CN108174392B

CN108174392B - Method and device for accessing network slice

Info

Publication number: CN108174392B
Application number: CN201611117726.9A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 张伟; 李旭; 赵祺阳
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2016-12-07
Filing date: 2016-12-07
Publication date: 2020-08-14
Anticipated expiration: 2036-12-07
Also published as: CN108174392A; WO2018103531A1

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention provides a method for accessing a network slice, relating to the technical field of networks. The method comprises the following steps: a base station sends first system information to user equipment at a first time-frequency position, wherein the first system information at least comprises a second time-frequency position; the user equipment acquires a second time-frequency position from the first system information; the base station sends first network access information to the user equipment at a second time-frequency position; and the user equipment accesses the first network slice according to the first network access information. According to the invention, the first network access information sent by the base station is received through the time-frequency position corresponding to the target service of the user equipment, so that the problem that the existing broadcasting mode is not suitable for a multi-network sliced 5G network is solved; the effect that the broadcasting mode is suitable for the 5G network with multiple network slices and the user equipment can access the network slices needing to be accessed is achieved.

Description

Method and device for accessing network slice

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of network technologies, and in particular, to a method and an apparatus for accessing a network slice.

Background

In the current LTE network, the basic flow of the user equipment accessing the network is as follows: the user equipment receives a Master Information Block (MIB for short) broadcasted by the base station, determines the time-frequency position of a System Information Block1 (SIB 1 for short) according to the MIB, receives an SIB1 broadcasted by the base station at the time-frequency position of an SIB1, acquires scheduling Information of all System Information (SI) carried in the SIB1, obtains the time-frequency position of SIBn (n >1) except the SIB1 from the scheduling Information of the SI, and finally receives network access Information required by the access network at the time-frequency position of SIBn to access the LTE network.

In a fifth Generation mobile communication technology (english: 5th-Generation, abbreviated as 5G) network, because different network application scenarios have different corresponding Quality of Service (QoS), a physical network can be divided into multiple logical networks supporting different network application scenarios, one network application scenario supports one type of Service, one logical network is a network slice, different network slices correspond to different services and QoS, and system parameters such as frequency points, downlink bandwidth information, uplink and downlink proportion information, timer information, counter information and the like required by different QoS are different.

Because the current LTE network does not relate to the concept of network slicing, and both MIB and SIB1 broadcasted by the LTE network carry the same set of system parameters, the ue accesses the same network no matter what service the ue performs, and obviously, the current broadcasting method is not suitable for a multi-network-sliced 5G network.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the invention provides a method for accessing network slices, which is used for solving the problem that the existing broadcasting mode is not suitable for a multi-network sliced 5G network.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a method for accessing a network slice, where the method includes: the method comprises the steps that user equipment receives first system information sent by a base station at a first time frequency position, and a second time frequency position is obtained from the first system information; and the user equipment receives first network access information sent by the base station at the second time-frequency position, and accesses a first network slice according to the first network access information.

In the scheme provided by the embodiment of the invention, the second time-frequency position is obtained from the first system information sent by the base station through the user equipment, the first network access information sent by the base station is received at the second time-frequency position, and the first network slice is accessed according to the first network access information.

With reference to the first aspect, in a first possible implementation of the first aspect, the first system information is a master information module MIB.

With reference to the first aspect or the first possible implementation of the first aspect, in a second possible implementation of the first aspect, when the first system information is a first system information module SIBn, the receiving, by the ue, the first system information sent by the base station at a first time/frequency location includes: the user equipment receives SIB1 sent by the base station at a third time-frequency position, and acquires a first time-frequency position of the SIBn from the SIB1, wherein the SIBn is system information of a layer below the SIB 1; and the user equipment receives the SIBn, n >1 sent by the base station at the first time-frequency position. Compared with the technical scheme of storing the time-frequency positions corresponding to the network slices in the MIB, the newly added SIBn is only used for storing the time-frequency positions corresponding to the network slices, so that more time-frequency positions corresponding to the network slices can be stored.

With reference to the first aspect, the first possibility of the first aspect, or the second possible implementation of the first aspect, in a third possible implementation of the first aspect, when the first system information is a SIBn, the receiving, by the user equipment, the first system information sent by the base station at the first time/frequency location includes: the user equipment receives the MIB sent by the base station at a fourth time-frequency position, and acquires a first time-frequency position of the SIBn from the MIB, wherein the SIBn is system information at the same level as the SIB 1; and the user equipment receives the SIBn, n >1 sent by the base station at the first time-frequency position. Since the transmission period of the MIB is less than the transmission period of the SIB1, compared with the technical scheme that the base station stores the time-frequency position of the SIBn in the SIB1, the base station stores the time-frequency position of the SIBn in the MIB, so that the user equipment can acquire the first time-frequency position of the SIBn earlier and perform subsequent steps earlier.

With reference to the first aspect, the first possible implementation of the first aspect to the third possible implementation of the first aspect, in a fourth possible implementation of the first aspect, the receiving, by the ue, first system information sent by a base station at a first time/frequency location includes: the user equipment determines a target service to be executed; the user equipment determines a first network slice corresponding to the target service according to a corresponding relation between a pre-stored service type and the network slice; the user equipment determines first system information corresponding to the first network slice according to the corresponding relation between the pre-stored network slice and the system information; the user equipment determines a first time-frequency position corresponding to the first system information according to a corresponding relation between pre-stored system information and the time-frequency position, and receives the first system information sent by the base station at the first time-frequency position. When the base station sends more than one system message to the user equipment, the user equipment may first determine a target service to be executed, and then selectively receive the system information sent by the base station according to a correspondence between pre-stored system information and a time-frequency position.

With reference to the first aspect, the first possible implementation of the first aspect to the fourth possible implementation of the first aspect, in a fifth possible implementation of the first aspect, the first system information further includes a correspondence between a network slice and a time-frequency location, and the receiving, by the user equipment, the first system information sent by the base station at the first time-frequency location includes: and the user equipment receives the first system information sent by the base station at the first time-frequency position, and determines a second time-frequency position corresponding to the first network slice according to the corresponding relation between the network slice in the first system information and the time-frequency position. When the system information sent by the base station to the user equipment includes time-frequency positions corresponding to more than one network slice, the user equipment may determine a second time-frequency position corresponding to a first network slice according to a corresponding relationship between the network slice and the time-frequency positions after determining the first network slice to be accessed.

With reference to the first aspect, the first possible implementation of the first aspect to the fifth possible implementation of the first aspect, in a sixth possible implementation of the first aspect, the first system information further includes a correspondence between a service type and a time-frequency location, and the receiving, by the user equipment, the first system information sent by the base station at the first time-frequency location includes: and the user equipment receives the first system information sent by the base station at the first time-frequency position, and determines a second time-frequency position corresponding to the target service according to the corresponding relation between the service type in the first system information and the time-frequency position. When the system information sent by the base station to the user equipment includes time-frequency positions corresponding to more than one network slice, the user equipment may determine a second time-frequency position corresponding to the target service according to the corresponding relationship between the service and the time-frequency positions after determining the target service to be executed.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a method for accessing a network slice, where the method includes: a base station sends first system information to user equipment at a first time-frequency position, wherein the first system information at least comprises a second time-frequency position; and the base station sends first network access information to the user equipment at the second time-frequency position, wherein the first network access information is used for triggering the user equipment to access a first network slice according to the first network access information after receiving the first network access information.

