadcast message and the second broadcast message are different.

In a possible design, the tracking area information also includes the information of the sub-area. The sub-area belongs to the coverage area of the service gateway in the time period, and the access network device sends a broadcast message, including:

In the third time period, the access network device sends a third broadcast message, and the third broadcast message includes the information of the sub-area corresponding to the third time period;

In the fourth time period, the access network device sends a fourth broadcast message, the fourth broadcast message includes the information of the sub-area corresponding to the fourth time period, and the information of the sub-area included in the third and fourth broadcast messages is different.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, which is applied to an access network device or a chip of an access network device, the method includes: the access network device sends a connection establishment request to the first core network device, and Receive a connection establishment response from the first core network device. Wherein, the connection establishment request includes information of one or more ground gateways connected to the first core network device.

Here, through the interaction between the above-mentioned first core network device and the access network device, the establishment of the communication connection between the two is completed.

In a possible design, the access network equipment can also perform the following steps:

The access network equipment obtains the ground gateway information from the detected ground gateway synchronization signal.

In this way, the access network equipment detects the synchronization signal of each terrestrial gateway, and obtains the information of the terrestrial gateway based on the detected synchronization signal of the terrestrial gateway, so as to establish a connection with the core network equipment to which the terrestrial gateway belongs through the terrestrial gateway. Communication connection.

The access network device sends a TA update request to the first core network device and receives a TA update response from the first core network device; wherein the TA update request includes updated tracking area information, and the updated tracking area information includes Information of the serving gateway, the serving gateway is one of one or more ground gateways, and the TA update request is used to request to update the correspondence between the information of the serving gateway and the access network device.

In this way, through the above processing, the access network device reports the updated service gateway to the first core network device, so that the first core network device updates the correspondence between the service gateway and the access network device, which is a paging process Provide an information basis.

The access network device obtains the first correspondence, and according to the first correspondence, determines the current service gateway information to obtain the tracking area information. The first correspondence includes the correspondence between the information of the service gateway and the information of the time period.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, which is applied to a core network device or a chip of a core network device. The method includes: a first core network device receives a connection establishment request from an access network device, and sends The access network device sends a connection establishment response. The connection establishment request is used to request the establishment of a communication connection between the access network device and the first core network device, and the connection establishment request includes information about one or more ground gateways to which the first core network device is connected.

In a possible design, the first core network device may also perform the following steps:

The first core network receives the TA update request from the access network device and sends a TA update response to the access network device; wherein the TA update request includes information about the tracking area, the information about the tracking area includes information about the service gateway, and the service gateway includes From the gateways determined from the ground gateways connected to the access network equipment, the TA update request is used to request to update the correspondence between the information of the serving gateway and the access network equipment.

In a possible design of the third aspect or the fourth aspect, the connection establishment request further includes time information, the time information includes time period information, and the information of the service gateway connected to the access network device in different time periods is different.

In a possible design of the third or fourth aspect, the connection establishment request further includes the information of the sub-region, and the time information also includes the information of the sub-period. A time period includes one or more sub-periods, and the sub-region belongs to the time period. The coverage area of the service gateway, and different sub-periods correspond to different sub-areas.

In a fifth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a communication method, which is applied to an access network device or a chip of an access network device, and the method includes: the access network device receives a paging message from a first core network device, And broadcast paging messages. Wherein, the access network equipment includes the access network equipment connected to the serving gateway in the sending time tracking area list TA List.

In a sixth aspect, the embodiments of the present application provide a communication method, which is applied to a core network device or a chip of a core network device, and the method includes: the first core network device determines the tracking area list TA List at the time when the paging message is sent The access network device connected to the serving gateway sends a paging message to the access network device. Among them, the tracking area list TA List includes tracking area information, and the tracking area information includes service gateway information.

Here, the paging is performed based on the area covered by the access network device connected to the gateway in the TA List at the paging moment (that is, the moment when the paging message is sent). Compared with the prior art, when paging messages are sent in all the cells indicated by the TA List, the tracking area information broadcast by the satellite is always bound to the serving cell, and the satellite moves relative to the ground at all times, even if the terminal does not move or has low speed Mobile, the terminal may also frequently perform TAU. Therefore, in the prior art, the satellite moves relative to the ground, and its broadcast cell also moves relative to the ground. In the prior art, the cell that moves relative to the ground at all times indicates the terminal. The location is poor in accuracy. And because the terminal may frequently perform TAU, the number of cells in the TA List is huge. In this way, sending paging messages to all cells in the TA List has a large paging range and consumes relatively large paging resources. However, the tracking area information of the communication method provided by the embodiment of the application includes the information of the service gateway. Since the service gateway is deployed on the ground and the position of the service gateway is fixed, even if the satellite moves relative to the ground at all times and the terminal moves at a low speed, as long as If the terminal does not exceed the coverage of the serving gateway, the terminal does not need to perform TAU. Since the number of times the terminal performs TAU is reduced in the embodiment of the present application, the number of serving gateways in the TA List of the terminal is small, which reduces the paging range and saves paging resources.

In a possible design, the first core network device determines the time when the paging message is sent to track the access network device connected to the serving gateway in the TA List, including:

The first core network device obtains the second correspondence, and determines the access network device connected to the serving gateway in the TA List at the time of sending the paging message according to the second correspondence. The second correspondence relationship includes the correspondence relationship between the service gateway and the access network device.

In this way, the first core network device can determine the access network device connected to the serving gateway in the TA List at the time the paging message is sent based on the real-time updated second correspondence between the serving gateway and the access network device, so as to facilitate The paging message is sent through the access network device connected to the serving gateway in the TA List.

The first core network device determines the access network device connected to the serving gateway in the TA List at the time when the paging message is sent according to the third correspondence. Wherein, the third correspondence includes the information of the time period and the correspondence between the access network device and the service gateway.

In this way, the first core network device determines the connection to which the serving gateway in the TA List is connected at the time the paging message is sent according to the third correspondence (time period information, the correspondence between the access network device and the serving gateway). Access network equipment, so as to send paging messages through the access network equipment connected to the serving gateway in the TA List.

In a possible design, the tracking area information also includes sub-area information, and the first core network device determines the time when the paging message is sent to track the access network device connected to the service gateway in the TA List of the area list, including:

The first core network device determines the access network device corresponding to the sub-area in the TA List at the time of sending the paging message according to the fourth correspondence. Wherein, the fourth correspondence relationship includes the correspondence between the information of the sub-period, the access network equipment and the information of the sub-area. One or more sub-periods constitute a time period, and the sub-area belongs to the coverage area of the service gateway of the constituted time period. And the fourth correspondence is used to indicate: in different sub-periods, the sub-areas corresponding to the access network device.

Here, since the area information in the TA List includes: the sub-area of the serving gateway coverage area, the first core network device determines the sending area of the paging message according to the sub-area information in the TA List, which can narrow the paging range and save paging. Call resources.

In a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, which may be the terminal in the above-mentioned first aspect. The device includes: a communication unit, a storage unit, and a processing unit. The communication unit is used to receive broadcast messages from the access network equipment, the broadcast messages include tracking area information, and the tracking area information includes service gateway information; the storage unit is used to store tracking area information.

In a possible design, the processing unit is configured to perform the tracking area update TAU if the tracking area information in the broadcast message received by the communication unit is not in the tracking area list TA List of the storage unit.

In a possible design, the processing unit is configured to execute the tracking area update TAU if the tracking area information with the granularity of the serving gateway received by the communication unit is not in the tracking area list TA List of the storage unit.

In a possible design, the tracking area information also includes the information of the sub-area. The sub-area belongs to the coverage area of the service gateway. The processing unit is used to receive the broadcast message from the access network device, if the communication unit receives the information If the information of the tracking area with the granularity of the sub-area is not in the tracking area list TA List of the storage unit, the tracking area update TAU is executed.

In an eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, which may be the access network device in the second aspect described above. The device includes: a communication unit and a processing unit. Among them, the processing unit is used to obtain the information of the tracking area, the information of the tracking area includes information of the service gateway; the communication unit is used to send a broadcast message, and the broadcast message includes the information of the tracking area.

In a possible design, the processing unit is used to obtain the information of the tracking area, including: used to determine the serving gateway; the serving gateway is the ground gateway connected to the access network device, and the access network device is connected to only one ground gateway; Or, the serving gateway is the gateway with the best signal strength among the N ground gateways, and the access network device is connected to the N ground gateways, where N>1, and N is an integer;

It is also used to obtain the information of the tracking area according to the information of the service gateway.

In a possible design, the processing unit, configured to obtain the information of the tracking area, includes: being configured to obtain the information of the tracking area according to the first correspondence. The first correspondence includes the correspondence between the information of the service gateway and the information of the time period.

In a possible design, the communication unit, configured to send a broadcast message, includes: being configured to send a first broadcast message in a first time period, and the first broadcast message includes information of a service gateway corresponding to the first time period;

It is also used to send a second broadcast message in the second time period, the second broadcast message includes the service gateway information corresponding to the second time period, and the service gateway information included in the first broadcast message and the second broadcast message are different.

In a possible design, the tracking area information also includes sub-area information, and the sub-area belongs to the coverage area of the service gateway in the time period.

The communication unit is configured to send a broadcast message, including: being used to send a third broadcast message in a third time period, the third broadcast message including information of a sub-region corresponding to the third time period;

It is also used to send a fourth broadcast message in the fourth time period, the fourth broadcast message includes the information of the sub-region corresponding to the fourth time period, and the information of the sub-region included in the third broadcast message and the fourth broadcast message are different.

In a ninth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, which may be the access network device in the third aspect described above. The device includes: a communication unit and a processing unit. The communication unit is configured to send a connection establishment request to the first core network device, the connection establishment request is used to request the establishment of a communication connection between the access network device and the first core network device, and the connection establishment request includes the first core network device Information of one or more ground gateways connected; also used to receive a connection establishment response from the first core network device.

In a possible design, the processing unit is used to obtain ground gateway information from the detected ground gateway synchronization signal.

In a possible design, the communication unit is also used to send a TA update request to the first core network device; wherein the TA update request includes the updated tracking area information, and the updated tracking area information includes the service gateway Information, the serving gateway is one of one or more ground gateways, and the TA update request is used to request to update the correspondence between the information of the serving gateway and the communication device;

The communication unit is also used to receive the TA update response from the first core network device.

In a possible design, the processing unit is configured to obtain and determine the current service gateway information according to the first correspondence to obtain the information of the tracking area. The first correspondence includes the correspondence between the information of the service gateway and the information of the time period.

In a tenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, which may be the core network device in the fourth aspect described above. The device includes: a communication unit. The communication unit is configured to receive a connection establishment request from the access network device, the connection establishment request is used to request the establishment of a communication connection between the access network device and the first core network device, and the connection establishment request includes the first core network device Information of one or more ground gateways connected; also used to send a connection establishment response to the access network device.

In a possible design, the communication unit is also used to receive a TA update request from the access network device, and send a TA update response to the access network device; wherein the TA update request includes the information of the tracking area, and the tracking area The information includes the information of the serving gateway, the serving gateway includes the gateway determined from the ground gateways connected to the access network device, and the TA update request is used to request to update the correspondence between the information of the serving gateway and the access network device.

In a possible design of the ninth aspect or the tenth aspect, the connection establishment request further includes time information, the time information includes time period information, and the information of the service gateway connected to the access network device in different time periods is different.

In a possible design of the ninth or tenth aspect, the connection establishment request further includes the information of the sub-region, and the time information also includes the information of the sub-period. A time period includes one or more sub-periods, and the sub-region belongs to the time period. The coverage area of the service gateway, and different sub-periods correspond to different sub-areas.

In an eleventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, which may be the access network device in the fifth aspect described above. The device includes: a communication unit. Wherein, the communication unit is used to receive a paging message from the first core network device and broadcast the paging message. Wherein, the access network equipment includes the access network equipment connected to the serving gateway in the sending time tracking area list TA List.

In a twelfth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, which may be the core network device in the sixth aspect described above. The device includes: a communication unit and a processing unit. The processing unit is used to determine the access network device connected to the serving gateway in the TA List at the time when the paging message is sent, and the communication unit is used to send the paging message to the access network device. Among them, the tracking area list TA List includes tracking area information, and the tracking area information includes service gateway information.

In a possible design, the processing unit is configured to determine the access network device connected to the serving gateway in the TA List at the time when the paging message is sent, including: acquiring the second correspondence, and according to the second correspondence The corresponding relationship determines the access network device connected to the serving gateway in the TA List at the time the paging message is sent. The second correspondence relationship includes the correspondence relationship between the service gateway and the access network device.

In a possible design, the processing unit is configured to determine the access network device connected to the serving gateway in the TA List at the time when the paging message is sent, including: determining the paging message according to the third correspondence The access network device connected to the serving gateway in the TA List at the sending time. Wherein, the third correspondence includes the information of the time period and the correspondence between the access network device and the service gateway.

In a possible design, the tracking area information also includes sub-area information. The processing unit is used to determine the time when the paging message is sent. The access network equipment connected to the service gateway in the tracking area list TA List includes: According to the fourth correspondence, the access network device corresponding to the sub-area in the TA List at the time when the paging message is sent is determined. Wherein, the fourth correspondence relationship includes the correspondence between the information of the sub-period, the access network equipment and the information of the sub-area. One or more sub-periods constitute a time period, and the sub-area belongs to the coverage area of the service gateway of the constituted time period. And the fourth correspondence is used to indicate: in different sub-periods, the corresponding sub-areas of the access network device.

