CN111757400B

CN111757400B - Communication method and communication device

Info

Publication number: CN111757400B
Application number: CN201910251455.3A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 严乐; 张宏平; 耿婷婷; 曾清海
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2019-03-29
Filing date: 2019-03-29
Publication date: 2022-05-31
Anticipated expiration: 2039-03-29
Also published as: CN111757400A

Abstract

The application provides a communication method and a communication device, wherein the communication method comprises the following steps: the terminal equipment judges whether the candidate cells meet the switching conditions or not according to the first information, and determines first cells meeting the switching conditions in the candidate cells as target cells; wherein the first information comprises at least one of the following information: the first signal quality is determined according to the cell signal quality and the number of first type beams of the cell, wherein the first type beams are beams with the signal quality higher than a first threshold value; a number of second type beams, the second type beams being beams having a signal quality higher than a second threshold; the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality in the cell; or, the number of beams associated with contention-free random access CFRA resources in the cell. The communication method and the communication device of the embodiment of the application can enable the terminal equipment to determine the appropriate target cell, and are favorable for improving the switching success rate.

Description

Communication method and communication device

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of communications, and more particularly, to a communication method and a communication apparatus in the field of communications.

Background

In a conventional cell handover procedure of a mobile communication system, mobility management of a terminal device is controlled by a network device, that is, the network device instructs the terminal device to handover to a specific cell and how to perform cell handover by sending a handover message. After receiving the handover message, the terminal device accesses the target cell according to the content contained in the handover message, so that the successful sending of the handover message is a necessary condition for ensuring the successful handover under the conventional handover mechanism. However, in some scenarios, for example, in a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system or a New Radio (NR) access system, factors such as fast attenuation of channel quality, fast movement of a terminal device, blocking of an object, or long duration of measurement and handover preparation may cause a handover message to be unsuccessfully sent, which may further cause a handover failure and reduce a handover success rate.

Therefore, it is desirable to provide a technique capable of improving the success rate of cell handover of a terminal device.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides a communication method and a communication device, which can enable a terminal device to determine a proper target cell and are beneficial to improving the cell switching success rate of the terminal device.

In a first aspect, a communication method is provided, including: the terminal equipment judges whether the candidate cell meets the switching condition or not according to the first information; the terminal equipment determines a first cell as a target cell, wherein the first cell is a cell which meets the switching condition in the candidate cells; wherein the first information comprises at least one of the following information: the first signal quality is determined according to the cell signal quality and the number of first type beams of the cell, wherein the first type beams are beams with the signal quality higher than a first threshold value X; the number of second type beams, wherein the second type beams are beams with signal quality higher than a second threshold value Y; the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality in the cell; or, the number of beams associated with contention-free random access CFRA resources in the cell.

In this embodiment, the terminal device may determine whether the candidate cell meets the handover condition by combining information such as the number of beams (e.g., the first type of beams and the second type of beams) with signal quality higher than a certain threshold, the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality, and the number of beams associated with the CFRA resource, so that the target cell determined by the terminal device has better robustness and the signal quality of the target cell is excellent. Therefore, according to the communication method provided by the embodiment of the application, the terminal equipment can determine the appropriate target cell for switching, and the success rate of switching the terminal equipment to the cell is improved.

In this embodiment, a first type of beam and a second type of beam are defined, wherein the first type of beam is a beam with a signal quality higher than or equal to a first threshold value X, and the second type of beam is a beam with a signal quality higher than or equal to a second threshold value Y. Here, X and Y may be equal or unequal, which is not limited in this embodiment. The above X and/or Y may be predefined by a protocol, or may be configured for the terminal device by the network device through signaling, for example, the network device configures X and/or Y for the terminal device through an RRC reconfiguration message. Illustratively, the network device may configure X and/or Y for the terminal device through the same RRC reconfiguration message; or, the network device may configure X for the terminal device through one RRC reconfiguration message, and configure Y for the terminal device through another RRC reconfiguration message; or, the network device may configure X for the terminal device through one RRC reconfiguration message, configure difference information (e.g., difference information between X and Y) or indication information (e.g., indication that X is equal to Y) for the terminal device through another RRC reconfiguration message, and the terminal device determines the second threshold Y according to the first threshold X and the difference information or the indication information; or, the network device configures X for the terminal device only through one RRC reconfiguration message, the second threshold Y is the first threshold X, and the first type beam is the second type beam. This embodiment is not limited to this. For example, in one implementation, the measurement configuration information sent by the source network device to the terminal device may include X, and the conditional handover configuration information sent by the source network device to the terminal device may include Y. Alternatively, in another implementation manner, the measurement configuration information sent by the source network device to the terminal device may include X and Y. Or, in another implementation manner, the conditional handover configuration information sent by the source network device to the terminal device may include X and Y. It should be understood that the configuration of X and/or Y may also be implemented in other ways, which is not limited by the embodiments of the present application.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the first information further includes the cell signal quality.

It should be understood that the cell signal quality is determined from the first type of beam in the cell. For example, the cell signal quality is a linear average of the signal quality values of at most N beams of the first type of beam of the cell, where the signal quality is the best. In other words, the cell signal quality is a linear average of the beam signal quality values of at most N beams in the cell with a beam signal quality higher than X. N is a positive integer, also referred to as an eighth threshold in this application. If N is 3, for a certain cell, if there are 4 beams whose beam signal quality is higher than X belonging to the cell, then linearly averaging the signal quality values of the 3 beams with the best beam signal quality among the 4 beams, and the value of the linear average indicates the cell signal quality value of the cell; if the quality of the wave beam signal belonging to the cell is higher than that of the X wave beams by 2, performing linear average on the signal quality values of the 2 wave beams, wherein the value of the linear average represents the cell signal quality value of the cell; if only 1 beam with the quality of the beam signal belonging to the cell higher than that of the X beam is available, the signal quality value of the 1 beam is taken as the cell signal quality value of the cell.

When the terminal device determines whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition, it may combine at least one of the number of the second type beams, the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality in the cell, and the number of beams associated with the contention-free random access CFRA resource in the cell on the basis of considering the cell signal quality or the first signal quality, so that the target cell determined by the terminal device has more robustness and excellent signal quality.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the handover condition includes at least one of: the first signal quality of the candidate cell is greater than the sum of the first signal quality of the source cell and a third threshold value offset 1; the number of the second type beams of the candidate cell is greater than a fourth threshold value M, wherein M is a positive integer; the number of the second type beams of the candidate cell is greater than or equal to the number of the second type beams of the source cell; the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality of the candidate cell is greater than a fifth threshold value Q; the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality of the candidate cell is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality of the source cell; the number of beams associated with the CFRA resource in the candidate cell is greater than or equal to a sixth threshold value P, where the sixth threshold value P is a positive integer; the number of beams associated with the CFRA resources in the candidate cell is greater than or equal to the number of beams associated with the CFRA resources in the source cell; or, the cell signal quality of the candidate cell is greater than the sum of the cell signal quality of the source cell and the seventh threshold value offset 2.

For example, the terminal device determines which switching condition is used, and depending on the content of the first information, the first information may be predefined by a protocol, or may be configured for the terminal device by a network device through signaling, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application. Or, the content of the first information depends on the handover condition adopted by the terminal device when determining whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition, and the triggering parameter of the handover condition may be configured for the terminal device by the network device through signaling.

With reference to the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, before the terminal device determines whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition according to the first information, the method further includes: the terminal device receives a trigger parameter of the switching condition, where the trigger parameter is used to indicate at least one of the third threshold value offset1, the fourth threshold value M, the fifth threshold value Q, the sixth threshold value P, or the seventh threshold value offset 2.

Illustratively, the network device may configure the respective threshold values for the terminal device in an explicit indication or implicit indication manner, so that the terminal device performs condition judgment. Optionally, the network device may further send information indicating at least one of the second threshold value Y, the parameter i, and the parameter j to the terminal device. Optionally, the network device may further send, to the terminal device, information indicating at least one of the first threshold value X and the eighth threshold value N. Optionally, the information may be carried in the conditional handover configuration information.

Optionally, each of the thresholds may be of a cell granularity (that is, values of thresholds corresponding to different cells are different), or of a measurement frequency point granularity (that is, values of thresholds corresponding to different measurement frequency points are different), or of a terminal device granularity (that is, values of thresholds corresponding to different terminal devices are different; values of thresholds configured for different cells or different measurement frequency points are the same for the same terminal device), which is not limited in this embodiment.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the first signal quality is the cell signal quality + i x (number of the first type beams-1), 0< i < 1; or, the first signal quality is the cell signal quality + j × (the number of the first type of beams — an eighth threshold value N), 0< j < 1; or, the first signal quality is the cell signal quality × the number of the first type beams/the eighth threshold value N; and the eighth threshold value N is a positive integer.

Illustratively, the cell signal quality is a linear average of the signal qualities of at most N beams of the first type with the best signal quality.

Wherein "-" indicates subtraction, and "x" indicates multiplication. i or j may be predefined by a protocol, or may be configured for the terminal device by the network device through signaling, for example, the network device may configure i or j for the terminal device through an RRC reconfiguration message. In one implementation, the conditional handover configuration information sent by the source network device to the terminal device may include i or j. In addition, i or j may be of a cell granularity (that is, values of different cells i or j are different), or a measurement frequency point granularity (that is, values of different measurement frequency points i or j are different), or a terminal device granularity (that is, values of different terminal devices i or j are different; i configured for different cells or different measurement frequency points are the same for the same terminal device, or j configured for different cells or different measurement frequency points are the same for the same terminal device), which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

With reference to the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, before the terminal device determines whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition according to the first information, the method further includes: and the network equipment sends information for indicating at least one of the first threshold value X and the eighth threshold value N to the terminal equipment. Optionally, the information may be carried in measurement configuration information.

Optionally, M and N may be equal or unequal. If M and N are not equal, M and N need to be configured respectively. If M is equal to N, M may not be included in the conditional switch configuration information. If the network device has configured the eighth threshold N, when the terminal device needs to determine whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition according to the number of the second type of beams, optionally, the network device may not configure M, but send indication information, and indicate the terminal device to use the eighth threshold N when determining whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition. Or, the protocol specifies that when the conditional handover configuration information does not include M, the terminal device may use the eighth threshold N when determining whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition, and the network device may not explicitly indicate through the indication information. In other words, the protocol specification condition switching configuration information does not include M, and it is understood that the protocol specifications M and N are equal.

With reference to the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the determining, by the terminal device, the first cell as the target cell includes: if a plurality of candidate cells meet the switching condition, the first cell is a cell corresponding to a beam with the highest signal quality and associated with the CFRA resource among the candidate cells meeting the switching condition.

For example, if the terminal device determines that a plurality of candidate cells satisfy the handover condition, the terminal device may select, as the target cell, a first cell corresponding to a beam with the highest signal quality and associated CFRA resources. Therefore, the terminal equipment and the target cell carry out non-competitive random access, competition is avoided, the random access success rate of the terminal equipment is improved, and the cell switching success rate is improved because the terminal equipment selects the cell corresponding to the beam with the best signal quality in the beams related to the CFRA resources.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the method further includes: and the terminal equipment receives second information, wherein the second information is used for indicating the terminal equipment to judge whether the candidate cell meets the switching condition according to the first information.

For example, the network device sends second information to the terminal device, where the second information is used to instruct the terminal device to determine whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition according to the first signal quality or the cell signal quality. Illustratively, the second information may be a binary value, for example, "0" or "1", where "0" is used to instruct the terminal device to judge whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition according to the cell signal quality, and "1" is used to instruct the terminal device to judge whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition according to the first signal quality; alternatively, the second information may be a boolean value, for example, "tune" or "FALSE", where "FALSE" is used to instruct the terminal device to determine whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition according to the cell signal quality, and "tune" is used to instruct the terminal device to determine whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition according to the first signal quality. The foregoing is merely an example for facilitating understanding, and the second information may have other representation forms, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

In a second aspect, a communication method is provided, including: the network equipment determines a trigger parameter of a switching condition, wherein the trigger parameter is used for determining the switching condition, and the switching condition is used for judging whether a candidate cell meets the switching condition or not by the terminal equipment in combination with first information; the network equipment sends the triggering parameters to the terminal equipment; wherein the first information comprises at least one of the following information: the first signal quality is determined according to the cell signal quality and the number of first type beams of the cell, wherein the first type beams are beams with the signal quality higher than a first threshold value X; the number of second type beams, wherein the second type beams are beams with signal quality higher than a second threshold value Y; the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality in the cell; or, the number of beams associated with contention-free random access CFRA resources in the cell.

With reference to the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the first information further includes the cell signal quality.

With reference to the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the handover condition includes at least one of: the first signal quality of the candidate cell is greater than the sum of the first signal quality of the source cell and a third threshold value offset 1; the number of the second type beams of the candidate cell is greater than a fourth threshold value M, wherein M is a positive integer; the number of the second type beams of the candidate cell is greater than or equal to the number of the second type beams of the source cell; the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality of the candidate cell is greater than a fifth threshold value Q; the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality of the candidate cell is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality of the source cell; the number of beams associated with the CFRA resource in the candidate cell is greater than or equal to a sixth threshold value P, where the sixth threshold value P is a positive integer; the number of beams associated with the CFRA resources in the candidate cell is greater than or equal to the number of beams associated with the CFRA resources in the source cell; or, the cell signal quality of the candidate cell is greater than the sum of the cell signal quality of the source cell and the seventh threshold value offset 2.