In the scheme provided by the embodiment of the invention, the base station sends the first system information to the user at the first time-frequency position and sends the first network access information to the user equipment at the second time-frequency position, and the first system information comprises at least one time-frequency position, and the time-frequency position corresponds to the network access information of the network slice, so that the effect that the broadcasting mode is suitable for a multi-network-slice 5G network, and the user equipment can access the network slice needing to be accessed is achieved.

With reference to the second aspect, in a first possible implementation of the second aspect, the first system information is MIB.

With reference to the second aspect or the first possible implementation of the second aspect, in a second possible implementation of the second aspect, when the first system information is SIBn, the sending, by the base station, the first system information to the user equipment at a first time-frequency location includes: the base station sends SIB1 to the user equipment at a third time-frequency position, wherein the SIB1 comprises at least the first time-frequency position of the SIBn, n > 1. Compared with the technical scheme of storing the time-frequency positions corresponding to the network slices in the MIB, the newly added SIBn is only used for storing the time-frequency positions corresponding to the network slices, so that more time-frequency positions corresponding to the network slices can be stored.

With reference to the second aspect, the first possibility of the second aspect, or the second possible implementation of the second aspect, in a third possible implementation of the second aspect, when the first system information is SIBn, the sending, by the base station, the first system information to the user equipment at a first time-frequency location includes: and the base station sends the MIB to the user equipment at a fourth time-frequency position, wherein the MIB at least comprises the first time-frequency position of the SIBn, and n is greater than 1. Since the transmission period of the MIB is less than the transmission period of the SIB1, compared with the technical scheme that the base station stores the time-frequency position of the SIBn in the SIB1, the base station stores the time-frequency position of the SIBn in the MIB, so that the user equipment can acquire the first time-frequency position of the SIBn earlier and perform subsequent steps earlier.

With reference to the second aspect, the first possible implementation of the second aspect to the third possible implementation of the second aspect, in a fourth possible implementation of the second aspect, before the base station sends the first system information to the user equipment at the first time-frequency location, the method further includes: the base station configures the first system information, wherein the first system information at least comprises the second time-frequency position; the base station configures a first time-frequency position corresponding to the first system information and a sending period for sending the first system information for the first system information; the base station sends first system information to user equipment at a first time-frequency position, and the first system information comprises: and the base station transmits the first system information to the user equipment at a first time-frequency position according to the transmission period of the first system information. The system information sent by the base station to each user equipment may include the time-frequency position of more than one network slice, and the requirements of each user equipment for accessing the network slices are sequentially met.

With reference to the second aspect and the first possible implementation of the second aspect to the fourth possible implementation of the second aspect, in a fifth possible implementation of the second aspect, the sending, by the base station, first network access information to the user equipment at the second time-frequency location includes: the base station configures first network access information corresponding to the first network slice and a sending period for sending the first network access information for the first network slice; and the base station sends the first network access information to the user equipment at the second time frequency position according to the sending period of the first network access information. The base station can configure different sending periods for the network access information corresponding to different network slices according to the characteristics of the network slices so as to meet the QoS of the network slices.

With reference to the second aspect, the first possible implementation of the second aspect to the fifth possible implementation of the second aspect, in a sixth possible implementation of the second aspect, before the base station configures, for the first network slice, first network access information corresponding to the first network slice, the method further includes: when a predetermined condition is triggered, the base station performs the step of configuring first network access information corresponding to the first network slice for the first network slice, where the predetermined condition is at least one of the following conditions: the base station generates the first network slice, the base station deletes the first network slice, the base station updates the first network slice, the base station adjusts an air interface channel of the first network slice, the base station adjusts a transmission period of network access information of the first network slice, the base station generates a second network slice, the base station deletes the second network slice, the base station updates the second network slice, the base station adjusts an air interface channel of the second network slice, and the base station adjusts a transmission period of network access information of the second network slice, wherein the second network slice is a network slice different from the first network slice. When a base station configures a corresponding relation between a network slice and first network access information on line, if the number of user equipment accessing a certain network slice changes, in order to ensure the quality of network data transmission after the user equipment accesses the network slice, the RSC updates the first network access information, the sending period and other information of the network slice according to the service demand of the network slice.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a method for accessing a network slice, where the method includes: the method comprises the steps that a user equipment randomly accesses a network and sends an access request for accessing a first network slice to a base station, wherein the access request is used for triggering the base station to feed back a slice access response message to the user equipment, and the slice access response message carries data plane wireless resources of the first network slice; and the user equipment receives the slice access response message fed back by the base station, acquires the data plane wireless resource of the first network slice from the slice access response message, and accesses the first network slice according to the data plane wireless resource of the first network slice.

In the scheme provided by the embodiment of the invention, the access request for accessing the first network slice is sent to the base station through the random access network of the user equipment, the data plane wireless resource of the first network slice is obtained from the slice access response message fed back by the base station, and the first network slice is accessed according to the data plane wireless resource of the first network slice.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a method for accessing a network slice, where the method includes: a base station receives an access request which is sent by user equipment and used for accessing a first network slice; the base station feeds back a slice access response message to the user equipment, the slice access response message carries the data plane wireless resource of the first network slice, and the slice access response message is used for triggering the user equipment to acquire the data plane wireless resource of the first network slice from the slice access response message and access the first network slice according to the data plane wireless resource of the first network slice.

In the scheme provided by the embodiment of the invention, the base station receives an access request which is sent by the user equipment and is used for accessing the first network slice, the slice access response message comprising the second access information is fed back to the user equipment, the user equipment accesses the first network slice according to the data plane wireless resource of the first network slice, and the first system information comprises at least one time-frequency position which corresponds to the network access information of the network slice, so that the effect that a broadcasting mode is suitable for a multi-network-slice 5G network, and the user equipment can access the network slice which needs to be accessed is achieved.

In a fifth aspect, a user equipment is provided, where the user equipment has a function of implementing the target user equipment behavior in the above method example. The functions can be realized by hardware, and the functions can also be realized by executing corresponding software by hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above-described functions.

In one possible design, the user equipment includes a processor, a receiver, and a transmitter, and the processor is configured to support the user equipment to perform the corresponding functions in the above method. The receiver and transmitter are used to support communication between the user equipment and the base station. Further, the user device may also include a memory coupled to the processor for storing program instructions and data necessary for the user device.

A sixth aspect provides a base station having functionality to implement the base station behavior in the above method examples. The functions can be realized by hardware, and the functions can also be realized by executing corresponding software by hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above-described functions.

In one possible design, the base station may have a structure including a processor, a transmitter, and a receiver, and the processor is configured to support the base station to perform the corresponding functions of the method. The transmitter and receiver are used to support communication between a base station and a user equipment. Further, the base station may also include a memory coupled to the processor for program instructions and data necessary for the base station.

In a seventh aspect, a communication apparatus is provided, which is applied to a user equipment, and includes at least one unit, where the at least one unit corresponds to a communication method provided by any one of the possible implementation manners of the first aspect, the third aspect, the first aspect, and the third aspect.

In an eighth aspect, a communication apparatus is provided, which is applied to a base station, and includes at least one unit, where the at least one unit respectively corresponds to a communication method provided by any one of the possible implementations of the second aspect, the fourth aspect, the second aspect, and the fourth aspect.

Different from the prior art that the current broadcast mode is not suitable for a multi-network sliced 5G network, in the embodiment of the invention, the user equipment acquires the second time-frequency position from the first system information sent by the base station, receives the first network access information sent by the base station at the second time-frequency position, and accesses the first network slice according to the first network access information.