In a thirteenth aspect, the present application provides a communication device, which is used to implement the function of the terminal in the above-mentioned first aspect, or to implement the function of the access network device in the above-mentioned second, third or fifth aspect, or It is used to realize the function of the core network device in the fourth aspect or the sixth aspect.

In a fourteenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device that has the function of implementing the communication method of any one of the foregoing aspects. This function can be realized by hardware, or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above-mentioned functions.

In a fifteenth aspect, a communication device is provided, including: a processor and a memory; the memory is used to store computer-executable instructions, and when the communication device is running, the processor executes the computer-executable instructions stored in the memory to enable the The communication device executes the communication method according to any one of the above aspects.

In a sixteenth aspect, a communication device is provided, including: a processor; the processor is configured to couple with a memory, and after reading an instruction in the memory, execute the communication method according to any one of the foregoing aspects according to the instruction.

In a seventeenth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, and the computer-readable storage medium stores instructions that, when run on a computer, enable the computer to execute the communication method of any one of the foregoing aspects.

In an eighteenth aspect, a computer program product containing instructions is provided, which when running on a computer, enables the computer to execute the communication method of any one of the foregoing aspects.

In a nineteenth aspect, a circuit system is provided. The circuit system includes a processing circuit configured to execute the communication method according to any one of the foregoing aspects.

In a twentieth aspect, a chip is provided. The chip includes a processor, the processor is coupled with a memory, and the memory stores program instructions. When the program instructions stored in the memory are executed by the processor, the communication method of any one of the above aspects is implemented.

In a twenty-first aspect, a communication system is provided. The communication system includes a terminal in any of the foregoing aspects, an access network device in any aspect, and a core network device in any aspect.

Among them, the technical effects brought about by any of the design methods in the second aspect to the twenty-first aspect can be referred to the technical effects brought about by the different design methods in the first aspect, which will not be repeated here.

Description of the drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an NTN system architecture provided by an embodiment of the application;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an NTN system architecture provided by an embodiment of the application;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of an NTN system architecture provided by an embodiment of the application;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a communication method provided by an embodiment of this application;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a scenario of a communication method provided by an embodiment of the application;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a scenario of a communication method provided by an embodiment of the application;

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a scene of a communication method provided by an embodiment of the application;

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of a scenario of a communication method provided by an embodiment of this application;

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of a scenario of a communication method provided by an embodiment of the application;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of a communication method provided by an embodiment of this application;

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of a scene of a communication method provided by an embodiment of this application;

FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram of a scene of a communication method provided by an embodiment of this application;

FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram of a scenario of a communication method provided by an embodiment of this application;

FIG. 14 is a flowchart of a communication method provided by an embodiment of this application;

FIG. 15 is a flowchart of a communication method provided by an embodiment of this application;

FIG. 16 is a flowchart of a communication method provided by an embodiment of this application;

FIG. 17 is a flowchart of a communication method provided by an embodiment of this application;

18 is a flowchart of a communication method provided by an embodiment of this application;

FIG. 19 is a flowchart of a communication method provided by an embodiment of this application;

20 is a flowchart of a communication method provided by an embodiment of this application;

FIG. 21 is a flowchart of a communication method provided by an embodiment of this application;

FIG. 22 is a flowchart of a communication method provided by an embodiment of this application;

FIG. 23 is a flowchart of a communication method provided by an embodiment of this application;

FIG. 24 is a flowchart of a communication method provided by an embodiment of this application;

FIG. 25 is a flowchart of a communication method provided by an embodiment of this application;

FIG. 26 is a flowchart of a communication method provided by an embodiment of this application;

FIG. 27 is a flowchart of a communication method provided by an embodiment of this application;

FIG. 28 is a flowchart of a communication method provided by an embodiment of this application;

FIG. 29 is a flowchart of a communication method provided by an embodiment of this application;

FIG. 30 is a schematic diagram of a scenario of a communication method provided by an embodiment of this application;

FIG. 31 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided by an embodiment of this application;

FIG. 32 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided by an embodiment of this application.

detailed description

The terms "first" and "second" in the description of the application and the drawings are used to distinguish different objects, or to distinguish different processing of the same object, rather than describing a specific order of objects. In addition, the terms "including" and "having" and any variations thereof mentioned in the description of this application are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions. For example, a process, method, system, product, or device that includes a series of steps or units is not limited to the listed steps or units, but optionally includes other steps or units that are not listed, or optionally also Including other steps or units inherent to these processes, methods, products or equipment. It should be noted that in the embodiments of the present application, words such as "exemplary" or "for example" are used as examples, illustrations, or illustrations. Any embodiment or design solution described as "exemplary" or "for example" in the embodiments of the present application should not be construed as being more preferable or advantageous than other embodiments or design solutions. To be precise, words such as "exemplary" or "for example" are used to present related concepts in a specific manner.

The communication method provided in the embodiments of the present application can be applied to an NTN system or other similar systems. For example, it can be applied to other communication systems where a terminal frequently performs TAU.

First, taking the application in the NTN system as an example, the NTN system architecture involved in the embodiments of the present application is given. In the embodiment of the present application, the NTN system architecture includes access network equipment, terminals communicating with the access network equipment, and core network equipment. Among them, all or part of the functional modules of the access network equipment can be deployed on airborne platforms or satellites, or deployed in other forms of high-altitude communication equipment. The terminal and the access network equipment communicate through a wireless interface, the access network equipment communicates with the core network equipment through the ground gateway, and the core network equipment and the ground gateway are both deployed on the ground.

The above NTN system architecture can be applied to the current long term evolution (LTE) or advanced long term evolution (LTE advanced, LTE-A) system, and can also be applied to the fifth-generation mobile communication technology currently under development (5 -generation, 5G) network or other networks in the future. Of course, it can also be applied to a system of LTE and 5G hybrid networking, or in other systems, which is not specifically limited in the embodiment of the present application. In different networks, the core network equipment, access network equipment, and terminals in the above NTN system architecture may correspond to different names. Those skilled in the art can understand that the names do not limit the equipment itself.

Among them, the core network equipment referred to in the embodiments of the present application is a device deployed in the core network to provide services for terminals. In systems using different wireless access technologies, the names of core network devices with similar wireless communication functions may be different. For example, when the communication method of the embodiment of this application is applied to a 5G system, the core network equipment may be an access and mobility management function (AMF). When applied to an LTE system, the core network equipment may be mobile Sexual management entity (mobility management entity, MME). For convenience of description only, in the embodiments of the present application, the foregoing devices that can provide services for terminals are collectively referred to as core network devices.

Access network equipment is a device deployed on a wireless access network to provide wireless communication functions. Optionally, the access network equipment involved in the embodiments of the present application includes, for example, but not limited to, the following various forms of macro base stations, micro base stations (also referred to as small stations), relay stations, and transmission reception points (TRP) , Next-generation network nodes (g Node B, gNB), evolved Node B (ng-eNB) connected to the next-generation core network, etc., and can also include wireless local area network (WLAN) access Equipment and other non-third generation partnership project (3rd generation partnership project, 3GPP) radio access network equipment. As pointed out above, all or part of the functional modules of the access network equipment can be deployed on airborne platforms or satellites, or other forms of communication equipment deployed in the air. Correspondingly, the access network equipment may refer to an airborne platform that connects the terminal to the core network equipment, or a satellite, or other similar equipment.

The terminal is mainly used to receive or send data. Optionally, the terminals involved in the embodiments of the present application may include, for example, but not limited to, various handheld devices with wireless communication functions, vehicle-mounted devices, wearable devices, computing devices, or other processing devices connected to wireless modems; It can include subscriber unit (subscriber unit), cellular phone (cellular phone), smart phone (smart phone), wireless data card, personal digital assistant (personal digital assistant, PDA) computer, tablet computer, handheld device (handheld), laptop Laptop computer (laptop computer), machine type communication (MTC) terminal (terminal), user equipment (UE), etc.

Referring to Figure 1 and Figure 2, an NTN system architecture is shown respectively. The NTN system includes access network equipment and core network equipment. The access network equipment can be deployed on an airborne platform. The airborne platform may include at least one of the following: satellite, drone, or hot air balloon. The NTN system also includes a ground gateway and a data network (DN). The terminal communicates with the access network equipment through the interface, for example, through the new radio-air interface between gNodeB and user equipment, NR-Uu. The access network equipment communicates with the ground gateway through an interface, for example, through a wireless interface (NG over satellite radio interface, NG over SRI). The ground gateway communicates with the core network device through an interface, for example, through a logical interface (next generation, NG). The core network device can be connected to only one ground gateway. At this time, the access network device can be connected to the core network device through a ground gateway, as shown in Figure 1. The core network device can be connected to more than one ground gateway. At this time, the access network device can be connected to the core network device through any one of the more than one ground gateways, as shown in Figure 2 (Figure 2 only shows 2 ground gateways). The core network device may communicate with entities or network elements in a data network (data network, DN) through an interface, for example, through an N6 interface.

It should be noted that the foregoing only enumerates the communication modes between some network elements, and other network elements may also communicate with each other through certain connection modes, which will not be repeated here in the embodiment of the application.

Referring to Figure 3, Figure 3 shows another NTN system architecture. The NTN system includes access network equipment and core network equipment. Among them, the access network equipment includes a distributed unit (DU) and a control unit (CU). Referring to Fig. 3, the access network device may be a next generation Node B (gNB). Optionally, the gNB may include a next generation Node B-distributed unit (gNB-DU) and a next generation Node B-control unit (gNB-CU). In a possible example, gNB-DU is deployed on the satellite and gNB-CU is deployed on the ground. The NTN system may also include a terrestrial gateway and DN. The terminal communicates with the gNB-DU through the new radio interface (new radio-Uu, NR-Uu), and the gNB-DU communicates with the gNB-CU through the ground gateway. The gNB-DU communicates through the satellite radio interface (F1 , F1 over SRI) to communicate with the ground gateway. The gNB-CU communicates with core network equipment through the next generation (NG) interface. The core network device can communicate with network elements or entities in a data network (DN) through the N6 interface.

It should be emphasized that the NTN system architecture of the embodiment of the present application may include multiple access network devices and multiple core network devices. Figure 1, Figure 2 and Figure 3 only exemplarily show one access network device, one Core network equipment. In FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, the dotted line represents the wireless communication connection, and the solid line represents the wired communication connection.

The NTN system architecture and business scenarios described in the embodiments of the present application are intended to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, and do not constitute a limitation on the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application. A person of ordinary skill in the art can know that with the evolution of network architecture and the emergence of new business scenarios, the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application are equally applicable to similar technical problems.

The communication method provided by the embodiment of the present application will be described in detail below.

It should be noted that the name of the message between each network element or the name of each parameter in the message in the following embodiments of the present application is just an example, and other names may also be used in specific implementations, which are explained here in a unified manner and will not be described below. Repeat.

The embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, which is applied in the process of position management of a terminal. Referring to Figure 4, the communication method includes the following steps:

S401: The access network device obtains information about the tracking area.

Among them, the access network equipment may be carried on a satellite. For example, the base station mounted on the satellite, or the DU mounted on the satellite, or the DU and CU mounted on the satellite.

Among them, the information of the tracking area includes information of the service gateway. As a possible implementation, one gateway can be selected from multiple ground gateways as the service gateway. Among them, the geographic location of the ground gateway is fixed. Correspondingly, the information of the serving gateway may be referred to as ground gateway information (ground gateway information). The serving gateway is a gateway that is accessed by the access network equipment and can provide services for the access network equipment. The information of the serving gateway may be the name of the serving gateway, the identity (ID) of the serving gateway, or other forms. Exemplarily, if the method of the embodiment of the present application is applied to the system as shown in FIG. 1 or FIG. 2, the serving gateway refers to a gateway that provides services for base stations (mounted on satellites). If the method of the embodiment of the present application is applied to the system as shown in FIG. 3, the serving gateway refers to a gateway that provides services for gNB-DU (mounted on a satellite). It is easy to understand that when the location of the access network device changes, the service gateway of the access network device may also change. Correspondingly, the service gateway information (such as the name of the service gateway) changes, and the tracking area information Also changed accordingly.

S402: The access network device sends a broadcast message. Correspondingly, the terminal receives the broadcast message from the access network device.

Among them, the broadcast message includes tracking area information.

For a certain access network device, its service gateway is constantly changing. Therefore, the access network device will broadcast the information of different tracking areas along with the change of the running track.

S403. The terminal stores the information of the tracking area.

The terminal will store the received tracking area information, such as service gateway information, in the TA List to facilitate subsequent location management and paging, and provide information support for the location management and paging process. For example, the information of the serving gateway includes GW1-ID, and the terminal stores the tracking area information after receiving the tracking area information including GW1-ID.

In the communication method provided by the embodiment of the present application, the access network device obtains the information of the tracking area and sends a broadcast message with the information of the tracking area, and the terminal stores the information of the tracking area. Among them, the information of the tracking area includes information of the service gateway. Compared with the prior art, due to the movement of the unloaded platform, the serving cell of the terminal is also changing, causing the terminal to frequently perform TAU. The communication method in the embodiment of the present application performs management based on the information of the serving gateway. Since the serving gateway is deployed on the ground, In addition, the location of the serving gateway is fixed. When the serving cell of the terminal changes, the serving gateway to which the terminal belongs may not necessarily change, so as to prevent the terminal from frequently performing TAU.