With reference to the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the trigger parameter is used to indicate at least one of the third threshold value offset1, the fourth threshold value M, the fifth threshold value Q, the sixth threshold value P, or the seventh threshold value offset 2.

With reference to the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the first signal quality is the cell signal quality + i x (number of the first type beams-1), 0< i < 1; or, the first signal quality is the cell signal quality + j × (the number of the first type of beams — an eighth threshold value N), 0< j < 1; or, the first signal quality is the cell signal quality × the number of the first type beams/the eighth threshold value N; and the eighth threshold value N is a positive integer.

With reference to the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the method further includes: and the network equipment sends second information to the terminal equipment, wherein the second information is used for indicating the terminal equipment to judge whether the candidate cell meets the switching condition according to the first information.

In a third aspect, a communication method is provided, including: the terminal equipment judges whether the candidate cell meets the switching condition; if a plurality of candidate cells meet the switching condition, the terminal device determines a cell corresponding to a beam with the best signal quality, which is associated with the CFRA resource, among the candidate cells meeting the switching condition as a target cell.

Optionally, in the third aspect, reference may be made to the first aspect for a handover condition and a description of how the terminal device determines whether the candidate cell meets the handover condition, or other manners may also be used, and details are not repeated here.

In a fourth aspect, a communication apparatus is provided, including: the processing unit is used for judging whether the candidate cell meets the switching condition or not according to the first information; determining a first cell as a target cell, wherein the first cell is a cell meeting the switching condition in the candidate cells; wherein the first information comprises at least one of the following information: the first signal quality is determined according to the cell signal quality and the number of first type beams of the cell, wherein the first type beams are beams with the signal quality higher than a first threshold value X; the number of second type beams is the number of the beams with the signal quality higher than a second threshold value Y; the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality in the cell; or, the number of beams associated with contention-free random access CFRA resources in the cell.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in some implementations of the fourth aspect, the first information further includes the cell signal quality.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in certain implementations of the fourth aspect, the handover condition includes at least one of: the first signal quality of the candidate cell is greater than the sum of the first signal quality of the source cell and a third threshold value offset 1; the number of the second type beams of the candidate cell is greater than a fourth threshold value M, wherein M is a positive integer; the number of the second type beams of the candidate cell is greater than or equal to the number of the second type beams of the source cell; the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality of the candidate cell is greater than a fifth threshold value Q; the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality of the candidate cell is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality of the source cell; the number of beams associated with the CFRA resource in the candidate cell is greater than or equal to a sixth threshold value P, where the sixth threshold value P is a positive integer; the number of beams associated with the CFRA resources in the candidate cell is greater than or equal to the number of beams associated with the CFRA resources in the source cell; or, the cell signal quality of the candidate cell is greater than the sum of the cell signal quality of the source cell and the seventh threshold value offset 2.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in certain implementations of the fourth aspect, the apparatus further includes: a first receiving unit, configured to receive a trigger parameter of the handover condition, where the trigger parameter is used to indicate at least one of the third threshold value offset1, the fourth threshold value M, the fifth threshold value Q, the sixth threshold value P, or the seventh threshold value offset 2.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in some implementations of the fourth aspect, the first signal quality is the cell signal quality + i x (number of the first type beams-1), 0< i < 1; or, the first signal quality is the cell signal quality + j × (the number of the first type of beams — an eighth threshold value N), 0< j < 1; or, the first signal quality is the cell signal quality × the number of the first type beams/the eighth threshold value N; and the eighth threshold value N is a positive integer.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in some implementations of the fourth aspect, the processing unit is specifically configured to: if a plurality of candidate cells meet the switching condition, the first cell is a cell corresponding to a beam with the highest signal quality and associated with the CFRA resource among the candidate cells meeting the switching condition.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in certain implementations of the fourth aspect, the apparatus further includes: a second receiving unit, configured to receive second information, where the second information is used to indicate whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition according to the first information.

Wherein, each unit in the apparatus is configured to execute each step of the communication method in each implementation manner of the first aspect and the first aspect.

In one design, the apparatus is a communication chip that may include an input circuit or interface for sending information or data and an output circuit or interface for receiving information or data.

In another design, the apparatus is a communication device that may include a transmitter to transmit information or data and a receiver to receive information or data.

Alternatively, the apparatus may be configured in the terminal device, or the apparatus itself may be the terminal device.

In a fifth aspect, a communication apparatus is provided, including: the terminal equipment comprises a processing unit and a processing unit, wherein the processing unit is used for determining a trigger parameter of a switching condition, the trigger parameter is used for determining the switching condition, and the switching condition is used for judging whether a candidate cell meets the switching condition or not by the terminal equipment in combination with first information; a sending unit, configured to send the trigger parameter to the terminal device; wherein the first information comprises at least one of the following information: the first signal quality is determined according to the cell signal quality and the number of first type beams of the cell, wherein the first type beams are beams with the signal quality higher than a first threshold value X; the number of second type beams, wherein the second type beams are beams with signal quality higher than a second threshold value Y; the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality in the cell; or, the number of beams associated with contention-free random access CFRA resources in the cell.

With reference to the fifth aspect, in some implementations of the fifth aspect, the first information further includes the cell signal quality.

With reference to the fifth aspect, in certain implementations of the fifth aspect, the handover condition includes at least one of: the first signal quality of the candidate cell is greater than the sum of the first signal quality of the source cell and a third threshold value offset 1; the number of the second type beams of the candidate cell is greater than a fourth threshold value M, wherein M is a positive integer; the number of the second type beams of the candidate cell is greater than or equal to the number of the second type beams of the source cell; the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality of the candidate cell is greater than a fifth threshold value Q; the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality of the candidate cell is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality of the source cell; the number of beams associated with the CFRA resource in the candidate cell is greater than or equal to a sixth threshold value P, where the sixth threshold value P is a positive integer; the number of beams associated with the CFRA resources in the candidate cell is greater than or equal to the number of beams associated with the CFRA resources in the source cell; or, the cell signal quality of the candidate cell is greater than the sum of the cell signal quality of the source cell and the seventh threshold value offset 2.

With reference to the fifth aspect, in certain implementations of the fifth aspect, the trigger parameter is used to indicate at least one of the third threshold value offset1, the fourth threshold value M, the fifth threshold value Q, the sixth threshold value P, or the seventh threshold value offset 2.

With reference to the fifth aspect, in certain implementations of the fifth aspect, the first signal quality is the cell signal quality + i x (number of the first type beams-1), 0< i < 1; or, the first signal quality is the cell signal quality + j × (the number of the first type of beams — an eighth threshold value N), 0< j < 1; or, the first signal quality is the cell signal quality × the number of the first type beams/the eighth threshold value N; and the eighth threshold value N is a positive integer.

With reference to the fifth aspect, in some implementations of the fifth aspect, the sending unit is further configured to: and sending second information to the terminal equipment, wherein the second information is used for indicating the terminal equipment to judge whether the candidate cell meets the switching condition according to the first information.

Wherein, each unit in the apparatus is configured to execute each step of the communication method in each implementation manner of the second aspect and the second aspect.

In one design, the device is a communication chip that may include an input circuit or interface for sending information or data and an output circuit or interface for receiving information or data.

Alternatively, the apparatus may be configured in a network device, or the apparatus itself may be a network device.

In a sixth aspect, a communication apparatus is provided, including: a processing unit, configured to determine whether the candidate cell satisfies a handover condition; and if a plurality of candidate cells meet the switching condition, determining the cell corresponding to the beam which is associated with the CFRA resources and has the best signal quality in the candidate cells meeting the switching condition as a target cell.

Wherein, each unit in the apparatus is configured to execute each step of the communication method in the third aspect and each implementation manner of the third aspect.

In a seventh aspect, a communication device is provided, which includes a processor and a memory, where the memory is used to store a computer program, and the processor is used to call and run the computer program from the memory, so that the communication device executes the communication method in any one of the above aspects and various possible implementations thereof.

Optionally, the number of the processors is one or more, and the number of the memories is one or more.

Alternatively, the memory may be integral to the processor or provided separately from the processor.

Optionally, the communication device further comprises a transmitter (transmitter) and a receiver (receiver).

In an eighth aspect, a communication system is provided, which includes the communication device provided in the fourth aspect and/or the communication device provided in the fifth aspect.

In a possible design, the communication system may further include other devices that interact with the communication device in the solution provided in the embodiment of the present application.

In a ninth aspect, there is provided a computer program product, the computer program product comprising: computer program (also called code, or instructions), which when executed, causes a computer to perform the method of any of the possible implementations of any of the above aspects.

In a tenth aspect, a computer-readable medium is provided, which stores a computer program (which may also be referred to as code, or instructions) that, when executed on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method of any of the possible implementations of any of the above aspects.

In an eleventh aspect, a chip system is provided, which includes a memory for storing a computer program and a processor for calling and running the computer program from the memory, so that a communication device installed with the chip system performs the method in any one of the possible implementation manners of the above aspects.

Wherein the system-on-chip may include an input circuit or interface for transmitting information or data and an output circuit or interface for receiving information or data.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a communication system of the present application.

Fig. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of the communication method of the present application.

Fig. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram of another communication method of the present application.

Fig. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram of still another communication method of the present application.

Fig. 5 is a schematic block diagram of a communication apparatus of the present application.

Fig. 6 is a schematic configuration diagram of a terminal device of the present application.

Fig. 7 is a schematic configuration diagram of a network device of the present application.

Detailed Description

The technical scheme of the embodiment of the application can be applied to various communication systems, for example: a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, an LTE Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) system, an LTE Time Division Duplex (TDD) system, a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), a fifth generation (5G) system, a New Radio (NR) system, or other evolved communication systems.

The terminal device in the embodiment of the present application may also be referred to as: user Equipment (UE), Mobile Station (MS), Mobile Terminal (MT), access terminal, subscriber unit, subscriber station, mobile station, remote terminal, mobile device, user terminal, wireless communication device, user agent, or user device, etc.

The terminal device may be a device providing voice/data connectivity to a user, e.g. a handheld device, a vehicle mounted device, etc. with wireless connectivity. Currently, some examples of terminals are: a mobile phone (mobile phone), a tablet computer, a notebook computer, a palm computer, a Mobile Internet Device (MID), a wearable device, a Virtual Reality (VR) device, an Augmented Reality (AR) device, a wireless terminal in industrial control (industrial control), a wireless terminal in self driving (self driving), a wireless terminal in remote operation (remote local supply), a wireless terminal in smart grid (smart grid), a wireless terminal in transportation security (transportation safety), a wireless terminal in city (city), a wireless terminal in smart home (smart home), a cellular phone, a cordless phone, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phone, a wireless local loop (wireless local) phone, a personal digital assistant (WLL) station, a handheld personal communication device with wireless communication function, a wireless terminal in industrial control (industrial control), a wireless terminal in transportation security (personal control), a wireless terminal in city (smart home), a wireless terminal in smart home (smart home), a cellular phone, a cordless phone, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phone, a wireless local loop (personal digital assistant (PDA) phone, a wireless local communication device with wireless communication function, a wireless communication device, a, The computing device or other processing devices connected to the wireless modem, the vehicle-mounted device, the wearable device, a terminal device in a 5G network or a terminal device in a Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) for future evolution, and the like, which are not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

By way of example and not limitation, in the embodiments of the present application, the terminal device may also be a wearable device. Wearable equipment can also be called wearable intelligent equipment, is the general term of applying wearable technique to carry out intelligent design, develop the equipment that can dress to daily wearing, like glasses, gloves, wrist-watch, dress and shoes etc.. A wearable device is a portable device that is worn directly on the body or integrated into the clothing or accessories of the user. The wearable device is not only a hardware device, but also realizes powerful functions through software support, data interaction and cloud interaction. The generalized wearable smart device includes full functionality, large size, and can implement full or partial functionality without relying on a smart phone, such as: smart watches or smart glasses and the like, and only focus on a certain type of application function, and need to be matched with other equipment such as a smart phone for use, such as various smart bracelets for physical sign monitoring, smart jewelry and the like.

In addition, in the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device may also be a terminal device in an internet of things (IoT) system, where IoT is an important component of future information technology development, and a main technical feature of the present application is to connect an article with a network through a communication technology, so as to implement an intelligent network with interconnected human-computer and interconnected objects.

In addition, the network device in this embodiment may be a device for communicating with a terminal device, which may also be referred to as an access network device or a radio access network device, and may be a Transmission Reception Point (TRP), an evolved NodeB (eNB) or an eNodeB in an LTE system, a home evolved NodeB (or home Node B, HNB), a baseband unit (BBU), a wireless controller in a Cloud Radio Access Network (CRAN) scenario, or the network device may be a relay station, an access point, a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, a network device in a 5G network, or a network device in a PLMN network that is evolved in the future, or the like, may be an Access Point (AP) in a WLAN, may be a new radio system (new radio system, NR) system, the embodiments of the present application are not limited.

In one network configuration, a network device may comprise a Centralized Unit (CU) node, or a Distributed Unit (DU) node, or a RAN device comprising CU and DU nodes, or a control plane CU node (CU-CP node) and a user plane CU node (CU-UP node) and a RAN device of a DU node.