Drawings

Fig. 1A is a schematic diagram of a possible network system provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 1B is a schematic diagram of a possible network architecture provided by an embodiment of the invention;

fig. 2 is a flowchart of a method for accessing a network slice according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 3 is a flowchart of another method for slicing access to a network according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 4 is a flowchart of a method for accessing a network slice according to another embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 5 is a flowchart of a method for accessing a network slice according to another embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 6 is a flowchart of a method for accessing a network slice according to another embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 7 is a flowchart of a method for accessing a network slice according to another embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of a possible structure of a base station according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 9 is a simplified schematic diagram of a possible design structure of a user equipment involved in an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 10 is a block diagram of a communication device provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 11 is a block diagram of another communication device provided by an embodiment of the invention.

Detailed Description

The network architecture and the service scenario described in the embodiment of the present invention are for more clearly illustrating the technical solution of the embodiment of the present invention, and do not limit the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present invention, and it can be known by those skilled in the art that the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present invention is also applicable to similar technical problems along with the evolution of the network architecture and the appearance of a new service scenario.

Some possible network architectures to which embodiments of the present invention are applicable will be described first with reference to fig. 1A and 1B.

Fig. 1A illustrates a network system to which embodiments of the present invention may be applied. As shown in fig. 1A, a user equipment accesses an Internet Protocol (IP) Service network, such as a Multimedia subsystem (IMS) network, a Packet Switched Streaming Service (PSS) network, and the like, through a radio access network and a core network. The technical scheme described in the present invention can be applied to a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system or other wireless communication systems using various radio Access technologies, such as systems using Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA), single carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) and other Access technologies. In addition, the method can also be applied to a subsequent evolution system of the LTE system, such as a next generation network system, namely a 5G system and the like.

Fig. 1B illustrates a possible network architecture provided by an embodiment of the present invention. The functions of the user equipment in fig. 1A may be specifically implemented by the user equipment 120 in fig. 1B, and the functions of the radio access network in fig. 1A may be specifically implemented by the base station 140 and other devices in fig. 1B. As shown in fig. 1B, the network architecture includes: a base station 140 and user equipment 120.

The base station 140 is a device deployed in a radio access network to provide a terminal with a wireless communication function. The base stations may include various forms of macro base stations, micro base stations, relay stations, access points, and the like. In systems using different radio access technologies, the name of a device having a base station function may be different, for example, in an LTE system, it is called an evolved node B (eNB or eNodeB), in a 3G communication system, it is called a node B (NodeB). For convenience of description, in the embodiments of the present invention, the above-mentioned apparatuses providing a wireless communication function for a terminal are collectively referred to as a base station.

The user equipment 120 may include various handheld devices, in-vehicle devices, wearable devices, computing devices or other processing devices connected to a wireless modem, as well as various forms of Mobile Stations (MSs), terminal devices (terminal devices), and so on. For convenience of description, the above-mentioned devices are collectively referred to as user equipment.

A radio connection is established between the base station 140 and the user equipment 120 over a radio air interface (which may also be referred to as an air interface or air interface). In addition, the base station 140 and the user equipment 120 may also implement mutual communication through an air interface technology, optionally, the wireless air interface is a wireless air interface based on a 5G standard, for example, the wireless air interface is a New Radio (NR); alternatively, the wireless air interface may be a wireless air interface based on a 5G next generation mobile communication network technology standard.

In the embodiment of the invention, the user equipment acquires a second time-frequency position from first system information sent by a base station, receives first network access information sent by the base station at the second time-frequency position, and accesses the first network slice according to the first network access information, and because the first system information comprises at least one time-frequency position, the time-frequency position corresponds to the network access information of the network slice, the broadcasting mode is suitable for the 5G network with multiple network slices, and the user equipment can access the network slices needing to be accessed.

The embodiments of the present invention will be described in further detail below based on the common aspects related to the embodiments of the present invention described above.

The network slicing technology is to construct one or more logical networks supporting different service characteristics on a physical facility, wherein the logical networks comprise a set of physical function instances and a collection of connection relations between the physical function instances. After the network slicing technology is implemented, the network architecture is not in a 'one-time-slicing' form of the traditional cellular network, but different related function examples can be customized for different services. From the perspective of the service type, the network slice may be specifically defined as: one or more combinations of hardware, software, policies, and spectrum that are dynamically deployed by a network operator to meet the QoS for a particular set of users.

Currently, three types of typical application scenarios are defined in a 5G network, which are enhanced Mobile internet (eMBB), ultra-high reliability and ultra-Low Latency Communication (urlcc) and massive internet of things Communication (mtc), and the 5G network can be divided into three types of network slices, namely eMBB, mtc and urlclc, according to the three typical scenarios defined in the 5G network. Because the network access information of the network slice is related to the service characteristics of the network slice, the network access information of the network slices with different service characteristics is different, and the MIB and SIB1 broadcasted by the current LTE network both carry the same set of system parameters, the current LTE network broadcasting mode is not suitable for a multi-network-slice 5G network.

Example 1

Referring to fig. 2, a flowchart of a method for accessing a network slice according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown.

The method comprises the following steps:

step 201, the base station sends first system information to the user equipment at the first time-frequency position, where the first system information at least includes a second time-frequency position. Correspondingly, the user equipment receives the first system information sent by the base station at the first time-frequency position.

The first system information mentioned herein includes MIB or SIB1, that is, the MIB or SIB1 sent by the base station to the ue at least includes a second time-frequency location, where the second time-frequency location is occupied by sending broadcast information of the first network slice.

When the MIB includes the second time-Frequency location, the MIB may further include information such as a downlink bandwidth, a Physical Hybrid ARQ Indicator Channel (PHICH) resource indication, a Single Frequency Network (SFN) system frame number, a Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC), and an antenna number.

When the SIB1 includes the second time-frequency position, the SIB1 may further include a Scheduling information List (english: Scheduling Info List), where the Scheduling Info List includes Scheduling information of other SIBs besides the SIB1 and related information for accessing other cells.

Optionally, the user equipment stores a corresponding relationship between the first system information and the first time-frequency location in advance, and receives the first system information sent by the base station at the first time-frequency location.

Optionally, after receiving the first system information sent by the base station at the first time-frequency position, the user equipment analyzes the first system information, and stores the time-frequency position corresponding to each network access information in the first system information.

Step 202, the ue obtains a second time-frequency location from the first system information.

Step 203, the base station sends the first network access information to the user equipment at the second time frequency position. Correspondingly, the user equipment receives the first network access information sent by the base station at the second time frequency position.

Specifically, when the ue needs to access the first network slice, the first network access information sent by the base station is received at the second Time-frequency position, where the first network access information at least includes necessary information for the ue to access the first network slice, such as a scheduling period (TTI), a frequency point, and downlink bandwidth information related to the first network slice.

Optionally, the first network access information further includes information such as uplink and downlink proportion information, timer information, and counter information related to the first network slice.

The corresponding relationship between the first network Slice and the first network access information, and the corresponding relationship between the second time-frequency position and the first network access information may be configured online by a Radio Slice Controller (RSC), or may be configured offline by a technician.

The RSC may be disposed on the base station as a functional module of the base station, or may be independently disposed outside the base station and connected to the base station.

When the base station configures the corresponding relation between the network slice and the first network access information on line and the corresponding relation between the time-frequency position and the first network access information, the base station configures the first network access information corresponding to the first network slice for the first network slice, and also configures the second time-frequency position corresponding to the first network access information according to the first network access information.