Wherein, the serving gateway to which the terminal belongs in the embodiment of the present application refers to that the terminal is connected to the core network device through the serving gateway. This is a unified description, and will not be repeated here.

It is easy to understand that at a certain moment, if the terminal receives a broadcast message from the access network device (the broadcast message includes information about the tracking area), the terminal executes:

S404: If the tracking area information in the received broadcast message is not in the TA List of the terminal, the terminal performs TAU.

Conversely, if the tracking area information in the received broadcast message is in the TA List of the terminal, the terminal does not perform TAU.

Wherein, the information of the tracking area may include the information of the service gateway, and may also include the information of the service gateway and the information of the sub-area.

As a possible implementation, if the information of the tracking area is based on the service gateway, the specific implementation process for the terminal to determine whether to execute TAU may include the following steps:

On the contrary, if the information of the tracking area with the granularity of the serving gateway is in the TA List of the terminal, the terminal does not need to perform TAU.

Exemplarily, referring to Figure 5, assuming that the TA List of the terminal includes the following tracking area information: GW1-ID, GW2-ID, GW3-ID, the terminal receives the tracking area information broadcast by gNB1 (including the information of the serving gateway) , That is, GW1-ID), the terminal knows that the tracking area information is in the TA List, then the terminal does not perform TAU. Moreover, when the terminal moves, although its position changes, usually as long as it does not exceed the dotted oval area (the dotted oval area represents the coverage area of the serving gateway GW1), the core network equipment can learn the location of the terminal. In this way, the terminal does not need to Perform TAU.

Exemplarily, referring to Figure 6, the terminal may move at a low speed and move from the coverage area of gNB1 to the coverage area of gNB2. In this case, even if the access network equipment that the terminal accesses changes, the serving cell (cell) changes. However, the terminal does not exceed the coverage area of the serving gateway GW1, that is, the tracking area information is still in the TA List of the terminal, and the terminal does not need to perform TAU.

In one scenario, referring to Figures 7 and 8, in the process of gNB1 moving from right to left in the figure, the broadcast tracking area information includes GW1-ID. If gNB1 continues to move from right to left, gNB1 broadcasts The tracking area information includes GW2-ID. Similarly, when gNB2 moves from right to left in the figure, the broadcast tracking area information includes GW1-ID. If gNB2 continues to move from right to left, the tracking area information broadcast by gNB2 includes GW2-ID. It can be seen that there is a ping-pong phenomenon in the tracking area information received by UE1, that is, UE1 may first receive GW1-ID and GW2-ID broadcast by gNB1, and then receive GW1-ID and GW2-ID broadcast by gNB2. The information to the tracking area alternates between GW1-ID and GW2-ID. Wherein, in conjunction with FIG. 7 and FIG. 8, when gNB1 moves from right to left in the figure, the information in the TA List corresponding to the terminal UE1 is updated to: GW1-ID and GW2-ID. Later, when gNB2 moves from right to left in the figure, even if there is the above ping-pong phenomenon, the TA List has been updated through the GW1-ID and GW2-ID broadcast by gNB1. Therefore, the tracking area broadcast by gNB2 can be guaranteed. The information is in the updated TA List (including GW1-ID and GW2-ID), and the terminal does not need to perform TAU. That is, the above method can reduce the frequency of TAU execution when the ping-pong phenomenon occurs, thereby reducing the power consumption of the terminal.

In this way, the terminal only needs to determine whether the currently received tracking area information exists in the TA List to determine whether to perform TAU. It can be inferred from the above method that when the serving cell of the terminal or the accessed access network equipment changes, the serving gateway to which the terminal belongs does not necessarily change, and therefore, the tracking area information does not necessarily change. In this way, the tracking area information does not exceed the range indicated by the TA List, and the terminal does not perform TAU. Compared with the frequent execution of TAU due to changes in the serving cell in the prior art, the number of times that the terminal executes TAU can be greatly reduced, and the terminal frequently executes TAU.

In the communication method provided by the embodiment of this application, after the terminal receives the information of the tracking area, since the information of the tracking area includes the information of the serving gateway, the terminal only needs to determine whether the information of the tracking area with the granularity of the serving gateway is in the TA List of the terminal , You can determine whether to perform TAU, which greatly simplifies the terminal operation process.

As another possible implementation manner, if the tracking area information is granular in the sub-area of the serving gateway, the specific implementation process of the terminal determining whether to execute TAU may include the following steps:

Conversely, if the information of the tracking area with the granularity of the sub-area is in the TA List of the terminal, the terminal does not need to perform TAU.

Exemplarily, referring to Figure 9, the dashed oval area represents the coverage area of the serving gateway GW1, the right half of the dashed oval area represents subarea 1 of the serving gateway GW1 (can be identified as "-1"), and the left half of the dashed oval area The part represents the sub-area 2 of the serving gateway GW1 (can be identified as "-2"). The tracking area information in the TA List of the terminal includes: GW1-2-ID. If the terminal receives information about a certain tracking area, the information about the tracking area includes GW1-2-ID, as shown in FIG. 9. At this time, since the information GW1-2-ID of the sub-area is in the TA List of the terminal, the terminal does not need to perform TAU. As the terminal moves from left to right in the figure and enters another sub-area (sub-area 1), if the terminal receives the information of another tracking area, the information of the tracking area includes GW1-1-ID. At this time, since the information GW1-1-ID of the sub-area is not in the TA List of the terminal, the terminal needs to perform TAU so that the core network device can obtain the tracking area where the terminal is currently located.

Here, the terminal only needs to determine whether the currently received tracking area information with the granularity of sub-area exists in the TA List to determine whether to perform TAU. When performing location management on the terminal, it is not only possible to determine which service gateway is covered by the terminal at the current moment, but also which sub-area of the service gateway coverage area the terminal is in. In this way, the position range of the terminal is smaller, and the terminal position can be indicated more accurately.

There are many specific ways to implement the step of "S401, the access network device obtains the information of the tracking area". The following examples illustrate.

As a possible implementation manner, referring to FIG. 10, the access network device acquiring the tracking area information may include the following steps:

S101. The access network device determines a service gateway.

Specifically, the access network device determines the serving gateway according to the ground gateway to which the access network device is connected.

In a possible design, the information of each ground gateway connected to the access network device comes from the first correspondence. The first correspondence may include the correspondence between the information of the service gateway and the information of the time period. Specifically, the first correspondence relationship may be an ephemeris, a trajectory timetable, or the like. The access network device may store the first correspondence in advance, or, when the access network device needs to determine the serving gateway, obtain the first correspondence from the first core network device.

Exemplarily, at a certain moment, the access network device can connect to N ground gateways, where N is an integer. If N=1, the access network device uses this one ground gateway as the service gateway, if N>1, the access network device selects the ground gateway with the best signal strength among the N ground gateways as the service gateway to ensure communication quality .

In another possible design, the information of each terrestrial gateway connected to the access network device comes from the synchronization signal of each terrestrial gateway. The synchronization signal of the ground gateway carries the information of the ground gateway, such as the identifier of the ground gateway.

Exemplarily, at a certain moment, the access network device can only detect the synchronization signal of one ground gateway, obtain the information of a ground gateway from the detected synchronization signal, and establish a connection with the first core network device through the ground gateway. At this time, the access network device is connected to only one ground gateway, and the ground gateway is used as a service gateway for communication.

At another moment, the access network device has determined the serving gateway, and the access network device also detects synchronization signals from other ground gateways, and then adds a link with the corresponding ground gateway. If the access network device also detects a signal from the ground gateway GW2, it adds a link with the ground gateway GW2. When the signal quality of the ground gateway GW2 meets the switching condition of the serving gateway, the access network device switches the serving gateway. Exemplarily, the handover condition of the serving gateway may include: the signal quality of a certain terrestrial gateway is better than the signal quality of the current serving gateway. The switching condition of the serving gateway may also include: within the time threshold (which can be flexibly set according to the application scenario), the signal quality of a certain ground gateway is better than the signal quality of the current serving gateway. The switching condition of the serving gateway may also include: the signal quality of the current serving gateway is lower than the signal quality threshold (which can be set separately according to the application scenario).

S102. The access network device obtains the information of the tracking area according to the information of the service gateway.

Exemplarily, the access network device may use the identification of the serving gateway (such as "GW1-ID" or "GW2-ID") as the tracking area information. Or the access network device may use the identifier of the serving gateway (such as "GW1-ID" or "GW2-ID") as part of the tracking area information.

In this way, the access network equipment selects the service gateway to ensure the communication quality between the access network equipment and the ground gateway, and because the tracking area information is obtained based on the information of the service gateway, and the geographic location of the service gateway relative to the ground is different. If changes occur, the tracking area information can accurately characterize the tracking area where the terminal is located.

As follows, in conjunction with the scenario diagrams in Figures 11, 12, and 13, the possible implementation of "the access network device selects the service gateway by signal strength to obtain tracking area information" is described in detail:

11, in the first time period, the signal quality of the ground gateway GW1 is better than the signal quality of the ground gateway GW2. The ground gateway GW1 serves as the service gateway of the access network device gNB1. In FIG. 11, the access network device gNB1 and the ground The gateways GW1 are connected by solid lines to indicate that the access network device gNB1 uses the ground gateway GW1 as the service gateway. At this time, the broadcast message sent by the access network device gNB1 includes tracking area information, and the tracking area information includes the ground gateway The identification of GW1 (GW1-ID). The access network equipment also detects synchronization signals from other, such as the ground gateway GW2, and adds a link with the ground gateway GW2. In Figure 11, the access network equipment gNB1 and the ground gateway GW2 are connected by a dotted line. To indicate that the access network device gNB1 has added a link with the ground gateway GW2.

12, as the access network device gNB1 is constantly moving relative to the ground, the separation distance between the access network device gNB1 and the two ground gateways (GW1 and GW2) is also changing. When the access network device detects that the signal quality of the ground gateway GW2 meets the handover condition of the serving gateway, it indicates that the ground gateway GW2 can serve as the serving gateway of the access network device gNB1. In Figure 12, the access network device gNB1 is connected with the ground gateway GW1 and the ground gateway GW2 by solid lines, which means that the access network device gNB1 still uses the ground gateway GW1 as the serving gateway, and the ground gateway GW2 satisfies the switching of the serving gateway. Conditions, it can be used as the service gateway of the access network device gNB1. The state shown in FIG. 12 is a state where the access network device gNB1 does not perform serving gateway switching, and the tracking area information in the broadcast message sent by the access network device gNB1 still includes the identity (GW1-ID) of the ground gateway GW1.

Referring to FIG. 13, the access network device gNB1 performs serving gateway switching, and switches the serving gateway from the ground gateway GW1 to the ground gateway GW2. In Figure 13, a solid line connection is used between the access network device gNB1 and the ground gateway GW2 to indicate that the access network device gNB1 uses the ground gateway GW2 as the service gateway. At this time, in the broadcast message sent by the access network device gNB1 The tracking area information includes the identification of the ground gateway GW2 (GW2-ID). The access network device gNB1 and the ground gateway GW1 are connected by a dotted line to indicate that the link between the access network device gNB1 and the ground gateway GW1 has not been deleted.

As another possible implementation manner, referring to FIG. 14, the access network device acquiring the tracking area information may include the following steps:

S141. The access network device obtains the first correspondence.

The first correspondence includes the correspondence between the information of the service gateway and the information of the time period. The first corresponding relationship may indicate: in different time periods, the service gateway to which the access network device is connected. The service gateway corresponding to each time period provides services for the access network equipment. For example, the ephemeris, trajectory timetable, etc. may include the first correspondence. The access network device may store the first correspondence in advance, or, when the access network device needs to determine the serving gateway, obtain the first correspondence from the first core network device.

S142. The access network device determines the current service gateway information according to the first correspondence to obtain the information of the tracking area.

As another possible implementation manner, referring to FIG. 15, the access network device acquiring the tracking area information may include the following steps:

S151. The access network device obtains the ephemeris.

Among them, the ephemeris includes the time when the access network device accesses the service gateway.

Exemplarily, the ephemeris may include: one or more of the service time, de-service time, service duration, and orbit period of the satellite provided by each of the one or more service gateways. Among them, the time that the service gateway provides services to the satellite can be understood as the time that the satellite accesses the gateway. De-serving by a certain service gateway means that the satellite leaves the gateway, so that the service gateway no longer provides services for the satellite. The length of time between the time when a satellite accesses a certain service gateway and the time when the satellite leaves the gateway is called the service time length of the gateway serving the satellite. Satellite orbit period refers to the time required for a satellite to circle the earth. Exemplarily, Table 1 is a possible ephemeris, where each ground station corresponds to a ground gateway, and each ground gateway has its own core network ID.

Table 1

Of course, the ephemeris may also include more or less information than Table 1, and the embodiment of the present application does not limit the specific implementation of the ephemeris.

S152. The access network device determines the tracking area information according to the ephemeris.

Specifically, the access network device determines the tracking area information according to the time when the access network device accesses the service gateway.

