WO2022151283A1

WO2022151283A1 - Communication method, apparatus and system

Info

Publication number: WO2022151283A1
Application number: PCT/CN2021/071941
Authority: WO
Inventors: 胡星星; 奥鲁佛松亨里克; 张宏卓; 耿婷婷
Original assignee: 华为技术有限公司
Priority date: 2021-01-14
Filing date: 2021-01-14
Publication date: 2022-07-21
Also published as: CN116762403A

Abstract

Disclosed in embodiments of the present application are a communication method, apparatus and system. The method is applied to a core network device, and comprises: receiving information of a target cell from a first access network device; and determining a second access network device according to the information of the target cell and a correspondence between the cell and the access network device, the target cell being managed by the second access network device. In the embodiments of the present application, the access network device corresponding to the cell can be accurately determined according to the correspondence between the cell and the access network device, so that the access network device can be accurately determined.

Description

A communication method, device and system

technical field

The embodiments of the present application relate to the field of communication technologies, and in particular, to a communication method, apparatus, and system.

Background technique

In the process that the access network device provides services for the terminal device, interaction between different access network devices may be required due to various reasons. For example, a terminal device is handed over from a cell of one access network device to a cell of another access network device. Before the access network devices interact with each other, it is necessary to determine the access network devices to be interacted with. Therefore, how to accurately determine the access network equipment has become an urgent technical problem to be solved.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The embodiments of the present application disclose a communication method, apparatus and system, which are used to accurately determine access network equipment.

A first aspect discloses a communication method. The communication method can be applied to core network equipment, and can also be applied to modules (eg, chips) in the core network equipment. The core network equipment is used as an example for description below. The communication method may include: receiving information from a target cell of a first access network device; and determining a second access network device according to the information of the target cell and the correspondence between the cell and the access network device, the The target cell is managed by the second access network device.

In the embodiment of the present application, after receiving the information about the target cell from the access network equipment, the core network equipment may determine the second management target cell according to the information of the target cell and the corresponding relationship between the cell and the access network equipment. access network equipment. It can be seen that since the core network device has or stores the correspondence between the cell and the access network device, the core network device can determine the access network device that manages the target cell according to the information of the target cell, thereby solving the problem of the prior art. The technical problem of the access network equipment cannot be accurately determined according to the information of the cell. Since the core network device has or stores the correspondence between the cell and the access network device, after receiving the information of the target cell, the core network device can accurately determine the access network to manage the target cell according to the information of the target cell. The network access device will not have a determination error, so that the access network device can be accurately determined.

As a possible implementation manner, the communication method may further include: receiving auxiliary information, where the auxiliary information is used to determine the corresponding relationship.

In this embodiment of the present application, the core network equipment can receive the auxiliary information in advance, so the corresponding relationship between the cell and the access network equipment can be determined in advance according to the received auxiliary information, so as to determine the access corresponding to the target cell when needed. For example, when receiving information about the target cell from the access network device, the access network device for managing the target cell can be quickly determined according to the corresponding relationship, thereby improving the determination efficiency of the access network device.

As a possible implementation manner, the receiving auxiliary information includes: receiving multiple pieces of auxiliary information from multiple access network devices, the multiple access network devices are in one-to-one correspondence with the multiple pieces of auxiliary information, and the The plurality of access network devices include the second access network device.

In the embodiment of the present application, the auxiliary information is reported by the access network device to the core network device, and which cells an access network device manages is very clear. Therefore, an access network device reports a The auxiliary information can ensure the reliability of the reported auxiliary information, so that the core network device can accurately determine the corresponding relationship between the cell and the access network device according to the auxiliary information reported by the access network device, and then can accurately determine the corresponding relationship between the cell and the access network device according to the auxiliary information reported by the access network device. Determine the access network equipment that manages the cell.

As a possible implementation manner, the receiving multiple pieces of auxiliary information from multiple access network devices includes: receiving first auxiliary information from a third access network device, where the third access network device is related to the Any access network device among the access network devices to which the core network device establishes a connection.

In this embodiment of the present application, each access network device that establishes a connection with the core network device can report auxiliary information, thereby ensuring that all access network devices that establish a connection with the core network device report the auxiliary information, so that the core network device can The correspondence between the cell and the access network device determined according to the auxiliary information reported by the access network device covers all the access network devices that establish connections with the core network device and the corresponding cells. After the information of the target cell, it can be ensured that the access network device corresponding to the target cell can be determined according to the corresponding relationship, and the correspondence between the target cell and the access network device that manages the target cell can be avoided because the core network device does not exist or does not store the target cell. The access network equipment that manages the target cell cannot be determined because of the relationship.

As a possible implementation manner, the corresponding relationship is a corresponding relationship between the identity of the access network device and the identity of the cell managed by the access network device.

In this embodiment of the present application, the core network device can determine the identity of the cell managed by the access network device according to the auxiliary information reported by the access network device, so that after subsequently receiving information about the target cell from the access network device, it can The correspondence between the identifier of the network device and the identifier of the cell managed by the access network device determines which access network device manages the target cell.

As a possible implementation manner, the auxiliary information includes an identity of the access network device and identity information of a cell associated with the access network device.

In this embodiment of the present application, the core network device can clearly know the identity of the access network device and the identity information of the cell associated with the access network device, and then can determine the identity of the cell managed by the access network device according to the information, so as to receive the information subsequently. After the information of the target cell from the access network device, it can be determined which access network device manages the target cell according to the corresponding relationship between the identity of the access network device and the identity of the cell managed by the access network device.

As a possible implementation manner, the cell associated with the access network device includes a cell managed by the access network device, or the cell associated with the access network device includes a cell that is not managed by the access network device and is not managed by the access network device. The cell identity includes the identified cell of the access network device.

In the embodiment of the present application, since the cell associated with the access network device may include a cell managed by the access network device, or may include a cell that is not managed by the access network device and whose cell identifier includes the identifier of the access network device, therefore, in When the access network device wants to report auxiliary information, it can first determine the auxiliary information corresponding to the two cases, and then can determine the signaling overhead required for the transmission of auxiliary information corresponding to the two cases, and then can select the signaling that needs to be transmitted. The auxiliary information corresponding to the case where the overhead is small, thereby reducing the signaling overhead of the access network device for sending the auxiliary information. In addition, since the access network device can report the auxiliary information in two different ways, and the auxiliary information reported in the two different ways can achieve the same effect, the flexibility of reporting the auxiliary information can be improved.

As a possible implementation manner, the receiving the first assistance information from the third access network device includes: receiving the first assistance information from the third access network device through the fourth access network device.

In this embodiment of the present application, when an access network device cannot directly communicate with the core network device, the access network device may report assistance to the core network device through another access network device that can directly communicate with the core network device information. In one case, this access network device can generate auxiliary information, and then can send the auxiliary information to another access network device, and the other access network device can forward the auxiliary information to the core network device. In another case, the access network device may send related information for generating auxiliary information to another access network device, and after receiving the related information, the other access network device may generate the access network device according to the related information The auxiliary information corresponding to the network device is then sent to the core network device. It can be seen that it can be ensured that all access network devices can report auxiliary information.

As a possible implementation manner, the determining of the second access network device includes: determining a first identifier or a length of the first identifier, where the first identifier is an identifier of the second access network device.

As a possible implementation manner, the communication method may further include: indicating the first identifier or the length of the first identifier to the first access network device.

In this embodiment of the present application, after the core network device determines the identifier of the second access network device or the length of the identifier of the second access network device, it can use the identifier of the second access network device or the identifier of the second access network device to determine the length of the identifier of the second access network device. The length of the identifier is returned to the first access network device, so that the first access network device can perform a transaction with the corresponding second access network device according to the identifier of the second access network device or the length of the identifier of the second access network device. interact. In addition, in the case that the indication is the first identifier, the first access network device does not need to determine the first identifier, which can reduce the processing process of the first access network device, thereby reducing the power consumption of the first access network.

As a possible implementation manner, the identification information of the cell associated with the access network device includes at least one of the following: a cell ID or a global cell ID of the cell associated with the access network device; the access network device is associated with The common part of the cell identity of the cell.

In this embodiment of the present application, when the identification information of the cell associated with the access network device only includes the cell identification or the global cell identification of the cell associated with the access network device, the core network device receives the auxiliary information from the access network device After that, the identification of the cell can be directly determined according to the auxiliary information, which reduces the processing process of the core network device, thereby reducing the power consumption of the core network device. In the case where the identification information of the cell associated with the access network device only includes the common part of the cell identification of the cell associated with the access network device, the size of the auxiliary information is small, which can reduce the information that the access network device needs to transmit, so that the Reduce signaling overhead.

As a possible implementation manner, the information of the target cell includes a cell identity or a global cell identity of the target cell.

A second aspect discloses a communication method. The communication method can be applied to a first access network device or a module (for example, a chip) in the first access network device. Hereinafter, the first access network device is taken as example to illustrate. The communication method may include: sending information of a target cell to a core network device, where the information of the target cell is used to determine a second access network device, and the target cell is managed by the second access network device; receiving information from the second access network device; and the first indication information of the core network device, where the first indication information is used to indicate the second access network device.

In the embodiment of the present application, when the first access network device detects the target cell and the target cell does not belong to the cell managed by the first access network device, when there is a demand, a second access network corresponding to the target cell is required When the devices interact, the information of the target cell can be sent to the core network device, so that the core network device can determine the second access network device corresponding to the target cell according to the information of the target cell, that is, the second access network device that manages the target cell , and then the determined second access network device can be indicated to the first access network device, and the first access network device can interact with the second access network device corresponding to the target cell, thereby solving the problem that cannot be solved in the prior art. The technical problem of interacting with the corresponding access network equipment according to the information of the cell.

As a possible implementation manner, the communication method may further include: sending auxiliary information to the core network device, where the auxiliary information is used to determine the correspondence between the cell and the access network device.

In this embodiment of the present application, the access network device may report the auxiliary information to the core network device, so that the core network device can determine the corresponding relationship between the cell and the access network device in advance according to the auxiliary information, and in the follow-up need to be based on the target cell's corresponding relationship. When the access network device corresponding to the target cell is determined from the information, for example, when the information of the target cell from the access network device is received, the management target cell can be quickly determined according to the corresponding relationship between the cell and the access network device. access network equipment, so that the determination efficiency of the access network equipment can be improved.

In the embodiment of the present application, the access network device may report auxiliary information to the core network device, so that the core network device can determine the identity of the cell managed by the access network device according to the auxiliary information reported by the access network device, and then the core network device receives the identifier of the cell managed by the access network device. After the information of the target cell from the access network device is obtained, the access network device that manages the target cell can be quickly determined according to the correspondence between the identity of the access network device and the identity of the cell managed by the access network device. .

As a possible implementation manner, the auxiliary information includes an identification of the first access network device and identification information of a cell associated with the first access network device.

In this embodiment of the present application, the access network device may report auxiliary information to the core network device, so that the core network device can clearly know the identity of the access network device and the identity information of the cell associated with the access network device, and then can determine the information based on the information. The identity of the cell managed by the access network equipment, after the subsequent core network equipment receives the information of the target cell from the access network equipment, can be based on the identity of the access network equipment and the identity of the cell managed by the access network equipment. The corresponding relationship can quickly determine the access network equipment that manages the target cell.

As a possible implementation manner, the cell associated with the first access network device includes a cell managed by the first access network device, or the cell associated with the first access network device includes a cell that does not belong to the first access network device The first access network device manages and the cell identity includes a cell of the identity of the first access network device.

In the embodiment of the present application, since the cell associated with the access network device may include a cell managed by the access network device, or may include a cell that is not managed by the access network device and whose cell identifier includes the identifier of the access network device, therefore, in When the access network device wants to report auxiliary information, it can first determine the auxiliary information corresponding to the two cases, and then can determine the signaling overhead required to transmit the auxiliary information corresponding to the two cases, and then can select the required signaling The auxiliary information corresponding to the case where the overhead is small, thereby reducing the signaling overhead of the access network device for transmitting the auxiliary information. In addition, since the access network device can report the auxiliary information in two different ways, and the auxiliary information reported in the two different ways can achieve the same effect, the flexibility of reporting the auxiliary information can be improved.

As a possible implementation manner, the identification information of the cell associated with the first access network device includes at least one of the following: a cell identification or a global cell identification of the cell associated with the first access network device; the first access network device The common part of the cell identity of the cell to which an access network device is associated.

In the embodiment of the present application, in the case where the identification information of the cell associated with the access network device only includes the cell identification or the global cell identification of the cell associated with the access network device, after the access network device sends the auxiliary information to the core network device, In this way, the core network device can directly determine the identity of the cell according to the auxiliary information, which reduces the processing process of the core network device, thereby reducing the power consumption of the core network device. In the case where the identification information of the cell associated with the access network device only includes the common part of the cell identification of the cell associated with the access network device, the size of the auxiliary information is small, which can reduce the information that the access network device needs to transmit, so that the Reduce signaling overhead.

As a possible implementation manner, the first indication information used to indicate the second access network device includes: the first indication information is used to indicate the identity of the second access network device or the identity length.

In this embodiment of the present application, the access network device may receive the identifier of the second access network device or the length of the identifier of the second access network device indicated by the core network device, so that the first access network device can The identifier of the access network device or the length of the identifier of the second access network device interacts with the corresponding second access network device. In addition, in the case where the indication is the identifier of the second access network device, the first access network device does not need to determine the identifier of the second access network device, which can reduce the processing process of the first access network device, and thus can The power consumption of the first access network is reduced.

A third aspect discloses a communication method. The communication method can be applied to a first access network device, and can also be applied to a module (eg, a chip) in the first access network device. Hereinafter, the first access network device is taken as example to illustrate. The communication method may include: sending information of a target cell to a core network device; receiving second indication information from the core network device, where the second indication information is used to indicate information of one or more candidate access network devices; Send a first message to the one or more candidate access network devices respectively, where the first message includes information of the target cell, and the first message is used to determine a second access network device, the target cell is managed by the second access network device.

In this embodiment of the present application, after the access network device sends the cell information to the core network device, it can determine one or more candidate access network devices according to the indication information returned by the core network device, and then can access the one or more candidate access network devices. The network devices respectively send messages including the information of the cell, so that the access network device corresponding to the cell among the one or more candidate access network devices can be determined, that is, the access network device that manages the cell can be determined. After the access network device determines the candidate access network device according to the indication information returned by the core network device, it sends messages to different candidate access network devices to determine whether the candidate access network device is the access network device corresponding to the cell. The technical problem that the access network equipment cannot be accurately determined in the prior art is solved. The access network device sends cell information to the core network device, and after determining one or more candidate access network devices according to the indication information returned by the core network device, it can send information including the cell to the one or more candidate access network devices respectively. After receiving the message including the information of the cell, the candidate access network device can determine whether the cell is a cell managed by itself according to the information of the cell, so that the access network device can be accurately determined.

As a possible implementation manner, the communication method may further include: receiving one or more response information from the one or more candidate access network devices; determining the second response information according to the one or more response information access network equipment.

In this embodiment of the present application, after the first access network device sends a message including information about the cell to one or more candidate access network devices, it may receive one or more information from the one or more candidate access network devices. response information. In one case, the candidate access network device will only return response information to the first access network device if the cell is a cell managed by itself; in the other case, each candidate access network device response information will be returned. When the response information returned by the candidate access network device corresponding to the cell is different from the response information returned by other candidate access network devices, the first access network device can , the access network device corresponding to the cell is accurately determined from one or more candidate access network devices, so that the access network device can be accurately determined.

As a possible implementation manner, the first response information is used to indicate that the target cell is a cell managed by the first candidate access network device, or used to indicate that the target cell is not a cell managed by the first candidate access network device , the first response information is any one of the one or more response information, and the first candidate access network device is a candidate access network device corresponding to the first response information; the according to The determining of the second access network device by the one or more response information includes: when the second response information is used to indicate that the target cell is a cell managed by a second candidate access network device, determining the second candidate The access network device is the second access network device, the second response information is one of the one or more response information, and the second candidate access network device is the second response The candidate access network device corresponding to the information.

In the embodiment of the present application, since the response information returned by the candidate access network device corresponding to the target cell is different from the response information returned by other candidate access network devices, or only the candidate access network device corresponding to the target cell will send the first connection The network access device returns response information. Therefore, the first access network device can accurately determine the access network device corresponding to the cell from one or more candidate access network devices according to one or more response information, so that it can accurately determine the access network device corresponding to the cell from one or more candidate access network devices. Accurately identify access network equipment.

As a possible implementation manner, the information of the candidate access network device is the identifier of the candidate access network device, or the length of the identifier of the candidate access network device.

In this embodiment of the present application, the first access network device may determine which access network one or more candidate access network devices are according to the identifier of the candidate access network device or the length of the identifier of the candidate access network device device, so that the first access network device can carry the identifier of the corresponding candidate access network device when sending messages to different candidate access network devices respectively.

A fourth aspect discloses a communication method. The communication method can be applied to core network equipment, and can also be applied to modules (eg, chips) in the core network equipment. The core network equipment is used as an example for description below. The communication method may include: receiving information from a target cell of a first access network device; sending second indication information to the first access network device, where the second indication information is used to indicate one or more candidate access points The information of the network access device, the one or more candidate access network devices are determined according to the information of the target cell.