It should be noted that the first network access information corresponding to each network slice configuration and the time-frequency position corresponding to each first network access information may be changed according to the actual situation.

Step 204, the user equipment accesses the first network slice according to the first network access information.

In one possible implementation manner, the first system information further includes a time-frequency position corresponding to network access information of a second network slice, where the second network slice is a different network slice from the first network slice. Still referring to fig. 2, the method of accessing network slicing further includes:

step 201a, the base station sends first system information to the user equipment at the first time-frequency position, where the first system information at least includes a second time-frequency position and a time-frequency position corresponding to the second network slice. Correspondingly, the user equipment receives the first system information sent by the base station at the first time-frequency position.

Step 202b, the user equipment obtains the time-frequency position corresponding to the second network slice from the first system information.

Step 203c, the base station sends the second network access information corresponding to the second network slice to the user equipment at the time-frequency position corresponding to the second network slice. Correspondingly, the user equipment receives the second network access information sent by the base station at the time-frequency position corresponding to the second network slice.

Different network slices correspond to different services and QoS, and system parameters such as frequency points, downlink bandwidth information, uplink and downlink proportion information, timer information, counter information and the like required by different QoS are different.

And step 204d, the user equipment accesses the second network slice according to the second network access information.

It should be noted that, since steps 201a to 204d are similar to steps 203 to 204, steps 201a to 204d are not repeated in this embodiment.

In this embodiment, the first system information broadcast by the base station to the multiple user equipments includes time-frequency locations corresponding to the multiple network access information, which is convenient for the user equipment receiving the first system information to select the time-frequency location corresponding to the network access information that needs to be received.

In a possible implementation manner, when the first system information is the MIB, the base station sends the MIB to the user equipment on the PBCH of the center frequency band.

Still referring to fig. 2, the method of accessing network slicing further includes:

step S201, the base station sends MIB to the user equipment at the first time-frequency location, where the MIB at least includes the second time-frequency location. Correspondingly, the user equipment receives the MIB sent by the base station at the first time-frequency position.

Step S202, the user equipment acquires a second time-frequency position from the MIB.

Since the MIB includes at least the second time-frequency location, the user equipment can obtain the second time-frequency location from the MIB after receiving and analyzing the MIB.

Step S203, the base station sends the first network access information to the user equipment at the second time frequency position. Correspondingly, the user equipment receives the first network access information sent by the base station at the second time frequency position.

Step S204, the user equipment accesses the first network slice according to the first network access information.

It should be noted that, since steps S201 to S204 are similar to steps 203 to 204, steps S201 to S204 are not repeated in this embodiment.

In the scheme provided by the embodiment of the invention, the user equipment acquires the second time-frequency position from the MIB sent by the base station, receives the first network access information sent by the base station at the second time-frequency position, and accesses the first network slice according to the first network access information, and because the MIB comprises at least one time-frequency position, the time-frequency position corresponds to the network access information of the network slice, the effect that the broadcasting mode is suitable for a multi-network-slice 5G network, and the user equipment can access the network slice needing to be accessed is achieved.

Example 2

In a possible implementation manner, the user equipment stores a correspondence between a service type and a network slice in advance, the first system information further includes a correspondence between a network slice and a time-frequency position, and when the system information sent by the base station includes the time-frequency position corresponding to more than one network slice, the user equipment may determine, according to a target service to be executed, a network slice corresponding to the target service, and receive, at the time-frequency position corresponding to the network slice, network access information corresponding to the network slice. Referring to fig. 3, a flowchart of another method for accessing a network slice according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown, where the method includes:

step 301, the base station configures first system information.

In this embodiment, the first system information at least includes the second time-frequency location.

Step 302, the base station configures a first time-frequency position corresponding to the first system information and a sending period for sending the first system information for the first system information.

The base station may configure different system information for network slices with different characteristics according to the characteristics of the network slices, and configure corresponding transmission periods for each system information. For example, for a network slice requiring the access of the user equipment within 10ms and a network slice without the requirement of the access duration of the user equipment, the base station encapsulates the time-frequency position of the network slice requiring the access of the user equipment within 10ms into one system information, and encapsulates the time-frequency position of the network slice without the requirement of the access duration of the user equipment into one system information.

Step 303, the base station sends the first system information to the user equipment at the first time-frequency position according to the sending period of the first system information, wherein the first system information at least comprises the corresponding relation between the second time-frequency position, the network slice and the time-frequency position. Correspondingly, the user equipment receives the first system information sent by the base station at the first time-frequency position.

In step 304, the user equipment determines a target service to be executed.

The service refers to a service such as voice, fax, video, and data that the user equipment needs to transmit over the network, and in this embodiment, the service determined to be executed by the user equipment is determined as a target service.

And 305, the user equipment determines a first network slice corresponding to the target service according to the corresponding relation between the pre-stored service type and the network slice.

The correspondence between the service type and the network slice pre-stored in the user equipment can be sent by the base station, or can be configured offline by a technician.

Step 306, the user equipment determines first system information corresponding to the first network slice according to the corresponding relationship between the pre-stored network slice and the system information.

Step 307, the user equipment determines a first time-frequency position corresponding to the first system information according to a correspondence between pre-stored system information and a time-frequency position, and receives the first system information sent by the base station at the first time-frequency position.

When the base station sends more than one piece of system information to the user equipment, the user equipment may determine a first time-frequency position of first system information corresponding to a first network slice to be accessed according to a correspondence between pre-stored system information and time-frequency positions, and receive the first system information sent by the base station at the first time-frequency position.

Step 308, the user equipment determines a second time-frequency position corresponding to the first network slice according to the correspondence between the network slice and the time-frequency position in the first system information.

Since the correspondence between the network slice and the time-frequency position in the first system information includes the correspondence between the first network slice and the second time-frequency position, after the user equipment receives the first system information sent by the base station, the second time-frequency position corresponding to the first network slice can be obtained from the correspondence between the network slice and the time-frequency position.

Step 309, the ue obtains the second time-frequency location from the first system information.

In step 310, the base station sends the first network access information to the user equipment at the second time frequency position. Correspondingly, the user equipment receives the first network access information sent by the base station at the second time frequency position.

In a possible implementation manner, the method for the base station to transmit the first network access information to the user equipment at the second time-frequency position may be replaced by the following steps S1 to S2.

In step S1, the base station configures, for the first network slice, first network access information corresponding to the first network slice and a transmission period for transmitting the first network access information.

The transmission period of the first network access information may be decided according to the characteristics of the first network slice. Taking the urrllc slice as an example, the urrllc slice requires the user equipment to access the urrllc slice quickly, and in order to avoid that the user equipment needs to wait for a long time to acquire the network access information corresponding to the urrllc slice and cannot access the urrllc slice quickly, in this embodiment, the RSC may configure a transmission period meeting the QoS of the service type of the network slice or the access requirement for each network slice online, for example, the RSC configures a transmission period within 10ms for a network slice requiring the user equipment to access within 10 ms.

Step S2, the base station sends the first network access information to the user equipment at the second time-frequency location according to the sending period of the first network access information.

Step 311, the ue accesses the first network slice according to the first network access information.

In practical application, because different network slices have different network access information, the user equipment can access a first network slice corresponding to first network access information according to the first network access information, and the first network slice is a network slice meeting the QoS of the target service.

It should be noted that, since steps 309 to 311 are similar to steps 202 to 204, steps 309 to 311 are not repeated in this embodiment.