Among them, the information of the tracking area includes information of the service gateway. The information of the service gateway may include, for example, but not limited to, the identifier and name of the service gateway.

In the embodiment of this application, for example, taking the satellite corresponding to the China station in Table 1 as an example, its orbital period around the earth is 79200 s. In different time periods within the orbital period, the satellites are in different spatial positions, for example, Assuming that it is inferred from the above ephemeris, from 12:00 to 13:00, the satellite is over the Chinese region, and from 17:00 to 18:00, the satellite is over the European region. When the satellite is above the Chinese region, the satellite is connected to the ground gateway deployed by the Chinese station. Correspondingly, the information of the tracking area determined by the satellite may include, for example, the identifier (X) of the ground gateway deployed by the Chinese station. When the satellite is over the European area, the tracking area information may include the identification (Y) of the ground gateway deployed in the European area. It is understandable that the satellite can determine which time period the current time is in based on the time when the satellite is connected to different service gateways in the ephemeris, so as to know which service gateway is connected to, and then the tracking area information.

In this way, the access network device directly determines the tracking area information based on the first correspondence between the information of the service gateway and the information of the time period, such as an ephemeris, which reduces the computational load of the access network device and simplifies the processing flow. In addition, since the information of the determined tracking area includes the information of the serving gateway, and the geographic location of the serving gateway is relatively fixed on the ground, the information of the tracking area can more accurately indicate the location of the terminal.

In the above, the service gateway is used as the granularity of the tracking area information, and further, the granularity of the tracking area information can be refined. Specifically, for a certain serving gateway, the access network device divides the time period to which the current time information belongs to obtain one or more sub-periods, each sub-period corresponds to a sub-region, and each sub-region belongs to time The coverage area of the service gateway corresponding to the segment. At this time, the tracking area information broadcast by the access network device includes the service gateway information and the sub-area information. In this way, different tracking area information may include the same service gateway information and different sub-area information. Alternatively, different tracking area information may include different service gateway information and different sub-area information.

There are many specific implementation modes for the step of "S402, the access network device sends a broadcast message". The following examples illustrate. As a first possible implementation manner, when the service gateway included in the tracking area information changes, the access network device directly sends different broadcast messages.

The access network equipment uses the ground gateway with the best signal strength as the tracking area information, and directly broadcasts a broadcast message including the tracking area information. Correspondingly, the terminal receives the broadcast message from the access network device.

As a second possible implementation manner, with the serving gateway as the granularity of the tracking area information, the access network device sends different broadcast messages according to time periods.

Referring to FIG. 16, the specific implementation process for the access network device to send the broadcast message may include the following steps:

S161. In the first time period, the access network device sends a first broadcast message.

Correspondingly, the first terminal receives the first broadcast message from the access network device.

The first broadcast message includes information about the first tracking area, and the information about the first tracking area includes information about the first service gateway corresponding to the first time period. The first terminal is a terminal located in the coverage area of the first serving gateway.

S162. In the second time period, the access network device sends a second broadcast message.

Correspondingly, the second terminal receives the second broadcast message from the access network device.

The second broadcast message includes the information of the second tracking area, and the information of the second tracking area includes the information of the second service gateway corresponding to the second time period. The second terminal is a terminal located in the coverage area of the second serving gateway. The first service gateway is different from the second service gateway.

Exemplarily, based on the ephemeris, as shown in Table 1, during the period from 12:00 to 13:00, if the satellite is over the Chinese region, the satellite is connected to the ground gateway deployed by the Chinese station, and the tracking area information broadcast by the satellite is for example It may include the identification (X) of the ground gateway deployed by the Chinese station.

It can be inferred from the above ephemeris that during the period from 17:00 to 18:00, the satellite is in the sky over the European area, and the satellite broadcasts to the terminal. The tracking area information may include the identification (Y) of the ground gateway deployed in the European area.

Here, the access network device only sends different broadcast messages based on time, so that after receiving the broadcast message, the terminal determines whether to perform TAU, so as to facilitate subsequent location management of the terminal.

As a third possible implementation manner, further refine the granularity of the tracking area information. The tracking area information includes the service gateway information and the sub-area information. Specifically, each time period corresponds to a service gateway. For time period division, each time period includes one or more sub-periods. The coverage area of each service gateway includes one or more sub-areas, and each sub-period corresponds to one sub-areas. The access network device sends different broadcast messages according to sub-periods. Different broadcast messages may be broadcast messages that include information about different service gateways, or broadcast messages that include information about the same service gateway and information about different sub-regions.

Referring to Figure 17, the information of the tracking area includes the information of the third serving gateway and the information of the first sub-area. The access network device sends different broadcast messages according to the time information, which may specifically be broadcasts corresponding to different sub-areas under the same serving gateway. The message may also be a broadcast message corresponding to the same sub-area under different service gateways, or a broadcast message corresponding to different sub-area under different service gateways. The specific implementation process of S402 may include the following steps:

S171. In the third time period, the access network device sends a third broadcast message.

Correspondingly, the third terminal receives the third broadcast message broadcast from the access network device.

Wherein, the third broadcast message includes the information of the third tracking area. The information of the third tracking area includes information of the third service gateway corresponding to the third time period and information of the third sub-area. The third time period is a part of the time period corresponding to the service gateway information in the third broadcast message. The third terminal is a terminal in the third subarea in the third broadcast message.

S172. In the fourth time period, the access network device sends a fourth broadcast message.

Correspondingly, the fourth terminal receives the fourth broadcast message broadcast from the access network device.

Wherein, the fourth broadcast message includes the information of the fourth tracking area. The information of the fourth tracking area includes the information of the service gateway corresponding to the fourth time period and the information of the subarea. Specifically, it may include the information of the third service gateway and the information of the second subarea, and it may also include the information of the fourth service gateway and the first subarea. The information of a sub-area may also include information of the fourth service gateway and information of the second sub-area. The fourth time period is a part of the time period corresponding to the service gateway information in the fourth broadcast message. The fourth terminal is a terminal in the sub-area of the fourth broadcast message.

Exemplarily, referring to FIG. 9, the serving gateway of the access network device gNB1 is the gateway GW1. The coverage area of the gateway GW1 can be divided into two sub-areas: sub-areas 1 and sub-areas 2 according to the above ephemeris. Wherein, the identifier of sub-area 1 may be "-1", and the identifier of sub-area 2 may be "-2". The dashed elliptical area in the right half is sub-area 1, and the dashed elliptical area in the left half is sub-area 2. In addition, during the period of 10:00-10:30, the access network device (gNB1) enters the subarea 1. In this way, from 10:00 to 10:30, the access network device gNB1 broadcasts the information of the third tracking area. At this time, the information of the third tracking area includes the information of the serving gateway (such as "GW1") and subarea 1 (such as subarea). The information of the area 1 identifier "-1"), and the format of the information of the third tracking area may specifically be GW1-1-ID (other formats are not excluded). During the period from 10:30 to 11:00, the access network device gNB1 enters the subarea 2, and the access network device gNB1 sends the information of the fourth tracking area to the terminal. At this time, the information of the fourth tracking area includes the service gateway The information of the fourth tracking area (such as "GW1") and the information of the sub-area 2 (such as the identifier of the sub-area 2 "-2"), and the information of the fourth tracking area may specifically be GW1-2-ID.

Here, the time period corresponding to the service gateway is divided. When the access network device enters different sub-areas (such as the dashed and solid ellipse area on the left in Figure 9) at different times, the information of the tracking area broadcasted by it is also Include information about sub-regions. Subsequent, when performing location management on the terminal, not only can it be determined which serving gateway the access network device is connected to at the current moment, but it can also be determined which sub-region of the service gateway coverage area that the broadcast message sent by the access network device can reach. Area for more precise terminal location management.

The embodiment of the present application also provides a communication method, which is applied in the process of communication connection management between the access network device and the core network device. Referring to Figure 18, the communication method includes the following steps:

S1800. The access network device obtains the information of the ground gateway.

Wherein, the information of the terrestrial gateway may include the name or identification of the terrestrial gateway.

S1801. The access network device sends a connection establishment request to the first core network device.

Correspondingly, the first core network device receives the connection establishment request from the access network device.

The connection request is used to request the establishment of a communication connection between the access network device and the first core network device, and the connection establishment request includes the information of the ground gateway. For example, the connection establishment request includes information about one or more ground gateways to which the first core network device is connected.

S1802. The first core network device sends a connection establishment response to the access network device.

Correspondingly, the access network device receives the connection establishment response from the first core network device.

Among them, the connection establishment response includes the identifier of the first core network device. In the embodiment of the present application, the first core network device may refer to an access and mobility management function (AMF). The identifier of the first core network device may be the name of the first AMF, or the number of the first AMF, etc., such as AMF1.

Optionally, after the first core network device establishes a communication connection between the access network device and the first core network device, it sends a connection establishment response to the access network device. Or, for example, after receiving the connection establishment request from the access network device, the first core network device first sends a connection establishment response to the access network device, and then establishes communication between the access network device and the first core network device connection.

In this way, through the interaction between the first core network device and the access network device, the establishment of the communication connection between the two is completed.

As follows, there are many specific ways to implement the step of "S1800, access network equipment obtaining ground gateway information". The following examples illustrate.

As the first possible implementation manner, referring to FIG. 19, the specific implementation process for the access network device to obtain the information of the terrestrial gateway may include the following steps:

S191. The access network device determines the current service gateway information according to the first correspondence.

The first correspondence relationship includes the correspondence relationship between the information of the service gateway and the information of the time period, and is used to indicate the service gateway to which the access network device is connected in different time periods.

For example, if the first core network device is connected to two terrestrial gateways, the identifiers of the two terrestrial gateways may be respectively: GW1 and GW2, and "1-GW1" may be used to characterize the correspondence between the first core network device and the gateway GW1. "1-GW2" may be used to characterize the correspondence between the first core network device and the gateway GW2, where "1-" may indicate the first core network device.

Exemplarily, the ephemeris includes the correspondence between the information of the serving gateway and the information of the time period, and the access network device obtains the information of the two ground gateways, GW1 and GW2, from the ephemeris based on the current time information.

In this way, the access network device obtains the current service gateway information through the first corresponding relationship, and provides information support for establishing a communication connection with the first core network device.

As a second possible implementation manner, referring to FIG. 20, the specific implementation process for the access network device to obtain the information of the ground gateway may include the following steps:

S201. The access network device obtains ground gateway information from the detected ground gateway synchronization signal.

Exemplarily, if the access network device can detect the signal of a certain ground gateway, the access network device obtains the ground gateway information from the detected ground gateway synchronization signal, which can be recorded as GW1.

In this way, the access network device obtains the information of the ground gateway by detecting the synchronization signal of each ground gateway, so as to establish a communication connection with the first core network device through the ground gateway.

There are many specific implementation modes for the step of "S1801, the access network device sends a connection establishment request to the first core network device". The following examples illustrate.

As a first possible implementation manner, the connection establishment request includes the information of the ground gateway to which the first core network device is connected, so that the first core network device learns the information of all the ground gateways during the communication connection with the access network device. At this time, the number of ground gateways included in the connection establishment request is consistent with the number of ground gateways connected to the first core network device.

Exemplarily, referring to FIG. 2, the ground gateway GW1 and the ground gateway GW2 are both connected to the first core network device. At this time, the ground gateway information in the connection establishment request may include: 1-GW1 and 1-GW2. Among them, "1-" indicates the first core network device, "1-GW1" indicates the ground gateway GW1 connected to the first core network device, and "1-GW2" indicates the ground gateway GW2 connected to the first core network device.

As a second possible implementation manner, the connection establishment request includes information of the ground gateway obtained by the access network device based on the ground gateway synchronization signal, so as to establish a communication connection with the first core network device through the ground gateway.

Exemplarily, at a certain moment, the access network device obtains the information of a certain ground gateway from the synchronization signal of the ground gateway, which is recorded as GW1. At this time, the connection establishment request sent by the access network device may include: GW1.

Exemplarily, in the first and second possible implementation manners of the connection establishment request, the connection establishment request includes the TAC, and the TAC includes the information of the ground gateway. Table 2 shows the field content included in the connection establishment request:

Table 2

信息元素/组名(IE/Group Name)Information element/group name (IE/Group Name)
>支持的TA项目(Supported TA Item)>Supported TA Item (Supported TA Item)
>>跟踪区域码(TAC)>>Tracking Area Code (TAC)
>>默认寻呼非连续接收(Default Paging DRX)>>Default paging discontinuous reception (Default Paging DRX)

As a third possible implementation manner, the connection establishment request includes service gateway information and time information, the time information includes time period information, and the service gateways connected to the access network devices in different time periods are different.

Exemplarily, the connection establishment request may include: GW1, starting time: 12:00, duration: 40 minutes; GW2, starting time: 12:41, duration: 20 minutes. Among them, "GW1, start time: 12:00, duration: 40min" means that from 12:00, there is a communication connection between the access network device and the first core network device through the serving gateway GW1, and the duration is For 40 minutes, the information of the tracking area includes the information of the serving gateway GW1. "GW2, start time: 12:41, duration: 20min" means that at 12:41, there is a communication connection between the access network device and the first core network device through the serving gateway GW2, and the duration is 20 Minutes, the information of the tracking area includes the information of the service gateway GW2.