The network device provides a service for a cell, and a terminal device communicates with the cell through a transmission resource (e.g., a frequency domain resource, or a spectrum resource) allocated by the network device, where the cell may belong to a macro base station (e.g., a macro eNB or a macro gNB), or may belong to a base station corresponding to a small cell (small cell), where the small cell may include: urban cell (metro cell), micro cell (microcell), pico cell (pico cell), femto cell (femto cell), etc., and these small cells have the characteristics of small coverage and low transmission power, and are suitable for providing high-rate data transmission service.

In the embodiment of the application, the terminal device or the network device includes a hardware layer, an operating system layer running on the hardware layer, and an application layer running on the operating system layer. The hardware layer includes hardware such as a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a Memory Management Unit (MMU), and a memory (also referred to as a main memory). The operating system may be any one or more computer operating systems that implement business processing through processes (processes), such as a Linux operating system, a Unix operating system, an Android operating system, an iOS operating system, or a windows operating system. The application layer comprises applications such as a browser, an address list, word processing software, instant messaging software and the like. Furthermore, the embodiment of the present application does not particularly limit the specific structure of the execution main body of the method provided by the embodiment of the present application, as long as the communication can be performed according to the method provided by the embodiment of the present application by running the program recorded with the code of the method provided by the embodiment of the present application, for example, the execution main body of the method provided by the embodiment of the present application may be a terminal device or a network device, or a functional module capable of calling the program and executing the program in the terminal device or the network device.

In addition, various aspects or features of the present application may be implemented as a method, apparatus, or article of manufacture using standard programming and/or engineering techniques. The term "article of manufacture" as used herein is intended to encompass a computer program accessible from any computer-readable device, carrier, or media. For example, computer-readable media may include, but are not limited to: magnetic storage devices (e.g., hard disk, floppy disk, or magnetic tape), optical disks (e.g., Compact Disk (CD), Digital Versatile Disk (DVD), etc.), smart cards, and flash memory devices (e.g., erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), card, stick, or key drive, etc.). In addition, various storage media described herein can represent one or more devices and/or other machine-readable media for storing information. The term "machine-readable medium" can include, without being limited to, wireless channels and various other media capable of storing, containing, and/or carrying instruction(s) and/or data.

For the understanding of the embodiments of the present application, a detailed description will be given of a communication system suitable for the embodiments of the present application with reference to fig. 1.

Fig. 1 shows a communication system 100 to which an embodiment of the present application is applied. The communication system 100 may include at least two network devices, such as network device 110 and network device 120. Network device 110 and network device 120 are both devices that can communicate with a terminal device, such as a base station or a base station controller. Each network device may provide communication coverage for a particular geographic area and may communicate with terminal devices located within that coverage area (cell). The wireless communication system 100 also includes a terminal device 130 located within the coverage area of the network device 110 and/or the network device 120. The terminal device 130 may be mobile or stationary.

Fig. 1 exemplarily shows two network devices and one terminal device, and optionally, the communication system 100 may include a plurality of network devices and may include other numbers of terminal devices within the coverage of each network device, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

Each of the communication devices described above, such as network device 110, network device 120, or terminal device 130 in fig. 1, may be configured with multiple antennas. The plurality of antennas may include at least one transmit antenna for transmitting signals and at least one receive antenna for receiving signals. Additionally, each communication device can additionally include a transmitter chain and a receiver chain, each of which can comprise a plurality of components associated with signal transmission and reception (e.g., processors, modulators, multiplexers, demodulators, demultiplexers, antennas, etc.), as will be appreciated by one skilled in the art. Therefore, the network equipment and the terminal equipment can communicate through the multi-antenna technology.

Optionally, the wireless communication system 100 may further include other network entities such as a network controller, a mobility management entity, and the like, which is not limited thereto.

For ease of understanding, the terms referred to in this application will be briefly described below.

1. Wave beam

A beam may be understood as a spatial resource and may refer to a transmission or reception precoding vector having an energy transmission directivity.

The energy transmission directivity may refer to precoding a signal to be transmitted by using a precoding vector, the signal subjected to the precoding has a certain spatial directivity, and the signal subjected to the precoding by using the precoding vector has a good receiving power, such as meeting a receiving demodulation signal-to-noise ratio. Energy transmission directivity may also refer to the reception of the same signal transmitted from different spatial locations with different received powers through the precoding vector.

The sending or receiving precoding vector can be identified by index information, the index information may correspond to resource Identification (ID) of the configured terminal device, for example, the index information may correspond to the identifier of the configured reference signal and the reference signal resource. The reference signal may be used for channel measurement or channel estimation, etc. The reference signal resource may be used to configure transmission attributes of the reference signal, such as time-frequency resource location, port mapping relationship, power factor, scrambling code, and the like, and refer to the prior art specifically. The transmitting end device may transmit the reference signal based on the reference signal resource, and the receiving end device may receive the reference signal based on the reference signal resource.

The reference signal may include, for example, a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), a Synchronization Signal Block (SSB), and a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS). Correspondingly, the reference signal resource may include a CSI-RS resource (CSI-RS resource), an SSB resource, and an SRS resource (SRS resource). To distinguish between different reference signal resources, each reference signal resource may correspond to an identification of one reference signal resource, e.g., CSI-RS resources are distinguished by a CSI-RS identification (e.g., CSI-RS index), SSB resources are distinguished by an SSB identification (e.g., SSB index), SRS resources are distinguished by an SRS resource identification (e.g., SRS resource id).

It should be understood that the above listed reference signals and corresponding reference signal resources are only exemplary and should not constitute any limitation to the present application, which does not exclude the possibility of defining other reference signals in future protocols to achieve the same or similar functions.

The measurement referred to in this application refers to Radio Resource Management (RRM) measurement, and may include beam measurement, that is, beam quality information obtained by measuring a reference signal, and the parameter for measuring beam quality includes Reference Signal Receiving Power (RSRP), but is not limited thereto. For example, the beam quality can also be measured by parameters such as Reference Signal Reception Quality (RSRQ), signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), signal-to-interference plus noise ratio (SINR), and the like.

Alternatively, the index information may also be index information explicitly or implicitly carried by a signal or channel carried by the beam.

Optionally, the same communication device (e.g. terminal device or network device) may have different precoding vectors, and different devices may also have different precoding vectors, i.e. corresponding to different beams. One communication device may use one or more of a plurality of different precoding vectors at the same time, i.e. may form one beam or a plurality of beams at the same time, depending on the configuration or capabilities of the communication device.

2. Measuring

Mobility management is an important component in wireless mobile communications, and RRM measurements are the basis for mobility management. Mobility management refers to the generic term of related content involved in order to ensure that the communication link between the network device and the terminal device is not interrupted by the movement of the terminal device. Illustratively, the mobility management may be classified into an IDLE (RRC _ IDLE state) mobility management, a deactivated (INACTIVE state, or RRC _ INACTIVE state) mobility management, and a CONNECTED (RRC _ CONNECTED state) mobility management according to the state of the terminal device. The measurement results are one of the considerations for mobility management.

3. Cell (cell)

A cell is described from the perspective of a resource management or mobility management or serving element. The coverage area of each network device may be divided into one or more cells, and the cells may be considered to be composed of certain frequency domain resources. A cell may be an area within the coverage of a wireless network of network devices. In the embodiment of the present application, different cells may correspond to different network devices. For example, the network device to which the cell #1 belongs and the network device to which the cell #2 belongs may be different network devices, such as base stations. That is, cell #1 and cell #2 may be managed by different base stations, and in this case, it may be referred to that cell #1 and cell #2 are co-sited, or co-sited. The network device to which the cell #1 belongs and the network device to which the cell #2 belongs may also be different radio frequency processing units of the same base station, for example, Radio Remote Units (RRUs), that is, the cell #1 and the cell #2 may be managed by the same base station, have the same baseband processing unit and intermediate frequency processing unit, but have different radio frequency processing units. This is not a particular limitation in the present application.

Cell handover refers to handover that is required to maintain uninterrupted communication of a terminal device when the terminal device moves from one cell to another in a wireless communication system. In this context, the source cell represents a cell serving the terminal device before handover, and the target cell represents a cell serving the terminal device after handover. In other words, the source cell is the serving cell before the terminal device performs cell handover, and the target cell is the serving cell after the terminal device performs cell handover. It should be understood that a cell is a coverage area of a network device, a source cell corresponds to a source network device (e.g., a source base station), and a target cell corresponds to a target network device (e.g., a target base station).

In a conventional cell handover procedure of a mobile communication system, mobility management of a terminal device is controlled by a network device, that is, the network device instructs the terminal device to handover to a specific cell and related configuration parameters required for handover to the cell by sending a handover message. Illustratively, taking a base station and a User Equipment (UE) as an example, a source base station may send a handover message to the UE to control handover of the UE from a source cell to a target cell. The handover message may be a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message. The handover message may include parameters required for accessing the target cell, which are configured by the target base station for the UE, for example, information of the target cell (e.g., a Physical Cell Identifier (PCI) of the target cell and frequency information corresponding to the target cell, a cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI) allocated by the target cell for the UE), resource information (e.g., a dedicated RACH resource and/or a common RACH resource) of a Random Access Channel (RACH) required for accessing the target cell, and the like. After receiving the handover message, the terminal device accesses the target cell according to the content contained in the handover message, so that the successful sending of the handover message is a necessary condition for ensuring the successful handover under the conventional handover mechanism. However, in some scenarios, for example, in a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system or a new radio access (NR) system (especially, in a high frequency scenario), factors such as rapid attenuation of channel quality, rapid movement of a terminal device, occlusion of an object, or long duration of measurement and handover preparation may cause a handover message to be failed to be sent, thereby causing a handover failure and reducing a handover success rate.

In view of the above problems, one cell handover method is to use a Conditional Handover (CHO) mechanism to improve the handover success rate. That is, the source base station sends conditional handover configuration information to the UE when the source link quality is good, where the conditional handover configuration information may include a trigger parameter of a handover condition, information of one or more candidate cells (e.g., PCIs of the candidate cells and frequency information corresponding to the candidate cells, where the frequency information may include one or more of an absolute frequency (e.g., absolute frequency SSB) of a Synchronization Signal Block (SSB), an absolute frequency position (e.g., absolute frequency pointaina) of a reference resource block (common RB0), a frequency bandwidth list (e.g., frequency bandwidth list), a subcarrier spacing (SCS) specific carrier list (e.g., SCS-specific carrier list)). After receiving the condition switching configuration information, the UE judges whether each candidate cell meets the switching triggering condition according to the configuration information, and takes a certain candidate cell meeting the switching triggering condition as a target cell. After the UE determines the target cell, the UE may initiate a random access process to the target cell, and after the random access is completed, the UE sends an RRC message (such as an RRC reconfiguration complete message or an RRC connection reconfiguration complete message) to a base station (i.e., the target base station) to which the target cell belongs, so as to notify the target base station of completion of the conditional handover. Through the steps, the UE is successfully switched from the source cell to the target cell. Optionally, before the source base station sends the condition switching configuration information to the UE, the source base station may send measurement configuration information to the UE, the UE performs measurement according to the measurement configuration information, after the measurement report is triggered, the UE may send the measurement report to the source base station, and the source base station may determine the candidate cell according to the measurement report.

Based on the CHO mechanism, the embodiment of the application provides a new communication method, which can determine a suitable target cell for the terminal equipment so that the terminal equipment can perform cell switching, and the success rate of the cell switching of the terminal equipment is improved.

To facilitate understanding of the embodiments of the present application, the following description is made.

1. In the embodiment of the present application, the higher layer parameters may be included in the higher layer signaling. The higher layer signaling may be, for example, Radio Resource Control (RRC) message, or may be other higher layer signaling, which is not limited in this application.

2. In the embodiment of the present application, "for indicating" may include for direct indication and for indirect indication, and may also include explicit indication and implicit indication. If information indicated by a certain piece of information (for example, information used to indicate each threshold value described below) is referred to as information to be indicated, in a specific implementation process, there are many ways to indicate the information to be indicated, for example, but not limited to, the information to be indicated may be directly indicated, such as the information to be indicated itself or an index of the information to be indicated. The information to be indicated can also be indirectly indicated by indicating other information, wherein an association relationship exists between the other information and the information to be indicated. It is also possible to indicate only a part of the information to be indicated, while the other part of the information to be indicated is known or predetermined. For example, indication of information to be indicated can also be implemented by means of pre-agreed (e.g., protocol specification) whether a certain cell exists, thereby reducing the indication overhead to some extent.

3. The first, second, third, fourth and various numerical numbers in the embodiments shown below are merely for convenience of description and are not intended to limit the scope of the embodiments of the present application. E.g. to distinguish different information, to distinguish different threshold values, etc.

4. In the embodiments illustrated below, "pre-acquisition" may include signaling by the network device or pre-defined, e.g., protocol definition. The "predefined" may be implemented by saving a corresponding code, table, or other means that can be used to indicate the relevant information in advance in the device (for example, including the terminal device and the network device), and the present application is not limited to a specific implementation manner thereof.

5. The "protocol" referred to in the embodiment of the present application may refer to a standard protocol in the communication field, and may include, for example, an LTE protocol, an NR protocol, and a related protocol applied in a future communication system, which is not limited in the present application.

Various embodiments provided herein will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 2 shows a schematic flow chart of a communication method 200 of an embodiment of the present application. The method 200 may be applied to the communication system 100 shown in fig. 1, but the embodiment of the present application is not limited thereto.