In the scheme provided by the embodiment of the invention, the first network slice corresponding to the target service is determined by the user equipment according to the corresponding relation between the pre-stored service type and the network slice, after the first system information is received, the second time-frequency position corresponding to the first network slice is determined according to the corresponding relation between the network slice in the first system information and the time-frequency position, the first network access information sent by the base station is received at the second time-frequency position, and the first network slice is accessed according to the first network access information.

Example 3

In a possible implementation manner, the first system information further includes a corresponding relationship between the service type and the time-frequency position. Referring to fig. 4, a flowchart of a method for accessing a network slice according to another embodiment of the present invention is shown, where the method includes:

step 401, the base station configures first system information.

Step 402, the base station configures a first time-frequency position corresponding to the first system information and a sending period for sending the first system information for the first system information.

Step 403, the base station sends the first system information to the user equipment at the first time-frequency position according to the sending cycle of the first system information, where the first system information at least includes the corresponding relationship between the second time-frequency position, the service type, and the time-frequency position. Correspondingly, the user equipment receives the first system information sent by the base station at the first time-frequency position.

In step 404, the user equipment determines a target service to be executed.

Step 405, the user equipment determines a first network slice corresponding to the target service according to a pre-stored correspondence between the service type and the network slice.

Step 406, the user equipment determines first system information corresponding to the first network slice according to a correspondence between the pre-stored network slice and the system information.

Step 407, the user equipment determines a first time-frequency position corresponding to the first system information according to a correspondence between pre-stored system information and a time-frequency position, and receives the first system information sent by the base station at the first time-frequency position.

Step 408, the user equipment determines a second time-frequency position corresponding to the target service according to the corresponding relationship between the service type and the time-frequency position in the first system information.

Since the corresponding relationship between the service type and the time-frequency position in the first system information includes the corresponding relationship between the target service and the second time-frequency position, after the user equipment receives the first system information sent by the base station, the second time-frequency position corresponding to the target service can be obtained in the corresponding relationship between the service type and the time-frequency position.

Step 409, the user equipment obtains the second time frequency position from the first system information.

Step 410, the base station sends the first network access information to the user equipment at the second time frequency position. Correspondingly, the user equipment receives the first network access information sent by the base station at the second time frequency position.

Step 411, the ue accesses the first network slice according to the first network access information.

It should be noted that, since step 402 is similar to step 302, step 404 to step 407 are similar to step 304 to step 307, and step 409 to step 411 are similar to step 307 to step 311, step 402, step 404 to step 407, and step 409 to step 411 are not described in detail in this embodiment.

In the scheme provided by the embodiment of the invention, the user equipment determines the second time-frequency position corresponding to the target service according to the corresponding relation between the service type and the time-frequency position in the first system information, receives the first network access information sent by the base station at the second time-frequency position, and accesses the first network slice according to the first network access information.

Example 4

In practical application, the base station may add an SIBn (n >1), store the time-frequency position corresponding to the first network access information of at least one network slice by the SIBn, store the time-frequency position of the SIBn in the SIB1, and send the SIB1 to the ue.

Referring to fig. 5, a flowchart of a method for accessing a network slice according to another embodiment of the present invention is shown, where the method includes:

step 501, the base station sends SIB1 to the ue at the third time-frequency position, where the SIB1 at least includes the first time-frequency position of SIBn, and n > 1. Correspondingly, the user equipment receives the SIB1 sent by the base station at the third time-frequency position.

In the present embodiment, SIBn is a piece of system information of a next layer indicated by SIB1, and the transmission period of the SIBn may be configured and scheduled by RSC.

In step 502, the ue acquires the first time-frequency location of SIBn from SIB 1.

Step 503, the base station sends SIBn to the ue at the first time-frequency location, where the SIBn at least includes the second time-frequency location. Correspondingly, the user equipment receives the SIBn transmitted by the base station at the first time frequency position.

For each network slice, the network access information of the network slice includes strong related information and shared information of the network slice, where the strong related information is information related only to the network slice, such as information of bandwidth, frequency point, TTI, timer, etc. of the network slice; the shared information is information related to at least two network slices, such as cell identifiers of the network slices.

Optionally, since the strong related information of each network slice is different, the base station may store the strong related information of the network slice in the SIBn, and the shared information is still sent to the user equipment according to the broadcast mode in the current LTE network.

Step 504, the ue obtains the second time-frequency location from the SIBn.

And 505, the base station sends the first network access information to the user equipment at the second time frequency position. Correspondingly, the user equipment receives the first network access information sent by the base station at the second time frequency position.

Step 506, the user equipment accesses the first network slice according to the first network access information.

It should be noted that, since steps 504 to 506 are similar to steps 202 to 204, steps 504 to 506 are not repeated in this embodiment.

In the scheme provided by the embodiment of the invention, the first time-frequency position of the SIBn is acquired from the SIB1 sent by the base station through the user equipment, the SIBn sent by the base station is received at the first time-frequency position, the second time-frequency position is acquired from the SIBn, the first network access information sent by the base station is received at the second time-frequency position, and the first network slice is accessed according to the first network access information.

In practical application, the base station may further store the time-frequency location of the SIBn in the MIB, and then send the MIB to the user equipment.

Still referring to fig. 5, the method of accessing network slicing includes:

step 501a, the base station sends MIB to the ue at the fourth time-frequency location, where the MIB at least includes the first time-frequency location of SIBn, and n > 1. Correspondingly, the user equipment receives the MIB sent by the base station at the fourth time-frequency position.

The current transmission period of the MIB is 40ms, and the transmission period of the SIB1 is 80 ms. Since the transmission period of the MIB is less than the transmission period of the SIB1, compared with the technical scheme that the base station stores the time-frequency position of the SIBn in the SIB1, the base station stores the time-frequency position of the SIBn in the MIB, so that the user equipment can acquire the first time-frequency position of the SIBn earlier, and thus perform subsequent steps earlier.

In this embodiment, SIBn is a piece of first system information juxtaposed with SIB 1.

In step 502a, the ue obtains the first time-frequency location of SIBn from the MIB.

In step 503a, the base station sends SIBn to the ue at the first time-frequency location, where the SIBn at least includes the second time-frequency location. Correspondingly, the user equipment receives the SIBn transmitted by the base station at the first time frequency position.

In step 504a, the ue obtains a second time-frequency location from the SIBn.

Step 505a, the base station sends the first network access information to the user equipment at the second time frequency position. Correspondingly, the user equipment receives the first network access information sent by the base station at the second time frequency position.

Step 506a, the user equipment accesses the first network slice according to the first network access information.

It should be noted that, since steps 503a to 506a are similar to steps 503 to 506, steps 503a to 506a are not described again in this embodiment.

It should be noted that steps 501 to 506 and steps 501a to 506a may be implemented separately or in combination, and the present description does not limit the implementation sequence between steps 501 to 506 and steps 501a to 506 a.

In the scheme provided by the embodiment of the invention, the first time-frequency position of the SIBn is obtained from the MIB sent by the base station through the user equipment, the SIBn sent by the base station is received at the first time-frequency position, the second time-frequency position is obtained from the SIBn, the first network access information sent by the base station is received at the second time-frequency position, and the first network slice is accessed according to the first network access information.

Example 5

In a scenario of possible implementation, for a certain type of user equipment (such as an mtc user terminal) that is simple in function, only accesses a single slice, and is expensive in energy, in order to save the power of the type of user equipment, a technician may configure information about a network slice (such as an mtc slice) offline at a base station and the type of user equipment.