In this embodiment of the present application, after receiving the cell information from the access network device, the core network device can determine one or more candidate access network devices according to the cell information and the stored identifier of the access network device, and then can determine one or more candidate access network devices. Indicate the information of one or more candidate access network devices to the access network device, so that the access network device can further determine the access network device corresponding to the cell according to the information of the one or more candidate access network devices, and can accurately The access network device is determined, thereby solving the technical problem that the access network device cannot be accurately determined in the prior art.

As a possible implementation manner, the communication method may further include: determining the one or more candidate access network devices according to the information of the target cell and the identity of the access network device.

As a possible implementation manner, the communication method may further include: receiving the identifier of the access network device.

In this embodiment of the present application, the core network device may receive the identification of the access network device reported by the access network device in advance, so that the candidate access network device corresponding to the target cell can be quickly determined according to the identification of the access network device, so that it can quickly determine the candidate access network device corresponding to the target cell. The efficiency of determining the access network equipment corresponding to the target cell is improved.

In this embodiment of the present application, the core network device may send the identifier of the candidate access network device or the length of the identifier of the candidate access network device to the first access network device, so that the first access network device can access the device according to the candidate access network device. The identifier of the network device, or the length of the identifier of the candidate access network device to determine which access network devices one or more candidate access network devices are, and can be carried when sending messages to different candidate access network devices. The identifier of the corresponding candidate access network device.

A fifth aspect discloses a communication method. The communication method can be applied to core network equipment, and can also be applied to modules (eg, chips) in the core network equipment. The core network equipment is used as an example for description below. The communication method may include: receiving information of a target cell from a first access network device; sending a second message to one or more candidate access network devices, the second message including the information of the target cell, the The second message is used to determine a second access network device, and the one or more candidate access network devices are determined according to the information of the target cell, and the target cell is managed by the second access network device.

In this embodiment of the present application, after receiving the cell information from the access network device, the core network device can determine one or more candidate access network devices according to the cell information and the stored identifier of the access network device, and then can determine one or more candidate access network devices. A message including the information of the cell is respectively sent to one or more candidate access network devices, so that the access network device corresponding to the cell among the one or more candidate access network devices can be determined. After the core network device determines the candidate access network device, it sends messages to different candidate access network devices respectively to determine whether the candidate access network device is the access network device corresponding to the cell, which can solve the problem that cannot be accurately determined in the prior art Technical problems of access network equipment. After the core network device determines one or more candidate access network devices, it may send a message including the information of the cell to the one or more candidate access network devices respectively, so that the candidate access network device receives the message including the information of the cell. After the message is sent, it can be determined whether the cell is a cell managed by itself according to the information of the cell, so that the access network device can be accurately determined.

In this embodiment of the present application, after the core network device sends a message including information about the cell to one or more candidate access network devices, it may receive one or more response messages from the one or more candidate access network devices. In one case, the candidate access network device will only return response information to the core network device if the cell is managed by itself, and in the other case, each candidate access network device will return a response. information, when the response information returned by the candidate access network device corresponding to the cell is different from the response information returned by other candidate access network devices, therefore, the core network device can select one or more The access network device corresponding to the cell is accurately determined from the candidate access network devices, so that the access network device can be accurately determined.

In the embodiment of the present application, since the response information returned by the candidate access network device corresponding to the target cell is different from the response information returned by other candidate access network devices, or only the candidate access network device corresponding to the target cell will send the response information to the core network device The response information is returned. Therefore, the core network device can accurately determine the access network device corresponding to the cell from one or more candidate access network devices according to one or more response information, so as to accurately determine the access network device. equipment.

As a possible implementation manner, the communication method may further include: sending the identifier of the second access network device to the first access network device.

In this embodiment of the present application, after determining the second access network device corresponding to the target cell, the core network device may return the identifier of the second access network device to the first access network device, so that the first access network device can Interact with the second access network device.

A sixth aspect discloses a communication method. The communication method can be applied to core network equipment, and can also be applied to modules (eg, chips) in the core network equipment. The core network equipment is used as an example for description below. The communication method may include: receiving information of a target cell from a first access network device; sending information of the target cell to a second access network device, the identity of the second access network device being related to the target cell The identification of the third access network device is associated; the identification of the third access network device from the second access network device is received, and the target cell is managed by the third access network device.

In this embodiment of the present application, after receiving the cell information from the first access network device, the core network device may send the cell information to the second access network device, so that the second access network device can determine the cell information according to the cell information. The access network equipment corresponding to the cell is output. It can be seen that the access network device corresponding to the cell is determined by the access network device according to the information of the cell, so that the technical problem of high overhead or power consumption of the core network device in the prior art can be solved. After receiving the cell information from the first access network device, the core network device can send the cell information to the second access network device, so that the second access network device can determine the cell corresponding to the cell according to the cell information. The network access device is determined instead of the core network device. Therefore, the processing process of the core network device can be reduced, thereby reducing the overhead of the core network device and reducing the power consumption of the core network device.

As a possible implementation manner, the communication method may further include: receiving auxiliary information; sending first auxiliary information to the second access network device, where the first auxiliary information is the access network device in the auxiliary information There is auxiliary information associated with the identifier of the second access network device and the identifier of the second access network device, and the first auxiliary information is used to determine the correspondence between the cell and the access network device.

In this embodiment of the present application, the core network device may receive the auxiliary information in advance, and send part or all of the received auxiliary information to the second access network device, so that the second access network device can determine in advance according to the received auxiliary information The corresponding relationship between the outgoing cell and the access network device, when the access network device corresponding to the target cell needs to be determined later, for example, when the information of the target cell from the core network device is received, it can be quickly based on the corresponding relationship. The access network device that manages the target cell is determined, so that the determination efficiency of the access network device can be improved.

As a possible implementation manner, the receiving auxiliary information includes: receiving multiple pieces of auxiliary information from multiple access network devices, where the multiple access network devices correspond to the multiple pieces of auxiliary information one-to-one.

In this embodiment of the present application, the auxiliary information is reported by the access network device to the core network device, and then selectively sent by the core network device to the second access network device, and which cells are managed by an access network device, the access network The device is very specific. Therefore, when an access network device reports an auxiliary information, the reliability of the reported auxiliary information can be guaranteed, so that the second access network device can accurately determine the cell and the access network according to the received auxiliary information. The corresponding relationship between the devices, and then the access network device that manages the cell can be accurately determined according to the corresponding relationship.

As a possible implementation manner, the receiving multiple pieces of auxiliary information from multiple access network devices includes: receiving second auxiliary information from a fourth access network device, where the fourth access network device is related to the Any access network device among the access network devices to which the core network device establishes a connection.

In this embodiment of the present application, each access network device that establishes a connection with a core network device can report auxiliary information, thereby ensuring that all access network devices that establish a connection with the core network device report the auxiliary information, so that the second access network device can report auxiliary information. The corresponding relationship between the cell and the access network device determined by the network access device according to the received auxiliary information is relatively comprehensive. After receiving the information of the target cell from the core network device, it can ensure that the corresponding relationship of the target cell can be determined according to the corresponding relationship. The access network device can avoid that the access network device managing the target cell cannot be determined because the corresponding relationship between the target cell and the access network device managing the target cell does not exist or is not stored in the second access network device. Happening.

In this embodiment of the present application, after receiving the auxiliary information from the access network device, the core network device may send part or all of the auxiliary information to the second access network device, so that the second access network device can The reported auxiliary information determines the identity of the cell managed by the access network equipment, so that after subsequent reception of information about the target cell from the core network equipment, the identity of the cell managed by the access network equipment can be determined according to the difference between the identity of the access network equipment and the identity of the cell managed by the access network equipment. The corresponding relationship is determined to determine which access network device manages the target cell.

As a possible implementation manner, the third auxiliary information includes the identity of the fifth access network device and the identity information of the cell associated with the fifth access network device, and the third auxiliary information is the first auxiliary information The fifth access network device is the access network device corresponding to the third auxiliary information.

In this embodiment of the present application, after receiving the auxiliary information from the access network device, the core network device may send part or all of the auxiliary information to the second access network device, so that the second access network device can clearly learn about different access network devices. The identity of the network equipment and the identity information of the cells associated with different access network equipment, and then the identity of the cell managed by the access network equipment can be determined according to these information. After receiving the information of the target cell from the core network equipment, it can be The correspondence between the identity of the access network device and the identity of the cell managed by the access network device determines which access network device manages the target cell.

As a possible implementation manner, the cell associated with the fifth access network device includes a cell managed by the fifth access network device, or the cell associated with the fifth access network device does not belong to the fifth access network device. Five cells managed by the access network device and whose cell identity includes the identity of the fifth access network device.

As a possible implementation manner, the communication method may further include: sending the identifier of the third access network device to the first access network device.

In this embodiment of the present application, after the core network device receives the identifier of the third access network device or the length of the identifier of the third access network device from the second access network device, it can convert the identifier of the third access network device to the identifier of the third access network device. Or the length of the identifier of the third access network device is returned to the first access network device, so that the first access network device can correspond to the length of the identifier of the third access network device or the identifier of the third access network device interact with the third access network device.

As a possible implementation manner, the identification information of the cell associated with the fifth access network device includes at least one of the following: a cell identification or a global cell identification of the cell associated with the fifth access network device; the first 5 The common part of the cell identity of the cell to which the access network device is associated.

In the embodiment of the present application, in the case that the identification information of the cell associated with the access network device only includes the cell identification or the global cell identification of the cell associated with the access network device, the second access network device receives the data from the access network device. After the auxiliary information is obtained, the identity of the cell can be directly determined according to the auxiliary information, which reduces the processing process of the second access network device, thereby reducing the power consumption of the second access network device. In the case where the identification information of the cell associated with the access network device only includes the common part of the cell identification of the cell associated with the access network device, the size of the auxiliary information is small, which can reduce the information that the access network device needs to transmit, so that the Reduce signaling overhead.

A seventh aspect discloses a communication method. The communication method can be applied to a second access network device, and can also be applied to a module (for example, a chip) in the second access network device. Hereinafter, the second access network device is taken as example to illustrate. The communication method may include: receiving information of a target cell from a core network device; determining a third access network device according to the information of the target cell and the correspondence between the cell and the access network device, the target cell being The third access network device management.

In the embodiment of the present application, after receiving the information of the target cell from the core network device, the second access network device may determine the management target cell according to the information of the target cell and the corresponding relationship between the cell and the access network device. The second access network device. It can be seen that, because there is a correspondence between the cell and the access network device in the second access network device, the second access network device can determine the access network device corresponding to the target cell according to the information of the target cell, so that it can determine the access network device corresponding to the target cell. The technical problem that the access network equipment cannot be accurately determined in the prior art is solved. Since there is a correspondence between the cell and the access network device in the second access network device, the second access network device can accurately determine the access network device corresponding to the target cell according to the information of the target cell. In the event of a determination error, the access network device can be accurately determined. In addition, since the access network device corresponding to the cell is determined by the second access network device instead of the core network device, the processing process of the core network device can be reduced, thereby reducing the cost of the core network device and reducing the core network device. The power consumption of the device.

As a possible implementation manner, the communication method may further include: receiving first auxiliary information from the core network device, where the first auxiliary information is used to determine the corresponding relationship, and the first auxiliary information is connected to The identification of the network access device is associated with the identification of the second access network device.

In this embodiment of the present application, the second access network device may receive the first auxiliary information from the core network device in advance, and may determine the correspondence between the cell and the access network device according to the first auxiliary information, so as to determine the subsequent need to be determined When the access network device corresponding to the cell can be quickly determined according to the corresponding relationship, the determination efficiency of the access network device can be improved and the time delay can be reduced.

In this embodiment of the present application, the second access network device can determine the identity of the cell managed by the access network device according to the auxiliary information, so that after subsequently receiving the information of the target cell from the core network device, the identity of the access network device can be determined according to the identity of the access network device. The corresponding relationship with the identifier of the cell managed by the access network device determines which access network device manages the target cell.

In the embodiment of the present application, the second access network device can clearly know the identifiers of different access network devices and the identifier information of the cells associated with the different access network devices, and then can determine the identifiers of the cells managed by the access network device according to these information. , after subsequently receiving the information of the target cell from the core network device, it can be determined which access network the target cell belongs to according to the correspondence between the identity of the access network device and the identity of the cell managed by the access network device Device management.

As a possible implementation manner, the determining of the third access network device includes: determining an identifier of the third access network device.

As a possible implementation manner, the communication method may further include: sending the identification of the third access network device to the core network device.

In this embodiment of the present application, after the second access network device determines the identifier of the third access network device, it may return the identifier of the third access network device to the core network device, so that the core network device can identify the third access network device with the identifier of the third access network device. The identification of the device is returned to the first access network device, or may interact with the third access network device according to the identification of the third access network device.

In the embodiment of the present application, in the case that the identification information of the cell associated with the access network device only includes the cell identification or the global cell identification of the cell associated with the access network device, the second access network device receives the information from the core network device. After the auxiliary information is obtained, the identity of the cell can be directly determined according to the auxiliary information, which reduces the processing process of the second access network device, thereby reducing the power consumption of the second access network device. In the case where the identification information of the cell associated with the access network device only includes the common part of the cell identification of the cell associated with the access network device, the size of the auxiliary information is small, which can reduce the information that the access network device needs to transmit, so that the Reduce signaling overhead.

An eighth aspect discloses a communication apparatus. The communication apparatus may be core network equipment, or may be a module (eg, a chip) in the core network equipment, and the communication apparatus may include:

a receiving unit, configured to receive information from the target cell of the first access network device;

A determining unit, configured to determine a second access network device according to the information of the target cell and the corresponding relationship between the cell and the access network device, and the target cell is managed by the second access network device.

As a possible implementation manner, the receiving unit is further configured to receive auxiliary information, where the auxiliary information is used to determine the corresponding relationship.

As a possible implementation manner, the receiving unit receiving auxiliary information includes:

Receive multiple pieces of auxiliary information from multiple access network devices, the multiple access network devices are in one-to-one correspondence with the multiple pieces of auxiliary information, and the multiple access network devices include the second access network device .

As a possible implementation manner, the receiving unit receiving multiple pieces of auxiliary information from multiple access network devices includes:

Receive first auxiliary information from a third access network device, where the third access network device is any access network device among the access network devices that establish a connection with the core network device.

As a possible implementation manner, the cell associated with the access network device includes a cell managed by the access network device, or,

The cells associated with the access network device include cells that are not managed by the access network device and whose cell identifiers include the identifiers of the access network devices.

As a possible implementation manner, the receiving unit receiving the first auxiliary information from the third access network device includes:

The first assistance information from the third access network device is received by the fourth access network device.

As a possible implementation manner, the determining unit specifically determines the first identifier or the length of the first identifier, and the first identifier is the identifier of the second access network device.

As a possible implementation manner, the communication device may further include:

A sending unit, configured to indicate the first identifier or the length of the first identifier to the first access network device.

As a possible implementation manner, the identification information of the cell associated with the access network device includes at least one of the following:

the cell identifier or global cell identifier of the cell associated with the access network device;

The public part of the cell identity of the cell to which the access network device is associated.

A ninth aspect discloses a communication apparatus. The communication apparatus may be a first access network device or a module (eg, a chip) in the first access network device, and the communication apparatus may include:

a sending unit, configured to send information of a target cell to a core network device, where the information of the target cell is used to determine a second access network device, and the target cell is managed by the second access network device;

A receiving unit, configured to receive first indication information from the core network device, where the first indication information is used to indicate the second access network device.

As a possible implementation manner, the sending unit is further configured to send auxiliary information to the core network device, where the auxiliary information is used to determine the correspondence between the cell and the access network device.

As a possible implementation manner, the cell associated with the first access network device includes a cell managed by the first access network device, or,

The cells associated with the first access network device include cells that are not managed by the first access network device and whose cell identifiers include an identifier of the first access network device.

As a possible implementation manner, the identification information of the cell associated with the first access network device includes at least one of the following:

the cell identifier or global cell identifier of the cell associated with the first access network device;

The public part of the cell identity of the cell associated with the first access network device.

A tenth aspect discloses a communication apparatus. The communication apparatus may be a first access network device or a module (eg, a chip) in the first access network device, and the communication apparatus may include:

a sending unit, configured to send the information of the target cell to the core network equipment;

a receiving unit, configured to receive second indication information from the core network device, where the second indication information is used to indicate information of one or more candidate access network devices;

The sending unit is further configured to send a first message to the one or more candidate access network devices, respectively, where the first message includes information of the target cell, and the first message is used to determine the second access network. A network access device, where the target cell is managed by the second access network device.

As a possible implementation manner, the receiving unit is further configured to receive one or more response information from the one or more candidate access network devices;

The communication device may also include:

A determining unit, configured to determine the second access network device according to the one or more response information.

As a possible implementation manner, the first response information is used to indicate that the target cell is a cell managed by the first candidate access network device, or used to indicate that the target cell is not a cell managed by the first candidate access network device , the first response information is any one of the one or more response information, and the first candidate access network device is a candidate access network device corresponding to the first response information;

The determining unit is specifically configured to determine that the second candidate access network device is the second access network device when the second response information is used to indicate that the target cell is a cell managed by the second candidate access network device network device, the second response information is one of the one or more response information, and the second candidate access network device is a candidate access network device corresponding to the second response information.

An eleventh aspect discloses a communication apparatus. The communication apparatus may be core network equipment or a module (eg, a chip) in the core network equipment. The communication apparatus may include:

a sending unit, configured to send second indication information to the first access network device, where the second indication information is used to indicate information of one or more candidate access network devices, the one or more candidate access network devices The network device determines according to the information of the target cell.