As a fourth possible implementation manner, the connection establishment request includes service gateway information and time information, and the time information includes sub-period information, and one or more sub-periods constitute a time period. Different sub-periods correspond to different sub-areas, a certain sub-area belongs to the coverage area of a certain service gateway, and the service gateway is the gateway corresponding to the time period constituted by the sub-period.

Exemplarily, the connection establishment request may include: GW1-1, start time: 10:00, duration: 30min; GW1-2, start time: 10:31, duration: 30min. Among them, "GW1" represents the gateway, "-1" represents the subarea 1, "GW1-1" represents the subarea 1 of the gateway GW1, "-2" represents the subarea 2, and "GW1-2" represents the subarea of the gateway GW1 2. "GW1-1, start time: 10:00, duration: 30min" means that from 10:00, there is a communication connection between the access network device and the first core network device through the service gateway GW1, The sub-area 1 broadcast message of the gateway lasts for 30 minutes. The information of the tracking area includes the information of the serving gateway GW1 and the information of the sub-area 1. "GW1-2, start time: 10:31, duration: 30min" means that from 10:31, there is a communication connection between the access network device and the first core network device through the serving gateway GW1, The sub-area 2 broadcast message of the gateway lasts for 30 minutes, and the information of the tracking area includes the information of the serving gateway GW1 and the information of the sub-area 2.

Exemplarily, the connection establishment request includes the service gateway information and time information. Table 3 shows the field content included in the connection establishment request:

table 3

信息元素/组名(IE/Group Name)Information element/group name (IE/Group Name)
>支持的TA项目(Supported TA Item)>Supported TA Item (Supported TA Item)
>>跟踪区域码(TAC)>>Tracking Area Code (TAC)
>>开始时间(StartTime)>>Start Time (StartTime)

>>>时(hour)>>>Hour (hour)
>>>分(minute)>>>minute (minute)
>>>秒(second)>>>second
>>持续时间(Duration)>>Duration
>>默认寻呼非连续接收(Default Paging DRX)>>Default paging discontinuous reception (Default Paging DRX)

In addition, for the implementation of "the access network device obtains the information of the ground gateway from the synchronization signal of the ground gateway" (the second possible implementation of S1801), the access network device is based on the signal strength of each ground gateway , Determine the service gateway. If the serving gateway changes, the information based on the tracking area determined by the serving gateway will also change accordingly. Since the connection establishment request sent by the access network device only includes the information of the ground gateway obtained from the synchronization signal of the ground gateway, the first core network device also needs to know the tracking area information that the access network device updates every time, The corresponding relationship between the access network device and the service gateway is updated in real time, which is recorded as the second corresponding relationship. The following describes the processing procedure after the access network device updates the tracking area information:

Referring to Figure 20, in a scenario, the serving gateway of the access network device switches between gateways connected to the same core network device (such as the first core network device). At this time, the access network device updates the tracking area information After that, a TA update request needs to be sent to the first core network device. The specific implementation process may include the following steps:

S202: The access network device sends a TA update request to the first core network device.

Correspondingly, the first core network device obtains the TA update request from the access network device.

Wherein, the TA update request includes the updated tracking area information, the updated tracking area information includes the information of the serving gateway, the serving gateway includes the gateway determined from the ground gateway connected to the access network device, and the TA update request is used for Request to update the correspondence between the information of the service gateway and the access network device.

Exemplarily, the service gateway of the access network device changes: the ground gateway GW1 connected to the first core network device is switched to the ground gateway GW2. At this time, the TA update request may include the information of the ground gateway GW2 of the first core network device, such as 1-GW2. Among them, "1-" indicates the first core network device, and "GW2" indicates the information of the ground gateway.

S203. The first core network device sends a TA update response to the access network device.

Correspondingly, the access network device receives the TA update response from the first core network device.

It should be noted that the first core network device may first update the second correspondence between the serving gateway and the access network device in the TA update request, and then send a TA update response to the access network device. Alternatively, the first core network device may first send a TA update response to the access network device, and then update the correspondence between the serving gateway and the access network device in the TA update request. The embodiment of the present application does not limit the execution sequence of the first core network device updating the second correspondence and sending the TA update response to the access network device.

Referring to Figure 20, in another scenario, the serving gateway of the access network device is switched between the ground gateways connected to different core network devices. For example, the serving gateway is switched from the ground gateway connected to the first core network device to the second The ground gateway to which the core network equipment is connected. At this time, after the access network device updates the tracking area information, it needs to send a TA update request to the second core network device. The specific implementation process may include the following steps:

S204. The access network device sends a TA update request to the second core network device.

Correspondingly, the second core network device obtains the TA update request from the access network device.

Exemplarily, the service gateway of the access network device changes: the ground gateway GW2 connected to the first core network device is switched to the ground gateway GW1 connected to the second core network device. At this time, the TA update request may include the information of the ground gateway GW1 of the second core network device, such as 2-GW1. Among them, "2-" indicates the second core network device, and "GW1" indicates the information of the ground gateway.

S205: The second core network device sends a TA update response to the access network device.

Correspondingly, the access network device receives the TA update response from the second core network device.

akin. In the embodiment of the present application, the second core network device updates the second correspondence (correspondence between the serving gateway and the access network device), and the execution sequence of sending the TA update response to the access network device is not limited.

Exemplarily, all TA update requests include TAC, and the TAC includes updated service gateway information. The contents of the fields added in the TA update request can be found in Table 4.

Table 4 shows the contents of the fields included in the TA update request:

Table 4

信息元素/组名(IE/Group Name)Information element/group name (IE/Group Name)
>支持的TA项目(Supported TA Item)>Supported TA Item (Supported TA Item)
>>跟踪区域码(TAC)>>Tracking Area Code (TAC)

In this way, through the above processing, the access network device reports the updated service gateway to the core network device, so that the core network device can update the corresponding relationship between the service gateway and the access network device in real time, providing an information basis for the paging process .

In the following, the information of the service gateway is used as the information of the tracking area to describe the communication method of the embodiment of the present application in detail.

As the first possible implementation, referring to Figure 21, the specific implementation process is as follows:

S2100. The access network device obtains the ID of the ground gateway GW1.

Exemplarily, the access network device obtains the ID of the ground gateway GW1 from the synchronization signal of the ground gateway GW1, or the access network device obtains the ID of the ground gateway GW1 through configuration information, such as an ephemeris.

S2101. The access network device sends a connection establishment request to the first core network device.

The first core network device is the core network device connected to the ground gateway GW1, the connection request is used to request the establishment of a communication connection between the access network device and the first core network device, and the connection establishment request includes the ID of the ground gateway GW1 ( GW1-ID). When the access network device can only obtain the information of one ground gateway GW1, the ground gateway GW1 is used as the serving gateway.

Exemplarily, the first core network device may be the access and mobility management function (AMF), the access network device will obtain the information of the ground gateway, fill in the TAC, and request the connection establishment from the interface Report to AMF. Among them, the connection establishment request includes TAC.

S2102. The first core network device sends a connection establishment response to the access network device.

Among them, the connection establishment response may carry the AMF number, for example, the connection establishment response carries AMF1. Alternatively, the connection establishment response may also carry the name of the AMF.

S2103. The first core network device stores the correspondence between the first serving gateway and the access network device.

Exemplarily, the first core network device establishes and stores the corresponding relationship between the serving gateway GW1 and the access network device, which is recorded as the second corresponding relationship.

S2104. The access network device sends a broadcast message.

Among them, the broadcast message includes the service gateway information. For example, the broadcast message includes TAC, and TAC includes service gateway information. Referring to FIG. 21, the access network device accesses the first core network device through GW1, that is, the current serving gateway is GW1. Therefore, the broadcast message may include GW1-ID, for example. The terminal at this time is a terminal in the service area of the ground gateway GW1.

Exemplarily, the broadcast message sent by the first core network device includes a system information block (system information block, SIB), and the SIB carries the information GW1-ID of the serving gateway.

Optionally, when the access network device detects signals from other terrestrial gateways, it can determine whether to perform serving gateway switching based on the terrestrial gateway signal and the signal quality of the current serving gateway (that is, the first serving gateway). The communication method of the application embodiment may further include the following S2105 to S2107:

(Optional) S2105. The access network device obtains the ID of the ground gateway GW2.

(Optional) S2106. The access network device sends a connection establishment request to the second core network device.

The second core network device is the core network device connected to the ground gateway GW2, the connection request is used to request the establishment of a communication connection between the access network device and the second core network device, and the connection establishment request includes the ID of the ground gateway GW2 ( GW2-ID).

(Optional) S2107. The second core network device sends a connection establishment response to the access network device.

Exemplarily, the connection establishment response includes AMF2.

Optionally, when the access network device determines that the signal quality of the ground gateway GW2 meets the handover condition of the serving gateway, S2108 to S2112 are executed:

(Optional) S2108. The access network device sends a handover request to the second core network device.

Wherein, the switching request is used to request to switch the serving gateway from the first serving gateway (GW1) to the second serving gateway (GW2), and the switching request includes the identification (GW2-ID) of the second serving gateway. Optionally, the handover request includes the identification (gNB-ID) of the access network device.

(Optional) S2109. The second core network device sends a handover request to the first core network device.

Wherein, the handover request is used to request to switch the serving gateway of the access network device from the first serving gateway (GW1) to the second serving gateway (GW2).

(Optional) S2110. The first core network device sends a handover confirmation message to the second core network device.

Correspondingly, the second core network device receives the handover confirmation message from the first core network device.

S2111. The second core network device updates the correspondence between the service gateway and the access network device.

Exemplarily, the serving gateway GW2 is replaced with the serving gateway GW1, and the second correspondence between the serving gateway GW2 and the access network device is established and stored.

S2112. The second core network device sends a handover response to the access network device.

As a possible implementation manner, the handover response includes information of the second serving gateway, such as GW2-ID.

In the embodiment of the present application, the execution of S2111 is not actually limited. The second core network device may execute S2111 after receiving the handover request (ie, S2108), or execute S2111 after S2109, S2110, or S2112, or execute S2111 at other times.

S2113. The access network device sends a broadcast message.

Among them, the broadcast message includes the information of the serving gateway, namely GW2-ID. The terminal at this time is a terminal in the service area of the serving gateway GW2.

It is understandable that after the access network device receives the updated service gateway information, it can broadcast the updated service gateway information. In this way, the terminal can parse out the broadcast message through the broadcast control channel (BCCH), thereby accurately learning the tracking area information, and improving the accuracy of the TAU.

As a second possible implementation manner, the access network device can obtain the information of the terrestrial gateway from the ephemeris, and then connect the location of the terminal. Referring to Figure 22, the specific implementation process is as follows:

S2200. The access network device obtains the information of the ground gateway from the ephemeris.

Exemplarily, the access network device reads the information of all ground gateways (such as ground gateway GW1 and ground gateway GW2) that will be connected from the AMF from the ephemeris.

S2201. The access network device sends a connection establishment request to the first core network device.

The first core network device is the core network device connected to the ground gateways GW1 and GW2, the connection request is used to request the establishment of a communication connection between the access network device and the first core network device, and the connection establishment request includes the ground gateway GW1 and ID of GW2 (such as 1-GW1-ID and 1-GW2-ID).

Exemplarily, the first core network device may be AMF. The ground gateway obtained by the access network device from the ephemeris serves as the service gateway during the connection with the AMF. The access network equipment fills in the information of all the ground gateways (such as the ground gateway GW1 and the ground gateway GW2) into the TAC, and reports it to the AMF from the interface to inform all the TAC information during the connection with the AMF.

S2202. The first core network device sends a connection establishment response to the access network device.

S2203. The first core network device stores the correspondence between the service gateway and the access network device.

Exemplarily, the corresponding relationship between the first core network device storage service gateway (1-GW1 and 1-GW2) and the access network device is recorded as the second corresponding relationship.

S2204. The access network device determines the service gateway.

Exemplarily, the access network device determines that the signal strength of the connected ground gateway GW1 is greater than the signal strength of the connected ground gateway GW2, and selects the ground gateway GW1 as the serving gateway.

S2205. The access network device sends a broadcast message.

Among them, the broadcast message includes the service gateway information. The current serving gateway is the ground gateway GW1 of the first core network device. Therefore, the broadcast message may include 1-GW1-ID, for example.

S2206. The access network device determines the service gateway.

Exemplarily, the access network device determines that the signal strength of the connected ground gateway GW2 is greater than the signal strength of the connected ground gateway GW1, and selects the ground gateway GW2 as the serving gateway.

S2207. The access network device sends a broadcast message.

Among them, the broadcast message includes the current service gateway information. The current serving gateway is the ground gateway GW2 of the first core network device. Therefore, the broadcast message may include 1-GW2-ID, for example.

It should be noted that when the access network equipment moves in the air, it may be in the coverage area of different core network equipment at different times. In order to ensure that the access network equipment establishes a connection with the corresponding core network equipment, it is necessary to obtain the ground gateway information of the corresponding core network equipment. information. Optionally, the access network device obtains information of another core network device, such as a ground gateway connected to the second core network device, for example, 2-GW1 based on the ephemeris. Among them, "2-" indicates the second core network device, and "GW1" indicates the ground gateway to which the second core network device is connected.

After acquiring the information of the ground gateway of the second core network device, optionally, the access network device may establish a connection with the core network device based on the information of the ground gateway, that is, the communication method of the embodiment of the present application may further include the following S2208 to S2210:

(Optional) S2208. The access network device sends a connection establishment request to the second core network device.