Referring to fig. 6, a flowchart of a method for accessing a network slice according to another embodiment of the present invention is shown, where the method includes:

step 601, the base station sends the first network access information to the user equipment at the second time frequency position. Correspondingly, the user equipment receives the first network access information sent by the base station at the second time frequency position.

When the base station receives the generation information of the first network slice sent by the network controller, the base station sends the first network access information to the user equipment at the second time-frequency position according to the corresponding relation between the first network access information of the first network slice configured in an off-line mode and the second time-frequency position of the first network slice.

It should be noted that, when the base station periodically configures the corresponding relationship between the network slice that needs to be configured online and the network access information, and the corresponding relationship between the network access information that needs to be configured online and the time-frequency position, the base station does not change the corresponding relationship between the first network slice that has been configured offline and the first network access information, and the corresponding relationship between the first network access information and the second time-frequency position.

Step 602, the ue accesses the first network slice according to the first network access information.

And the user equipment receives first network access information corresponding to the first network slice sent by the base station at the second time-frequency position according to the corresponding relation between the first network slice configured offline and the second time-frequency position, and accesses the first network slice according to the first network access information.

In this embodiment, the power of the user equipment is saved by configuring the relevant information of the first network slice in the base station and the user terminal offline.

Example 6

In practical application, after the user equipment is started, the user equipment can be randomly accessed to the network, sends an execution request for executing a target service to the base station, and accesses a target slice corresponding to the target task according to a target access network corresponding to the target service fed back by the base station.

Referring to fig. 7, a flowchart of a method for accessing a network slice according to another embodiment of the present invention is shown, where the method includes:

step 701, a user equipment randomly accesses to a network and sends an access request for accessing to a first network slice to a base station. Correspondingly, the base station receives an access request sent by the user equipment.

Optionally, the user equipment accesses a public network slice, and sends an access request for accessing the first network slice to the base station, where the public network slice is a network slice that the user equipment uniformly accesses before the target service is not determined.

After establishing network connection with a base station in a random access manner, a user equipment sends an access request for accessing a first network slice to the base station through Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection between the user equipment and the base station.

In step 702, the base station feeds back a slice access response message to the user equipment. Correspondingly, the user equipment receives a slice access response message fed back by the base station, wherein the slice access response message carries the data plane wireless resources of the first network slice.

Step 703, the ue accesses the first network slice according to the data plane radio resource of the first network slice.

Data is transmitted on the data plane information according to the data plane information of the access network portion in the data plane radio resources of the first network slice.

Optionally, before the user equipment accesses the first network slice according to the data plane radio resource of the first network slice, the user equipment is switched to a cell or a frequency point corresponding to the network slice from the cell where the user equipment is located.

In a possible implementation manner, when a base station configures a corresponding relationship between a network slice and first network access information on line, if the number of user equipment accessing a certain network slice changes, in order to ensure the quality of network data transmission after the user equipment accesses the network slice, the RSC updates information such as the first network access information and the transmission period of the network slice according to the traffic demand of the network slice.

After the first network access information of the first network slice is updated, the base station configures the first network access information corresponding to the first network slice for the first network slice, so as to ensure that the user equipment correctly accesses the updated network slice.

Wherein, the time when the base station configures the first network access information corresponding to the first network slice for the first network slice may be at least one of the following conditions:

1. the base station generates a first network slice.

If the base station receives a network slice generation request sent by the network controller, it indicates that the network slice is related to a target service determined to be executed by a certain user equipment, and therefore, after the base station generates the network slice, the base station needs to configure information such as corresponding network access information, time-frequency position, sending period and the like for the network slice.

2. The base station generates a second network slice.

After the base station generates the second network slice, it needs to configure the corresponding network access information, time-frequency position, transmission cycle, etc. for the second network slice, and in the configuration process, the base station needs to globally re-plan the network access information of all the current activated network slices, so the base station can re-adjust the first network access information, time-frequency position, transmission cycle, etc. corresponding to the first network slice.

3. The base station deletes the first network slice.

If the base station receives a first network slice deletion request sent by the network controller, which indicates that the first network slice is not in a connected state (i.e., no user equipment accesses the first network slice), in order to ensure full utilization of network resources, the base station needs to delete or update information such as first network access information and a sending period corresponding to the first network slice after deleting the first network slice.

4. The base station deletes the second network slice.

And after deleting the second network slice, the base station releases the time-frequency resource of the second network slice, and the time-frequency resource can be partially or completely distributed to the first network slice for use, so that the base station can readjust the first network access information, the time-frequency position and the sending period corresponding to the first network slice.

5. The base station updates the first network slice.

If the base station receives a first network slice update request sent by the network controller, it indicates that the number of the user equipment accessing the first network slice has changed, and in order to ensure the quality of network data transmission after the user equipment accesses the first network slice, the base station needs to update information such as first network access information corresponding to the first network slice.

6. The base station updates the second network slice.

When the base station updates the second network slice, the base station updates corresponding second network access information, time-frequency positions, sending periods and the like for the second network slice, and at the moment, the base station needs to globally re-plan the first network access information of all current activated network slices, so that the base station can re-adjust the first network access information, the time-frequency positions and the sending periods corresponding to the first network slice.

7. The base station adjusts an air interface channel of the first network slice.

When the base station detects that the empty channel condition of the first network slice does not reach the channel quality threshold, in order to ensure the quality of network data transmission after the user equipment accesses the first network slice, the base station needs to update information such as first network access information and a transmission period corresponding to the first network slice.

8. And the base station adjusts an air interface channel of the second network slice.

When the base station adjusts an air interface channel of a second network slice, information such as second network access information, a sending period and the like corresponding to the second network slice needs to be updated, and at the moment, the base station needs to globally re-plan first network access information of all current activated network slices, so that the base station can re-adjust first network access information, a time-frequency position and a sending period corresponding to the first network slice.

9. Adjusting a transmission period of the first network access information of the first network slice.

After the base station adjusts the sending period of the first network access information of the first network slice, in order to ensure the quality of network data transmission after the user equipment accesses the first network slice, the base station needs to update the information such as the first network access information and the sending period corresponding to the first network slice.

10. And adjusting the sending period of the second network access information of the second network slice.

After the base station adjusts the sending period of the second network access information of the second network slice, the information such as the second network access information and the sending period corresponding to the second network slice needs to be updated, and at this time, the base station needs to globally re-plan the network access information of all the current activated network slices, so that the base station can re-adjust the network access information, the time-frequency position and the sending period corresponding to the first network slice.

The above-mentioned scheme provided by the embodiment of the present invention is introduced mainly from the perspective of interaction between a base station and user equipment. It is understood that the base station and the user equipment include hardware structures and/or software modules for performing the functions in order to implement the functions. The elements and algorithm steps of the various examples described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be embodied in hardware or in a combination of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is performed as hardware or computer software drives hardware depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the solution. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present teachings.

Fig. 8 is a schematic diagram illustrating a possible structure of a base station according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The base station 800 includes a transmitter/receiver 801 and a processor 802. The processor 802 may also be a controller, and is shown as "controller/processor 802" in fig. 8. The transmitter/receiver 801 is used to support information transceiving between a base station and the user equipment in the above embodiments, and to support radio communication between the user equipment and other user equipment. The processor 802 performs various functions for communicating with user equipment. On the uplink, uplink signals from the user equipment are received via the antenna, demodulated by the receiver 801 (e.g., demodulating high frequency signals to baseband signals), and further processed by the processor 802 to recover traffic data and signaling information sent by the user equipment. On the downlink, traffic data and signaling messages are processed by processor 802 and modulated (e.g., by modulating a baseband signal to a high frequency signal) by transmitter 801 to generate a downlink signal, which is transmitted via an antenna to user devices. It is noted that the above-described demodulation or modulation functions can also be performed by the processor 802. For example, the processor 802 may be further configured to perform the process of step 601 in fig. 6 and/or other processes of the present disclosure.