The one or more candidate access network devices are determined according to the information of the target cell and the identity of the access network device.

As a possible implementation manner, the receiving unit is further configured to receive the identifier of the access network device.

A twelfth aspect discloses a communication apparatus. The communication apparatus may be core network equipment or a module (eg, a chip) in the core network equipment. The communication apparatus may include:

a sending unit, configured to send a second message to one or more candidate access network devices, where the second message includes information of the target cell, the second message is used to determine the second access network device, the One or more candidate access network devices are determined according to the information of the target cell, and the target cell is managed by the second access network device.

A determining unit, configured to determine the one or more candidate access network devices according to the information of the target cell and the identifier of the access network device.

The determining unit is further configured to determine the second access network device according to the one or more response information.

The determining unit determining the second access network device according to the one or more response information includes:

When the second response information is used to indicate that the target cell is a cell managed by a second candidate access network device, it is determined that the second candidate access network device is the second access network device, and the second response network device is determined to be the second access network device. The information is one response information in the one or more response information, and the second candidate access network device is a candidate access network device corresponding to the second response information.

As a possible implementation manner, the sending unit is further configured to send the identifier of the second access network device to the first access network device.

A thirteenth aspect discloses a communication apparatus. The communication apparatus may be core network equipment or a module (eg, a chip) in the core network equipment. The communication apparatus may include:

a sending unit, configured to send the information of the target cell to a second access network device, where the identifier of the second access network device is associated with the identifier of the target cell;

The receiving unit is further configured to receive an identifier of a third access network device from the second access network device, and the target cell is managed by the third access network device.

As a possible implementation manner, the receiving unit is further configured to receive auxiliary information;

The sending unit is further configured to send first auxiliary information to the second access network device, where the first auxiliary information is the identification of the access network device in the auxiliary information and the second access network device There is associated auxiliary information associated with the identifier of the first auxiliary information, and the first auxiliary information is used to determine the corresponding relationship between the cell and the access network device.

Multiple pieces of auxiliary information from multiple access network devices are received, and the multiple access network devices are in one-to-one correspondence with the multiple pieces of auxiliary information.

Receive second auxiliary information from a fourth access network device, where the fourth access network device is any access network device among the access network devices that establish a connection with the core network device.

As a possible implementation manner, the cell associated with the fifth access network device includes a cell managed by the fifth access network device, or,

The cell associated with the fifth access network device does not belong to the cell managed by the fifth access network device and the cell identifier includes the identifier of the fifth access network device.

As a possible implementation manner, the sending unit is further configured to send the identifier of the third access network device to the first access network device.

As a possible implementation manner, the identification information of the cell associated with the fifth access network device includes at least one of the following:

the cell identifier or global cell identifier of the cell associated with the fifth access network device;

The public part of the cell identity of the cell associated with the fifth access network device.

A fourteenth aspect discloses a communication apparatus. The communication apparatus may be a second access network device, or may be a module (eg, a chip) in the second access network device, and the communication apparatus may include:

a receiving unit, configured to receive information from the target cell of the core network device;

A determining unit, configured to determine a third access network device according to the information of the target cell and the correspondence between the cell and the access network device, and the target cell is managed by the third access network device.

As a possible implementation manner, the receiving unit is further configured to receive first auxiliary information from the core network device, where the first auxiliary information is used to determine the corresponding relationship, and the first auxiliary information includes The identity of the access network device is associated with the identity of the second access network device.

As a possible implementation manner, the determining unit is specifically configured to determine the identity of the third access network device.

A sending unit, configured to send the identity of the third access network device to the core network device.

A fifteenth aspect discloses a communication apparatus, where the communication apparatus may be a core network device or a module (eg, a chip) in the core network device. The communication device may include a processor, a memory, an input interface for receiving information from other communication devices other than the communication device, and an output interface for sending information outside the communication device The other communication means output information, when the processor executes the computer program stored in the memory, causing the processor to perform the first aspect, the fourth aspect to the sixth aspect or the first aspect, the fourth aspect to the sixth aspect A method of communication is disclosed in any embodiment of the aspect.

A sixteenth aspect discloses a communication apparatus, where the communication apparatus may be a first access network device or a module (eg, a chip) in the first access network device. The communication device may include a processor, a memory, an input interface for receiving information from other communication devices other than the communication device, and an output interface for sending information outside the communication device The other communication device outputs information, when the processor executes the computer program stored in the memory, causing the processor to execute the second aspect, the third aspect or any embodiment disclosed in the second aspect or the third aspect. communication method.

A seventeenth aspect discloses a communication apparatus, where the communication apparatus may be a second access network device or a module (eg, a chip) in the second access network device. The communication device may include a processor, a memory, an input interface for receiving information from other communication devices other than the communication device, and an output interface for sending information outside the communication device The other communication device outputs information, and when the processor executes the computer program stored in the memory, the processor causes the processor to execute the communication method disclosed in the seventh aspect or any embodiment of the seventh aspect.

An eighteenth aspect discloses a communication system, which includes a communication device corresponding to the first aspect and a communication device corresponding to the second aspect.

A nineteenth aspect discloses a communication system, which includes a communication device corresponding to the third aspect and a communication device corresponding to the fourth aspect.

A twentieth aspect discloses a communication system, which includes a communication device corresponding to the second aspect, a communication device corresponding to the sixth aspect, and a communication device corresponding to the seventh aspect.

A twenty-first aspect discloses a computer-readable storage medium, where a computer program or computer instruction is stored thereon, and when the computer program or computer instruction is executed, the communication method disclosed in the above aspects is implemented.

A twenty-second aspect discloses a chip including a processor for executing a program stored in a memory, and when the program is executed, the chip executes the above method.

As a possible implementation, the memory is located off-chip.

A twenty-third aspect discloses a computer program product comprising computer program code which, when executed, causes the above communication method to be performed.

Description of drawings

1 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture disclosed in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of an access network device including a CU and a DU disclosed by an embodiment of the present application;

3 is a schematic flowchart of establishing a control plane interface disclosed in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 4 is another schematic flowchart of establishing a control plane interface disclosed in an embodiment of the present application;

5 is a schematic diagram of a cell identity and an access network identity disclosed in an embodiment of the present application;

6 is a schematic flowchart of a communication method disclosed in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 7 is a schematic flowchart of another communication method disclosed in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 8 is a schematic flowchart of another communication method disclosed by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 9 is a schematic flowchart of another communication method disclosed by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 10 is a schematic flowchart of another communication method disclosed by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 11 is a schematic flowchart of another communication method disclosed by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 12 is a schematic flowchart of another communication method disclosed by an embodiment of the present application;

13 is a schematic flowchart of another communication method disclosed by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 14 is a schematic flowchart of another communication method disclosed by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 15 is a schematic flowchart of another communication method disclosed by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 16 is a schematic flowchart of another communication method disclosed by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 17 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device disclosed in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 18 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device disclosed in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 19 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device disclosed in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 20 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device disclosed in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 21 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device disclosed in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 22 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device disclosed in an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed ways

The embodiments of the present application disclose a communication method, device, and system, which are used to improve flexibility. Each of them will be described in detail below.

In order to better understand the communication method, device, and system disclosed in the embodiments of the present application, the network architecture used in the embodiments of the present application is first described below. Please refer to FIG. 1. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture disclosed in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 1 , the network architecture may include a core network device 101 , multiple access network devices 102 and multiple terminal devices 103 . The core network device 101 communicates with the access network device 102 , and the terminal device 103 communicates with the access network device 102 .

Terminal equipment, also known as user equipment (UE), mobile station (MS), mobile terminal (MT), etc., is a device that provides voice and/or data connectivity to users. equipment. For example, handheld devices, in-vehicle devices, etc. with wireless connectivity. The terminal device can be a handheld terminal, a notebook computer, a subscriber unit, a cellular phone, a smart phone, a wireless data card, a personal digital assistant (PDA) computer, a tablet computer , handheld computer, wireless modem (modem), handheld device (handheld), laptop computer (laptop computer), cordless phone (cordless phone) or wireless local loop (wireless local loop, WLL) station, machine type communication (machine type communication) type communication, MTC) terminals, wearable devices (such as smart watches, smart bracelets, pedometers, etc.), in-vehicle devices (such as cars, bicycles, electric vehicles, airplanes, ships, trains, high-speed rail, etc.), mobile Internet devices ( mobile internet device, MID), virtual reality (VR) devices, augmented reality (AR) devices, wireless terminals in industrial control (industrial control), smart home devices (such as refrigerators, TVs, air conditioners, electricity meters) etc.), intelligent robots, workshop equipment, wireless terminals in self driving, wireless terminals in remote medical surgery, wireless terminals in smart grid, transportation safety Wireless terminals in smart cities, wireless terminals in smart homes, wireless terminals in smart homes, flying devices (such as smart robots, hot air balloons, drones, airplanes) or other devices that can access the network device of.

Access network equipment refers to a radio access network (radio access network, RAN) node (or equipment) that connects terminal equipment to a wireless network, also known as a base station. At present, some examples of RAN nodes are: generation Node B (gNB), transmission reception point (TRP), evolved Node B (evolved Node B, eNB), radio network controller ( radio network controller, RNC), Node B (Node B, NB), base station controller (BSC), base transceiver station (base transceiver station, BTS), home base station (home evolved NodeB, or home Node B, HNB), base band unit (base band unit, BBU), or wireless fidelity (wireless fidelity, Wifi) access point (access point, AP), etc. In addition, in a network structure, the access network device may include a centralized unit (centralized unit, CU) node, may also include a distributed unit (distributed unit, DU) node, and may also include a CU node and a DU node. Please refer to FIG. 2. FIG. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of an access network device including a CU and a DU disclosed by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 2, the access network equipment including the CU node and the DU node can split the protocol layers in the access network equipment in the NR system, and the functions of some protocol layers are centrally controlled by the CU, and some or all of the remaining The functions of the protocol layer are distributed in the DU, and the DU is centrally controlled by the CU. Further, the CU can be divided into a control plane, that is, a centralized unit control plane (CU-CP), and a user plane, that is, a centralized unit user plane (CU-UP). The CU-CP is responsible for the control plane functions, mainly including the radio resource control (RRC) layer and the packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) corresponding to the control plane, namely the functions of the PDCP-C layer. PDCP-C is mainly responsible for encryption and decryption of control plane data, integrity protection, and data transmission. The CU-UP is responsible for the user plane functions, mainly including the service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) layer and the PDCP corresponding to the user plane, namely PDCP-U, layer functions. SDAP is mainly responsible for processing the data of the core network equipment and mapping the data flow to the bearer. PDCP-U is mainly responsible for data plane encryption and decryption, integrity protection, header compression, serial number maintenance, and data transmission. CU-CP and CU-UP can communicate via E1 interface. The CU-CP can communicate with core network equipment through a next generation (NG) interface. The CU-CP can communicate with the DU through the F1 interface control plane (ie, F1-C). The CU-UP can communicate with the DU through the F1 interface user plane (ie, F1-U). The DU includes functions of a radio link control (radio link control, RLC) layer, a media access control (media access control, MAC) layer, and a physical (physical, PHY) layer. The access network devices may be access network devices in different communication systems.

The core network equipment refers to the equipment in the core network (core network, CN) that provides service support for terminal equipment. The core network equipment can be access and mobility management function (AMF) network elements, session management function (session management function, SMF) network elements, user plane function (user plane function, UPF) network elements, etc. , not listed here. The AMF network element can be responsible for the access management and mobility management of the terminal equipment. The SMF network element can be responsible for session management, such as user session establishment. The UPF network element can be a functional entity of the user plane, and is mainly responsible for connecting to the external network. It should be noted that, in this application, a network element may also be referred to as an entity or a functional entity. For example, an AMF network element may also be referred to as an AMF entity or an AMF functional entity. For another example, the SMF network element may also be referred to as an SMF entity or an SMF functional entity or the like.

It should be noted that the network architecture shown in FIG. 1 is not limited to include only the devices shown in the figure, but may also include other devices not shown in the figure, which are not listed one by one in this application.

It should be noted that the network architecture shown in FIG. 1 does not constitute a limitation on the network. Optionally, the methods in the embodiments of the present application are also applicable to various communication systems.

In order to better understand the embodiments of the present application, the related contents of the embodiments of the present application are first described below.

In a wireless communication system, the terminal equipment and the access network equipment can exchange information through wireless signals. Different access network devices have different identifiers. The identity of the access network device may be referred to as a global (global) radio access network (adio access network, RAN) identity (identity, ID). The global radio access network identity may include a public land mobile network (PLMN) identity and an access network identity. The access network device can divide its own coverage area into multiple cells, and the access network device can control the resource allocation of each cell. Each cell has a cell global identifier (CGI). CGI may include PLMN identity and cell identity. The cell identity may include an access network identity, and the access network identity is at the front (or leftmost) of the cell identity.

The length of the access network identifier can be set flexibly. For example, in a 5G system, the length of the access network identifier in the new radio (NR) may be in the range of 22 bits (bit) to 32 bits, and the length of the cell identifier in the CGI may be 36 bits.

In a wireless communication system, in order for the access network device to obtain the signal quality of the cell to which the terminal device belongs, or for the terminal device to detect the signal quality of a certain cell, each cell in the coverage area of the access network device can send the The terminal equipment indicates the physical cell identifier (physical cell identifier, PCI) corresponding to the current cell. PCI can be reused within a certain area. To reduce inter-cell interference, adjacent cells may use different PCIs. When two cells are not adjacent and the distance between the two cells is large, the two cells can use the same PCI. In NR, PCI can take a value between 0 and 1007.

In a wireless communication system, the access network device may broadcast the CGI corresponding to the cell in the broadcast message of each cell. When the access network device detects a cell, the access network device can make the terminal device report the CGI of the cell, so that which access network device the cell belongs to can be determined according to the CGI. For example, when an operator newly deploys an access network device in a certain place, the adjacent access network device can determine the newly deployed access network through the CGI of the corresponding cell under the access network device reported by the terminal device. equipment.

In addition, when an access network device detects that there is a new access network device nearby, in order to implement certain functions between the two access network devices, for example, a terminal device switches from the current access network device to the new access network device. Network access device, a control plane interface needs to be established between the two access network devices. The control plane related messages between two access network devices can be transmitted by the transport network layer corresponding to the stream control transmission protocol (SCTP), and the control plane related messages between the two access network devices are It is carried by SCTP protocol.

The source access network device can discover a new cell through the PCI reported by the terminal device, and then can obtain the global radio access network identifier of the target access network device through the CGI of the cell reported by the terminal device. In the case that the source access network device knows the global radio access network identifier of the target access network device, but does not know the information used by the target access network device to establish the control plane interface, the source access network device needs to pass through the core network first. The device obtains the information used by the target access network device to establish the control plane interface, and then can establish the control plane interface with the target access network device according to the information used by the target access network device to establish the control plane interface. The information for establishing a control plane interface may be a transport network layer (transport network layer, TNL) address, or may be other information that can be used for establishing a control plane interface, which is not limited herein. The following description will be given by taking an example that the information for establishing a control plane interface is a TNL address. Please refer to FIG. 3 . FIG. 3 is a schematic flowchart of establishing a control plane interface disclosed in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 3 , the access network device 1 may send an uplink RAN configuration transfer (uplinkRAN configuration transfer) message to the core network device, and the message may carry the access network device 1 (ie, the source access network device) and the access network device. The global radio access network identity of device 2 (ie, the target access network device). In addition, the message may also carry the TNL address of the access network device 1 . This message is used to obtain the TNL address of the access network device 2 . After the core network device receives the uplink RAN configuration transfer message from the access network device 1, it can send the downlink RAN configuration transfer to the access network device 2 according to the global radio access network identifier of the access network device 2. )information. The message may carry the global radio access network identifiers of the access network device 1 and the access network device 2 . After the access network device 2 receives the downlink RAN configuration transfer message from the core network device, it can respond by sending an uplink RAN configuration transfer message to the core network device, and the message can carry one or more TNL addresses, one or more of the above. The TNL address is the TNL address where the access network device 1 performs the SCTP connection. The message may also carry the global radio access network identifiers of the access network device 1 and the access network device 2 . After the core network device receives the uplink RAN configuration transfer message from the access network device 2, it can send the downlink RAN configuration transfer message to the access network device 1 according to the global radio access network identifier of the access network device 1. The message carries the There are one or more of the above TNL addresses. After the access network device 1 receives the downlink RAN configuration transfer message from the core network device, it can send a control plane interface establishment request to the access network device 2 according to the above one or more TNL addresses. After the access network device 2 receives the control plane interface establishment request from the access network device 1 , it may send control plane interface establishment response information to the access network device 1 . The control plane interface can be an Xn interface or an X2 interface.