The second core network device is the core network device connected to the ground gateway GW2, the connection request is used to request the establishment of a communication connection between the access network device and the second core network device, and the connection establishment request includes the ID of the ground gateway GW1 ( For example, 2-GW1-ID).

Exemplarily, the second core network device may be AMF. The ground gateway obtained by the access network device from the ephemeris serves as the service gateway during the connection with the AMF. The access network device fills the information of all ground gateways (such as the ground gateway GW1) into the TAC, and reports it to the AMF from the interface to inform all the TAC information during the connection with the AMF.

(Optional) S2209. The second core network device sends a connection establishment response to the access network device.

Among them, the connection establishment response may carry the AMF number, for example, the connection establishment response carries AMF2. Alternatively, the connection establishment response may also carry the name of the AMF.

(Optional) S2210: The second core network device stores the correspondence between the service gateway and the access network device.

Exemplarily, the second core network device stores the second correspondence between the service gateway (2-GW1) and the access network device.

(Optional) S2211, the access network device determines the serving gateway.

Exemplarily, the access network device determines that the signal strength of the ground gateway (2-GW1) of the connected second core network device is greater than the signal strength of the service gateway (1-GW2), and selects the ground gateway (2 -GW1) is the service gateway.

(Optional) S2212. The access network device sends a broadcast message.

Among them, the broadcast message includes the service gateway information. The current serving gateway is the ground gateway GW1 of the second core network device. Therefore, the broadcast message may include 2-GW1-ID, for example.

S2213. The access network device sends a connection disconnection request to the first core network device.

Correspondingly, the first core network device receives the connection disconnect request from the access network device.

The release request is used to request to disconnect the communication connection between the access network device and the first core network device.

S2214. The first core network device sends a disconnection response to the access network device.

Optionally, the first core network device may first send a connection disconnection response to the access network device, and then disconnect the communication connection with the access network device, or first disconnect the communication with the access network device Connect, and then send a connection disconnection response to the access network device. The communication method in this embodiment of the present application does not limit the execution sequence of the first core network device sending the connection disconnection response and disconnecting the communication connection with the access network device. .

In Figure 22, in a short period of time, the access network equipment may be within the coverage of a certain terrestrial gateway (such as 1-GW1). The access network equipment is connected to the gateway 1-GW1 and passes through the gateway 1-GW1. GW1 exchanges information with the first core network device. At this time, the gateway 1-GW1 is the only gateway connected to the access network device, and the gateway 1-GW1 is the serving gateway of the access network device. In this case, this The communication method of the application embodiment includes S2200-S2205, S2213, and S2214. For a long period of time, the access network equipment may cross the terrestrial gateway, that is, within the coverage of different terrestrial gateways. For example, before the coverage of gateway 1-GW1, the access network equipment will be in the gateway Within the coverage of 1-GW2, at this time, based on the step of determining the serving gateway, the gateway 1-GW2 is the serving gateway of the access network device, and performs information interaction with the first core network device through the gateway 1-GW2. In this case, the communication method in the embodiment of the application includes S2200-S2207, S2213, and S2214. For a longer period of time, the access network equipment will still cross the terrestrial gateway, for example, before the gateway 1-GW2 coverage, later, the access network equipment will be within the gateway 2-GW1 coverage. At this time, Based on the step of determining the serving gateway, the gateway 2-GW1 is the serving gateway of the access network device, and performs information interaction with the second core network device through the gateway 2-GW1. In this case, the communication method in the embodiment of the present application includes S2200-S2214. This means that the access network device is connected to the first core network device first, and the ground gateway of the first core network device is used as the service gateway. After that, due to the change in the position of the access network device in the air, it is connected to the second core network device. The equipment is connected, and the ground gateway of the second core network equipment is used as the service gateway.

As a third possible implementation manner, the access network device can obtain the information of the ground gateway from the synchronization signal of the ground gateway, and then manage the location of the terminal. Referring to Figure 23, the specific implementation process is as follows:

S2300. The access network device obtains ground gateway information from the detected ground gateway synchronization signal.

Exemplarily, the information of the ground gateway GW1 is acquired from the synchronization signal of the ground gateway detected by the access network device. The access network device can only obtain the information of the ground gateway GW1, and at this time, the ground gateway GW1 is used as the serving gateway.

S2301. The access network device sends a connection establishment request to the first core network device.

The first core network device is the core network device connected to the ground gateway GW1, the connection request is used to request the establishment of a communication connection between the access network device and the first core network device, and the connection establishment request includes the ID of the ground gateway GW1, For example, 1-GW1-ID. Among them, "1-" indicates the first core network device, "GW1" indicates the ground gateway, and 1-GW1-ID indicates that the ground gateway GW1 is connected to the first core network device.

Exemplarily, the first core network device may be AMF. The information of the ground gateway obtained by the access network equipment from the synchronization signal. The access network device fills the information of the ground gateway (such as the ground gateway GW1) into the TAC, and reports it to the AMF through the interface.

S2302. The first core network device sends a connection establishment response to the access network device.

S2303. The first core network device stores the correspondence between the service gateway and the access network device.

Exemplarily, the first core network device stores the correspondence between the service gateway (1-GW1) and the access network device, which is recorded as the second correspondence.

S2304. The access network device determines the service gateway.

Exemplarily, the access network device determines that the number of connected ground gateways is one, and uses the ground gateway GW1 as the serving gateway.

S2305. The access network device sends a broadcast message.

Optionally, as the access network device moves, the access network device detects the signal of the ground gateway GW2 connected to the first core network device, such as 1-GW2. Among them, "1-" represents the first core network device, and "GW2" represents the ground gateway.

(Optional) S2306. The access network device determines the service gateway.

(Optional) S2307: The access network device sends a broadcast message.

Among them, the broadcast message includes the service gateway information. The current serving gateway is the ground gateway GW2 of the first core network device. Therefore, the broadcast message may include 1-GW2-ID, for example.

(Optional) S2308. The access network device sends a TA update request to the first core network device.

Among them, the TA update request includes the information of the tracking area, the information of the tracking area includes the information of the serving gateway (1-GW2-ID), and the TA update request is used to request to update the information of the serving gateway (1-GW2-ID) and the access network. The second correspondence of the device.

(Optional) S2309. The first core network device sends a TA update response to the access network device.

Optionally, as the access network device moves, the access network device detects the signal of the ground gateway GW1 connected to the second core network device, such as 2-GW1. Among them, "2-" represents the second core network equipment, and "GW1" represents the ground gateway.

(Optional) S2310: The first core network device updates the correspondence between the service gateway and the access network device.

Exemplarily, the first core network device stores the second correspondence between the service gateway (1-GW2) and the access network device.

(Optional) S2311. The access network device sends a connection establishment request to the second core network device.

The second core network device is the core network device connected to the ground gateway GW1, the connection request is used to request the establishment of a communication connection between the access network device and the second core network device, and the connection establishment request includes the ID of the ground gateway GW1 ( For example, 2-GW1-ID).

(Optional) S2312, the second core network device sends a connection establishment response to the access network device.

Exemplarily, the connection establishment response includes AMF2.

(Optional) S2313. The second core network device stores the correspondence between the service gateway and the access network device.

Exemplarily, the second core network device stores the second correspondence between the ground gateway (2-GW1) and the access network device.

(Optional) S2314. The access network device determines the service gateway.

Exemplarily, the access network device determines that the signal strength of the ground gateway GW1 of the connected second core network device is greater than the signal strength of the serving gateway GW2, and selects the ground gateway GW1 of the second core network device as the serving gateway.

(Optional) S2315. The access network device sends a broadcast message.

(Optional) S2316. The access network device sends a TA update request to the second core network device.

Among them, the TA update request includes the information of the tracking area, the information of the tracking area includes the information of the service gateway (2-GW1-ID), and the TA update request is used to request to update the information of the service gateway (2-GW1-ID) and the access network. The second correspondence of the device.

(Optional) S2317. The second core network device sends a TA update response to the access network device.

In Figure 23, in a short period of time, the access network equipment may be within the coverage of a certain terrestrial gateway (such as 1-GW1). The access network equipment is connected to the gateway 1-GW1 and passes through the gateway 1-GW1. GW1 exchanges information with the first core network device. At this time, the gateway 1-GW1 is the only gateway connected to the access network device, and the gateway 1-GW1 is the serving gateway of the access network device. In this case, this The communication method of the application embodiment includes S2300-S2305. For a long period of time, the access network equipment may cross the terrestrial gateway, that is, within the coverage of different terrestrial gateways. For example, before the coverage of gateway 1-GW1, the access network equipment will be in the gateway Within the coverage of 1-GW2, at this time, based on the step of determining the serving gateway, the gateway 1-GW2 is the serving gateway of the access network device, and performs information interaction with the first core network device through the gateway 1-GW2. In this case, the communication method in the embodiment of this application includes S2300-S2310. For a longer period of time, the access network equipment will still cross the terrestrial gateway. For example, before it was in the coverage of gateway 1-GW2, after that, the access network equipment was in the coverage of gateway 2-GW1. At this time, Based on the step of determining the serving gateway, the gateway 2-GW1 is the serving gateway of the access network device, and performs information interaction with the second core network device through the gateway 2-GW1. In this case, the communication method in the embodiment of this application includes S2300-S2317. This means that the access network device is connected to the first core network device first, and the ground gateway of the first core network device is used as the service gateway. After that, due to the change in the position of the access network device in the air, it is connected to the second core network device. The equipment is connected, and the ground gateway of the second core network equipment is used as the service gateway.

Below, the information of the service gateway and the information of the sub-area (part of the area covered by the ground gateway) are used to comprehensively determine the information of the tracking area, and the communication method of the present application is described in detail.

As the first possible implementation, referring to Figure 24, the specific implementation process is as follows:

S2400. The access network device obtains the information of the sub-area of the serving gateway GW1 and the time period corresponding to the sub-area.

Exemplarily, the access network device divides the time period corresponding to the current service gateway through configuration information, such as an ephemeris, and different sub-periods correspond to different sub-areas.

S2401. The access network device sends a connection establishment request to the first core network device.

For example: the first core network device is the core network device corresponding to the serving gateway GW1, GW1-1-ID represents the identification corresponding to the sub-area of the serving gateway GW1 coverage area, and GW1-2-ID represents the sub-area of the serving gateway GW1 coverage area 2. Corresponding identification. At this time, the connection establishment request may specifically include: GW1-1-ID, 30min; GW1-2-ID, 30min.

Exemplarily, the first core network device may be the access and mobility management function (AMF). The access network device will obtain the sub-area information of the serving gateway, fill in the TAC, and connect from the interface The establishment request is reported to AMF. Among them, the connection establishment request includes TAC.

S2402. The first core network device sends a connection establishment response to the access network device.

Exemplarily, the connection establishment response includes AMF2.

S2403. The first core network device stores the information of the service gateway, the information of the subarea, the corresponding relationship between the time period corresponding to the subarea, and the access network device, which is recorded as the fourth corresponding relationship.

Exemplarily, the first core network device establishes and stores the correspondence between "GW1-1-ID, 30min; GW1-2-ID, 30min" and the access network device.

S2404. The access network device sends a broadcast message.

Among them, the broadcast message includes the information of the service gateway and the information of the sub-area.

Exemplarily, in the time period from 10:00 to 10:30, SIB1 is used to carry the information GW1-1-ID of the serving gateway, and the broadcast message carrying the GW1-1-ID is sent. In the time period from 10:30 to 11:00, SIB1 is used to carry the information GW1-2-ID of the serving gateway, and a broadcast message carrying the GW1-2-ID is sent.

Optionally, when a new ground gateway, such as ground gateway GW2, exists in the coverage area of the access network device, a communication connection is established between the access network device and the new ground gateway, and S2405 to S2407 are performed:

(Optional) S2405. The access network device obtains the information of the sub-area of the serving gateway GW2 and the time period corresponding to the sub-area.

(Optional) S2406. The access network device sends a connection establishment request to the second core network device.

For example: the second core network device is the core network device connected to the serving gateway GW2, GW2-1-ID represents the identifier corresponding to the sub-area of the serving gateway GW2 coverage area, and GW2-2-ID represents the sub-area of the serving gateway GW2 coverage area. The identifier corresponding to area two. At this time, the connection establishment request may specifically include: GW2-1-ID, 20min; GW2-2-ID, 20min.

(Optional) S2407. The second core network device sends a connection establishment response to the access network device.

Among them, the connection establishment response includes AMF2.

Optionally, when the access network device determines that the signal quality of the new serving gateway GW2 meets the handover condition of the serving gateway, S2408 to S2412 are executed:

(Optional) S2408. The access network device sends a handover request to the second core network device.

(Optional) S2409. The second core network device sends a handover request to the first core network device.

(Optional) S2410. The first core network device sends a handover confirmation message to the second core network device.

(Optional) S2411, the second core network device stores the information of the service gateway, the information of the sub-area, the time period corresponding to the sub-area, and the correspondence between the access network devices.

Exemplarily, the second core network device establishes and stores a fourth correspondence between "GW2-1-ID, 20min; GW2-2-ID, 20min" and the access network device.

(Optional) S2412. The second core network device sends a handover response to the access network device.