S210, the terminal equipment judges whether the candidate cell meets the switching condition or not according to the first information;

s220, the terminal equipment determines a first cell as a target cell, wherein the first cell is a cell which meets the switching condition in the candidate cells;

wherein the first information comprises at least one of the following information: the first signal quality is determined according to the signal quality of a cell and the number of first type beams of the cell, wherein the first type beams are beams with the signal quality higher than a first threshold value X in the cell; the number of second type beams is the number of the beams with the signal quality higher than a second threshold value Y in a cell; the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality in the cell; or, the number of beams associated with a Contention Free Random Access (CFRA) resource in a cell. The target cell refers to a cell to which the terminal device is to be handed over, in other words, the target cell is a serving cell after the terminal device performs a handover operation.

The CFRA resource includes a preamble index (e.g., preamble index) (which may also be referred to as preamble identifier) and a time-frequency resource, and is a resource used for the terminal device to perform random access, which may also be referred to as dedicated RACH resource, and the terminal device may perform contention-free random access using the CFRA resource. The signal quality may be evaluated by Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) and/or Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ).

For example, in the CHO mechanism, the terminal device may obtain a handover condition (or referred to as a handover trigger condition) and first information, and then determine whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition. In the case where the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition, the terminal device may take one candidate cell satisfying the handover condition as the target cell. Further, the terminal device may perform a handover procedure to handover from the source cell to the target cell.

In this embodiment, the terminal device may determine whether the candidate cell meets the handover condition by combining information such as the number of beams (e.g., the first type of beams and the second type of beams) with signal quality higher than a certain threshold, the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality, and the number of beams associated with the CFRA resource, so that the target cell determined by the terminal device has better robustness and the signal quality of the target cell is excellent. Therefore, according to the communication method provided by the embodiment of the application, the terminal device can determine the appropriate target cell for switching, and the success rate of switching the terminal device to the cell is improved.

It should be understood that there may be one or more candidate cells. If there are multiple candidate cells meeting the handover condition, the terminal device may select one cell from the multiple candidate cells meeting the handover condition as the target cell, or may further determine the candidate cell by combining other conditions, so as to determine a cell as the target cell.

In this embodiment, a first type of beam and a second type of beam are defined, wherein the first type of beam is a beam with a signal quality higher than or equal to a first threshold value X, and the second type of beam is a beam with a signal quality higher than or equal to a second threshold value Y. Here, X and Y may be equal or unequal, which is not limited in this embodiment. The above X and/or Y may be predefined by a protocol, or may be configured for the terminal device by the network device through signaling, for example, the network device configures X and/or Y for the terminal device through an RRC reconfiguration message. Illustratively, the network device may configure X and/or Y for the terminal device through the same RRC reconfiguration message; or, the network device may configure X for the terminal device through one RRC reconfiguration message, and configure Y for the terminal device through another RRC reconfiguration message; or, the network device may configure X for the terminal device through one RRC reconfiguration message, configure difference information (e.g., difference information between X and Y) or indication information (e.g., indication X is equal to Y) for the terminal device through another RRC reconfiguration message, and determine, by the terminal device, the second threshold Y according to the first threshold X and the difference information or the indication information; or, the network device configures X for the terminal device only through one RRC reconfiguration message, the second threshold Y is the first threshold X, and the first type beam is the second type beam; alternatively, the network device configures X (or Y) for the terminal device only through one RRC reconfiguration message, and the terminal device may determine Y (or X) according to predefined difference information between X and Y. It should be understood that the RRC reconfiguration message is only an exemplary message, and the network device may also configure the X and/or Y through other signaling, which is not limited in this embodiment. For example, in one implementation, the measurement configuration information sent by the source network device to the terminal device may include X, and the conditional handover configuration information sent by the source network device to the terminal device may include Y. Alternatively, in another implementation manner, the measurement configuration information sent by the source network device to the terminal device may include X and Y. Or, in another implementation manner, the conditional handover configuration information sent by the source network device to the terminal device may include X and Y. It should be understood that the configuration of X and/or Y may also be implemented in other ways, which is not limited by the embodiments of the present application.

It should be understood that the cell signal quality may be determined from the first type of beam in the cell. For example, the cell signal quality is a linear average of the signal quality values of at most N beams of the first type of beam of the cell, where the signal quality is the best. In other words, the cell signal quality is a linear average of the beam signal quality values of at most N beams in the cell with a beam signal quality higher than X. N is a positive integer, also referred to as an eighth threshold in this application. If N is 3, for a certain cell, if there are 4 beams whose beam signal quality is higher than X belonging to the cell, then linearly averaging the signal quality values of the 3 beams with the best beam signal quality among the 4 beams, and the value of the linear average indicates the cell signal quality value of the cell; if the quality of the wave beam signal belonging to the cell is higher than that of the X wave beams, 2 wave beams with the quality higher than that of the X wave beams are subjected to linear average, and the value of the linear average represents the cell signal quality value of the cell; if only 1 beam with the quality of the beam signal belonging to the cell higher than that of the X beam is available, the signal quality value of the 1 beam is taken as the cell signal quality value of the cell.

The first signal quality of a cell is determined based on the cell signal quality of the cell and the actual number of beams of the first type of the cell. As an alternative embodiment, the first signal quality may be calculated by any one of the following equations:

the first signal quality of a cell is cell signal quality + i x of the cell (number of the first type beams of the cell-1), 0< i < 1; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

the first signal quality of a cell is + j x (the number of the first type beams of the cell — an eighth threshold value N) of the cell, 0< j < 1; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

the first signal quality of the cell is equal to the cell signal quality of the cell × the number of the first type beams of the cell/the eighth threshold value N.

Wherein "-" indicates subtraction, and "x" indicates multiplication. i or j may be predefined by a protocol, or may be configured for the terminal device by the network device through signaling, for example, the network device may configure i or j for the terminal device through an RRC reconfiguration message or other messages. In one implementation, the conditional handover configuration information sent by the source network device to the terminal device may include i or j. In addition, i or j may be of a cell granularity (i.e., different cells, i or j having different values), or a measurement frequency point granularity (i.e., different measurement frequency points, i or j having different values), or a terminal device granularity (i.e., different terminal devices, i or j having different values; i configured for different cells or different measurement frequency points is the same for the same terminal device, or j configured for different cells or different measurement frequency points is the same for the same terminal device), which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

The above shows only three formulas as an exemplary illustration, and the present embodiment may also determine the first signal quality through other formulas, which is not limited herein. For example, the first signal quality of a cell is + k (the number of the first type beams of the cell — Z), Z is an integer, is a predefined value or a value configured for a terminal device by a network device through signaling, and Z is different from N. 0< k <1, k may be protocol predefined or may be configured for the terminal device by the network device through signaling. In addition, k may be of a cell granularity (that is, values of k are different for different cells), or of a measurement frequency point granularity (that is, values of k are different for different measurement frequency points), or of a terminal device granularity (that is, values of k are different for different terminal devices; for the same terminal device, k configured for different cells or different measurement frequency points is the same, or k configured for different cells or different measurement frequency points is the same for the same terminal device), which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

For example, the first type of beam and/or the second type of beam may also be referred to as a good beam (good beam), the first signal quality may also be referred to as an intermediate signal quality, or other names, which are not limited herein.

As an alternative embodiment, as shown in fig. 3, before the terminal device determines whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition according to the first information, the method further includes:

s310, the network equipment determines the trigger parameters of the switching conditions;

s320, the network equipment sends the trigger parameter to the terminal equipment; correspondingly, the terminal equipment receives the trigger parameters.

Before the terminal device performs cell handover, the network device (i.e. the source network device) serving the terminal device may determine a trigger parameter of the handover condition, and send the trigger parameter to the terminal device, so that the terminal device determines the handover condition to be used according to the trigger parameter, and thus determines whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition according to the first information.

Illustratively, the network device may carry the trigger parameter in the conditional handover configuration information. Optionally, the conditional handover configuration information further includes information of one or more candidate cells, so that the terminal device determines, according to the handover condition, a target cell from the one or more candidate cells to perform handover. Optionally, the conditional handover configuration information may further include the first threshold value X and/or the eighth threshold value N.

For example, the network device may carry the triggering parameter of the handover condition in the measurement configuration information (such as an RRC reconfiguration message or an RRC connection reconfiguration message). Optionally, the measurement configuration information may further include the first threshold value X and/or the eighth threshold value N, so that when the terminal device performs RRM measurement, cell signal quality of each cell is obtained according to X and N. Optionally, the measurement configuration information may further include i or j.

Optionally, before the terminal device performs cell handover, the candidate network device (i.e., the network device to which the candidate cell belongs) determines the trigger parameter of the handover condition, and the candidate network device may send the trigger parameter of the handover condition to the source network device, and then the source network device sends the trigger parameter of the handover condition to the terminal device.

As an optional embodiment, the first information further includes the cell signal quality.

It should be understood that the first information may further include at least one of the first signal quality, the number of beams of the second type, the signal quality of a beam with the highest signal quality in the cell, and the number of beams associated with the contention-free random access CFRA resource in the cell, in addition to the cell signal quality, then the terminal device may combine at least one of the first signal quality, the number of beams of the second type, the signal quality of a beam with the highest signal quality in the cell, and the number of beams associated with the contention-free random access CFRA resource in the cell on the basis of considering the cell signal quality when determining whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition, so as to make the target cell determined by the terminal device more robust and have excellent signal quality.

As an alternative embodiment, the handover condition includes at least one of: the first signal quality of the candidate cell is greater than the sum of the first signal quality of the source cell and a third threshold value offset 1; the number of the second type beams of the candidate cell is greater than a fourth threshold value M, wherein M is a positive integer; the number of the second type beams of the candidate cell is greater than or equal to the number of the second type beams of the source cell; the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality of the candidate cell is greater than a fifth threshold value Q; the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality of the candidate cell is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality of the source cell; the number of beams associated with the CFRA resource in the candidate cell is greater than or equal to a sixth threshold value P, where the sixth threshold value P is a positive integer; the number of beams associated with the CFRA resources in the candidate cell is greater than or equal to the number of beams associated with the CFRA resources in the source cell; or, the cell signal quality of the candidate cell is greater than the sum of the cell signal quality of the source cell and the seventh threshold value offset 2.

It can be understood that, the terminal device determines which switching condition is used, depending on the content of the first information, the first information may be predefined by a protocol, or may be configured for the terminal device by a network device through signaling, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application. Alternatively, the content of the first information depends on the handover condition adopted by the terminal device in determining whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition. For example, the terminal device may obtain a handover condition used when determining whether the candidate cell meets the handover condition according to a trigger parameter or a protocol convention corresponding to the handover condition configured by the network device, or may also understand that the terminal device obtains the content of the first information, so as to determine whether the candidate cell meets the handover condition. For example, if the network device configures the third threshold value offset1, optionally, the network device may send second information to the terminal device, where the second information is used to instruct the terminal device to determine whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition according to the first signal quality, or the protocol specifies that the terminal device determines whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition according to the first signal quality, and when the terminal device determines whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition, the used handover condition is: the first signal quality of the candidate cell is greater than the sum of the first signal quality of the source cell and a third threshold value offset1, accordingly, the first information is the first signal quality, and the triggering parameter of the handover condition may be the third threshold value offset 1. For another example, if the network device configures the fourth threshold value M, optionally, the network device may send second information to the terminal device (the second information is used to instruct the terminal device to determine whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition according to the number of the second type beams), or the protocol specifies that the terminal device determines whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition according to the number of the second type beams, and when the terminal device determines whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition, the used handover condition is: the number of the second type beams of the candidate cell is greater than the fourth threshold M, accordingly, the first information is the number of the second type beams, and the triggering parameter of the handover condition may be the fourth threshold M. The triggering parameter of the handover condition may be configured for the terminal device by the network device through signaling. The details are described in the following cases.

In case 1, the first information includes the first signal quality, that is, the terminal device may determine whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition according to the first signal quality.

Taking the event a3 as an example, the triggering parameter of the switching condition is the third threshold value offset1, and the switching condition may include: the first signal quality of the candidate cell is greater than the sum of the first signal quality of the source cell and the third threshold value offset 1. For example, the network device may configure a triggering parameter of a handover condition for candidate cell a, such as a third threshold value offset1, indicating that the type of handover triggering event corresponding to candidate cell a is an a3 event. Optionally, the network device may configure different handover trigger event types for different candidate cells, for example, configure an A3 event for candidate cell a, configure an a5 event or other events for candidate cell B, and the like, which is not limited in this embodiment. Optionally, the network device may also configure the same handover trigger event type (e.g., an a3 event) for different candidate cells, and the values of the third threshold value offset1 configured by the network device may be the same or different for different candidate cells, which is not limited in this embodiment. For example, both candidate cell a and candidate cell B are configured with an a3 event, and offset1 corresponding to candidate cell a and offset1 corresponding to candidate cell B may or may not have the same value. In a possible manner, the network device configures a third threshold value offset1, optionally, the network device may send second information to the terminal device (the second information is used to instruct the terminal device to determine whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition according to the first signal quality), or, the protocol specifies that the terminal device determines whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition according to the first signal quality, and when the terminal device determines whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition, the used handover condition is: the first signal quality of the candidate cell is greater than the sum of the first signal quality of the source cell and a third threshold value offset1, accordingly, the first information is the first signal quality, and the triggering parameter of the handover condition may be the third threshold value offset 1. After receiving the conditional handover configuration information or the measurement configuration information sent by the network device, the terminal device may determine the first signal quality of the candidate cell and the first signal quality of the source cell, and compare the first signal quality of the candidate cell with the first signal quality of the source cell. For the candidate cell a, when the first signal quality of the candidate cell a is greater than the sum of the first signal quality of the source cell and the third threshold value offset1 acquired in advance (i.e., the first signal quality of the candidate cell a is higher than the first signal quality of the source cell by the third threshold value offset1), the terminal device may consider that the candidate cell a satisfies the handover condition. In one possible implementation, the terminal device may compare the first signal quality of the candidate cell minus offset1 with the first signal quality of the source cell, or the terminal device may compare the first signal quality of the candidate cell minus the first signal quality of the source cell with offset1, or the terminal device may compare the first signal quality of the candidate cell with the sum of the first signal quality of the source cell plus offset1, as long as the final result is that the above-mentioned handover condition is satisfied. It should be understood that, if there are multiple candidate cells, the terminal device may compare the first signal quality of each candidate cell with the first signal quality of the source cell, respectively, and determine whether each candidate cell satisfies the handover condition, respectively.