Please refer to FIG. 4. FIG. 4 is another schematic flowchart of establishing a control plane interface disclosed in an embodiment of the present application. Wherein, FIG. 4 is applied to an evolved universal terrestrial radio access (E-UTRA) NR dual connectivity (E-UTRA NR dual connectivity, EN-DC) scenario. The access network device 1 and the access network device 2 are access network devices in long term evolution (long term evolution, LTE), and the access network device 3 is the access network device in NR. As shown in FIG. 4 , the access network device 2 and the access network device 3 establish an EN-DC interface. For example, the configuration corresponding to the access network device 3 may be configured with the global radio access network identifier and TNL address of the LTE access network device 2 that needs to establish an EN-DC control plane interface with the access network device. The access network device 3 can send an EN-DC setup request (such as EN-DC X2 Setup Request) message to the access network device 2, and the message can carry the global wireless access network identifier of the access network device 3, and the message also The CGI of the cell managed or served by the access network device 3 may be carried. After the access network device 2 receives the EN-DC setup request message from the access network device 3, it can send an EN-DC setup request response (such as EN-DC X2 Setup Response) message to the access network device 3, which can Carrying the global radio access network identifier of the access network device 2, the message may also carry the CGI of the cell managed or served by the access network device 2. After the access network device 2 establishes the EN-DC interface with the access network device 3, the access network device 2 can send the selected tracking area code (tracking area code, TAC), instruction information and TAC of the access network device 2 to the core network device. The global wireless access network identifier of the access network device 3, the indication information is used to indicate that the access network device 2 and the access network device 3 have established an EN-DC interface. The above information may be sent through a first message, and the first message may be a control plane interface establishment message or an access network device configuration update message. The access network device 1 (that is, the source access network device) may send a second message to the core network device, and the second message may carry the second indication information, and the second indication information is used to obtain the access network device 3 (that is, the target access network device). network access device) TNL address. The second message may also carry the global radio access network identifier of the access network device 3 , the global radio access network identifier of the access network device 1 , and the TNL address of the access network device 1 . The second message may also carry the selected tracking area identity (tracking area identity, TAI) of the access network device 3 and the selected tracking area identity of the access network device 1, wherein the tracking area identity includes the PLMN identity and the TAC. The second message may be an eNB configuration transfer (eNB configuration transfer) message, or may be other messages. After receiving the second message from the access network device 1, the core network device can send a first request to the access network device 2 that establishes the EN-DC interface with the access network device 3 according to the second indication information, the first request For obtaining the TNL address of the access network device 3, the first request may be carried in a third message, and the third message may be a mobility management entity (mobility management entity, MME) configuration transfer (MME configuration transfer) message, the third message The global wireless access network identifiers of the access network device 1 and the access network device 3 may also be carried. The third message may also carry the selected tracking area identifier of the access network device 3 , the selected tracking area identifier of the access network device 1 , and the TNL address of the access network device 1 . After receiving the third message from the core network device, the access network device 2 may send a fourth message to the access network device 3 according to the first request, and the fourth message may carry the first request, the access network device 1 and the access network device 3. The global wireless access network identifier of the network access device 3. The fourth message may also carry the selected tracking area identifier of the access network device 3 , the selected tracking area identifier of the access network device 1 , and the TNL address of the access network device 1 . The fourth message may be an EN-DC configuration transfer message. After receiving the fourth message from the access network device 2, the access network device 3 may send a fifth message to the access network device 2, where the fifth message carries response information, and the response information may include the information of the access network device 1. The global radio access network identifier and the global radio access network identifier and TNL address of the access network device 3. The response information may also carry the selected tracking area identifier of the access network device 3 and the selected tracking area of the access network device 1. logo. The fifth message may be an EN-DC configuration transfer message. After the access network device 2 receives the fifth message from the access network device 3, it can send a sixth message to the core network device, where the sixth message carries the response information, and the sixth message can be an eNB configuration transfer message. After receiving the sixth message from the access network device 2, the core network device may send a seventh message to the access network device 1, where the seventh message carries the response information, and the seventh message may be an MME configuration transfer message. After the access network device 1 receives the seventh message from the core network device, it can send an EN-DC setup request (such as EN-DC X2 Setup Request) message to the access network device 3 according to the TNL address of the access network device 3, The message carries the global radio access network identifier of the access network device 3 , and the message may also carry the CGI of the cell managed or served by the access network device 3 . After the access network device 3 receives the EN-DC setup request message from the access network device 1, it can send an EN-DC setup response (such as EN-DC X2 Setup Response) message to the access network device 1, which can carry There is the global radio access network identifier of the access network device 1 , and the message may also carry the CGI of the cell managed or served by the access network device 1 .

The precondition for establishing the control plane interface above is that the source access network device knows the global radio access network identifier of the target access network device. When the source access network device knows the CGI of a cell in the target access network device, but cannot determine the global radio access network identifier of the target access network device, the control cannot be established by the method corresponding to FIG. 3 or FIG. 4 . face interface.

At present, the length of the access network identifier can be configured through operation administration and maintenance (OAM), so that the access network identifier can obtain the corresponding access network identifier according to the CGI reported by the terminal device. For example, the length of the access network identity of each PLMN is fixed, but this limits the flexibility of wireless network deployment.

In order to solve the above problem, the industry proposes that the access network device can obtain the length of the access network identifier of the adjacent access network device, so that the access network identifier can be determined according to the length of the access network identifier. In one case, the access network device may broadcast the length of the access network identifier in the broadcast message. When the terminal equipment reports the CGI of a certain cell, it may carry the length of the access network identifier in the broadcast message, so that the access network equipment can determine the length of the access network identifier according to the CGI of the cell and the length of the access network identifier corresponding to the cell The access network identifier corresponding to the cell.

In another case, the core network device may determine the access network identifier or the length of the access network identifier of the target access network device. When the access network device establishes a control plane interface with the core network device, the access network device may send its own global wireless access network identifier to the core network device. After the terminal device reports the CGI of a cell to the access network device, the access network device can send the CGI to the core network device, so that the core network device can infer the CGI and the access network identifier reported by each access network device. The access network device corresponding to the CGI. The core network device can use the cell ID in the CGI to match the access network ID reported by each access network device, and match the access network device with the cell ID that can perform the longest match among the access network IDs of each access network device. as a candidate access network device.

Assuming that the length of the cell ID is 5 bits, the access network ID reported by the access network device 1 to the core network device is 1100, the access network ID reported by the access network device 2 to the core network device is 1101, and the access network device 3 The access network identifier reported to the core network device is 111. When the access network device 1 finds that the cell identifier in the CGI of a target cell is 11100, the access network device 1 sends the TNL request to the core network device, and carries the cell identifier 11100 in the CGI of the cell. The core network device can find the longest matching access network identifier from the access network identifiers (1100, 1101 and 111) of each access network device connected in the core network device according to 11100 in the CGI as a candidate access network device. Here, the access network identifier 111 is the longest match, that is, the access network device 3 is used as a candidate access network device, and the core network device can send the TNL request of the access network device 1 to the access network device 3).

In one of the above cases, the broadcast message needs to be modified, and it can only be modified in the latest protocol version, so that the terminal device that only supports the old protocol version cannot report the access network ID, while the terminal device that supports the latest protocol version in the current network cannot report the ID of the access network. Very few, so the use cases of this scheme are limited.

In the other case above, the core network device uses the longest matching result as the access network identifier, and a matching error may occur in the existing network. Please refer to FIG. 5. FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a cell identifier and an access network identifier disclosed in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 5 , the node numbers at the top of different grayscales are the access network identifiers, and the node numbers at the bottom of different grayscales are the cell identifiers of the cells corresponding to the access network equipment. It can be seen that there are three access network devices, the access network identifier of access network device 1 is 11, the access network identifier of access network device 2 is 1101, and the access network identifier of access network device 3 is 111. The access network device 3 finds a cell 11010 under the access network device 1. At this time, the core network device adopts the longest matching, and the core network device will think that the cell belongs to the access network device 2, which will lead to a matching error.

Therefore, how to accurately determine the access network identity according to the cell identity has become an urgent technical problem to be solved.

It should be understood that the cells corresponding to the access network devices above and below may be understood as cells associated with the access network devices.

Based on the above network architecture, please refer to FIG. 6 , which is a schematic flowchart of a communication method disclosed in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 6, the communication method may include the following steps.

601. The first access network device sends the information of the target cell to the core network device.

The information of the target cell may include the cell identity of the target cell, and may also include the CGI of the target cell. The information of the target cell may also include the TAI or TAC corresponding to the target cell, so that the core network device can determine which core network device the access network device managing the target cell is connected to.

After the first access network device discovers the target cell, it can first determine whether the target cell is a cell managed by the first access network device, or whether the target cell belongs to a cell in the neighbor cell list, when it is determined that the target cell is not the first access network device. When the cell managed by the network device or the target cell does not belong to the cell in the neighbor cell list, if the first access network device needs to interact with the target cell or the second access network, the first access network device can send The core network equipment sends the information of the target cell. The first access network device may be any access network device that establishes a connection with the core network device.

The first access network device may send the information of the target cell to the core network device through a message, and the information of the target cell may be included in the message and sent to the core network device. This message can be an uplink RAN configuration transfer message, a handover required message, an eNB configuration transfer message, or other messages, which are not limited here.

Correspondingly, the core network device receives the information of the target cell from the first access network device.

Before sending the information of the target cell to the core network device, the first access network device may send auxiliary information to the core network device. The auxiliary information may include the identity of the first access network device and the identity information of the cell corresponding to the first access network device. The cell associated with the first access network device may include a cell managed or served by the first access network device, or may include a cell that is not managed by the first access network device and whose cell identifier includes an identifier of the first access network device. The identity information of the cell corresponding to the first access network device may include all cell identities or global cell identities of the cell corresponding to the first access network device, or may include a common value of all cell identities of the cell corresponding to the first access network device. part, may also include a partial cell identity or a global cell identity of the cell corresponding to the first access network device, and a common part of other partial cell identity of the cell corresponding to the first access network device. Optionally, the common part of multiple cell identities in the present invention means that these cell identities all start with the common part, and all cell identities starting with the common part are within these cell identities. Starting with the common part, it can be understood that the leftmost part of the cell identifier is the common part.

For example, assuming that the first access network device is the access network device 3 in FIG. 5 , the cell corresponding to the access network device 3 may be the cell corresponding to the

cell identifiers

11110 and 11111, that is, the cell managed by the access network device 3; It may also be the cells corresponding to the cell identifiers 11100 and 11101 , that is, the cells that are not managed by the access network device 3 and the cell identifiers 11100 and 11101 include the identifier 111 of the access network device 3 . The identification information of the cell corresponding to the access network device 3 may include 11110 and 11111, that is, the cell identification of the cell corresponding to the first access network device, or may include 1111, indicating the cell corresponding to the cell identification of all cells starting with 1111 All belong to the access network device 3, or are managed or served by the access network device 3, that is, the common part of all cell identifiers of the cells corresponding to the access network device.

In the case that the core network device does not know the length of the cell identifier of the cell managed by the first access network device, if the identification information of the cell corresponding to the first access network device only includes the cell of the cell corresponding to the first access network device The common part of the identification, the above-mentioned auxiliary information may also include the length of the cell identification of the cell corresponding to the first access network device, so that the core network device can, according to the common part and length of the cell identification of the cell corresponding to the first access network device, Determine the identity of the cell corresponding to the first access network device (ie, the cell identity or the global cell identity).

Correspondingly, the core network device receives this auxiliary information from the first access network device. Afterwards, the core network device may determine the correspondence between the cell managed by the first access network device and the first access network device according to the auxiliary information. The correspondence between the cell managed by the first access network device and the first access network device may be the correspondence between the identity of the cell managed by the first access network device and the identity of the first access network device.

602. The core network device determines the second access network device according to the information of the target cell and the correspondence between the cell and the access network device.

After receiving the information of the target cell from the first access network device, the core network device may determine the second access network device according to the information of the target cell and the correspondence between the cell and the access network device. The core network device may determine the first identifier, and may also determine the length of the first identifier. The first identifier may be the identifier of the second access network device. The length of the first identifier may be the number of bits occupied by the first identifier. The identifier of the access network device may be the access network identifier of the access network device, or the global wireless access network identifier of the access network device. The target cell is managed by the second access network device. It can be understood that the target cell is a cell managed by the second access network device, and it can also be understood that the second access network device is an access network device that manages the target cell.

The core network device can first receive the auxiliary information, and then can determine the correspondence between the cell and the access network device according to the auxiliary information, so that after receiving the information of the target cell from the first access network device, it can determine the corresponding relationship between the cell and the access network device according to the auxiliary information. The information and the correspondence between the cell and the access network device determine the second access network device. The auxiliary information here is all the auxiliary information reported by the access network device, which may include the auxiliary information in step 601 . Correspondingly, the corresponding relationship here may include the corresponding relationship in step 601 . It should be noted that in the case where the core network supports the access of terminal equipment of multiple PLMNs, the core network equipment maintains the correspondence between the cells of each PLMN and the access network equipment, and the core network equipment receives the information of the target cell. After that, the second access network device is determined according to the PLMN information of the target cell and the cell identity of the target cell. The core network device can also find out which core network device the access network device managing the target cell is connected to according to the TAI or TAC of the target cell, so that the core network device further determines the second access network device.

Multiple access network devices can send multiple pieces of auxiliary information to the core network device. Correspondingly, the core network device may receive multiple pieces of auxiliary information from multiple access network devices. Multiple access network devices are in one-to-one correspondence with multiple pieces of auxiliary information. It can be seen that an access network device can send unique auxiliary information to the core network device. The plurality of access network devices may include a second access network device.

The third access network device may send the first assistance information to the core network device. Correspondingly, the core network device may receive the first assistance information from the third access network device. The third access network device is any access network device among the access network devices that establish a connection with the core network device. It can be seen that all access network devices that establish a connection with the core network device can send auxiliary information to the core network device.

The third access network device may send the first assistance information to the core network device during or after establishing the connection with the core network device. The first auxiliary information may be actively reported by the third access network device, or may be sent to the core network device according to the acquisition request after receiving the acquisition request from the core network device.

The corresponding relationship in this step may be the corresponding relationship between the identity of the access network device and the identity of the cell managed by the access network device. The access network device here can be any access network device that has reported auxiliary information. The correspondence between the identity of the access network device and the identity of the cell managed by the access network device may be as shown in Table 1 or Table 2:

接入网设备的标识ID of the access network device	接入网设备管理的小区的标识The identity of the cell managed by the access network equipment
接入网设备1Access network equipment 1	小区1Cell 1
接入网设备2Access network equipment 2	小区2、小区4、小区5Cell 2, Cell 4, Cell 5
接入网设备3Access network equipment 3	小区6、小区8Cell 6, Cell 8
……	……

Table 1

小区的标识ID of the cell	接入网设备的标识ID of the access network device
小区1Cell 1	接入网设备1Access network equipment 1
小区2Cell 2	接入网设备2Access network equipment 2
小区4Cell 4	接入网设备2Access network equipment 2
……	……

Table 2

As shown in Table 1 or 2, one access network device can manage one or more cells. Correspondingly, the identity of one access network device may correspond to the identity of one cell, or may correspond to the identity of multiple cells. However, the identity of one cell can only correspond to the identity of one access network device.

The auxiliary information in this step may include the identity of the access network device and the identity information of the cell corresponding to the access network device. In one case, the cell corresponding to the access network device may include a cell managed or served by the access network device. In another case, the cell corresponding to the access network device may include a cell that is not managed by the access network device and whose cell ID includes the ID of the access network device, which can be understood as taking the access network ID of the access network device as Beginning with but not belonging to the cell managed or served by the access network equipment. Starting with the access network identifier of an access network device, it can be understood that the leftmost part of the cell identifier is the access network identifier of the access network device.

In one case, the auxiliary information may directly include identification information of a cell corresponding to the access network device. The identification information of the cell corresponding to the access network device may include all cell identifications or CGIs of the cell corresponding to the access network device, may also include the common part of all cell identifications of the cell corresponding to the access network device, and may also include the access network device. Part of the cell identity or CGI of the cell corresponding to the device, and the common part of other partial cell identities. The common part of all or part of the cell identifiers of the cells corresponding to the access network device may be referred to as a sub-node identifier, and may also be referred to as a sub-access network identifier. In the case that the identification information of the cell corresponding to the access network device includes the common part of the cell identification of the cell corresponding to the access network device, information to be sent by the access network device can be reduced, thereby reducing overhead. In this case, the identification information of the cell corresponding to the access network device may be a list.

Alternatively, the auxiliary information may include an indication. The indication information may indicate that the cell identifiers starting with the access network identifier of the access network device all belong to the cells managed or served by the access network device. In this case, the identification information of the cell corresponding to the access network device may be a value.

The cell corresponding to the access network device includes a cell managed by the access network device as an example for description. For example, as shown in FIG. 5 , in one case, the identification information of the cell corresponding to the access network device 1 may be the cell identification list {11000, 11001, 11010, 11100, 11101}, and the cell identification information corresponding to the access network device 2 The identification information of the cell may be the cell identification list {11011}, and the identification information of the cell corresponding to the access network device 3 may be the cell identification list {11110, 11111}. In another case, the identification information of the cell corresponding to the access network device 1 may be {all cell IDs starting with 1100, 11010, all cell IDs starting with 1110}, and the cell corresponding to the access network device 2 The identification information of , may be the cell identification list {11011}, and the identification information of the cell corresponding to the access network device 3 may be the cell identification list {all cell identifications starting with 1111}.

The description is given by taking as an example that the cell corresponding to the access network device includes a cell that is not managed by the access network device and the cell identifier includes the identifier of the access network device. For example, as shown in FIG. 5 , in one case, the identification information of the cell corresponding to the access network device 1 may be the cell identification list {11011, 11110, 11111}, and the identification information of the cell corresponding to the access network device 2 It may be the cell identification list {11010}, and the identification information of the cell corresponding to the access network device 3 may be the cell identification list {11100, 11101}. In another case, the identification information of the cell corresponding to the access network device 1 may be {11011, all cell identifications starting with 1111}, and the identification information of the cell corresponding to the access network device 2 may be the cell identification list { 11010}, the identification information of the cell corresponding to the access network device 3 may be a cell identification list {all cell identifications starting with 1110}.