Further, the base station 800 may also comprise a memory 803, the memory 803 being used to store program codes and data for the base station 800. The base station may also include a transceiver 804. The transceiver 804 is used to support the base station in communication with other network entities (e.g., network devices in a core network, etc.). For example, in the LTE system, the transceiver 804 may be an S1-U interface, which is used to support a base station to communicate with a Serving Gateway (SGW); alternatively, the transceiver 804 may also be an S1-MME interface, configured to support a base station to communicate with a Mobility Management Entity (MME).

It will be appreciated that fig. 8 only shows a simplified design of a base station 800. In practical applications, the base station 800 may comprise any number of transmitters, receivers, processors, controllers, memories, transceivers, etc., and all base stations that can implement the embodiments of the present invention are within the scope of the embodiments of the present invention.

Fig. 9 shows a simplified schematic diagram of a possible design structure of a user equipment involved in an embodiment of the present invention. The user equipment 900 comprises a transmitter 901, a receiver 902 and a processor 903. The processor 903 may be a controller, and is represented as "controller/processor 903" in fig. 9. Optionally, the user equipment 900 may further include a modem processor 904, wherein the modem processor 904 may include an encoder 905, a modulator 906, a decoder 907, and a demodulator 908.

In one example, the transmitter 901 conditions (e.g., converts to analog, filters, amplifies, and frequency upconverts, etc.) the output samples and generates an uplink signal, which is transmitted via an antenna to the base station as described in the embodiments above. On the downlink, the antenna receives the downlink signal transmitted by the base station in the above embodiment. Receiver 902 conditions (e.g., filters, amplifies, downconverts, and digitizes, etc.) the received signal from the antenna and provides input samples. Within modem processor 904, an encoder 905 receives traffic data and signaling messages to be transmitted on the uplink and processes (e.g., formats, encodes, and interleaves) the traffic data and signaling messages. A modulator 906 further processes (e.g., symbol maps and modulates) the coded traffic data and signaling messages and provides output samples. A demodulator 908 processes (e.g., demodulates) the input samples and provides symbol estimates. A decoder 907 processes (e.g., deinterleaves and decodes) the symbol estimates and provides decoded data and signaling messages for transmission to user device 900. The encoder 905, modulator 906, demodulator 908, and decoder 907 may be implemented by a combined modem processor 904. These elements are processed in accordance with the radio access technology employed by the radio access network (e.g., the access technologies of LTE and other evolved systems). It is noted that when user equipment 900 does not include modem processor 904, the above-described functions of modem processor 904 can also be performed by processor 903.

The processor 903 controls and manages the operation of the ue 900, and is configured to execute the processing procedure performed by the ue 900 in the embodiment of the present invention. For example, the processor 903 is also configured to execute the process of step 602 in fig. 6 and/or other processes of the technical solutions described in this application.

Further, the user equipment 900 may also include a memory 909, the memory 909 being used for storing program codes and data for the user equipment 900.

The processor for performing the functions of the base station or the user equipment according to the embodiments of the present invention may be a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a general purpose processor, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), an Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or other Programmable logic devices, transistor logic devices, hardware components, or any combination thereof. Which may implement or execute the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the embodiment disclosure. The processor may also be a combination of computing functions, e.g., comprising one or more microprocessors, DSPs, and microprocessors, among others.

The steps of a method or algorithm described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be embodied in hardware or in software executed by a processor. The software instructions may be comprised of corresponding software modules that may be stored in Random Access Memory (RAM), flash Memory, Read Only Memory (ROM), Erasable Programmable ROM (EPROM), Electrically Erasable Programmable ROM (EEPROM), registers, a hard disk, a removable disk, a compact disc Read Only Memory (CD-ROM), or any other form of storage medium known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor such the processor can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. Of course, the storage medium may also be integral to the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in an ASIC. In addition, the ASIC may reside in a base station or user equipment. Of course, the processor and the storage medium may reside as discrete components in a base station or user equipment.

Referring to fig. 10, a block diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the invention is shown. The communication means may be implemented as all or part of the user equipment, in software, hardware or a combination of both. The user equipment may include: receiving section 1001, transmitting section 1002, and executing section 1003.

A receiving unit 1001, configured to implement a function of at least one of the foregoing steps 202 and 204.

A sending unit 1002, configured to implement the function of step 701.

An executing unit 1003, configured to implement the function of step 703.

Reference may be made in connection with the above-described method embodiments.

In another optional embodiment, the receiving unit 1001 is configured to implement functions of at least one of step 202a, step 204a, step S202, step S204, step 304 to step 309, step 311, step 404 to step 409, step 411, step 502, step 504, step 506, step 502a, step 504a, and step 506 a.

The execution unit 1003 is configured to implement the function of step 602.

It should be noted that the receiving unit 1001 and the transmitting unit 1002 may be implemented by a transceiver of a user equipment; the execution unit 1003 may be implemented by a processor of the user equipment.

Referring to fig. 11, a block diagram of another communication device according to an embodiment of the invention is shown. The communication means may be implemented as all or part of a base station in software, hardware or a combination of both. The base station may include: a transmitting unit 1101 and an executing unit 1102.

A sending unit 1101, configured to implement the function of at least one of step 201 and step 203.

An executing unit 1102, configured to implement the function of step 702.

In another optional embodiment, the sending unit 1101 is configured to implement a function of at least one of step 201a, step S201, step S203, step 203a, step 301 to step 303, step 310, step 401 to step 403, step 410, step 501, step 503, step 505, step 501a, step 503a, step 505a, and step 601.

The transmitting unit 1101 may be implemented by a transceiver of a base station; the above-mentioned executing unit 1102 may be implemented by a processor of the base station.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that, in one or more of the examples described above, the functions described in connection with the embodiments of the invention may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, the functions may be stored on or transmitted over as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media includes both computer storage media and communication media including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another. A storage media may be any available media that can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer.

The above-mentioned embodiments are intended to illustrate the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present invention in further detail, and it should be understood that the above-mentioned embodiments are only specific embodiments of the present invention, and are not intended to limit the scope of the embodiments of the present invention.