Taking the a5 event as an example, the switching condition may include: the first signal quality of the candidate cell is greater than a tenth threshold value K, the first signal quality of the source cell is less than a ninth threshold value J, and the triggering parameters of the handover condition are the ninth threshold value J and the tenth threshold value K, where K is greater than J. For example, the network device may configure the trigger parameters of the handover condition for candidate cell a, such as a ninth threshold value J and a tenth threshold value K, indicating that the type of the handover trigger event corresponding to candidate cell a is an a5 event. Alternatively, the ninth threshold value J and the tenth threshold value K may be included in the measurement configuration information or the conditional switching configuration information. Optionally, the network device may configure different handover trigger event types for different candidate cells, for example, configure an a5 event for candidate cell a, configure an A3 event or other events for candidate cell B, and the like, which is not limited in this embodiment. Optionally, the network device may also configure the same handover trigger event type (for example, an a5 event) for different candidate cells, and values of a ninth threshold J and a tenth threshold K configured by the network device may be the same or different for different candidate cells, which is not limited in this embodiment. For example, both candidate cell a and candidate cell B are configured with an a5 event, and values of J and K corresponding to candidate cell a and values of J and K corresponding to candidate cell B may be the same or different. In a possible manner, the network device configures a ninth threshold J and a tenth threshold K, optionally, the network device may send second information to the terminal device (the second information is used to instruct the terminal device to determine whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition according to the first signal quality), or, the protocol specifies that the terminal device determines whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition according to the first signal quality, and when the terminal device determines whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition, the used handover condition is: the first signal quality of the candidate cell is greater than K, and the first signal quality of the source cell is less than J; accordingly, the first information is the first signal quality, and the trigger parameter of the handover condition may be the ninth threshold value J and the tenth threshold value K. After receiving the conditional handover configuration information or the measurement configuration information sent by the network device, the terminal device may determine the first signal quality of the candidate cell and the first signal quality of the source cell, compare the first signal quality of the candidate cell with K, and compare the first signal quality of the source cell with J. For the candidate cell a, when the first signal quality of the candidate cell a is greater than K and the first signal quality of the source cell is less than J, the terminal device may consider that the candidate cell a satisfies the handover condition. It should be understood that, if there are multiple candidate cells, the terminal device may compare the first signal quality of each candidate cell with K, and determine whether each candidate cell satisfies the handover condition.

In case 2, the first information includes cell signal quality, that is, the terminal device may determine whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition according to the cell signal quality.

Taking the a3 event as an example, the switching condition may include: the cell signal quality of the candidate cell is greater than the sum of the cell signal quality of the source cell and the seventh threshold value offset 2. For example, the network device may configure a trigger parameter offset2 of the handover condition for candidate cell a, indicating that the type of the handover trigger event corresponding to candidate cell a is an a3 event, optionally, the network device may send second information to the terminal device, where the second information is used to instruct the terminal device to determine whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition according to the cell signal quality, or the protocol specifies that the terminal device determines whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition according to the cell signal quality, and then candidate cell a satisfies the handover condition when the cell signal quality of candidate cell a is greater than the sum of the cell signal quality of the source cell and offset 2. In one possible implementation, the terminal device may compare the cell signal quality of the candidate cell minus offset2 with the cell signal quality of the source cell, or the terminal device may compare the cell signal quality of the candidate cell minus the cell signal quality of the source cell with offset2, or the terminal device may compare the cell signal quality of the candidate cell with the cell signal quality of the source cell plus offset2, as long as the final result is that the above-mentioned handover condition is satisfied. Alternatively, taking the a5 event as an example, the switching condition may include: the cell signal quality of the candidate cell is greater than an eleventh threshold E and the cell signal quality of the source cell is less than a twelfth threshold F, where E is greater than F. Alternatively, the eleventh threshold value E and the twelfth threshold value F may be included in the measurement configuration information or the conditional handover configuration information. For example, the network device may configure a triggering parameter of a handover condition for the candidate cell B, where the triggering parameter indicates that the type of the handover triggering event corresponding to the candidate cell B is an a5 event, and optionally, the network device may send second information to the terminal device (where the second information is used to instruct the terminal device to determine whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition according to the cell signal quality), or the protocol specifies that the terminal device determines whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition according to the cell signal quality, and when the cell signal quality of the candidate cell B is greater than the eleventh threshold E and the cell signal quality of the source cell is less than the twelfth threshold F, the candidate cell B satisfies the handover condition.

In case 3, the first information includes the number of the second type beams, that is, the terminal device may determine whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition according to the number of the second type beams. The handover conditions may include: the number of beams of the second type of the candidate cell is larger than the fourth threshold value M (referred to as the first condition in case 3) and/or the number of beams of the second type of the candidate cell is larger than or equal to the number of beams of the second type of the source cell (referred to as the second condition in case 3).

In a possible manner, for the first condition in case 3, the terminal device may determine the number of the second type beams of the candidate cell according to the second threshold value Y, and determine whether the number of the second type beams is greater than the fourth threshold value M. If the number of the second type beams is greater than the fourth threshold M, the terminal device may consider that the candidate cell satisfies the first condition. For the second condition in case 3, the terminal device may determine the number of second type beams of the candidate cell and the number of second type beams of the source cell and compare the two. If the number of the second type beams of the candidate cell is greater than or equal to the number of the second type beams of the source cell, the terminal device may consider that the candidate cell satisfies the second condition. The network device may instruct the terminal device to determine which of the handover conditions is satisfied by the candidate cell by configuring a trigger parameter corresponding to the handover condition, for example, for the first condition, the network device may configure a second threshold Y and a fourth threshold M (or, the network device does not configure Y and M, and the terminal device determines according to X and N, at this time, Y is equal to X, and M is equal to N), optionally, the network device may transmit second information to the terminal device (the second information is used for instructing the terminal device to determine whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition according to the number of the second type beams), or, the protocol specifies that the terminal device determines whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition according to the number of the second type beams, and the corresponding handover condition is configured such that the number of the second type beams of the candidate cell is greater than M, in other words, when the terminal device determines whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition, if the number of the second type beams of a certain candidate cell is greater than M, the terminal device may determine that the candidate cell satisfies the first condition. For the second condition, the network device may configure the second threshold Y (or the network device does not configure Y, and the terminal device determines according to X, in which case Y ═ X), and M does not need to be configured. Alternatively, the network device may send second information to the terminal device, where the second information is used to instruct the terminal device to determine whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition according to the number of the second type beams, or the protocol specifies that the terminal device determines whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition according to the number of the second type beams, and the configured corresponding handover condition is that the number of the second type beams of the candidate cell is greater than or equal to the number of the second type beams of the source cell, in other words, when the terminal device determines whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition, if the number of the second type beams of a certain candidate cell is greater than or equal to the number of the second type beams of the source cell, the terminal device may determine that the candidate cell satisfies the second condition. If the network device indicates the two conditions through the configured trigger parameters, the terminal device may consider that the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition when both the first condition and the second condition are satisfied. It should be understood that, if there are multiple candidate cells, the terminal device may compare the number of the second type beams of each candidate cell with the fourth threshold value M, and determine whether each candidate cell satisfies the handover condition. Or, if there are multiple candidate cells, the terminal device may compare the number of the second type beams of each candidate cell with the number of the second type beams of the source cell, and determine whether each candidate cell satisfies the handover condition.

In case 4, the first information includes the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality in the cell, that is, the terminal device may determine whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition according to the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality in the cell. The handover conditions may include: the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality in the candidate cell is larger than a fifth threshold Q (referred to as the first condition in case 4), and/or the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality in the candidate cell is larger than or equal to the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality in the source cell (referred to as the second condition in case 4).

In a possible manner, for the first condition in case 4, the terminal device may determine a beam with the highest signal quality of the candidate cell, compare the signal quality of the beam with a fifth threshold Q, and if the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality is greater than the fifth threshold Q, the terminal device may consider that the candidate cell satisfies the first condition. For the second condition in case 4 above, the terminal device may determine a beam with the highest signal quality of the candidate cell and a beam with the highest signal quality of the source cell, compare the signal qualities of the two, and if the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality of the candidate cell is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality of the source cell, the terminal device may consider that the candidate cell satisfies the second condition. The network device may instruct the terminal device to determine whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition by configuring a trigger parameter corresponding to the handover condition, that is, the terminal device determines which of the handover conditions the candidate cell satisfies, exemplarily, for the first condition, the network device may configure a fifth threshold Q, optionally, the network device may send second information to the terminal device, where the second information is used to instruct the terminal device to determine whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition according to the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality in the cell, or alternatively, the protocol specifies that the terminal device determines whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition according to the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality in the cell, and then the corresponding handover condition is configured such that the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality in the candidate cell is greater than Q, in other words, when the terminal device determines whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition, if the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality of a certain candidate cell is greater than Q, the terminal device may determine that the candidate cell satisfies the first condition. For the second condition, the network device does not need to configure the parameter Q, and optionally, the network device may send second information to the terminal device, where the second information is used to instruct the terminal device to determine whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition according to the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality in the cell, or, the protocol provides that the terminal device determines whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition according to the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality in the cell, where the corresponding handover condition is that the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality in the candidate cell is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality in the source cell, in other words, when the terminal device determines whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition, if the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality in a certain candidate cell is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality in the source cell, the terminal device may determine that the candidate cell satisfies the second condition. If the network device indicates the two conditions through the configured trigger parameters, the terminal device may consider that the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition when both the first condition and the second condition are satisfied. It should be understood that, if there are multiple candidate cells, the terminal device may compare the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality of each candidate cell with the fifth threshold Q and/or the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality of the source cell, and determine whether each candidate cell satisfies the handover condition.

In case 5, the first information includes the number of beams associated with the CFRA resource in the cell, that is, the terminal device may determine whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition according to the number of beams associated with the CFRA resource in the cell. The handover conditions may include: the number of beams associated with the CFRA resource in the candidate cell is greater than or equal to the sixth threshold value P (referred to as the first condition in case 5), and/or the number of beams associated with the CFRA resource in the candidate cell is greater than or equal to the number of beams associated with the CFRA resource in the source cell (referred to as the second condition in case 5).

In a possible manner, for the first condition in case 5, the terminal device may determine the number of beams of the CFRA resource associated with the candidate cell, compare the number of beams with a sixth threshold P, and if the number of beams is greater than or equal to the sixth threshold P, the terminal device may consider that the candidate cell satisfies the first condition. For the second condition in the foregoing case 5, the terminal device may determine the number of beams of the CFRA resource associated with the candidate cell and the number of beams of the CFRA resource associated with the source cell, compare the two numbers, and if the number of beams of the CFRA resource associated with the candidate cell is greater than or equal to the number of beams of the CFRA resource associated with the source cell, the terminal device may consider that the candidate cell satisfies the second condition. The network device may instruct the terminal device to determine which of the handover conditions the candidate cell satisfies by configuring a trigger parameter corresponding to the handover condition, for example, for the first condition, the network device may configure a sixth threshold value P, optionally, the network device may send second information to the terminal device, where the second information is used to instruct the terminal device to determine whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition according to the number of beams associated with the contention-free random access CFRA resource in the cell, or, the protocol specifies that the terminal device determines whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition according to the number of beams associated with the contention-free random access CFRA resource in the cell, and the configured corresponding handover condition is that the number of beams associated with the CFRA resource in the candidate cell is greater than or equal to P, in other words, when the terminal device determines whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition, if the number of beams of the CFRA resource associated with a certain candidate cell is greater than or equal to P, the terminal device may determine that the candidate cell satisfies the first condition. For the second condition, the network does not need to configure the parameter P, optionally, the network device may send second information to the terminal device, where the second information is used to instruct the terminal device to determine whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition according to the number of beams associated with the contention-free random access CFRA resource in the cell, or, the protocol provides that the terminal device determines whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition according to the number of beams associated with the contention-free random access CFRA resource in the cell, at this time, the corresponding handover condition is that the number of beams associated with the CFRA resource in the candidate cell is greater than or equal to the number of beams associated with the CFRA resource in the source cell, in other words, when the terminal device determines whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition, if the number of beams associated with the CFRA resource in a certain candidate cell is greater than or equal to the number of beams associated with the CFRA resource in the source cell, the terminal device may determine that the candidate cell satisfies the second condition. If the network device indicates the two conditions through the configured trigger parameters, the terminal device may consider that the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition when both the first condition and the second condition are satisfied. It should be understood that, if there are multiple candidate cells, the terminal device may compare the number of beams of the CFRA resource associated with each candidate cell with the sixth threshold P and/or the number of beams of the CFRA resource associated with the source cell, respectively, to determine whether each candidate cell satisfies the handover condition.