Different access network devices can determine which method to use to report the identification information of the cells to the core network device according to the list of cells managed or served by themselves. For example, the access network device may decide which method to adopt according to the overhead of various methods.

It can be seen that the auxiliary information reported by the access network device to the core network device is not necessarily a correspondence between the identity of the access network device and the identity of the cell managed by the access network device. Therefore, after receiving the auxiliary information, the core network device can first determine the corresponding relationship according to the auxiliary information, so that the determination efficiency can be improved when the access network device needs to be determined according to the identity of the cell later. In addition, after receiving the auxiliary information, the core network device may directly determine the auxiliary information as a corresponding relationship. In this case, the corresponding relationship may not be the correspondence between the identity of the access network device and the identity of the cell managed by the access network device. relation. Therefore, after the core network device receives the information of the target cell, it first needs to determine the correspondence between the identity of the access network device and the identity of the cell managed by the access network device according to the stored correspondence, and then according to the determined correspondence The information of the relationship and the target cell determines the second access network device.

In one case, when the standards of the access network device and the core network device are different, the access network device and the core network device cannot communicate directly, and it is necessary to use the access network device of the same standard as the core network device. to communicate. Therefore, when the standards of the third access network device and the core network device are different, the third access network device may send the first auxiliary information to the core network device through the fourth access network device. Correspondingly, the core network device may receive the first assistance information from the third access network device through the fourth access network device. Wherein, the fourth access network device and the core network device have the same standard. In another case, when the standards of the access network equipment and the core network equipment are different, the access network equipment and the core network equipment cannot communicate directly, and the information can be sent to the access network equipment that communicates directly with the core network equipment. The access network device generates auxiliary information and sends it to the core network device. For example, the third access network device may send information to the fourth access network device. For example, the information may include the cell identity or global cell identity of the cell managed by the third access network device, or may include the cell identity of the cell that is not managed by the third access network device and whose cell identity includes the identity of the third access network device. Cell identity or global cell identity. After receiving the information from the third access network device, the fourth access network device may generate the first auxiliary information according to the information sent by the third access network device, and send the first auxiliary information to the core network device. Correspondingly, the core network device may receive the first assistance information through the fourth access network device. Wherein, the fourth access network device and the core network device have the same standard. For example, the standard corresponding to the core network device and the fourth access network device is LTE, and the standard corresponding to the third access network device is NR. For another example, the standard corresponding to the core network device and the fourth access network device is NR, and the standard corresponding to the third access network device is LTE. It should be understood that the above examples are only illustrative descriptions of different formats, and do not limit the formats. For example, any of the above-mentioned systems may be 6G.

After the core network device determines the second access network device according to the information of the target cell and the corresponding relationship between the cell and the access network device, it can send the first indication information to the first access network device. It is used to indicate the second access network device; it can also send the first identifier or the length of the first identifier to the first access network device. After receiving the first indication information, the first identifier or the length of the first identifier from the core network device, the first access network device may communicate with the second access network device.

The following application scenario is to obtain information used by the second access network device to establish a control plane interface.

Based on the above network architecture, please refer to FIG. 7 , which is a schematic flowchart of another communication method disclosed by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 7 , the communication method may include the following steps.

701. The access network device sends auxiliary information to the core network device.

The access network device may send auxiliary information to the core network device during or after the connection is established with the core network device. For the detailed description of the auxiliary information, reference may be made to the relevant descriptions in steps 601 to 602 .

The access network device may send auxiliary information to the core network device through a message. This message may include auxiliary information. This message can be a control plane interface setup request message, such as the NG setup request message. This message may also be a control plane interface update message, such as a RAN configuration update message.

Correspondingly, the core network device receives the auxiliary information from the access network device, and then can determine the corresponding relationship between the cell and the access network device according to the auxiliary information, and can store the corresponding relationship so that it can be called later. For a detailed description of the corresponding relationship, reference may be made to the relevant description in step 602 .

702. The first access network device sends the information of the target cell to the core network device.

After the first access network device discovers the target cell, it can first determine whether the target cell is a cell managed by the first access network device, or whether the target cell belongs to a cell in the neighbor cell list, when it is determined that the target cell is not the first access network device. If the first access network device needs to establish a control plane interface with the second access network corresponding to the target cell when the cell managed by the network device or the target cell does not belong to the cell in the neighbor cell list, the first access network device can Send a message to the core network device, the message may include information of the target cell. This message can be used to request information for establishing a control plane interface.

This message may also include the identity of the first access network device and information used by the first access network device to establish the control plane interface. Therefore, the access network device that manages the target cell knows that the control plane interface is to be established with the first access network device, and the information of the first access network device for establishing the control plane interface.

In the case that the message must include the identity of the second access network device, the message may also include the identity of the second access network device. At this time, the message also needs to include an indication information, which can instruct the core network device to ignore the identifier of the second access network device included in the message, which can prevent the core network device from directly determining the identifier as the second access network device. The identification of the device. The identifier of the second access network device here is not the identifier of the real second access network device, but the message must include the identifier of the target access network device due to reasons such as protocols (such as compatibility). An identifier arbitrarily determined by an access network device is used as the identifier of the target access network device.

This message may also include the selected TAI of the first access network device and the selected TAI of the second access network device, thereby facilitating the determination of access network devices between different core networks or different PLMNs.

In order for the second access network device to communicate with the cell managed by the first access network device, the second access network device does not need the core network device to obtain the first access network device according to the identity of the cell managed by the first access network device The second access network device can directly determine that the cell managed by the first access network device is managed by the first access network device, so as to determine the identification of the first access network device. This message may also include Identification information of the cell corresponding to the first access network device. In order for the second access network device to communicate with a cell managed by an adjacent access network device of the first access network device, the second access network device does not need the core network device to The identity of the cell obtains the identity of the adjacent access network device, and the second access network device can directly determine that the cell managed by the adjacent access network device is managed by the adjacent access network device, so as to determine the adjacent access network device. The identification of the access network device, the message may also include the identification of the adjacent access network device of the first access network device and the identification information of the cell corresponding to the adjacent access network device of the first access network device.

This message can be an uplink RAN configuration transfer message or other messages, which are not limited here.

703. The core network device determines the second access network device according to the information of the target cell and the correspondence between the cell and the access network device.

For example, it is assumed that the access network device 3 in FIG. 5 is the first access network device, and the access network device 2 is the second access network device. The core network device may determine the second access network device according to the corresponding relationship determined by the auxiliary information reported by the access network device 1 - the access network device 3 and the information of the target cell.

For other related descriptions of step 703, reference may be made to the description of determining the second access network device in step 602.

704. The core network device sends the first request message to the second access network device.

After determining the second access network device according to the information of the target cell and the correspondence between the cell and the access network device, the core network device may send the first request message to the second access network device. The first request message may be used to request information for establishing a control plane interface.

The first request message may include an identifier of the first access network device and information used by the first access network device to establish a control plane interface. The first request message may further include the identifier of the target cell managed by the second access network device, so that the second access network device can further determine that the request is for the second access network device. The first request message may further include the identifier of the second access network device. The first request message may further include the selection TAI of the first access network device and the selection TAI of the second access network device. The first request message may further include an identifier of a cell managed by the first access network device. The first request message may be a downlink RAN configuration update message, or may be other messages, which are not limited here.

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

705. The second access network device sends a first response message to the core network device.

After receiving the first request message from the core network device, the second access network device may determine the information used by the second access network device to establish the control plane interface according to the first request message, and then may send the first request message to the core network device. response message. The first response message may include information used by the second access network device to establish the control plane interface.

In order for the first access network device to communicate with the cell managed by the second access network device, the first access network device does not need the core network device to obtain the second access network device according to the identity of the cell managed by the second access network device The first access network device can directly determine that the cell managed by the second access network device is managed by the second access network device, so as to determine the identity of the second access network device. This message may also include Identification information of the cell corresponding to the second access network device. In order for the first access network device to communicate with a cell managed by an adjacent access network device of the second access network device, the first access network device does not need the core network device to The identity of the cell obtains the identity of the adjacent access network device, and the first access network device can directly determine that the cell managed by the adjacent access network device is managed by the adjacent access network device, so as to determine the adjacent access network device. The identity of the access network device, this message may also include the identity of the adjacent access network device of the second access network device and the identity information of the cell corresponding to the adjacent access network device of the second access network device.

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

706. The core network device sends a second response message to the first access network device.

After receiving the first response message from the second access network device, the core network device may send the second response message to the first access network device. The second response message may include information used by the second access network device to establish the control plane interface. The second response message may further include the identification information of the cell corresponding to the second access network device, the identification of the adjacent access network device of the second access network device, and the cell corresponding to the adjacent access network device of the second access network device identification information.

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

707. The first access network device establishes a control plane interface with the second access network device according to the information used by the second access network device to establish the control plane interface.

After receiving the second response message from the core network device, the first access network device may establish a control plane interface with the second access network device according to the information used by the second access network device to establish the control plane interface. The process of establishing a control plane interface between the first access network device and the second access network device may pass through the core network device, or may not pass through the core network device.

The control plane interface may be an Xn interface or an X2 interface. For example, when the control plane interface is an Xn interface, the first access network device may send an Xn establishment request message to the second access network device, where the message may include the identifier of the first access network device and the first access network device. The identity of the cell managed by the network device. After receiving the Xn establishment request message from the first access network device, the second access network device may send an Xn establishment response message to the first access network device, where the message may include the identifier of the second access network device and the first access network device. 2. The identifier of the cell managed by the access network device.

The Xn establishment request message may not only include the identity of the first access network device, the identity of the cell managed by the first access network device, and the identity of the adjacent cells of each cell, but also the corresponding access to the adjacent cells of each cell. The identity of the network device (called the adjacent access network device) or the length of the identity of the adjacent access network device. For example, it may include the identity of the access network device corresponding to each adjacent cell or the length of the identity of the adjacent access network device, or the identity of the adjacent access network device of its own access network device or the identity of the adjacent access network device. The length of the identity of the access network device, and the identity information of the cell corresponding to the adjacent access network device. Therefore, the two access network devices can obtain the identity of the access network device corresponding to the adjacent cell of the opposite end or the length of the identity of the access network device, so that the above process does not need to be used for the adjacent cell of the opposite end next time, and can directly The identity of the access network device corresponding to the adjacent cell is obtained according to the identity of the adjacent cell.

It should be understood that in the case where the first request message in step 704 includes the identifier of the first access network device, the second access network device may also directly send the first access network device to the first access network device without going through the core network device. response message.

It should be understood that under the condition that the auxiliary information corresponding to the access network device remains unchanged, the access network device only needs to report the auxiliary information to the core network device once.

The following application scenario is that the terminal device is handed over to the target cell.

Based on the above network architecture, please refer to FIG. 8 , which is a schematic flowchart of another communication method disclosed by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 8 , the communication method may include the following steps.

801. The access network device sends auxiliary information to the core network device.

The detailed description of step 801 may refer to the description of step 701 .

802. The first access network device sends the information of the target cell to the core network device.

After the first access network device discovers the target cell or the first access network device determines that the terminal device needs to be switched to the target cell, it can first determine whether the target cell is a cell managed by the first access network device, or whether the target cell belongs to a neighboring cell For the cells in the list, when it is determined that the target cell is not a cell managed by the first access network device, or the target cell does not belong to a cell in the neighbor cell list, if the first access network device needs to switch the terminal device to the cell corresponding to the target cell. The second access network device, the first access network device may send a message to the core network device, and the message may include information of the target cell. This message can be used to request the terminal device to handover to the target cell.

In addition, the message may further include first configuration information, and the first configuration information may be resource information configured by the first access network device for the terminal device. The resource information may be RRC resource configuration or other resource configuration, which is not limited here.

The message may also include identification information of the cell corresponding to the first access network device. This message may also include the identity of the second access network device. At this time, the message also needs to include an indication information, which can instruct the core network device to ignore the identifier of the second access network device included in the message, which can prevent the core network device from directly determining the identifier as the second access network device. The identification of the device. The identifier of the second access network device here is not the identifier of the real second access network device, but the message must include the identifier of the target access network device due to reasons such as protocols (such as compatibility). An identifier arbitrarily determined by an access network device is used as the identifier of the target access network device. This message may be a handover required (handover required) message, or may be other messages, which are not limited here.

The message may also include identification information of cells corresponding to the adjacent access network devices of the first access network device.

803. The core network device determines the second access network device according to the information of the target cell and the correspondence between the cell and the access network device.

For other related descriptions of step 803, reference may be made to the description of determining the second access network device in step 602.

804. The core network device sends a second request message to the second access network device.

After determining the second access network device according to the information of the target cell and the correspondence between the cell and the access network device, the core network device may send a second request message to the second access network device. The second request message is used to request the terminal device to switch to the target cell. The second request message may include information of the target cell. The second request message may also include the first configuration information. The second request message may further include the identity of the cell managed by the first access network device. The second request message may be a handover requirement message, or may be other messages, which are not limited herein.

Correspondingly, the target access network device receives the second request message from the core network device.

805. The second access network device sends a third response message to the core network device.

After receiving the second request message from the core network device, the second access network device may configure second configuration information for the terminal device according to the second request message, and then may send a third response message to the core network device. The third response message may include second configuration information, where the second configuration information is configuration information configured by the second access network device for the terminal device. The third response message may further include identification information of the cell corresponding to the second access network device. The third response message may further include identification information of cells corresponding to the adjacent access network devices of the second access network device. The third response message may be a handover request acknowledgement (handover request acknowledge) message, or may be other messages, which are not limited herein.

Correspondingly, the core network device receives the third response message from the second access network device.

806. The core network device sends a fourth response message to the first access network device.

After receiving the third response message from the second access network device, the core network device may send a fourth response message to the first access network device. The fourth response message may include second configuration information. The fourth response message may further include the identification of the second access network device. The fourth response message may further include identification information of the cell corresponding to the second access network device. The fourth response message may further include identification information of cells corresponding to the adjacent access network devices of the second access network device.

Correspondingly, the first access network device receives the fourth response message from the core network device. Afterwards, the first access network device can send the second configuration information to the terminal device, so that the terminal device can switch to the target cell according to the second configuration information.

It should be understood that in the case where the second request message in step 804 includes the identifier of the first access network device, the second access network device may also directly send the third access network device to the first access network device without going through the core network device. response message.

The following application scenario is that the first access network device first obtains the information of the second access network device from the core network device, and then obtains the information used by the second access network device to establish the control plane interface or the terminal device switches to the target cell.

Based on the above network architecture, please refer to FIG. 9 , which is a schematic flowchart of another communication method disclosed by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 9 , the communication method may include the following steps.

901. The access network device sends auxiliary information to the core network device.

The detailed description of step 901 may refer to the description of step 701 .

902. The first access network device sends the information of the target cell to the core network device.

After the first access network device discovers the target cell or the first access network device determines that the terminal device needs to be switched to the target cell, it can first determine whether the target cell is a cell managed by the first access network device, or whether the target cell belongs to a neighboring cell For cells in the list, when it is determined that the target cell is not a cell managed by the first access network device, or the target cell does not belong to a cell in the neighbor cell list, if the first access network device needs a second access network corresponding to the target cell After accessing the network and establishing a control plane interface, the first access network device may send a message to the core network device, and the message may include information of the target cell. This message is used to request information of the second access network device. The information of the second access network device may be the identifier of the second access network device, or may be the length of the identifier of the second access network device.

903. The core network device determines the second access network device according to the information of the target cell and the correspondence between the cell and the access network device.

For other related descriptions of step 903, reference may be made to the description of determining the second access network device in step 602.

904. The core network device indicates the first identifier or the length of the first identifier to the first access network device.

After determining the second access network device according to the information of the target cell and the correspondence between the cell and the access network device, the core network device may indicate or send the first identifier or the length of the first identifier to the core network device. For a detailed description of the first identifier, reference may be made to the relevant description in step 602 .

The core network device may send or indicate the first identifier or the length of the first identifier to the first access network device through a message. In one case, this message may include the first identification or the length of the first identification. In another case, this message may include indication information, which may be used to indicate the first identification or the length of the first identification. This message may also include the identification information of the cell corresponding to the second access network device, so that when the first access network device needs to communicate with the cell managed by the second access network device, it is not necessary to perform the above process, and can be directly informed The target cell is managed by the second access network device. Which mode the core network devices use can be determined according to the overhead they use.

Correspondingly, the first access network device receives the first identifier or the length of the first identifier from the core network device.

905. The first access network device acquires information used by the second access network device to establish a control plane interface from the second access network device, or initiates a process of switching the terminal device to the target cell.

After the first access network device receives the first identifier or the length of the first identifier from the core network device, or after determining the first identifier or the length of the first identifier according to the indication information, it can access the device from the second access network according to the first identifier. The network device acquires the information used by the second access network device to establish the control plane interface, and may also initiate a process of switching the terminal device to the target cell. The process for the first access network device to obtain the information used by the second access network device to establish the control plane interface from the second access network device may be as shown in FIG. The network access device acquires, and then can establish a control plane interface with the second access network device according to the information used by the second access network device to establish the control plane interface. For example, the first access network device may send a message for acquiring information used by the second access network device to establish a control plane interface to the second access network device; the second access network device receives information from the first access network device. After this message of the network device, the information used by the second access network device to establish the control plane interface may be sent to the first access network device.

The process for the first access network device to initiate handover of the terminal device to the target cell according to the first identifier may be as shown in FIG. 4 , or may be directly handed over without going through the core network device.