In the embodiment of the present application, the execution of S2411 is not actually limited. The second core network device may execute S2411 after receiving the handover request (ie, S2408), or execute S2411 after S2409, S2410 or S2412, or execute S2411 at other times.

(Optional) S2413. The access network device sends a broadcast message.

Among them, the broadcast message also includes the information of the sub-area, namely GW2-1-ID, GW2-2-ID.

It is understandable that after the access network device receives the updated service gateway information, it can broadcast tracking area information based on the updated service gateway information. For example, in the time period of 11:00-11:20, a broadcast message carrying GW2-1-ID is sent. In the time period from 11:20 to 11:40, a broadcast message carrying GW2-2-ID is sent. In this way, the terminal can parse out the broadcast message through the broadcast control channel (BCCH), thereby accurately learning the tracking area information, and improving the accuracy of the TAU.

In Figure 24, in a short period of time, the access network equipment may be within the coverage of a certain terrestrial gateway (such as GW1), and the access network equipment is connected to the gateway GW1 and connects to the first core network through the gateway GW1. The device performs information exchange. At this time, the gateway GW1 is the only gateway connected to the access network device, and the gateway GW1 is the serving gateway of the access network device. In this case, the communication method in the embodiment of the application includes S2400-S2404 . For a long period of time, the access network equipment may cross the terrestrial gateways, that is, within the coverage of different terrestrial gateways. For example, the access network equipment is in the coverage of the gateway GW1 before, and then the access network equipment is in the coverage of the gateway GW2. Within the coverage area, at this time, based on the serving gateway determination step, the gateway GW2 is the serving gateway of the access network device, and performs information interaction with the second core network device through the gateway GW2. In this case, the communication method in the embodiment of this application includes S2400-S2413. This means that the access network device is connected to the first core network device first, and the ground gateway of the first core network device is used as the service gateway. After that, due to the change in the position of the access network device in the air, it is connected to the second core network device. The equipment is connected, and the ground gateway of the second core network equipment is used as the service gateway.

As the second possible implementation manner, referring to Figure 25, the specific implementation process is as follows:

S2500. The access network device obtains the information of the service gateway, the information of the sub-area, and the information of the time period.

Exemplarily, the access network device obtains each sub-area of the coverage area of the serving gateway GW1 and the time period corresponding to each sub-area through configuration information, such as an ephemeris.

S2501. The access network device sends a connection establishment request to the first core network device.

For example: the first core network device is the core network device connected to the serving gateway GW1, GW1-1-ID represents the identifier corresponding to the sub-area covered by the serving gateway GW1, and GW1-2-ID represents the sub-area covered by the serving gateway GW1. The identifier corresponding to area two. At this time, the connection establishment request may specifically include: GW1-1-ID, start time: 10:00, duration: 30min; GW1-2-ID, start time: 10:30, duration: 30min.

S2502. The first core network device sends a connection establishment response to the access network device.

Exemplarily, the connection establishment response includes AMF1.

S2503: The first core network device stores the information of the service gateway, the information of the sub-area, the information of the time period, the information of the sub-period, and the corresponding relationship between the access network device, which is recorded as the fourth corresponding relationship.

Among them, each time period corresponds to a service gateway, one or more sub-periods constitute a time period, and each sub-period corresponds to a sub-area and belongs to the coverage area of the service gateway corresponding to the constituted time period.

Exemplarily, the first core network device stores "GW1-1-ID, start time: 10:00, duration: 30min; GW1-2-ID, start time: 10:30, duration: 30min" and access The fourth corresponding relationship of the network equipment.

S2504. The access network device sends a broadcast message.

Optionally, as the access network device moves, there is a new ground gateway in the coverage area of the access network device, such as the ground gateway GW2, and the second core network device is the core network device connected to the ground gateway GW2. To establish a communication connection between the access network device and the core network device to which the new ground gateway GW2 belongs, perform the following steps:

(Optional) S2505. The access network device sends a connection establishment request to the second core network device.

For example: the second core network device is the core network device connected to the ground gateway GW2, GW2-1-ID represents the identification corresponding to the sub-area of the ground gateway GW2 coverage area, and GW2-2-ID represents the sub-area of the ground gateway GW2 coverage area 2. Corresponding identification. At this time, the connection establishment request may specifically include: GW2-1-ID, start time: 11:00, duration: 20min; GW2-2-ID, start time: 11:20, duration: 20min.

Exemplarily, the second core network device may be an access and mobility management function (AMF). The access network device will obtain the sub-area information of the serving gateway, fill in the TAC, and connect from the interface The establishment request is reported to AMF. Among them, the connection establishment request includes TAC.

(Optional) S2506. The second core network device sends a connection establishment response to the access network device.

Among them, the connection establishment response includes AMF2.

(Optional) S2507: The second core network device stores the information of the service gateway, the information of the sub-area, the information of the time period, the information of the sub-period, and the correspondence between the access network device.

Exemplarily, the second core network device stores "GW2-1-ID, start time: 11:00, duration: 20min; GW2-2-ID, start time: 11:20, duration: 20min" and access The fourth corresponding relationship of the network equipment.

(Optional) S2508. The access network device switches the tracking area information according to the time information.

(Optional) S2509: The access network device sends a broadcast message.

Exemplarily, in the time period of 11:00-11:20, SIB1 is used to carry the information GW2-1-ID of the serving gateway, and a broadcast message carrying GW2-1-ID is sent. In the time period from 11:20 to 11:40, SIB1 is used to carry the information GW2-2-ID of the serving gateway, and a broadcast message carrying the GW2-2-ID is sent.

In this way, the terminal can parse out the broadcast message through the broadcast control channel (BCCH), thereby accurately learning the tracking area information, and improving the accuracy of the TAU.

In Figure 25, in a short period of time, the access network equipment may be within the coverage of a certain terrestrial gateway (such as GW1), and the access network equipment is connected to the gateway GW1 and connects to the first core network through the gateway GW1. The device performs information exchange. At this time, the gateway GW1 is the only gateway connected to the access network device, and the gateway GW1 is the serving gateway of the access network device. In this case, the communication method in the embodiment of the present application includes S2500-S2504 . For a long period of time, the access network equipment may cross the terrestrial gateways, that is, within the coverage of different terrestrial gateways. For example, the access network equipment is in the coverage of the gateway GW1 before, and then the access network equipment is in the coverage of the gateway GW2. Within the coverage area, at this time, based on the serving gateway determination step, the gateway GW2 is the serving gateway of the access network device, and performs information interaction with the second core network device through the gateway GW2. In this case, the communication method in the embodiment of this application includes S2500-S2509. This means that the access network device is connected to the first core network device first, and the ground gateway of the first core network device is used as the service gateway. After that, due to the change in the position of the access network device in the air, it is connected to the second core network device. The equipment is connected, and the ground gateway of the second core network equipment is used as the service gateway.

The embodiment of the present application also provides a communication method, which is applied in the process of paging the terminal. Referring to Figure 26, the communication method includes the following steps:

S2600. The first core network device determines the access network device connected to the serving gateway in the TA List at the time when the paging message is sent.

S2601. The first core network device sends a paging message to the access network device.

Correspondingly, the access network device receives the paging message from the first core network device.

Wherein, the access network equipment includes the access network equipment connected to the service gateway in the TA List, the TA List includes the information of the tracking area, and the information of the tracking area includes the information of the service gateway.

S2602. The access network device broadcasts a paging message.

Here, the paging is performed based on the area covered by the access network device connected to the gateway in the TA List at the paging moment (that is, the moment when the paging message is sent). Compared with the prior art, when paging messages are sent in all the cells indicated by the TA List, the tracking area information broadcast by the satellite is always bound to the serving cell, and the satellite moves relative to the ground at all times, even if the terminal does not move or has low speed Mobile, the terminal may also frequently perform TAU. Therefore, in the prior art, the satellite moves relative to the ground, and its broadcast cell also moves relative to the ground. In the prior art, the cell that moves relative to the ground at all times indicates the terminal. The location is poor in accuracy. And because the terminal may frequently perform TAU, the number of cells included in the TA List is huge. In this way, sending paging messages to all cells in the TA List has a large paging range and consumes relatively large paging resources. However, the tracking area information of the communication method provided by the embodiments of this application includes the information of the serving gateway. Since the gateway is deployed on the ground and the location of the gateway is fixed, even if the satellite moves relative to the ground at all times and the terminal moves at a low speed, as long as the terminal is not Beyond the coverage of the gateway, the terminal does not need to perform TAU. Since the number of times the terminal performs TAU is reduced in the embodiment of the application, the number of serving gateways included in the TA List of the terminal is small, which reduces the paging range and saves paging resources.

It should be noted that, before the first core network device sends a paging message to the access network device, it needs to determine the access network device connected to the serving gateway in the TA List at the time when the paging message is sent. The following describes the processing procedure of "the first core network device determines the access network device connected to the serving gateway in the TA List at the time when the paging message is sent":

As a first possible implementation manner, the information of the tracking area is granulated with the serving gateway, and the first core network device updates the second correspondence, where the second correspondence includes the dynamic correspondence between the serving gateway and the access network device relationship. Referring to Figure 27, at this time, the specific implementation process may include the following steps:

S271. The first core network device determines, according to the updated second correspondence, the access network device connected to the serving gateway in the TA List at the time when the paging message is sent.

The second correspondence relationship includes the correspondence relationship between the service gateway and the access network device.

Exemplarily, the information of the serving gateway included in the TA List includes: GW1 and GW2. The second corresponding relationship updated in real time includes: GW1-gNB1; GW2-gNB2; GW3-gNB3. Among them, "GW1-gNB1" means that from a certain time (such as t1) to the current gateway GW1 to provide services for the access network device gNB1, "GW2-gNB2" means that from a certain time (such as t1) to the current gateway GW2 The access network device gNB2 provides services, and "GW3-gNB3" indicates that from a certain time (such as time t1) to the current gateway GW3, the access network device gNB3 provides services. Based on the dynamic correspondence of “GW1-gNB1”, the first core network device can determine that the access network device connected to the serving gateway GW1 in the TA List at the current moment is gNB1. Based on the dynamic correspondence of “GW2-gNB2”, It can be determined that the access network device connected to the serving gateway GW2 in the TA List at the current moment is gNB2. The current moment is the moment when the pair of paging messages needs to be sent.

In this way, the first core network device can determine the access network to which the serving gateway in the TA List is connected at the time the paging message is sent based on the second correspondence (the correspondence between the serving gateway and the access network device) updated in real time. Device, so as to send paging messages through the access network device connected to the serving gateway in the TA List.

As a second possible implementation manner, the tracking area information still uses the serving gateway as the granularity, and the first core network device determines the access network device connected to the serving gateway in the TA List at the time the paging message is sent based on the third correspondence. Wherein, the third correspondence includes the information of the time period and the correspondence between the access network device and the service gateway. Referring to Figure 28, at this time, the specific implementation process may include the following steps:

S281: The first core network device determines, according to the third correspondence, the access network device connected to the serving gateway in the TA List at the time when the paging message is sent.

Wherein, the third correspondence includes the information of the time period and the correspondence between the access network device and the service gateway, and the third correspondence is used to indicate the service gateway to which the access network device is connected in different time periods.

Exemplarily, the information of the serving gateway in the TA List includes: GW1 and GW2.

The third correspondence in the ephemeris table may include:

GW1-gNB1, 10:00～10:30; GW1-gNB2, 10:30～11:00;

GW2-gNB2, 10:00～10:30; GW2-gNB3, 10:30～11:00.

Among them, "GW1-gNB1, 10:00-10:30" means that during the period of "10:00-10:30", the gateway GW1 provides services for the access network device gNB1;

"GW1-gNB2, 10:30～11:00" means that in the period of "10:30～11:00", the gateway GW1 is providing services for the access network device gNB2;

"GW2-gNB2, 10:00～10:30" means that during the period of "10:00～10:30", the gateway GW2 is providing services for the access network device gNB2;

"GW2-gNB3, 10:30～11:00" means that in the period of "10:30～11:00", the gateway GW2 is providing services for the access network device gNB3.

If the time of sending the paging message is 10:45, the first core network device can determine the TA at the time of sending the paging message based on the corresponding relationship of "GW1-gNB2, 10:30～11:00" in the ephemeris. The access network device connected to GW1 in the List is gNB2; based on the corresponding relationship of "GW2-gNB3, 10:30～11:00" in the ephemeris, the access network device connected to GW2 in the TA List can be determined It is gNB3.

As a third possible implementation manner, for the tracking area information whose granularity is the sub-area of the serving gateway, the tracking area information in the TA List also includes the sub-area information. The connection establishment request received by the first core network device from the access network device includes the information of the serving gateway and the information of the sub-area. The first core network device updates the sub-regions of the serving gateway and the serving gateway in real time according to the received connection establishment request. The fourth correspondence between the area and the access network device is to facilitate the determination of the access network device that needs to send the paging message during the paging process of the terminal. See Figure 29. The specific implementation process may include the following steps:

S291. The first core network device determines the access network device corresponding to the sub-area in the TA List at the time when the paging message is sent according to the fourth correspondence.