And 6, the first information includes the number of the second type beams and the cell signal quality, that is, the terminal device may determine whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition according to the number of the second type beams and the cell signal quality. The handover conditions may include:

(1) the number of the second type beams of the candidate cell is greater than or equal to the number of the second type beams of the source cell; and

(2) the cell signal quality of the candidate cell is greater than the sum of the cell signal quality of the source cell and the seventh threshold value offset 2.

In the case where both of the above conditions are satisfied, the terminal device may consider that the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition. The specific determination process is similar to the above, and is not described herein again.

Optionally, the switching condition may also include:

(1) the number of the second type beams of the candidate cell is greater than or equal to a fourth threshold value M; and

It should be noted that, in the above (2), the cell signal quality of the candidate cell is greater than the eleventh threshold E, and the cell signal quality of the source cell is less than the twelfth threshold F, where E is greater than F.

Alternatively, the network device may send second information to the terminal device, where the second information is used to instruct the terminal device to determine whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition according to the number of the second type beams and the cell signal quality, or the protocol specifies that the terminal device determines whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition according to the number of the second type beams and the cell signal quality. The terminal device may determine the switching condition used for the determination by combining the trigger parameter (e.g., the seventh threshold value offset2, the fourth threshold value M, the eleventh threshold value E, or the twelfth threshold value F, etc.) of the switching condition, the second information, or the protocol specification, which is not described herein again.

And 7, the first information includes the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality in the cell and the signal quality of the cell, that is, the terminal device may determine whether the candidate cell meets the handover condition according to the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality in the cell and the signal quality of the cell. The handover conditions may include:

(1) the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality of the candidate cell is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality of the source cell; and

Optionally, the switching condition may also include:

(1) the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality in the candidate cell is greater than a fifth threshold value Q; and

Alternatively, the network device may send second information to the terminal device, where the second information is used to instruct the terminal device to determine whether the candidate cell meets the handover condition according to the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality in the cell and the cell signal quality, or the protocol specifies that the terminal device determines whether the candidate cell meets the handover condition according to the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality in the cell and the cell signal quality. The terminal device may determine the switching condition used for the determination by combining the trigger parameter (e.g., the seventh threshold value offset2, the fifth threshold value Q, the eleventh threshold value E, or the twelfth threshold value F, etc.), the second information, or the protocol specification of the switching condition, which is not described herein again.

In case 8, the first information includes the number of beams associated with the CFRA resource in the cell and the cell signal quality, that is, the terminal device may determine whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition according to the number of beams associated with the CFRA resource in the cell and the cell signal quality. The handover conditions may include:

(1) the number of beams of the CFRA resources in the candidate cell is greater than or equal to the number of beams of the CFRA resources in the source cell; and

Optionally, the switching condition may also include:

(1) the number of beams associated with the CFRA resources in the candidate cell is greater than or equal to a sixth threshold value P; and

Alternatively, the network device may send second information to the terminal device, where the second information is used to instruct the terminal device to determine whether the candidate cell meets the handover condition according to the number of beams associated with the CFRA resource in the cell and the cell signal quality, or the protocol provides that the terminal device determines whether the candidate cell meets the handover condition according to the number of beams associated with the CFRA resource in the cell and the cell signal quality. The terminal device may determine the switching condition used for the determination by combining the trigger parameter of the switching condition (e.g., the seventh threshold value offset2, the sixth threshold value P, the eleventh threshold value E, or the twelfth threshold value F, etc.), the second information, or the protocol specification, which is not described herein again.

And 9, the first information includes the number of the second type beams, the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality in the cell, and the signal quality of the cell, that is, the terminal device may determine whether the candidate cell meets the handover condition according to the number of the second type beams, the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality in the cell, and the signal quality of the cell. The handover conditions may include:

(1) the number of the second type beams of the candidate cell is greater than or equal to the number of the second type beams of the source cell;

(2) the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality of the candidate cell is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality of the source cell; and

(3) the cell signal quality of the candidate cell is greater than the sum of the cell signal quality of the source cell and the seventh threshold value offset 2.

In the case where all of the above three conditions are satisfied, the terminal device may consider that the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition. The specific determination process is similar to the above, and is not described herein again.

Optionally, the condition (1) may also be replaced by that the number of the second type beams of the candidate cell is greater than a fourth threshold M, the condition (2) may also be replaced by that the signal quality of a beam with the highest signal quality in the candidate cell is greater than a fifth threshold Q, the condition (3) may also be replaced by that the cell signal quality of the candidate cell is greater than an eleventh threshold E, and the cell signal quality of the source cell is less than a twelfth threshold F, where E is greater than F, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

Alternatively, the network device may send second information to the terminal device, where the second information is used to instruct the terminal device to determine whether the candidate cell meets the handover condition according to the number of the second type beams, the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality in the cell, and the cell signal quality, or the protocol specifies that the terminal device determines whether the candidate cell meets the handover condition according to the number of the second type beams, the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality in the cell, and the cell signal quality. The terminal device may determine the switching condition used for the determination by combining the trigger parameter (e.g., the seventh threshold value offset2, the fourth threshold value M, the fifth threshold value Q, the eleventh threshold value E, or the twelfth threshold value F, etc.) of the switching condition, the second information, or the protocol specification, and details are not repeated here.

In case 10, the first information includes the number of the second type beams, the number of beams associated with the CFRA resource in the cell, and the cell signal quality, that is, the terminal device may determine whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition according to the number of the second type beams, the number of beams associated with the CFRA resource in the cell, and the cell signal quality. The handover conditions may include:

(2) the number of beams of the CFRA resources in the candidate cell is greater than or equal to the number of beams of the CFRA resources in the source cell; and

Optionally, the condition (1) may also be replaced by that the number of beams of the second type of the candidate cell is greater than the fourth threshold M, the condition (2) may also be replaced by that the number of beams of the CFRA resource in the candidate cell is greater than or equal to a sixth threshold P, the condition (3) may also be replaced by that the cell signal quality of the candidate cell is greater than an eleventh threshold E and the cell signal quality of the source cell is less than a twelfth threshold F, where E is greater than F, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

Alternatively, the network device may send second information to the terminal device, where the second information is used to instruct the terminal device to determine whether the candidate cell meets the handover condition according to the number of beams of the second type, the number of beams associated with the CFRA resource in the cell, and the cell signal quality, or the protocol provides that the terminal device determines whether the candidate cell meets the handover condition according to the number of beams of the second type, the number of beams associated with the CFRA resource in the cell, and the cell signal quality. The terminal device may determine the switching condition used for the determination by combining the trigger parameter (e.g., the seventh threshold value offset2, the fourth threshold value M, the sixth threshold value P, the eleventh threshold value E, or the twelfth threshold value F, etc.), the second information, or the protocol specification of the switching condition, which is not described herein again.

The condition 11, that is, the terminal device may determine whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition according to the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality in the cell, the number of beams associated with the CFRA resource in the cell, and the cell signal quality, where the first information includes the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality in the cell, the number of beams associated with the CFRA resource in the cell, and the cell signal quality. The handover conditions may include:

(1) the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality of the candidate cell is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality of the source cell;

Optionally, the condition (1) may also be replaced by that the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality of the candidate cell is greater than a fifth threshold Q, the condition (2) may also be replaced by that the number of beams associated with the CFRA resource in the candidate cell is greater than or equal to a sixth threshold P, and the condition (3) may also be replaced by that the cell signal quality of the candidate cell is greater than an eleventh threshold E and the cell signal quality of the source cell is less than a twelfth threshold F, where E is greater than F, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present invention.

Alternatively, the network device may send second information to the terminal device, where the second information is used to instruct the terminal device to determine whether the candidate cell meets the handover condition according to the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality in the cell, the number of beams associated with the CFRA resource in the cell, and the cell signal quality, or the protocol specifies that the terminal device determines whether the candidate cell meets the handover condition according to the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality in the cell, the number of beams associated with the CFRA resource in the cell, and the cell signal quality. The terminal device may determine the switching condition used for the determination by combining the trigger parameter (e.g., the seventh threshold value offset2, the fifth threshold value Q, the sixth threshold value P, the eleventh threshold value E, or the twelfth threshold value F, etc.), the second information, or the protocol specification of the switching condition, which is not described herein again.

The condition 12, that is, the terminal device may determine whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition according to the number of the second type beams, the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality in the cell, the number of the beams associated with the CFRA resource in the cell, and the cell signal quality, where the first information includes the number of the second type beams, the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality in the cell, and the number of the beams associated with the CFRA resource in the cell. The handover conditions may include:

(3) the number of beams associated with the CFRA resource in the candidate cell is greater than or equal to the number of beams associated with the CFRA resource in the source cell.

(4) The cell signal quality of the candidate cell is greater than the sum of the cell signal quality of the source cell and the seventh threshold value offset 2.

In the case where the above four conditions are all satisfied, the terminal device may consider that the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition. The specific determination process is similar to the above, and is not described herein again.

Optionally, the condition (1) may also be replaced by that the number of the second type beams of the candidate cell is greater than a fourth threshold M, the condition (2) may also be replaced by that the signal quality of a beam with the highest signal quality in the candidate cell is greater than a fifth threshold Q, the condition (3) may also be replaced by that the number of beams associated with the CFRA resource in the candidate cell is greater than or equal to a sixth threshold P, and the condition (4) may also be replaced by that the cell signal quality of the candidate cell is greater than an eleventh threshold E and the cell signal quality of the source cell is less than a twelfth threshold F, where E is greater than F, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

Alternatively, the network device may send second information to the terminal device, where the second information is used to instruct the terminal device to determine whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition according to the number of the second type of beams, the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality in the cell, the number of beams associated with the CFRA resource in the cell, and the cell signal quality, or the protocol specifies that the terminal device determines whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition according to the number of the second type of beams, the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality in the cell, the number of beams associated with the CFRA resource in the cell, and the cell signal quality. The terminal device may determine the switching condition used for the determination by combining the trigger parameter (e.g., the seventh threshold value offset2, the fourth threshold value M, the fifth threshold value Q, the sixth threshold value P, the eleventh threshold value E, or the twelfth threshold value F, etc.) of the switching condition, the second information, or the protocol specification, which is not described herein again.

In summary, the handover condition may be any one of the above situations, and depends on the configuration of the network device and/or protocol agreement, that is, the network device may instruct the terminal device to determine the handover condition used when the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition by configuring a trigger parameter of the handover condition, or may instruct the terminal device to determine the handover condition used when the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition by agreement. Only a few of the possible scenarios are listed above, but it should be understood that the handover condition may also include other combinations of conditions, which are not listed here.

As an optional embodiment, before the terminal device determines whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition according to the first information, the method further includes: the network device sends at least one of the information indicating the third threshold value offset1, the fourth threshold value M, the fifth threshold value Q, the sixth threshold value P, or the seventh threshold value offset2 to the terminal device, and correspondingly, the terminal device receives at least one of the information indicating the third threshold value offset1, the fourth threshold value M, the fifth threshold value Q, the sixth threshold value P, or the seventh threshold value offset 2. Since the terminal device determines whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition according to the threshold value, in this embodiment, the information may also be referred to as a trigger parameter of the handover condition, and is used for the terminal device to determine the corresponding handover condition, so as to determine whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition.

As an optional embodiment, before the terminal device determines whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition according to the first information, the method further includes: and the network equipment sends information for indicating at least one of the first threshold value X and the eighth threshold value N to the terminal equipment. Optionally, the information may be carried in measurement configuration information.

Optionally, M and N may be equal or unequal. If M and N are not equal, M and N need to be configured respectively. If M is equal to N, M may not be included in the conditional switch configuration information. If the network device has configured the eighth threshold N, when the terminal device determines whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition according to the number of the second type beams, optionally, the network device may send the indication information instead of configuring M, and instruct the terminal device to use the eighth threshold N when determining whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition. Or, the protocol specifies that when the conditional handover configuration information does not include M, the terminal device may use the eighth threshold N when determining whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition, and the network device may not explicitly indicate through the indication information. In other words, the protocol specification condition switching configuration information does not include M, and it is understood that the protocol specifications M and N are equal to each other.

Similarly, Y and X may be equal or unequal. If Y and X are not equal, then Y and X need to be configured separately. If Y is equal to X, Y may not be included in the conditional handover configuration information, and in this case, the first type of beam may also be referred to as a second type of beam. If the network device has configured the first threshold X, when the terminal device needs to determine whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition according to the second type beam, optionally, the network device may not configure Y, but send indication information to indicate the terminal device to use the first threshold X when determining whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition. Or, the protocol specifies that when the conditional handover configuration information does not include Y, the terminal device may use the first threshold value X when determining whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition, and then the network device may not explicitly indicate through the indication information. In other words, the protocol specification condition switching configuration information does not include Y, and it can be understood that the protocol specification Y and X are equal to each other.