When the first access network device receives the length of the first identifier from the core network device, the first access network device may first determine the first identifier according to the length of the first identifier and the information of the target cell. The first access network device may determine the first identifier according to the length of the first identifier and the cell identifier of the target cell. The first access network device may determine the information of the length of the first first identifier that is in front of the cell identifier of the target cell as the first identifier.

It should be understood that in the case where the auxiliary information corresponding to the access network device remains unchanged, the access network device only needs to report the auxiliary information to the core network device once.

The following application scenarios are EN-DC scenarios.

Based on the above network architecture, please refer to FIG. 10 , which is a schematic flowchart of another communication method disclosed by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 10, the communication method may include the following steps.

The standard corresponding to the first access network device, the core network device, and the fourth access network device is the first standard, and the standard corresponding to the second access network device is the second standard.

1001. A second access network device establishes an EN-DC interface with a fourth access network device.

The detailed description of step 1001 may refer to the relevant description corresponding to FIG. 4 .

After the fourth access network device establishes the EN-DC interface with the second access network device, notification information may be sent to the core network device, and the notification information may be used to notify the core network device of the second access network device and the fourth access network device. The network equipment has established an EN-DC interface.

1002. The access network device sends auxiliary information to the core network device.

In the case that the standards of the access network device and the core network device are the same, the access network device may directly send auxiliary information to the core network device. For example, the first access network device and the fourth access network device may directly send auxiliary information to the core network device. Correspondingly, the core network device may directly receive the corresponding auxiliary information sent from the first access network device and the fourth access network device.

In one case, when the standards of the access network equipment and the core network equipment are different, the access network equipment and the core network equipment cannot communicate directly, and the access network equipment that can directly communicate with the core network equipment can be used. Send auxiliary information to core network equipment. For example, when the second access network device needs to send auxiliary information to the core network device, the second access network device may send the auxiliary information to the core network device through the fourth access network device, that is, the second access network device may first send the auxiliary information to the core network device. The auxiliary information is sent to the fourth access network device, and after receiving the auxiliary information, the fourth access network device may send the auxiliary information to the core network device. Correspondingly, the core network device may receive the auxiliary information from the second access network device through the fourth access network device. In another case, when the standards of the access network equipment and the core network equipment are different, the access network equipment and the core network equipment cannot communicate directly, and the information can be sent to the access network equipment that communicates directly with the core network equipment. The access network device generates auxiliary information and sends it to the core network device. For example, the second access network device may send information to the fourth access network device. For example, the information may include the cell identity or global cell identity of the cell managed by the second access network device, or may include the cell identity of the cell that is not managed by the second access network device and whose cell identity includes the identity of the second access network device. Cell identity or global cell identity. After receiving the information from the second access network device, the fourth access network device can generate the first auxiliary information according to the information sent by the second access network device, and then can send the first auxiliary information to the core network device. Correspondingly, the core network device may receive the first assistance information through the fourth access network device.

For the detailed description of the auxiliary information, reference may be made to the relevant descriptions in steps 601 to 602 .

1003. The first access network device sends the information of the target cell to the core network device.

After the first access network device discovers the target cell, it can first determine whether the target cell is a cell managed by the first access network device, or whether the target cell belongs to a cell in the neighbor cell list, when it is determined that the target cell is not the first access network device. If the first access network device needs to establish a control plane interface with the second access network corresponding to the target cell when the cell managed by the network device or the target cell does not belong to the cell in the neighbor cell list, the first access network device can Send a message to the core network device, the message may include the information of the target cell. This message can be used to request information for establishing a control plane interface.

This message may also include the identity of the first access network device and information used by the first access network device to establish the control plane interface. In the case that the message must include the identity of the second access network device, the message may also include the identity of the second access network device. At this time, the message also needs to include an indication information, which can instruct the core network device to ignore the identifier of the second access network device included in the message, which can prevent the core network device from directly determining the identifier as the second access network device. The identification of the device. This message may also include the selected TAI of the first access network device and the selected TAI of the second access network device. This message may also include the identity of the cell managed by the first access network device.

This message can be the eNB configuration transfer message or other messages, which are not limited here.

1004. The core network device determines the second access network device according to the information of the target cell and the correspondence between the cell and the access network device.

For other related descriptions of step 1004, reference may be made to the description of determining the second access network device in step 602.

1005. The core network device sends a third request message to the fourth access network device.

After the core network device determines the second access network device according to the information of the target cell and the corresponding relationship between the cell and the access network device, it can determine the second access network device and the fourth access network device according to the above notification information The EN-DC interface is established. Afterwards, the core network device may send a third request message to the fourth access network device, where the third request message may be used to request information for establishing a control plane interface. The third request message may include an identifier of the first access network device and information used by the first access network device to establish a control plane interface. The third request message may further include the identification of the second access network device. The third request message may further include the selection TAI of the first access network device and the selection TAI of the second access network device. The third request message may further include the identity of the cell managed by the first access network device. The third request message may be an MME configuration transfer message, or may be other messages, which are not limited here.

Correspondingly, the fourth access network device receives the third request message from the core network device.

1006. The fourth access network device sends a fourth request message to the second access network device.

After receiving the third request message from the core network device, the fourth access network device sends a fourth request message to the second access network device, where the fourth request message is used to request information for establishing a control plane interface. The fourth request message may include an identifier of the first access network device and information used by the first access network device to establish a control plane interface. The fourth request message may further include the identifier of the second access network device. The fourth request message may further include the selection TAI of the first access network device and the selection TAI of the second access network device. The fourth request message may be an EN-DC configuration transfer message, or may be other messages, which are not limited here.

Correspondingly, the second access network device receives the fourth request message from the fourth access network device.

1007. The second access network device sends a fifth response message to the fourth access network device.

After receiving the fourth request message from the fourth access network device, the second access network device can determine the information used by the second access network device to establish the control plane interface according to the fourth request message, and then can send the fourth request message to the fourth access network device. The network access device sends a fifth response message. The fifth response message may include information used by the second access network device to establish the control plane interface. The fifth response message may further include the identity of the first access network device and the identity of the second access network device. The fifth response message may be an EN-DC configuration transfer message, or may be other messages, which are not limited here.

Correspondingly, the fourth access network device receives the fifth response message from the second access network device.

1008. The fourth access network device sends a sixth response message to the core network device.

After receiving the fifth response message from the second access network device, the fourth access network device may send the sixth response message to the core network device. The sixth response message may include information used by the second access network device to establish the control plane interface. The sixth response message may further include the identity of the first access network device and the identity of the second access network device. The sixth response message may be the eNB configuration transfer message, or may be other messages, which are not limited here.

Correspondingly, the core network device receives the sixth response message from the fourth access network device.

1009. The core network device sends a seventh response message to the first access network device.

After receiving the sixth response message from the fourth access network device, the core network device may send the seventh response message to the first access network device. The seventh response message may include information used by the second access network device to establish the control plane interface. The seventh response message may further include the identity of the first access network device and the identity of the second access network device. The seventh response message may be the MME configuration transfer message, or may be other messages, which are not limited here.

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

1010. The first access network device establishes a control plane interface with the second access network device according to the information used by the second access network device to establish the control plane interface.

After receiving the seventh response message from the core network device, the first access network device may establish a control plane interface with the second access network device according to the information used by the second access network device to establish the control plane interface. The detailed description can refer to step 707.

It should be understood that in the case where the fourth request message in step 1006 includes the identifier of the first access network device, the second access network device may also directly send the fifth access network device to the first access network device without going through the core network device. response message.

It should be understood that the message in step 1003 can also be used to request the terminal device to switch to the target cell, and for a detailed description, refer to the corresponding description in FIG. 8 .

It should be understood that the message in step 1003 can also be used to request the information of the second access network device. After step 1004 is performed, the core network device can send or indicate the first identifier or the first identifier to the first access network device. length. For a detailed description, refer to the corresponding description in FIG. 9 .

Based on the above network architecture, please refer to FIG. 11 , which is a schematic flowchart of another communication method disclosed by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 11 , the communication method may include the following steps.

1101. The first access network device sends the information of the target cell to the core network device.

After the first access network device discovers the target cell or the first access network device determines that the terminal device needs to be switched to the target cell, it can first determine whether the target cell is a cell managed by the first access network device, or whether the target cell belongs to a neighboring cell For a cell in the list, when it is determined that the target cell is not a cell managed by the first access network device, or the target cell does not belong to a cell in the neighbor cell list, if the first access network device has service requirements, it needs to communicate with the target cell or the first access network device. When the two access networks interact, the first access network device may send the information of the target cell to the core network device.

The first access network device may send a message to the core network device, and the message may include information of the target cell. This message may be used to request information for the second access network device. For other related descriptions, refer to step 601 .

1102. The core network device sends second indication information to the first access network device.

After receiving the information of the target cell from the first access network device, the core network device may determine one or more candidate access network devices according to the information of the target cell and the stored identifier of the access network device. The core network device can determine whether the cell identifier of the target cell includes the second identifier, and when it is determined that the cell identifier of the target cell includes the second identifier, it can determine the access network device corresponding to the second identifier as a candidate access network device. The second identifier is the identifier of any access network device among the identifiers of the access network device stored by the core network device. Afterwards, the core network device may send second indication information to the first access network device, where the second indication information may indicate information of one or more candidate access network devices. For a detailed description of the information of the access network device, reference may be made to step 602 .

The identity of the access network device may be reported to the core network device during or after the access network device establishes a connection with the core network.

Correspondingly, the first access network device receives the second indication information from the core network device.

1103. The first access network device sends a first message including the information of the target cell to one or more candidate access network devices.

After receiving the second indication information from the core network device, the first access network device may send a first message including information about the target cell to one or more candidate access network devices, that is, to one or more candidate access network devices. The network devices respectively send the first message, that is, send a first message to each candidate access network device. The first message is used to determine the second access network device. The first message may include information of the target cell. The first access network device may directly send the first message to the candidate access network device, that is, without going through the core network device; or may send the first message to the candidate access network device through the core network device, that is, the first message may be sent to the candidate access network device. The message is first sent to the core network device, and after receiving the first message, the core network device may send the first message to the candidate access network device.

Accordingly, the one or more candidate access network devices receive the first message from the first access network device.

After receiving the first message from the first access network device, one or more candidate access network devices may send one or more response information to the first access network device. After the first access network device receives one or more response information from one or more candidate access network devices, it may determine the second access network device according to the one or more response information.

In one case, after receiving the first message from the first access network device, the first candidate access network device may send the first response information to the first access network device. The first candidate access network device can determine whether the target cell is a cell managed by the first candidate access network device according to the information of the target cell, and when it is determined that the target cell is a cell managed by the first candidate access network device, the first response The information is used to indicate that the target cell is a cell managed by the first candidate access network device. When it is determined that the target cell is not a cell managed by the first candidate access network device, the first response information is used to indicate that the target cell is not a cell managed by the first candidate access network device. The first candidate access network device is any candidate access network device among one or more candidate access network devices. The first response information is response information corresponding to the first candidate access network device, and may also be understood as response information sent by the first candidate access network device to the first access network device.

After the first access network device receives one or more response information from one or more candidate access network devices, it can determine whether there is second response information in the one or more response information to indicate that the target cell is the second response information. For a cell managed by the candidate access network device, when it is determined that the second response information is used to indicate that the target cell is a cell managed by the second candidate access network device, the second candidate access network device may be determined to be the second access network equipment. The second response information is one of the one or more response information, and the second candidate access network device is a candidate access network device corresponding to the second response information.

In another case, after receiving the first message from the first access network device, the second candidate access network device may first determine whether the target cell is a cell managed by the second candidate access network device according to the information of the target cell , when it is determined that the target cell is a cell managed by the second candidate access network device, second response information may be sent to the first access network device, where the second response information is used to indicate that the target cell is the second candidate access network device managed area. When it is determined that the target cell is not a cell managed by the second candidate access network device, the second candidate access network device does not send response information to the first access network device.

After receiving the second response information from the second candidate access network device, the first access network device may determine that the second candidate access network device is the second access network device.

Based on the above network architecture, please refer to FIG. 12 , which is a schematic flowchart of another communication method disclosed by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 12, the communication method may include the following steps.

1201. The access network device sends the identification of the access network device to the core network device.

In the process of establishing a connection with the core network device or after the connection is established, the access network device may send the identity of the access network device to the core network device. The identification of the access network device may be actively sent by the access network device to the core network device, or may be sent to the core network device after receiving a request from the core network device.

1202. The first access network device sends the information of the target cell to the core network device.

The detailed description of step 1202 may refer to step 1101.

1203. The core network device sends second indication information to the first access network device.

The detailed description of step 1203 may refer to step 1102.

1204. The first access network device sends a first message including information of the target cell to one or more candidate access network devices.

The first message may be used for requesting information for establishing a control plane interface, and may also be used for a process of requesting the terminal device to switch to the target cell, and may also be used for other purposes, which are not limited herein.

The detailed description of step 1204 may refer to step 1103.

1205. One or more candidate access network devices send one or more response information to the first access network device.

In the case that the first message is used for requesting information for establishing a control plane interface, the second response information may include information used by the second access network device for establishing a control plane interface. When the first message is used to request the terminal device to switch to the target cell, the second response information may include configuration information configured by the second access network device for the terminal device. For other related descriptions, please refer to the related content below step 1103 .

It should be understood that in the case where the identity of the access network device remains unchanged, the access network device only needs to report the identity to the core network device once.

Based on the above network architecture, please refer to FIG. 13 , which is a schematic flowchart of another communication method disclosed by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 13 , the communication method may include the following steps.

1301. The first access network device sends information of the target cell to the core network device.

The first access network device may send a message to the core network device, and the message may include information of the target cell. This message may be used to request information for establishing a control plane interface, may also be used to request the process of handover of the terminal device to the target cell, and may also be used for other purposes, which are not limited herein. For other related descriptions, refer to step 601 .

1302. The core network device sends a second message to one or more candidate access network devices.

After receiving the information of the target cell from the first access network device, the core network device may determine one or more candidate access network devices according to the information of the target cell and the stored identifier of the access network device. The core network device can determine whether the cell identifier of the target cell includes the second identifier, and when it is determined that the cell identifier of the target cell includes the second identifier, it can determine the access network device corresponding to the second identifier as a candidate access network device. The second identifier is the identifier of any access network device among the identifiers of the access network device stored by the core network device. The core network device may then send the second message to one or more candidate access network devices. For a detailed description of the information of the access network device, reference may be made to step 602 . The second message is used to determine the second access network device.

Accordingly, the one or more candidate access network devices receive the second message from the core network device.

After receiving the second message from the core network device, one or more candidate access network devices may send one or more response messages to the core network device. After the core network device receives one or more response information from the one or more candidate access network devices, it may determine the second access network device according to the one or more response information.

In one case, after receiving the second message from the core network device, the first candidate access network device may send the first response information to the core network device. The first candidate access network device can determine whether the target cell is a cell managed by the first candidate access network device according to the information of the target cell, and when it is determined that the target cell is a cell managed by the first candidate access network device, the first response The information is used to indicate that the target cell is a cell managed by the first candidate access network device. When it is determined that the target cell is not a cell managed by the first candidate access network device, the first response information is used to indicate that the target cell is not a cell managed by the first candidate access network device. The first candidate access network device is any candidate access network device among one or more candidate access network devices. The first response information is response information corresponding to the first candidate access network device.

After the core network device receives one or more response information from one or more candidate access network devices, it can determine whether there is second response information in the one or more response information to indicate that the target cell is the second candidate for access The cell managed by the network device may determine that the second candidate access network device is the second access network device when it is determined that there is second response information for indicating that the target cell is a cell managed by the second candidate access network device. The second response information is one of the one or more response information, and the second candidate access network device is a candidate access network device corresponding to the second response information.

In another case, after receiving the second message from the core network device, the second candidate access network device may first determine whether the target cell is a cell managed by the second candidate access network device according to the information of the target cell, and when determining whether the target cell is a cell managed by the second candidate access network device When it is determined that the target cell is a cell managed by the second candidate access network device, second response information may be sent to the core network device, where the second response information is used to indicate that the target cell is a cell managed by the second candidate access network device. When it is determined that the target cell is not a cell managed by the second candidate access network device, the second candidate access network device does not send response information to the core network device.

After receiving the second response information from the second candidate access network device, the core network device may determine that the second candidate access network device is the second access network device.

Afterwards, the core network device may send the identifier of the second access network device to the first access network device.

Based on the above network architecture, please refer to FIG. 14 , which is a schematic flowchart of another communication method disclosed by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 14 , the communication method may include the following steps.

1401. The access network device sends the identification of the access network device to the core network device.

The detailed description of step 1401 may refer to step 1201 .

1402. The first access network device sends the information of the target cell to the core network device.

The detailed description of step 1402 may refer to step 1202.

1403. The core network device sends a second message to one or more candidate access network devices.

The detailed description of step 1403 may refer to step 1302.

1404. The one or more candidate access network devices send one or more response information to the core network device.

The detailed description of step 1404 may refer to the related content below step 1302.

1405. The core network device sends the identifier of the second access network device to the first access network device.

The second message may be used for requesting information for establishing a control plane interface, and may also be used for requesting the process of switching the terminal device to the target cell, and may also be used for other purposes, which are not limited herein.

It should be understood that in the case where the second message is used for requesting information for establishing a control plane interface, the second response information may include information used by the second access network device for establishing a control plane interface. When the second message is used to request the terminal device to switch to the target cell, the second response information may include configuration information configured by the second access network device for the terminal device. For other related descriptions, please refer to the related content below step 1302 .