The fourth correspondence includes the correspondence between the information of the sub-period, the access network device and the information of the sub-area. One or more sub-periods constitute a period of time, and the constituted period of time corresponds to a service gateway. Each sub-period corresponds to a sub-area, a certain sub-area belongs to the coverage area of a certain service gateway, and the service gateway is the service gateway corresponding to the time period constituted by the sub-period. The fourth correspondence is used to indicate: in different sub-periods, the corresponding sub-regions of the access network device.

Here, since the area information in the TA List includes the sub-area of the gateway coverage area, the first core network device determines the sending area of the paging message according to the sub-area information in the TA List, which can reduce the paging range and save paging Resources. For example, referring to Figure 30, in Figure 30, the dashed elliptical area in the right half is sub-area 1 (denoted as "-1"), and the dashed elliptical area in the left half is sub-area 2 (denoted as "-2") . If the tracking area information broadcast by the access network device includes GW1-ID, after the terminal performs TAU, the tracking area information in the TA List corresponding to the terminal includes: GW1-ID, then when paging the terminal, pass TA GW1-ID in the List is indexed to gNB1 and gNB2 with GW1 as the serving gateway, and paging messages are sent through gNB1 and gNB2. If the tracking area information broadcast by gNB1 includes GW1-2-ID, after the terminal performs TAU, the tracking area information in the TA List corresponding to the terminal includes: GW1-2-ID, then when paging the terminal, pass The GW1-2-ID in the TA List is indexed to gNB1 with GW1 as the serving gateway, and the paging message is sent through gNB1. It can be seen that only gNB1 sends paging messages, and the sending range of paging messages is only the area covered by gNB1, which can reduce the paging range and save paging resources. Further, compared to only using the information of the serving gateway (GW1-ID) for terminal location connection and paging, the sub-area information in the TA List can more accurately characterize the location of the terminal, and further save paging resources.

The foregoing mainly introduces the solution provided by the embodiment of the present application from the perspective of interaction between different network elements. It can be understood that, in order to implement the above-mentioned functions, the first terminal device and the second terminal device include hardware structures and/or software modules corresponding to each function. In combination with the units and algorithm steps of the examples described in the embodiments disclosed in the present application, the embodiments of the present application can be implemented in the form of hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software. Whether a certain function is executed by hardware or computer software-driven hardware depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Those skilled in the art can use different methods for each specific application to implement the described functions, but such implementation should not be considered as going beyond the scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application.

The embodiment of the present application may divide the communication device into functional units according to the foregoing method examples. For example, each functional unit may be divided corresponding to each function, or two or more functions may be integrated into one processing unit. The above-mentioned integrated unit can be implemented in the form of hardware or software functional unit. It should be noted that the division of units in the embodiments of the present application is illustrative, and is only a logical function division, and there may be other division methods in actual implementation.

FIG. 31 shows a schematic block diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application. The communication device 3100 may exist in the form of software, or a device, or a component in the device (such as a chip system). The communication device 3100 includes a storage unit 3101, a processing unit 3102, and a communication unit 3103.

The communication unit 3103 can also be divided into a sending unit (not shown in FIG. 31) and a receiving unit (not shown in FIG. 31). The sending unit is used to support the communication device 3100 to send information to other network elements. The receiving unit is used to support the communication device 3100 to receive information from other network elements.

The storage unit 3101 is used to store the program code and data of the device 3100, and the data may include but is not limited to raw data or intermediate data.

When the communication device is used as a terminal, the communication unit is used to receive broadcast messages from the access network equipment. The broadcast messages include tracking area information, which includes service gateway information; the storage unit is used to store tracking area information .

When the communication device is used as an access network device, the processing unit is used to obtain tracking area information, which includes service gateway information; and the communication unit is used to send broadcast messages, which include tracking area information.

When the communication device is used as an access network device, the communication unit is used to send a connection establishment request to the first core network device. The connection establishment request is used to request the establishment of a communication connection between the access network device and the first core network device. The establishment request includes information of one or more ground gateways corresponding to the first core network device; it is also used to receive a connection establishment response from the first core network device.

In a possible design, the connection establishment request further includes time information, and the time information includes time period information, and the service gateway information corresponding to the access network device in different time periods is different.

In a possible design, the connection establishment request further includes the information of the sub-region, the time information also includes the information of the sub-period, a time period includes one or more sub-periods, the sub-region belongs to the coverage area of the service gateway of the time period, and Different sub-periods correspond to different sub-regions.

When the communication device is used as a core network device, the communication unit is used to receive a connection establishment request from the access network device, the connection establishment request is used to request the establishment of a communication connection between the access network device and the first core network device, and the connection is established The request includes information about one or more ground gateways connected to the first core network device; it is also used to send a connection establishment response to the access network device.

When the communication device is used as an access network device, the communication unit is used to receive a paging message from the first core network device and broadcast the paging message. Wherein, the access network equipment includes the access network equipment connected to the serving gateway in the sending time tracking area list TA List.

When the communication device is used as a core network device, the processing unit is used to determine the time when the paging message is sent to track the access network device connected to the service gateway in the TA List, and the communication unit is used to send paging to the access network device news. Among them, the tracking area list TA List includes tracking area information, and the tracking area information includes service gateway information.

In a possible design, the processing unit is configured to determine the access network device connected to the serving gateway in the TA List at the time when the paging message is sent, including: acquiring the second correspondence, and according to the second The corresponding relationship determines the access network device connected to the serving gateway in the TA List at the time the paging message is sent. The second correspondence relationship includes the correspondence relationship between the service gateway and the access network device.

The processing unit 3102 may be a processor or a controller, for example, a CPU, a general-purpose processor, DSP, ASIC, FPGA, or other programmable logic devices, transistor logic devices, hardware components, or any combination thereof. It can implement or execute various exemplary logical blocks, modules and circuits described in conjunction with the disclosure of this application. The processor may also be a combination of computing functions, for example, a combination of one or more microprocessors, a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, and so on.

The communication unit 3103 may be a communication interface, a transceiver, or a transceiver circuit, etc., where the communication interface is a general term. In a specific implementation, the communication interface may include multiple interfaces, for example, the interface between the terminal and the terminal and/ Or other interfaces.

The storage unit 3101 may be a memory.

When the processing unit 3102 is a processor, the communication unit 3103 is a communication interface, and the storage unit 3101 is a memory, the communication device 3200 involved in the embodiment of the present application may be as shown in FIG. 32.

Referring to FIG. 32, the device 3200 includes a processor 3202, a transceiver 3203, and a memory 3201.

The transceiver 3203 may be an independently set transmitter, which may be used to send information to other devices, and the transceiver may also be an independently set receiver, which is used to receive information from other devices. The transceiver may also be a component that integrates the functions of sending and receiving information. The embodiment of the present application does not limit the specific implementation of the transceiver.

Optionally, the apparatus 3200 may further include a bus 3204. Among them, the transceiver 3203, the processor 3202, and the memory 3201 can be connected to each other through a bus 3204; the bus 3204 can be a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus or an extended industry standard architecture (Extended Industry Standard Architecture, abbreviated as PCI). EISA) bus, etc. The bus 3204 can be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, and so on. For ease of presentation, only one thick line is used to represent in FIG. 32, but it does not mean that there is only one bus or one type of bus.

A person of ordinary skill in the art can understand that: in the above-mentioned embodiments, it may be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware or any combination thereof. When implemented by software, it can be implemented in the form of a computer program product in whole or in part. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When the computer program instructions are loaded and executed on the computer, the processes or functions described in the embodiments of the present application are generated in whole or in part. The computer may be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable devices. The computer instructions may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium. For example, the computer instructions may be transmitted from a website, computer, server, or data center. Transmission to another website, computer, server, or data center via wired (for example, coaxial cable, optical fiber, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)) or wireless (for example, infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.). The computer-readable storage medium may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device such as a server or a data center integrated with one or more available media. The usable medium may be a magnetic medium (for example, a floppy disk, a hard disk, and a magnetic tape), an optical medium (for example, a Digital Video Disc (DVD)), or a semiconductor medium (for example, a Solid State Disk (SSD)) )Wait.

In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed system, device, and method may be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are only illustrative. For example, the division of the units is only a logical function division, and there may be other divisions in actual implementation, for example, multiple units or components can be combined or It can be integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored or not implemented. In addition, the displayed or discussed mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection may be indirect coupling or communication connection through some interfaces, devices or units, and may be in electrical or other forms.

The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separate, and the components displayed as units may or may not be physical units, that is, they may be located in one place, or they may be distributed to multiple network devices (for example, Terminal). Some or all of the units may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the objectives of the solutions of the embodiments.

In addition, the functional units in the various embodiments of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each functional unit may exist independently, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit. The above-mentioned integrated unit may be implemented in the form of hardware, or may be implemented in the form of hardware plus software functional units.

Through the description of the above implementation manners, those skilled in the art can clearly understand that this application can be implemented by means of software plus necessary general hardware. Of course, it can also be implemented by hardware, but in many cases the former is a better implementation. . Based on this understanding, the technical solution of this application essentially or the part that contributes to the prior art can be embodied in the form of a software product, and the computer software product is stored in a readable storage medium, such as a computer floppy disk. , A hard disk or an optical disk, etc., include a number of instructions to enable a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to execute the method described in each embodiment of the present application.

The above are only specific implementations of this application, but the protection scope of this application is not limited to this, and changes or substitutions within the technical scope disclosed in this application should all be covered within the protection scope of this application. Therefore, the protection scope of this application should be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

A communication method, characterized in that it comprises:

The terminal receives a broadcast message from an access network device, the broadcast message includes information about a tracking area, and the information about the tracking area includes information about a service gateway;

The terminal stores the information of the tracking area.
The communication method according to claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

If the tracking area information in the received broadcast message is not in the tracking area list TA List of the terminal, the terminal performs tracking area update TAU.
A communication method, characterized in that it comprises:

The access network device acquires information about the tracking area, where the information about the tracking area includes information about the service gateway;

The access network device sends a broadcast message, and the broadcast message includes the information of the tracking area.
The communication method according to claim 3, wherein the access network device acquiring the information of the tracking area comprises:

The access network device determines a serving gateway; the serving gateway is a ground gateway to which the access network device is connected, and the access network device is connected to only one ground gateway; or, the serving gateway is N ground gateways Among the gateways with the best signal strength, and the access network device is connected to N ground gateways, where N>1, and N is an integer;

The access network device obtains the information of the tracking area according to the information of the service gateway.
The communication method according to claim 3 or 4, wherein the broadcast message sent by the access network device comprises:

In the first time period, the access network device sends a first broadcast message, where the first broadcast message includes information of the service gateway corresponding to the first time period;

In the second time period, the access network device sends a second broadcast message, the second broadcast message includes the information of the service gateway corresponding to the second time period, the first broadcast message and the second broadcast The service gateway information included in the message is different.
The communication method according to claim 3 or 4, wherein the information of the tracking area further includes information of a sub-area, the sub-area belongs to the coverage area of the service gateway, and the access network device sends a broadcast News, including:

In the third time period, the access network device sends a third broadcast message, where the third broadcast message includes information of the sub-area corresponding to the third time period;

In the fourth time period, the access network device sends a fourth broadcast message, the fourth broadcast message includes the information of the sub-area corresponding to the fourth time period, the third broadcast message and the fourth broadcast message The information of the sub-area included in the message is different.
A communication device, characterized by comprising:

The communication unit is configured to receive a broadcast message from an access network device, where the broadcast message includes information about a tracking area, and the information about the tracking area includes information about a service gateway;

The storage unit is used to store the information of the tracking area.
The communication device according to claim 7, wherein the device further comprises: a processing unit,

The processing unit is configured to perform a tracking area update TAU if the tracking area information in the received broadcast message is not in the tracking area list TA List of the storage unit.
A communication device, characterized by comprising:

A processing unit, configured to obtain information about a tracking area, where the information about the tracking area includes information about a service gateway;

The communication unit is configured to send a broadcast message, the broadcast message including the information of the tracking area.
The communication device according to claim 9, wherein the processing unit is configured to obtain tracking area information, comprising: determining a service gateway; the service gateway is a ground gateway to which the communication device is connected, and The communication device is connected to only one ground gateway; or, the serving gateway is the gateway with the best signal strength among the N ground gateways, and the communication device is connected to N ground gateways, where N>1 and N is an integer;

It is used to obtain the information of the tracking area according to the information of the service gateway.
The communication device according to claim 9 or 10, wherein the communication unit is configured to send a broadcast message, comprising: being configured to send a first broadcast message within a first time period, and the first broadcast message includes The information of the service gateway corresponding to the first time period; in the second time period, a second broadcast message is sent, the second broadcast message includes the information of the service gateway corresponding to the second time period, and the first broadcast The message and the information of the service gateway included in the second broadcast message are different.
The communication device according to claim 9 or 10, wherein the information of the tracking area further includes information of a sub-area, the sub-area belongs to the coverage area of the service gateway, and the communication unit is configured to send The broadcast message includes: a third broadcast message for sending a third broadcast message in a third time period, the third broadcast message including information of a sub-area corresponding to the third time period; and a fourth broadcast message in the fourth time period The fourth broadcast message includes the information of the sub-region corresponding to the fourth time period, and the information of the sub-region included in the third broadcast message and the fourth broadcast message are different.
A readable storage medium, characterized by comprising a program or instruction, when the program or instruction is executed, the communication method according to any one of claims 1 to 2 is realized, or, as claimed in claim 3. The communication method described in any one of to 6 is implemented.