As an optional embodiment, if there are multiple candidate cells that satisfy the handover condition, the first cell is a cell corresponding to a beam with the highest signal quality and associated with a CFRA resource, among the multiple candidate cells that satisfy the handover condition.

For example, if the terminal device determines that a plurality of candidate cells satisfy the handover condition, the terminal device may determine, as the target cell, a cell corresponding to a beam with the highest signal quality and associated with the CFRA resource. Therefore, the terminal equipment and the target cell carry out non-competitive random access, competition is avoided, the random access success rate of the terminal equipment is improved, and the cell switching success rate is improved because the terminal equipment selects the cell corresponding to the beam with the best signal quality in the beams related to the CFRA resources.

Illustratively, upon determination by the terminal device, candidate cell a, candidate cell B, and candidate cell C all satisfy the handover condition, where beam 1 of candidate cell a is associated with CFRA resource 1, beam 2 of candidate cell a is associated with CFRA resource 2, and beam 4 of candidate cell B is associated with CFRA resource 3 (for example, the network device includes CFRA resource 1 associated with beam 1 of candidate cell a, CFRA resource 2 associated with beam 2 of candidate cell a, and CFRA resource 3 associated with beam 4 of candidate cell B in the conditional handover configuration information), the terminal device may measure, according to Radio Resource Management (RRM) measurement, the signal quality of beam 2 of candidate cell a > the signal quality of beam 4 of candidate cell B > the signal quality of beam 1 of candidate cell a, and then the terminal device may determine candidate cell a as the target cell, and initiates a random access procedure to the candidate cell a. In other words, the terminal device may perform random access using the CFRA resource 2 associated with the beam 2 of the candidate cell a, specifically, the terminal device may transmit a preamble index associated with the beam 2 to the target cell (i.e., the candidate cell a) using the time-frequency resource associated with the beam 2, and after receiving the preamble index transmitted by the terminal device, the target cell may reply a Random Access Response (RAR) message to the terminal device using the beam 2.

As an optional embodiment, the method further comprises: and if the network equipment sends second information to the terminal equipment, correspondingly, the terminal equipment receives the second information, and the second information is used for indicating the terminal equipment to judge whether the candidate cell meets the switching condition according to the first information.

For example, the network device may send, to the terminal device, second information for instructing the terminal device to perform condition judgment according to the first information, and after receiving the second information, the terminal device may determine whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition by using the first information, so as to select the target cell. In other words, the second information indicates the content included in the first information, i.e., the switching condition under which the terminal device can determine the determination from the second information. For example, the network device sends second information to the terminal device, where the second information is used to instruct the terminal device to determine whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition according to the first signal quality or the cell signal quality. Illustratively, the second information may be a binary value, for example, "0" or "1", where "0" is used to instruct the terminal device to judge whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition according to the cell signal quality, and "1" is used to instruct the terminal device to judge whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition according to the first signal quality; alternatively, the second information may be a boolean value, such as "tune" or "FALSE", where "FALSE" is used to instruct the terminal device to determine whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition according to the cell signal quality, and "tune" is used to instruct the terminal device to determine whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition according to the first signal quality. The above is merely an example for facilitating understanding, and the second information may have other representation forms, which is not limited by the embodiments of the present application.

In the following, taking the UE and the two candidate base stations as examples, the communication method according to the embodiment of the present application is described in detail with reference to fig. 4. Optionally, in the CHO mechanism, the number of candidate base stations may be an integer greater than or equal to 1, which is not limited in this embodiment.

In S401, the source base station transmits a Radio Resource Control (RRC) reconfiguration (RRCReconfiguration) message to the UE.

Correspondingly, the UE receives the RRC reconfiguration message. The RRC reconfiguration message may be replaced by an RRC connection reconfiguration message or a message with another name, which is not limited herein.

Optionally, the RRC reconfiguration message includes measurement configuration information (e.g., a cell MeasConfig, where parameters included in the cell may refer to the TS38.331 protocol), and the measurement configuration information may include the first threshold value X and the eighth threshold value N.

In S402, the UE performs measurement according to the measurement configuration information and transmits a measurement report to the source base station.

Correspondingly, the source base station receives the measurement report.

In S403, the source base station sends a message 1 to the candidate base station 1, and requests the candidate base station 1 to determine whether to allow the UE to access.

This message 1 may also be referred to as a conditional handover request message or other nomenclature, or to reuse an existing handover request message, and is not limited herein. Correspondingly, the candidate base station 1 receives the message 1, and after receiving the message 1, the candidate base station 1 determines whether to allow the UE to switch to the candidate base station 1. Alternatively, if the candidate base station 1 allows the UE handover, the candidate base station 1 may allocate the C-RNTI, CFRA resources required for accessing the candidate cell (the candidate cell belongs to the candidate base station 1), and/or Contention Based Random Access (CBRA) resources for the UE.

In S404, if the candidate base station 1 allows the UE to access, the candidate base station 1 may reply to the source base station with a message 2.

The message 2 indicates that the candidate base station 1 allows the UE to access, and the message 2 may be referred to as a conditional handover request acknowledge message or other nomenclature, or reuse an existing handover request acknowledge message, which is not limited herein. The source base station receives this message 2 accordingly. Optionally, the message 2 may include the C-RNTI allocated by the candidate base station 1 for the UE, CFRA resources and/or CBRA resources required for accessing the candidate cell (the candidate cell belongs to the candidate base station 1), and the like.

If the candidate base station 1 does not allow the UE to access, the candidate base station 1 may reply a message 3 to the source base station, where the message 3 may be a conditional handover preparation failure message or other nomenclature, or reuse an existing handover preparation failure message, which is not limited herein. The source base station receives this message 3 accordingly.

In S405, the source base station transmits a message 4 to the candidate base station 2, and requests the candidate base station 2 to determine whether to allow the UE to access.

This message 4 may also be referred to as a conditional handover request message or other nomenclature, or may reuse an existing handover request message, and is not limited herein. Correspondingly, the candidate base station 2 receives the message 4, and after receiving the message 4, the candidate base station 2 determines whether to allow the UE to switch to the candidate base station 2. Alternatively, if the candidate base station 2 allows the UE to handover, the candidate base station 2 may allocate the C-RNTI, the CFRA resource and/or the CBRA resource required for accessing the candidate cell (the candidate cell belongs to the candidate base station 2), and the like to the UE.

If the candidate base station 2 allows the UE to access, the candidate base station 2 may reply to the source base station with a message 5 in S406.

This message 5 indicates that the candidate base station 2 allows the UE to access, and this message 5 may be a conditional handover request acknowledge message or other nomenclature, or reuse an existing handover request acknowledge message, which is not limited herein. The source base station receives this message 5 accordingly. Optionally, the message 5 may include the C-RNTI allocated by the candidate base station 2 for the UE, the CFRA resource and/or CBRA resource required for accessing the candidate cell (the candidate cell belongs to the candidate base station 2), and the like.

If the candidate base station 2 does not allow the UE to access, the candidate base station 2 may reply a message 6 to the source base station, where the message 6 may be a conditional handover preparation failure message or other nomenclature, or reuse an existing handover preparation failure message, which is not limited herein. The source base station receives this message 6 accordingly.

In S407, the source base station carries the relevant information of the candidate cell in the conditional handover configuration information and sends the conditional handover configuration information to the UE.

In a possible manner, the source base station screens out candidate base stations (or candidate cells) allowing the UE to access according to reply messages (e.g., message 2, message 3, message 5, or message 6) sent by various candidate base stations, and sends the candidate cells to the UE with related information of the candidate cells carried in the conditional handover configuration information.

In this embodiment, assuming that both the candidate base station 1 and the candidate base station 2 allow the UE to access, the source base station may receive the message 2 sent by the candidate base station 1 and the message 5 sent by the candidate base station 2, and the conditional handover configuration information sent by the source base station to the UE may include the relevant information configured by the candidate base station 1 and the relevant information configured by the candidate base station 2. Correspondingly, the UE receives the conditional handover configuration information sent by the source base station.

Optionally, the information related to the configuration of the candidate base station 1 may include information of candidate cells belonging to the candidate base station 1 (e.g., PCI of the candidate cell and frequency information corresponding to the candidate cell, C-RNTI allocated by the candidate cell for the UE), RACH resource information (e.g., dedicated RACH resource and/or common RACH resource) required for accessing the candidate cells belonging to the candidate base station 1, and the like. The relevant information of the candidate base station 2 configuration is similar and will not be described herein again.

Optionally, the conditional handover configuration information may further include one or more of the threshold values. The conditional handover configuration information may be contained in a conditional handover message (or other nomenclature) or an RRC reconfiguration message, which is not limited herein.

It should be understood that the above S401 to S407 are only one example of determining and sending the conditional handover configuration information by the source base station, and the embodiment of the present application does not limit this.

In S408, the UE acquires the first information, and respectively determines whether the candidate cell belonging to the candidate base station 1 and the candidate cell belonging to the candidate base station 2 satisfy the handover condition according to the conditional handover configuration information.

In S409, the UE determines a candidate cell satisfying the handover condition as a target cell. In this embodiment, assuming that the candidate cell 1 satisfies the handover condition, the candidate cell 1 may be the determined target cell, and the base station to which the candidate cell 1 belongs is the target base station. Assuming that the candidate cell 1 belongs to the candidate base station 1, the candidate base station 1 is the target base station.

In S410, the UE initiates random access to the candidate base station 1 (or the candidate cell 1).

In S411, after the UE switches to the candidate base station 1 (or accesses the candidate cell 1), the UE sends an RRC reconfiguration complete message to the candidate base station 1, where the RRC reconfiguration complete message is used to notify that the conditional handover is completed, and the RRC reconfiguration complete message may also be replaced by the conditional handover complete message, or the RRC connection reconfiguration complete message, or a message with another name, which is not limited herein.

In this embodiment, the terminal device may determine, by combining information such as the first signal quality, the cell signal quality, the beam with the signal quality higher than a certain threshold (e.g., the first-type beam and the second-type beam), the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality, and the number of beams associated with the CFRA resource, whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition, so that the target cell determined by the terminal device has higher robustness. Therefore, according to the communication method in the embodiment of the application, the terminal device can determine a suitable target cell to perform handover, and the success rate of terminal device handover in the conditional handover mechanism is improved.

The embodiment of the present application further provides a communication method, including: the terminal equipment judges whether the candidate cell meets the switching condition; if a plurality of candidate cells meet the switching condition, the terminal equipment determines a cell corresponding to a beam with the best signal quality and associated with the CFRA resource in the candidate cells meeting the switching condition as a target cell.

For example, the terminal device may determine whether the candidate cell meets the handover condition according to the first information, and the specific determination method is as described above and is not described again. For example, the terminal device may determine whether the candidate cell satisfies the handover condition in other manners according to other information. If the terminal device determines that the candidate cells satisfy the handover condition, the terminal device may select a cell corresponding to a beam associated with the CFRA resource and having the best signal quality as a target cell. Therefore, the terminal equipment and the target cell carry out non-competitive random access, competition is avoided, the random access success rate of the terminal equipment is improved, and the handover success rate is improved because the terminal equipment selects the cell corresponding to the beam with the best signal quality in the beams related to the CFRA resources.

It should be understood that the sequence numbers of the above-mentioned processes do not mean the execution sequence, and the execution sequence of each process should be determined by its function and inherent logic, and should not constitute any limitation to the implementation process of the embodiments of the present application.

The communication method according to the embodiment of the present application is described in detail above with reference to fig. 1 to 4, and the communication apparatus, the terminal device, and the network device according to the embodiment of the present application are described in detail below with reference to fig. 5 to 7.

Fig. 5 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application. As shown, the communication device 500 may include a transceiver unit 510 and a processing unit 520.

In one possible design, the communication apparatus 500 may implement each step or flow executed by the terminal device corresponding to the above method embodiment, for example, the communication apparatus 500 may be the terminal device, or a chip or a circuit configured in the terminal device.

In one implementation, the processing unit 520 includes: a determining unit 521, configured to determine whether the candidate cell satisfies a handover condition according to the first information; a determining unit 522, configured to determine a first cell as a target cell, where the first cell is a cell that satisfies the handover condition among the candidate cells; wherein the first information comprises at least one of the following information: the first signal quality is determined according to the cell signal quality and the number of first type beams of the cell, wherein the first type beams are beams with the signal quality higher than a first threshold value X; the number of second type beams, wherein the second type beams are beams with signal quality higher than a second threshold value Y; the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality in the cell; or, the number of beams associated with contention-free random access CFRA resources in the cell.

Optionally, the first information further includes the cell signal quality.