Based on the above network architecture, please refer to FIG. 15 , which is a schematic flowchart of another communication method disclosed by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 15 , the communication method may include the following steps.

1501. The first access network device sends the information of the target cell to the core network device.

The detailed description of step 1501 may refer to step 601 .

1502. The core network device sends the information of the target cell to the second access network device.

The core network device may receive auxiliary information first. Multiple access network devices can send multiple pieces of auxiliary information to the core network device. Correspondingly, the core network device may receive multiple pieces of auxiliary information from multiple access network devices. Multiple access network devices are in one-to-one correspondence with multiple auxiliary information. It can be seen that one access network device can send one unique auxiliary information to the core network device. The plurality of access network devices may include a second access network device.

The fourth access network device may send the second auxiliary information to the core network device. Correspondingly, the core network device may receive the second assistance information from the fourth access network device. The fourth access network device is any access network device among the access network devices that establish a connection with the core network device. It can be seen that all access network devices that establish a connection with the core network device can send auxiliary information to the core network device.

The auxiliary information may include the identity of the access network device. After receiving the auxiliary information, the core network device may group the auxiliary information according to the identification of the access network device included in the auxiliary information. The auxiliary information for which the identifiers of the access network devices are associated (ie, overlapping) may be divided into a group of auxiliary information. The identification of the access network device is associated or overlapped may be understood as the association or overlap of the leftmost part of the identification of the access network device. For example, as shown in FIG. 5 , the identifier of the access network device 1 is 11, the identifier of the access network device 2 is 1101, and the identifier of the access network device 3 is 1111. It can be seen that the identities of the access network device 1 and the access network device 3 overlap, that is, the leftmost parts of their identities overlap. Since the identifier of access network device 1 is the leftmost part of the identifiers of access network device 2 and access network device 3, it can be considered that access network device 1 and access network device 2 completely overlap, and access network device 1 It completely overlaps with the access network equipment 3. Access network device 2 and access network device 3 do not completely overlap.

Afterwards, the core network device may send first auxiliary information to the second access network device, where the first auxiliary information is auxiliary information in which the identification of the access network device in the auxiliary information is associated with the identification of the second access network device. The first auxiliary information is auxiliary information other than the auxiliary information corresponding to the second access network device in a group of auxiliary information corresponding to the second access network device. The first auxiliary information may include one or more auxiliary information. The second access network device may be the access network device with the longest identifier of the access network device among the access network devices corresponding to the first group of auxiliary information, or may be the access network device corresponding to the first group of auxiliary information The access network device with the shortest identifier of the access network device among the access network devices may also be any access network device among the access network devices corresponding to the first group of auxiliary information. The first group of auxiliary information is a group of auxiliary information corresponding to the second access network device.

After receiving the first auxiliary information from the core network device, the second access network device may determine the correspondence between the cell and the access network device according to the first auxiliary information, and store the correspondence. The correspondence here may be the correspondence between the identity of the access network device and the identity of the cell managed by the access network device. The third auxiliary information may include the identity of the fifth access network device and the identity information of the cell corresponding to the fifth access network device. The cell corresponding to the fifth access network device may include a cell managed by the fifth access network device, or may include a cell that is not managed by the fifth access network device and whose cell identifier includes an identifier of the fifth access network device. The third auxiliary information is any auxiliary information in the first auxiliary information, and the fifth access network device is an access network device corresponding to the third auxiliary information. For a detailed description, refer to step 602 .

After receiving the information of the target cell from the first access network device, the core network device may determine the second access network device according to the information of the target cell and the stored identifier of the access network device. The identity of the second access network device is associated with the identity of the target cell. Afterwards, the core network device may send the information of the target cell to the second access network device. The core network device may send the information of the target cell to the second access network device through a message. The second message may include information of the target cell.

Correspondingly, the second access network device receives the information of the target cell from the core network device.

1503. The second access network device determines a third access network device according to the information of the target cell and the correspondence between the cell and the access network device.

The target cell is a cell managed by the third access network device. For a detailed description, refer to step 602 .

1504. The second access network device sends the identity of the third access network device to the core network device.

After determining the third access network device according to the information of the target cell and the correspondence between the cell and the access network device, the second access network device may send the identity of the third access network device to the core network device. Correspondingly, the core network device receives the identification of the third access network device from the second access network device. Afterwards, the core network device may send the identifier of the third access network device to the first access network device.

After receiving the identifier of the third access network device from the core network device, the first access network device may communicate with the third access network device.

Based on the above network architecture, please refer to FIG. 16 , which is a schematic flowchart of another communication method disclosed by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 16, the communication method may include the following steps.

1601. The access network device sends auxiliary information to the core network device.

The detailed description of step 1601 may refer to the related description below step 1502.

1602. The core network device sends the first auxiliary information to the second access network device.

The detailed description of step 1602 may refer to the related description below step 1502.

Correspondingly, the second access network device receives the first assistance information from the core network device.

1603. The first access network device sends the information of the target cell to the core network device.

The detailed description of step 1603 may refer to the description of step 1501.

1604. The core network device sends the information of the target cell to the second access network device.

The detailed description of step 1604 may refer to the description of step 1502.

1605. The second access network device determines the third access network device according to the information of the target cell and the correspondence between the cell and the access network device.

The detailed description of step 1605 may refer to the description of step 1503 .

1606. The second access network device sends the identity of the third access network device to the core network device.

The detailed description of step 1606 may refer to the description of step 1504.

1607. The core network device sends a fifth request message to the third access network device.

The message in step 1603 is used to request information for establishing the control plane interface. The fifth request message is also used to request information for establishing the control plane interface.

1608. The third access network device sends an eighth response message to the core network device.

The eighth response message may include information used by the third access network device to establish the control plane interface.

1609. The core network device sends a ninth response message to the first access network device.

The ninth response message may include information used by the third access network device to establish the control plane interface.

1610. The first access network device establishes a control plane interface with the third access network device.

The message in step 1603 can also be used to request the terminal equipment to switch to the target cell.

The detailed description of steps 1601 to 1610 may refer to the above-mentioned related descriptions.

It should be understood that in the case where the auxiliary information corresponding to the access network device remains unchanged, the access network device only needs to report the auxiliary information to the core network device once. Under the condition that the associated rules and the access network device establishing the connection with the core network device remain unchanged, the core network device only needs to send the first auxiliary information to the second access network device once.

It should be understood that when the fifth request message includes the identifier of the first access network device, the third access network device may also directly send the eighth response message to the first access network device, that is, without going through the core network device.

It should be understood that, when the core network device receives the identifier of the third access network device from the second access network device, it can also send the identifier of the third access network device to the first access network device. After the first access network device receives the identifier from the third access network device, it can be used to request the third access network device to request information for establishing a control plane interface, so as to establish a connection with the third access network device. Control plane interface; can also be used to initiate the process of switching the terminal equipment to the target cell.

It should be understood that the functions performed by the core network equipment in the above communication method may also be performed by modules (for example, chips) in the core network equipment, and the functions performed by the access network equipment (for example, the first access network equipment, the second access network equipment The functions performed by the device, the third access network device, etc.) may also be performed by a module (eg, a chip) in the access network device.

It should be understood that the above message includes information, and it may also be understood that the message carries information.

It should be understood that the same or related information in the above-mentioned different embodiments may refer to each other.

Based on the above network architecture, please refer to FIG. 17 , which is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device disclosed in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 17 , the communication apparatus may include a receiving unit 1701 , a determining unit 1702 and a sending unit 1703 .

In one case, the communication apparatus may be core network equipment, or may be a module in the core network equipment. in:

a receiving unit 1701, configured to receive information from a target cell of a first access network device;

The determining unit 1702 is configured to determine the second access network device according to the information of the target cell and the correspondence between the cell and the access network device, and the target cell is managed by the second access network device.

In one embodiment, the receiving unit 1701 is further configured to receive auxiliary information, where the auxiliary information is used to determine the above-mentioned corresponding relationship.

In one embodiment, receiving the auxiliary information by the receiving unit 1701 includes:

Multiple pieces of auxiliary information from multiple access network devices are received, the multiple access network devices are in one-to-one correspondence with the multiple pieces of auxiliary information, and the multiple access network devices include a second access network device.

In one embodiment, the receiving unit 1701 receives multiple pieces of auxiliary information from multiple access network devices including:

In one embodiment, the above-mentioned corresponding relationship is a corresponding relationship between the identity of the access network device and the identity of the cell managed by the access network device.

In an embodiment, the above-mentioned auxiliary information includes the identity of the access network device and the identity information of the cell associated with the access network device.

In an embodiment, the cell associated with the access network device includes a cell managed by the access network device, or,

The cells associated with the access network equipment include cells that are not managed by the access network equipment and whose cell identifiers include the identifiers of the access network equipment.

In one embodiment, the receiving unit 1701 receiving the first assistance information from the third access network device includes:

In one embodiment, the determining unit 1702 is specifically configured to determine the first identifier or the length of the first identifier, where the first identifier is the identifier of the second access network device.

In one embodiment, the sending unit 1703 is configured to indicate the first identifier or the length of the first identifier to the first access network device.

In an embodiment, the identification information of the cell associated with the access network device includes at least one of the following:

The cell identity or global cell identity of the cell associated with the access network device;

The common part of the cell identity of the cell to which the access network device is associated.

In one embodiment, the information of the target cell includes a cell identity or a global cell identity of the target cell.

More detailed descriptions of the above receiving unit 1701, determining unit 1702, and transmitting unit 1703 can be obtained directly by referring to the relevant descriptions of the core network equipment in the method embodiments shown in FIG. 6-FIG. 10, and will not be repeated here.

In another case, the communication apparatus may be the second access network device, or may be a module in the second access network device, wherein:

A receiving unit 1701, configured to receive information from a target cell of a core network device;

The determining unit 1702 is configured to determine a third access network device according to the information of the target cell and the corresponding relationship between the cell and the access network device, and the target cell is managed by the third access network device.

In one embodiment, the receiving unit 1701 is further configured to receive first auxiliary information from the core network device, the first auxiliary information is used to determine the above-mentioned corresponding relationship, and the identifier of the access network device in the first auxiliary information is connected to the second connection The identification of the network access device is associated.

In one embodiment, the corresponding relationship is a corresponding relationship between the identity of the access network device and the identity of the cell managed by the access network device.

In one embodiment, the third auxiliary information includes an identification of the fifth access network device and identification information of a cell associated with the fifth access network device, the third auxiliary information is any auxiliary information in the first auxiliary information, and the third auxiliary information is any one of the first auxiliary information. The fifth access network device is the access network device corresponding to the third auxiliary information.

In an embodiment, the cell associated with the fifth access network device includes a cell managed by the fifth access network device, or,

The cell associated with the fifth access network device does not belong to the cell managed by the fifth access network device and the cell identity includes the identity of the fifth access network device.

In one embodiment, the determining unit 1702 is specifically configured to determine the identity of the third access network device.

In one embodiment, the sending unit 1703 is configured to send the identification of the third access network device to the core network device.

In an embodiment, the identification information of the cell associated with the fifth access network device includes at least one of the following:

The public part of the cell identity of the cell to which the fifth access network device is associated.

More detailed descriptions of the above receiving unit 1701, determining unit 1702 and transmitting unit 1703 can be obtained directly by referring to the relevant descriptions of the second access network device in the method embodiments shown in FIGS. 15-16, and will not be repeated here.

Based on the above network architecture, please refer to FIG. 18 , which is a schematic structural diagram of another communication apparatus disclosed in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 18 , the communication apparatus may include a sending unit 1801 and a receiving unit 1802 .

In one case, the communication device may be the first access network device, or may be a module in the first access network device, wherein:

A sending unit 1801, configured to send information of a target cell to a core network device, where the information of the target cell is used to determine a second access network device, and the target cell is managed by the second access network device;

The receiving unit 1802 is configured to receive first indication information from a core network device, where the first indication information is used to indicate a second access network device.

In one embodiment, the sending unit 1801 is further configured to send auxiliary information to the core network device, where the auxiliary information is used to determine the correspondence between the cell and the access network device.

In an embodiment, the above-mentioned auxiliary information includes an identity of the first access network device and identity information of a cell associated with the first access network device.

In an embodiment, the cell associated with the first access network device includes a cell managed by the first access network device, or,

In an embodiment, the identification information of the cell associated with the first access network device includes at least one of the following:

The common part of the cell identity of the cell to which the first access network device is associated.

More detailed descriptions of the above-mentioned sending unit 1801 can be obtained directly by referring to the above-mentioned FIG. 6-FIG. 10, or the related descriptions of the first access network device in the method embodiments shown in FIG. 15-FIG. 16, which will not be repeated here.

In another case, the communication device may be core network equipment, or may be a module in the core network equipment, wherein:

a receiving unit 1802, configured to receive information from the target cell of the first access network device;

A sending unit 1801, configured to send second indication information to the first access network device, where the second indication information is used to indicate information of one or more candidate access network devices, the one or more candidate access network devices according to the target Cell information is determined.

In one embodiment, the information of the candidate access network device is the identifier of the candidate access network device, or the length of the identifier of the candidate access network device.

More detailed descriptions of the receiving unit 1802 and the sending unit 1801 can be obtained directly by referring to the relevant descriptions of the core network equipment in the method embodiments shown in FIG. 11 to FIG. 12 , which will not be repeated here.

In yet another case, the communication device may be core network equipment, or may be a module in core network equipment, wherein:

A sending unit 1801, configured to send information of a target cell to a second access network device, where an identifier of the second access network device is associated with an identifier of the target cell;

The receiving unit 1802 is further configured to receive the identifier of the third access network device from the second access network device, and the target cell is managed by the third access network device.

In one embodiment, the receiving unit 1802 is further configured to receive auxiliary information;

The sending unit 1801 is further configured to send first auxiliary information to the second access network device, where the first auxiliary information is auxiliary information in which the identity of the access network device is associated with the identity of the second access network device in the above auxiliary information, The first auxiliary information is used to determine the correspondence between the cell and the access network device.

In one embodiment, receiving the auxiliary information by the receiving unit 1802 includes:

Multiple pieces of auxiliary information from multiple access network devices are received, and multiple access network devices are in one-to-one correspondence with multiple pieces of auxiliary information.

In one embodiment, the receiving unit 1802 receives a plurality of auxiliary information from a plurality of access network devices including:

In one embodiment, the sending unit 1801 is further configured to send the identifier of the third access network device to the first access network device.

More detailed descriptions of the receiving unit 1802 and the sending unit 1801 can be obtained directly by referring to the relevant descriptions of the core network equipment in the method embodiments shown in FIG. 15 to FIG. 16 , and details are not repeated here.

Based on the above network architecture, please refer to FIG. 19 . FIG. 19 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device disclosed in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 19, the communication device may include:

A sending unit 1901, configured to send the information of the target cell to the core network device;

a receiving unit 1902, configured to receive second indication information from a core network device, where the second indication information is used to indicate information of one or more candidate access network devices;

The sending unit 1901 is further configured to send a first message to the above-mentioned one or more candidate access network devices, respectively, where the first message includes information of the target cell, and the first message is used to determine the second access network device, and the target cell is selected by the first message. 2. Access network equipment management.

In one embodiment, the receiving unit 1902 is further configured to receive one or more response information from the above-mentioned one or more candidate access network devices;

The communication device may also include:

The determining unit 1903 is configured to determine the second access network device according to the above one or more response information.

In one embodiment, the first response information is used to indicate that the target cell is a cell managed by the first candidate access network device, or used to indicate that the target cell is not a cell managed by the first candidate access network device, and the first response information is For any response information in the above one or more response information, the first candidate access network device is the candidate access network device corresponding to the first response information;

The determining unit 1903 is specifically configured to, when the second response information is used to indicate that the target cell is a cell managed by the second candidate access network device, determine that the second candidate access network device is the second access network device, and the second response information is one of the above one or more response information, and the second candidate access network device is a candidate access network device corresponding to the second response information.

More detailed descriptions of the above sending unit 1901, receiving unit 1902 and determining unit 1903 can be obtained directly by referring to the relevant descriptions of the first access network device in the method embodiments shown in FIGS.

Based on the above network architecture, please refer to FIG. 20 , which is a schematic structural diagram of another communication apparatus disclosed in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 20, the communication device may include:

a receiving unit 2001, configured to receive information from a target cell of a first access network device;

The sending unit 2002 is configured to send a second message to one or more candidate access network devices, where the second message includes information of the target cell, and the second message is used to determine the second access network device, the one or more candidate access network devices. The network access device determines according to the information of the target cell, and the target cell is managed by the second access network device.

In one embodiment, the communication device may further include:

The determining unit 2003 is configured to determine the above-mentioned one or more candidate access network devices according to the information of the target cell and the identifier of the access network device.

In one embodiment, the receiving unit 2002 is further configured to receive the identifier of the above-mentioned access network device.

In one embodiment, the receiving unit 2101 is further configured to receive one or more response information from one or more candidate access network devices;

The determining unit 2003 is further configured to determine the second access network device according to the above one or more response information.

In one embodiment, the first response information is used to indicate that the target cell is a cell managed by the first candidate access network device, or used to indicate that the target cell is not a cell managed by the first candidate access network device, and the first response information is Any one of the one or more response information, the first candidate access network device is the candidate access network device corresponding to the first response information;

The determining unit 2003 determining the second access network device according to the above one or more response information includes:

When the second response information is used to indicate that the target cell is a cell managed by the second candidate access network device, determine that the second candidate access network device is the second access network device, and the second response information is one or more response information One of the response information in the second candidate access network device is the candidate access network device corresponding to the second response information.