Claims

1. A method of accessing network slices, the method comprising:

the user equipment determines a target service to be executed;

the user equipment determines a first network slice corresponding to the target service according to a corresponding relation between a pre-stored service type and the network slice;

the user equipment determines first system information corresponding to the first network slice according to the corresponding relation between the pre-stored network slice and the system information;

the user equipment determines a first time-frequency position corresponding to the first system information according to a corresponding relation between pre-stored system information and the time-frequency position, receives the first system information sent by a base station at the first time-frequency position, and acquires a second time-frequency position from the first system information;

and the user equipment receives first network access information sent by the base station at the second time-frequency position, and accesses a first network slice according to the first network access information.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein when the first system information is a first system information module SIBn, the ue receives the first system information sent by a base station at the first time/frequency location, comprising:

the user equipment receives SIB1 sent by the base station at a third time-frequency position, and acquires a first time-frequency position of the SIBn from the SIB1, wherein the SIBn is system information of a layer below the SIB 1;

and the user equipment receives the SIBn, n >1 sent by the base station at the first time-frequency position.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein when the first system information is SIBn, the ue receives the first system information sent by a base station at the first time/frequency location, comprising:

the user equipment receives an MIB sent by the base station at a fourth time-frequency position, and acquires a first time-frequency position of the SIBn from the MIB, wherein the SIBn is system information at the same level as the SIB 1;

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first system information further includes a correspondence between a network slice and a time-frequency location, and the receiving, by the ue, the first system information sent by a base station at the first time-frequency location comprises:

and the user equipment receives the first system information sent by the base station at the first time-frequency position, and determines a second time-frequency position corresponding to the first network slice according to the corresponding relation between the network slice in the first system information and the time-frequency position.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first system information further includes a correspondence between a service type and a time-frequency location, and the receiving, by the ue, the first system information sent by the base station at the first time-frequency location includes:

and the user equipment receives the first system information sent by the base station at the first time-frequency position, and determines a second time-frequency position corresponding to the target service according to the corresponding relation between the service type in the first system information and the time-frequency position.

6. A method of accessing network slices, the method comprising:

a base station configures first system information, wherein the first system information at least comprises a second time frequency position;

the base station configures a first time-frequency position corresponding to the first system information and a sending period for sending the first system information for the first system information;

the base station sends the first system information to user equipment at the first time-frequency position according to the sending period of the first system information;

and the base station sends first network access information to the user equipment at the second time-frequency position, wherein the first network access information is used for triggering the user equipment to access a first network slice according to the first network access information after receiving the first network access information.

7. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein when the first system information is SIBn, the base station transmits the first system information to the ue at the first time/frequency location, comprising:

the base station sends SIB1 to the user equipment at a third time-frequency position, wherein the SIB1 comprises at least the first time-frequency position of the SIBn, n > 1.

8. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein when the first system information is SIBn, the base station transmits the first system information to the ue at the first time/frequency location, comprising:

and the base station sends MIB to the user equipment at a fourth time-frequency position, wherein the MIB at least comprises the first time-frequency position of the SIBn, and n is greater than 1.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the base station sends the first network access information to the UE at the second time-frequency location, comprising:

the base station configures first network access information corresponding to the first network slice and a sending period for sending the first network access information for the first network slice;

and the base station sends the first network access information to the user equipment at the second time frequency position according to the sending period of the first network access information.

10. The method according to any of claims 6-8, wherein before the base station transmits the first system information to the user equipment at the first time-frequency location, the method further comprises:

the base station configures first network access information corresponding to the first network slice for the first network slice;

and the base station configures a second time-frequency position corresponding to the first network access information according to the first network access information.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein before the base station configures the first network slice with first network access information corresponding to the first network slice, the method further comprises:

when a predetermined condition is triggered, the base station performs the step of configuring first network access information corresponding to the first network slice for the first network slice, where the predetermined condition is at least one of the following conditions: the base station generates the first network slice, the base station deletes the first network slice, the base station updates the first network slice, the base station adjusts an air interface channel of the first network slice, the base station adjusts a transmission period of network access information of the first network slice, the base station generates a second network slice, the base station deletes the second network slice, the base station updates the second network slice, the base station adjusts an air interface channel of the second network slice, and the base station adjusts a transmission period of network access information of the second network slice.

12. A user equipment, the user equipment comprising: a processor, a memory, and a transceiver, the memory to store one or more instructions configured to be executed by the processor;

the transceiver is used for determining a target service to be executed; determining a first network slice corresponding to the target service according to a corresponding relation between a prestored service type and a network slice; determining first system information corresponding to the first network slice according to a corresponding relation between a pre-stored network slice and the system information; determining a first time-frequency position corresponding to the first system information according to a corresponding relation between pre-stored system information and the time-frequency position, receiving the first system information sent by a base station at the first time-frequency position, and acquiring a second time-frequency position from the first system information;

the transceiver is further configured to receive, at the second time-frequency position, first network access information sent by the base station, and access a first network slice according to the first network access information.

13. The user equipment of claim 12, wherein the transceiver is further configured to:

when the first system information is the SIBn, receiving an SIB1 sent by the base station at a third time-frequency position, and acquiring a first time-frequency position of the SIBn from the SIB 1;

and receiving the SIBn, n >1 transmitted by the base station at the first time-frequency position.

14. The user equipment of claim 12, wherein the transceiver is further configured to:

when the first system information is SIBn, receiving MIB sent by the base station at a fourth time-frequency position, and acquiring the first time-frequency position of SIBn from the MIB;

15. The ue of claim 12, wherein the first system information further includes a correspondence between a network slice and a time-frequency location, and wherein the transceiver is further configured to:

and receiving first system information sent by the base station at the first time-frequency position, and determining a second time-frequency position corresponding to the first network slice according to the corresponding relation between the network slice in the first system information and the time-frequency position.

16. The ue of claim 12, wherein the first system information further includes a correspondence between a service type and a time-frequency location, and wherein the transceiver is further configured to:

and receiving first system information sent by the base station at the first time-frequency position, and determining a second time-frequency position corresponding to the target service according to the corresponding relation between the service type in the first system information and the time-frequency position.

17. A base station, characterized in that the base station comprises: a processor, a memory, and a transceiver, the memory to store one or more instructions configured to be executed by the processor;

the transceiver is configured to configure first system information, where the first system information at least includes a second time-frequency location; configuring a first time-frequency position corresponding to the first system information and a sending period for sending the first system information for the first system information; transmitting the first system information to user equipment at the first time-frequency position according to the transmission period of the first system information;

the transceiver is further configured to send first network access information to the user equipment at the second time-frequency position, where the first network access information is used to instruct the user equipment to access a first network slice according to the first network access information after receiving the first network access information.

18. The base station of claim 17, wherein the transceiver is further configured to:

when the first system information is the SIBn, sending SIB1 to the UE at a third time-frequency position, wherein the SIB1 at least comprises the first time-frequency position of the SIBn, and n > 1.

19. The base station of claim 17, wherein the transceiver is further configured to:

and when the first system information is the SIBn, sending MIB to the user equipment at a fourth time-frequency position, wherein the MIB at least comprises the first time-frequency position of the SIBn, and n > 1.

20. The base station of claim 17, wherein the processor is further configured to:

configuring first network access information corresponding to the first network slice and a sending period for sending the first network access information for the first network slice;

and sending the first network access information to the user equipment at the second time frequency position according to the sending period of the first network access information.

21. The base station of any of claims 17-19, wherein the processor is further configured to:

configuring first network access information corresponding to the first network slice for the first network slice before the first system information is sent to the user equipment at the first time-frequency position;

and configuring a second time-frequency position corresponding to the first network access information according to the first network access information.

22. The base station of claim 21, wherein the transceiver is further configured to:

when a predetermined condition is triggered, the step of configuring first network access information corresponding to the first network slice for the first network slice is executed, wherein the predetermined condition is at least one of the following conditions: the base station generates the first network slice, the base station deletes the first network slice, the base station updates the first network slice, the base station adjusts an air interface channel of the first network slice, the base station adjusts a transmission period of network access information of the first network slice, the base station generates a second network slice, the base station deletes the second network slice, the base station updates the second network slice, the base station adjusts an air interface channel of the second network slice, and the base station adjusts a transmission period of network access information of the second network slice, wherein the second network slice is a network slice different from the first network slice.