In one embodiment, the sending unit 2002 is further configured to send the identifier of the second access network device to the first access network device.

More detailed descriptions of the above receiving unit 2001, sending unit 2002 and determining unit 2003 can be obtained directly by referring to the relevant descriptions of the core network equipment in the method embodiments shown in FIG. 13-FIG. 14, and will not be repeated here.

It should be understood that the above determination unit may also be referred to as a processing unit.

Based on the above network architecture, please refer to FIG. 21 , which is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device disclosed in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 21 , the communication device may include a processor 2101 , a memory 2102 , an input interface 2103 , an output interface 2104 and a bus 2105 . The memory 2102 may exist independently, and may be connected to the processor 2101 through the bus 2105 . The memory 2102 may also be integrated with the processor 2101. Among them, the bus 2105 is used to realize the connection between these components.

In one embodiment, the communication device may be a core network device or a module (eg, a chip) within the core network device, and the communication device may be a second access network device or a module (eg, a chip) within the second access network device , chip), when the computer program instructions stored in the memory 2102 are executed, the processor 2101 is used to control the receiving unit 1701 and the sending unit 1703 to perform the operations performed in the above embodiments, and the processor 2101 is also used to execute the determining unit 1702 For the operations performed in the above embodiments, the input interface 2103 is used to perform the operations performed by the receiving unit 1701 in the above embodiments, and the output interface 2104 is used to perform the operations performed by the sending unit 1703 in the above embodiments. The foregoing core network device or modules in the core network device may also be used to execute various methods performed by the core network device in the foregoing method embodiments in FIGS. The foregoing second access network device or a module in the second access network device may also be used to execute various methods performed by the second access network device in the foregoing method embodiments in FIGS.

In one embodiment, the communication apparatus may be a first access network device or a module (eg, a chip) within the first access network device, and the communication apparatus may be a core network device or a module within the core network device (eg, a core network device). , chip), when the computer program instructions stored in the memory 2102 are executed, the processor 2101 is used to control the sending unit 1801 to perform the operations performed in the above embodiments, and the input interface 2103 is used to receive other communications from the communication device Device information, and the output interface 2104 is used to perform the operations performed by the sending unit 1901 in the above embodiments. The above-mentioned first access network device or a module in the first access network device may also be used to execute various methods performed by the first access network device in the above-mentioned method embodiments of FIG. 6-FIG. 10 or FIG. 15-FIG. 16, No longer. The above-mentioned core network device or modules in the core network device may also be used to execute various methods performed by the first access network device in the above-mentioned method embodiments of FIGS.

In one embodiment, the communication apparatus may be the first access network device or a module (eg, a chip) in the first access network device. When the computer program instructions stored in the memory 2102 are executed, the processor 2101 uses the In order to control the sending unit 1901 and the receiving unit 1902 to perform the operations performed in the above embodiments, the processor 2101 is also used to perform the operations performed by the determining unit 1903 in the above embodiments, and the input interface 2103 is used to perform the receiving unit 1902 in the above embodiments. The operation performed, the output interface 2104 is used to perform the operation performed by the sending unit 1901 in the foregoing embodiment. The foregoing first access network device or a module in the first access network device may also be used to execute various methods performed by the first access network device in the foregoing method embodiments of FIGS.

In one embodiment, the communication device may be a core network device or a module (eg, a chip) within the core network device. When the computer program instructions stored in the memory 2102 are executed, the processor 2101 is used to control the receiving unit 2001 and The sending unit 2002 performs the operations performed in the above embodiments, the processor 2101 is further configured to perform the operations performed by the determining unit 2003 in the above embodiments, the input interface 2103 is used to perform the operations performed by the receiving unit 2001 in the above embodiments, and the output interface 2104 is used to perform the operation performed by the sending unit 2002 in the above embodiment. The foregoing core network device or modules within the core network device may also be used to execute various methods performed by the core network device in the foregoing method embodiments in FIGS. 13 to 14 , which will not be described again.

Based on the above network architecture, please refer to FIG. 22 , which is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device disclosed in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 22 , the communication device may include an input interface 2201 , a logic circuit 2202 and an output interface 2203 . The input interface 2201 and the output interface 2203 are connected through the logic circuit 2202 . The input interface 2201 is used for receiving information from other communication devices, and the output interface 2203 is used for outputting, scheduling or sending information to other communication devices. The logic circuit 2202 is used to perform operations other than the operations of the input interface 2201 and the output interface 2203, for example, to implement the functions implemented by the processor 2101 in the above-mentioned embodiment. Wherein, the communication device may be an access network device or a module in the access network device or, or may be a core network device or a module in the core network device or. Wherein, the more detailed description of the input interface 2201, the logic circuit 2202 and the output interface 2203 can be obtained directly by referring to the relevant descriptions of the core network device, the first access network device or the second access network device in the above method embodiments, here Without further ado.

The embodiments of the present application further disclose a computer-readable storage medium, on which computer instructions are stored, and when the computer instructions are executed, the methods in the foregoing method embodiments are executed.

The embodiment of the present application further discloses a computer program product including computer instructions, and when the computer instructions are executed, the methods in the foregoing method embodiments are executed.

An embodiment of the present application further discloses a communication system, where the communication system includes a core network device and an access network device. For a specific description, reference may be made to the communication methods shown in FIGS. 6-16 .

The specific embodiments described above further describe the purpose, technical solutions and beneficial effects of the present application in detail. It should be understood that the above descriptions are only specific embodiments of the present application, and are not intended to limit the The protection scope, any modifications, equivalent replacements, improvements, etc. made on the basis of the technical solutions of the present application shall be included within the protection scope of the present application.

Claims

A communication method, wherein the method is applied to core network equipment, comprising:

receiving information from the target cell of the first access network device;

A second access network device is determined according to the information of the target cell and the correspondence between the cell and the access network device, and the target cell is managed by the second access network device.
The method according to claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

Auxiliary information is received, the auxiliary information is used to determine the correspondence.
The method according to claim 2, wherein the receiving auxiliary information comprises:

Receive multiple pieces of auxiliary information from multiple access network devices, the multiple access network devices are in one-to-one correspondence with the multiple pieces of auxiliary information, and the multiple access network devices include the second access network device .
The method according to claim 3, wherein the receiving multiple pieces of auxiliary information from multiple access network devices comprises:

Receive first auxiliary information from a third access network device, where the third access network device is any access network device among the access network devices that establish a connection with the core network device.
The method according to any one of claims 1-4, wherein the corresponding relationship is a corresponding relationship between the identity of the access network device and the identity of the cell managed by the access network device .
The method according to any one of claims 1-5, wherein the auxiliary information includes an identity of the access network device and identity information of a cell associated with the access network device.
The method according to claim 6, wherein the cell associated with the access network device comprises a cell managed by the access network device, or,

The cells associated with the access network device include cells that are not managed by the access network device and whose cell identifiers include the identifiers of the access network devices.
The method according to any one of claims 4-7, wherein the receiving the first auxiliary information from the third access network device comprises:

The first assistance information from the third access network device is received by the fourth access network device.
The method according to any one of claims 1-8, wherein the determining the second access network device comprises:

Determine the first identifier or the length of the first identifier, where the first identifier is the identifier of the second access network device.
The method according to claim 9, wherein the method further comprises:

The first identification or the length of the first identification is indicated to the first access network device.
The method according to any one of claims 6-10, wherein the identification information of the cell associated with the access network device includes at least one of the following:

the cell identifier or global cell identifier of the cell associated with the access network device;

The public part of the cell identity of the cell to which the access network device is associated.
A communication method, comprising:

sending the information of the target cell to the core network device, where the information of the target cell is used to determine the second access network device, and the target cell is managed by the second access network device;

Receive first indication information from the core network device, where the first indication information is used to indicate the second access network device.
The method of claim 12, wherein the method further comprises:

Send auxiliary information to the core network device, where the auxiliary information is used to determine the correspondence between the cell and the access network device.
The method according to claim 13, wherein the corresponding relationship is a corresponding relationship between the identity of the access network device and the identity of the cell managed by the access network device.
The method according to claim 13 or 14, wherein the auxiliary information includes an identity of the first access network device and identity information of a cell associated with the first access network device.
The method according to claim 15, wherein the cell associated with the first access network device comprises a cell managed by the first access network device, or,

The cells associated with the first access network device include cells that are not managed by the first access network device and whose cell identifiers include an identifier of the first access network device.
The method according to claim 15 or 16, wherein the identification information of the cell associated with the first access network device includes at least one of the following:

the cell identifier or global cell identifier of the cell associated with the first access network device;

The public part of the cell identity of the cell associated with the first access network device.
A communication method, comprising:

Send the information of the target cell to the core network equipment;

receiving second indication information from the core network device, where the second indication information is used to indicate information of one or more candidate access network devices;

Send a first message to the one or more candidate access network devices respectively, where the first message includes information of the target cell, and the first message is used to determine a second access network device, the target cell is managed by the second access network device.
The method of claim 18, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving one or more response messages from the one or more candidate access network devices;

The second access network device is determined according to the one or more response information.
The method according to claim 19, wherein the first response information is used to indicate that the target cell is a cell managed by a first candidate access network device, or is used to indicate that the target cell is not the first candidate for access A cell managed by a network device, the first response information is any one of the one or more response information, and the first candidate access network device is a candidate access network device corresponding to the first response ;

The determining of the second access network device according to the one or more response information includes:

When the second response information is used to indicate that the target cell is a cell managed by a second candidate access network device, it is determined that the second candidate access network device is the second access network device, and the second response network device is determined to be the second access network device. The information is one response information in the one or more response information, and the second candidate access network device is a candidate access network device corresponding to the second response information.
A communication method, comprising:

receiving information from the target cell of the first access network device;

Send second indication information to the first access network device, where the second indication information is used to indicate information of one or more candidate access network devices, the one or more candidate access network devices according to the The information of the target cell is determined.
The method of claim 21, wherein the method further comprises:

The one or more candidate access network devices are determined according to the identity of the target cell and the identity of the access network device.
The method of claim 22, wherein the method further comprises:

The identification of the access network device is received.
The method according to any one of claims 18-23, wherein the information of the candidate access network device is an identifier of the candidate access network device, or the length of the identifier of the candidate access network device .
The method according to any one of claims 1-24, wherein the information of the target cell includes a cell identity or a global cell identity of the target cell.
A communication device, characterized in that the device is core network equipment, comprising:

a receiving unit, configured to receive information from the target cell of the first access network device;

A determining unit, configured to determine a second access network device according to the information of the target cell and the corresponding relationship between the cell and the access network device, and the target cell is managed by the second access network device.
The apparatus according to claim 26, wherein the receiving unit is further configured to receive auxiliary information, wherein the auxiliary information is used to determine the corresponding relationship.
The apparatus according to claim 27, wherein the receiving unit receiving the auxiliary information comprises:

Receive multiple pieces of auxiliary information from multiple access network devices, the multiple access network devices are in one-to-one correspondence with the multiple pieces of auxiliary information, and the multiple access network devices include the second access network device .
The apparatus according to claim 28, wherein the receiving unit receiving multiple pieces of auxiliary information from multiple access network devices comprises:

Receive first auxiliary information from a third access network device, where the third access network device is any access network device among the access network devices that establish a connection with the core network device.
The apparatus according to any one of claims 26-29, wherein the correspondence is a correspondence between an identifier of the access network device and an identifier of the cell managed by the access network device .
The apparatus according to any one of claims 26-30, wherein the auxiliary information includes an identity of the access network device and identity information of a cell associated with the access network device.
The apparatus according to claim 31, wherein the cell associated with the access network device includes a cell managed by the access network device, or,

The cells associated with the access network device include cells that are not managed by the access network device and whose cell identifiers include the identifiers of the access network devices.
The apparatus according to any one of claims 29-32, wherein the receiving unit receiving the first auxiliary information from the third access network device comprises:

The first assistance information from the third access network device is received by the fourth access network device.
The apparatus according to any one of claims 26-33, wherein the determining unit specifically determines a first identifier or a length of the first identifier, and the first identifier is an identifier of the second access network device. logo.
The apparatus of claim 34, wherein the apparatus further comprises:

A sending unit, configured to indicate the first identifier or the length of the first identifier to the first access network device.
The apparatus according to any one of claims 31-35, wherein the identification information of the cell associated with the access network device includes at least one of the following:

the cell identifier or global cell identifier of the cell associated with the access network device;

The public part of the cell identity of the cell to which the access network device is associated.
A communication device, comprising:

a sending unit, configured to send information of a target cell to a core network device, where the information of the target cell is used to determine a second access network device, and the target cell is managed by the second access network device;

A receiving unit, configured to receive first indication information from the core network device, where the first indication information is used to indicate the second access network device.
The apparatus according to claim 37, wherein the sending unit is further configured to send auxiliary information to the core network equipment, where the auxiliary information is used to determine the correspondence between the cell and the access network equipment.
The apparatus according to claim 38, wherein the correspondence is a correspondence between an identifier of the access network device and an identifier of the cell managed by the access network device.
The apparatus according to claim 38 or 39, wherein the auxiliary information comprises an identity of the first access network device and identity information of a cell associated with the first access network device.
The apparatus according to claim 40, wherein the cell associated with the first access network device includes a cell managed by the first access network device, or,

The cells associated with the first access network device include cells that are not managed by the first access network device and whose cell identifiers include an identifier of the first access network device.
The apparatus according to claim 40 or 41, wherein the identification information of the cell associated with the first access network device includes at least one of the following:

the cell identifier or global cell identifier of the cell associated with the first access network device;

The public part of the cell identity of the cell associated with the first access network device.
A communication device, comprising:

a sending unit, configured to send the information of the target cell to the core network equipment;

a receiving unit, configured to receive second indication information from the core network device, where the second indication information is used to indicate information of one or more candidate access network devices;

The sending unit is further configured to send a first message to the one or more candidate access network devices, respectively, where the first message includes information of the target cell, and the first message is used to determine the second access network. A network access device, where the target cell is managed by the second access network device.
The apparatus according to claim 43, wherein the receiving unit is further configured to receive one or more response information from the one or more candidate access network devices;

The device also includes:

A determining unit, configured to determine the second access network device according to the one or more response information.
The apparatus according to claim 44, wherein the first response information is used to indicate that the target cell is a cell managed by a first candidate access network device, or is used to indicate that the target cell is not a first candidate for access A cell managed by a network device, the first response information is any one of the one or more response information, and the first candidate access network device is a candidate access network device corresponding to the first response ;

The determining of the second access network device according to the one or more response information includes:

When the second response information is used to indicate that the target cell is a cell managed by a second candidate access network device, it is determined that the second candidate access network device is the second access network device, and the second response network device is determined to be the second access network device. The information is one response information in the one or more response information, and the second candidate access network device is a candidate access network device corresponding to the second response information.
A communication device, comprising:

a receiving unit, configured to receive information from the target cell of the first access network device;

A sending unit, configured to send second indication information to the first access network device, where the second indication information is used to indicate information of one or more candidate access network devices, the one or more candidate access network devices The network device determines according to the information of the target cell.
The apparatus of claim 46, wherein the apparatus further comprises:

A determining unit, configured to determine the one or more candidate access network devices according to the identity of the target cell and the identity of the access network device.
The apparatus according to claim 47, wherein the receiving unit is further configured to receive the identifier of the access network device.
The apparatus according to any one of claims 43-48, wherein the information of the candidate access network device is an identifier of the candidate access network device, or the length of the identifier of the candidate access network device .
The apparatus according to any one of claims 26-49, wherein the information of the target cell includes a cell identity or a global cell identity of the target cell.
A communication device, characterized in that it comprises a processor, a memory, an input interface and an output interface, the input interface is used to receive information from other communication devices other than the communication device, and the output interface is used to send information to all communication devices. When other communication devices other than the communication device output information, the processor invokes the computer program stored in the memory to implement the method according to any one of claims 1-11 and 25.
A communication device, characterized in that it comprises a processor, a memory, an input interface and an output interface, the input interface is used to receive information from other communication devices other than the communication device, and the output interface is used to send information to all communication devices. When other communication devices other than the communication device output information, the processor invokes a computer program stored in the memory to implement the method according to any one of claims 12-17 and 25.
A communication device, characterized in that it comprises a processor, a memory, an input interface and an output interface, the input interface is used to receive information from other communication devices other than the communication device, and the output interface is used to send information to all communication devices. When other communication devices other than the communication device output information, the processor invokes a computer program stored in the memory to implement the method according to any one of claims 18-20, 24 and 25.
A communication device, characterized in that it comprises a processor, a memory, an input interface and an output interface, the input interface is used to receive information from other communication devices other than the communication device, and the output interface is used to send information to all communication devices. When other communication devices other than the communication device output information, the processor invokes a computer program stored in the memory to implement the method according to any one of claims 21-25.
A communication system, characterized by comprising the apparatus of claim 51 and the apparatus of claim 52.
A communication system, characterized by comprising the apparatus of claim 53 and the apparatus of claim 54 .
A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, a computer program or computer instruction is stored in the computer-readable storage medium, and when the computer program or computer instruction is executed, any one of claims 1-25 is implemented. the method described.
A chip, characterized in that it includes a processor for executing a program stored in a memory, and when the program is executed, causes the chip to execute the method according to any one of claims 1-25.