Optionally, the handover condition comprises at least one of: the first signal quality of the candidate cell is greater than the sum of the first signal quality of the source cell and a third threshold value offset 1; the number of the second type beams of the candidate cell is greater than a fourth threshold value M, wherein M is a positive integer; the number of the second type beams of the candidate cell is greater than or equal to the number of the second type beams of the source cell; the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality of the candidate cell is greater than a fifth threshold value Q; the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality of the candidate cell is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality of the source cell; the number of beams associated with the CFRA resource in the candidate cell is greater than or equal to a sixth threshold value P, where the sixth threshold value P is a positive integer; the number of beams associated with the CFRA resources in the candidate cell is greater than or equal to the number of beams associated with the CFRA resources in the source cell; or, the cell signal quality of the candidate cell is greater than the sum of the cell signal quality of the source cell and the seventh threshold value offset 2.

Optionally, the transceiver unit 510 is configured to: receiving a trigger parameter of the conditional switch, where the trigger parameter is used to indicate at least one of the third threshold value offset1, the fourth threshold value M, the fifth threshold value Q, the sixth threshold value P, or the seventh threshold value offset 2. Optionally, this step may be specifically performed by the first receiving unit in the transceiving unit 510.

Optionally, the first signal quality is the cell signal quality + i × (number of the first type beams-1), 0< i < 1; or, the first signal quality is the cell signal quality + j × (the number of the first type of beams — an eighth threshold value N), 0< j < 1; or, the first signal quality is the cell signal quality × the number of the first type of beams/the eighth threshold value N; and the eighth threshold value N is a positive integer.

Optionally, the processing unit 520 is specifically configured to: if a plurality of candidate cells meet the switching condition, the first cell is a cell corresponding to a beam with the highest signal quality and associated with the CFRA resource among the candidate cells meeting the switching condition.

Optionally, the transceiver unit 510 is further configured to: and receiving second information, wherein the second information is used for indicating whether the candidate cell meets the switching condition or not according to the first information. Optionally, this step may be specifically executed by the second receiving unit in the transceiving unit 510.

Optionally, the transceiver unit 510 is further configured to receive other information from the network device, such as an RRC reconfiguration message, a conditional handover configuration message, and the like, which is not described herein again.

In one implementation, the processing unit 520 includes: a determining unit 521, configured to determine whether the candidate cell satisfies a handover condition; determining unit 522, configured to, when there are multiple candidate cells that satisfy the handover condition, determine, as a target cell, a cell corresponding to a beam with the highest signal quality and associated with a CFRA resource, from among the multiple candidate cells that satisfy the handover condition.

In one possible design, the communication apparatus 500 may implement various steps or processes executed by the network device corresponding to the above method embodiments, for example, the communication apparatus 500 may be a network device, or a chip or a circuit configured in a network device.

The processing unit 520 is configured to: determining a trigger parameter of a handover condition, wherein the trigger parameter is used for determining the handover condition, and the handover condition is used for judging whether a candidate cell meets the handover condition by a terminal device in combination with first information; the transceiver unit 510 is configured to: sending the trigger parameter to the terminal equipment; wherein the first information comprises at least one of the following information: the first signal quality is determined according to the cell signal quality and the number of first type beams of the cell, and the first type beams are beams with the signal quality higher than a first threshold value X; the number of second type beams is the number of the beams with the signal quality higher than a second threshold value Y; the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality in the cell; or, the number of beams associated with contention-free random access CFRA resources in the cell. Alternatively, the above-mentioned step of transmitting may also be performed by the transmitting unit in the transceiving unit 510.

Optionally, the first information further includes the cell signal quality.

Optionally, the handover condition comprises at least one of: the first signal quality of the candidate cell is greater than the sum of the first signal quality of the source cell and a third threshold value offset 1; the number of the second type beams of the candidate cell is greater than a fourth threshold value M, wherein M is a positive integer; the number of the second type beams of the candidate cell is greater than or equal to the number of the second type beams of the source cell; the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality of the candidate cell is greater than a fifth threshold value Q; the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality of the candidate cell is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the beam with the highest signal quality of the source cell; the number of beams associated with the CFRA resource in the candidate cell is greater than or equal to a sixth threshold value P, where the sixth threshold value P is a positive integer; the number of the beams of the related CFRA resources in the candidate cell is greater than or equal to the number of the beams of the related CFRA resources in the source cell; or, the cell signal quality of the candidate cell is greater than the sum of the cell signal quality of the source cell and the seventh threshold value offset 2.

Optionally, the trigger parameter is used to indicate at least one of the third threshold value offset1, the fourth threshold value M, the fifth threshold value Q, the sixth threshold value P, or the seventh threshold value offset 2.

Optionally, the first signal quality is the cell signal quality + i × (number of the first type beams-1), 0< i < 1; or, the first signal quality is the cell signal quality + j × (the number of the first type of beams — an eighth threshold value N), 0< j < 1; or, the first signal quality is the cell signal quality × the number of the first type beams/the eighth threshold value N; and the eighth threshold value N is a positive integer.

Optionally, the transceiver unit 510 is further configured to: and sending second information to the terminal equipment, wherein the second information is used for indicating the terminal equipment to judge whether the candidate cell meets the switching condition according to the first information.

Optionally, the transceiver unit 510 is further configured to send other information from the network device, such as an RRC reconfiguration message, a conditional handover configuration message, and the like, which is not described herein again.

It should be understood that the communication apparatus 500 herein is embodied in the form of a functional unit. The term "unit" herein may refer to an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), an electronic circuit, a processor (e.g., a shared, dedicated, or group processor) and memory that execute one or more software or firmware programs, a combinational logic circuit, and/or other suitable components that support the described functionality. In an optional example, it may be understood by those skilled in the art that the communication apparatus 500 may be specifically a terminal device or a network device in the foregoing embodiment, and the communication apparatus 500 may be configured to perform each procedure and/or step corresponding to the terminal device or the network device in the foregoing method embodiment, and in order to avoid repetition, details are not described here again.

The communication apparatus 500 of each of the above-mentioned aspects has a function of implementing corresponding steps executed by the terminal device or the network device in the above-mentioned method; 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. For example, the transceiver 510 may include a transmitter and a receiver, where the transmitter may be configured to implement each step and/or flow corresponding to the transceiver for performing a transmitting action, and the receiver may be configured to implement each step and/or flow corresponding to the transceiver for performing a receiving action. The transmitting unit may be replaced by a transmitter, and the receiving unit may be replaced by a receiver, which performs transceiving operations and related processing operations in the respective method embodiments, respectively. It is to be understood that the processing unit 520 in the above embodiments may be implemented by a processor or processor-related circuits, and the transceiving unit 510 may be implemented by a transceiver or transceiver-related circuits or interface circuits.

Optionally, in each of the above possibly designed communication apparatuses, a storage unit may be further included, and the processing unit 520 may call and execute the computer program from the storage unit, so that the communication apparatus 500 executes the method on the terminal device side in the above method embodiment, or executes the method on the network device side in the above method embodiment.

The units in the above embodiments may also be referred to as modules or circuits or components, etc.

Fig. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a terminal device 2000 according to an embodiment of the present application. The terminal device 2000 may be applied in the communication system shown in fig. 1, and performs the functions of the terminal device in the above method embodiment, or implements the steps or processes performed by the terminal device in the above method embodiment.

As shown in fig. 6, the terminal device 2000 includes a processor 2010 and a transceiver 2020. Optionally, the terminal device 2000 further comprises a memory 2030. The processor 2010, the transceiver 2002 and the memory 2030 may be in communication with each other via the interconnection path to transfer control and/or data signals, the memory 2030 may be used for storing a computer program, and the processor 2010 may be used for retrieving and executing the computer program from the memory 2030 to control the transceiver 2020 to transmit and receive signals. Optionally, the terminal device 2000 may further include an antenna 2040, configured to transmit uplink data or uplink control signaling output by the transceiver 2020 by using a wireless signal.

The processor 2010 and the memory 2030 may be combined into a processing device, and the processor 2010 is configured to execute the program codes stored in the memory 2030 to achieve the above functions. In particular, the memory 2030 may be integrated with the processor 2010 or may be separate from the processor 2010. The processor 2010 may correspond to the processing unit 520 of fig. 5.

The transceiver 2020 may correspond to the transceiver unit 510 in fig. 5 and may also be referred to as a communication unit. The transceiver 2020 may include a receiver (or receiver, receiving circuit) and a transmitter (or transmitter, transmitting circuit). Wherein the receiver is used for receiving signals, and the transmitter is used for transmitting signals.

It should be understood that terminal device 2000 shown in fig. 6 is capable of implementing various processes involving the terminal device in the method embodiments shown in fig. 2-4. The operations and/or functions of the modules in the terminal device 2000 are respectively to implement the corresponding flows in the above-described method embodiments. Specifically, reference may be made to the description of the above method embodiments, and the detailed description is appropriately omitted herein to avoid redundancy.

The processor 2010 may be configured to perform the actions described in the preceding method embodiments that are implemented within the terminal device, and the transceiver 2020 may be configured to perform the actions described in the preceding method embodiments that the terminal device transmits to or receives from the network device. Please refer to the description of the previous embodiment of the method, which is not repeated herein.

Optionally, the terminal device 2000 may further include a power supply 2050 for supplying power to various devices or circuits in the terminal device.

In addition, in order to further improve the functions of the terminal device, the terminal device 2000 may further include one or more of an input unit 2060, a display unit 2070, an audio circuit 2080, a camera 2090, a sensor 2100, and the like, and the audio circuit may further include a speaker 2082, a microphone 2084, and the like.

Fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a network device 3000 according to an embodiment of the present application, for example, a schematic structural diagram of a base station. The network device 3000 can be applied to the communication system shown in fig. 1, and performs the functions of the network device in the above method embodiment, or implements the steps or processes performed by the network device in the above method embodiment.

As shown, the network device 3000 may include one or more radio frequency units, such as a Remote Radio Unit (RRU) 3100 and one or more baseband units (BBU) 3200, where the BBU3200 may also be referred to as a Digital Unit (DU), and the RRU 3100 may be referred to as a transceiver unit, which corresponds to the transceiver unit 510 in fig. 5. Alternatively, the RRU 3100 may also be referred to as a transceiver, transceiving circuitry, or a transceiver, etc., which may include at least one antenna 3101 and a radio frequency unit 3102. Optionally, the RRU 3100 may include a receiving unit and a sending unit, where the receiving unit may correspond to a receiver (or receiver, receiving circuit), and the sending unit may correspond to a transmitter (or transmitter, transmitting circuit). The RRU 3100 part is mainly used for transceiving and converting radio frequency signals to baseband signals, for example, for sending indication information to a terminal device. The BBU3200 part is mainly used for performing baseband processing, controlling network equipment and the like. The RRU 3100 and the BBU3200 may be physically located together or may be physically located separately, for example, in a distributed base station.

The BBU3200 is a control center of a network device, and may also be referred to as a processing unit, and may correspond to the processing unit 520 in fig. 5, and is mainly used for completing baseband processing functions, such as channel coding, multiplexing, modulating, spreading, and the like. For example, the BBU3200 may be configured to control a network device to perform an operation procedure related to the network device in the foregoing method embodiment, for example, to generate the foregoing handover condition, or to send the handover condition.

In an example, the BBU3200 may be formed by one or more boards, and the boards may collectively support a radio access network of a single access system (e.g., an LTE network), or may respectively support radio access networks of different access systems (e.g., an LTE network, a 5G network, or other networks). The BBU3200 also includes a memory 3201 and a processor 3202. The memory 3201 is used to store necessary instructions and data. The processor 3202 is used for controlling the network device to perform necessary actions, for example, for controlling the network device to execute the operation flow related to the network device in the above method embodiment. The memory 3201 and processor 3202 may serve one or more boards. That is, the memory and processor may be provided separately on each board. Multiple boards may share the same memory and processor. In addition, each single board can be provided with necessary circuits.

It should be understood that the network device 3000 shown in fig. 7 is capable of implementing various processes involving the network device in the method embodiments of fig. 2-4. The operations and/or functions of the modules in the network device 3000 are respectively to implement the corresponding flows in the above method embodiments. Specifically, reference may be made to the description of the above method embodiments, and the detailed description is appropriately omitted herein to avoid redundancy.

BBU3200 as described above can be used to perform actions described in previous method embodiments as being implemented internally by a network device, while RRU 3100 can be used to perform actions described in previous method embodiments as being sent by or received from a terminal device by a network device. Please refer to the description of the previous embodiment of the method, which is not repeated herein.

The embodiment of the application also provides a processing device which comprises a processor and an interface. The processor may be adapted to perform the method of the above-described method embodiments.

It should be understood that the processing means may be a chip. For example, the processing device may be a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a system on chip (SoC), a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a Network Processor (NP), a digital signal processing circuit (DSP), a Microcontroller (MCU), a Programmable Logic Device (PLD), or other integrated chips.

In implementation, the steps of the above method may be performed by integrated logic circuits of hardware in a processor or instructions in the form of software. The steps of a method disclosed in connection with the embodiments of the present application may be directly implemented by a hardware processor, or may be implemented by a combination of hardware and software modules in a processor. The software module may be located in ram, flash memory, rom, prom, or eprom, registers, etc. storage media as is well known in the art. The storage medium is located in a memory, and a processor reads information in the memory and completes the steps of the method in combination with hardware of the processor. To avoid repetition, it is not described in detail here.

It should be noted that the processor in the embodiments of the present application may be an integrated circuit chip having signal processing capability. In implementation, the steps of the above method embodiments may be performed by integrated logic circuits of hardware in a processor or instructions in the form of software. The processor described above may be 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 device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components. The various methods, steps, and logic blocks disclosed in the embodiments of the present application may be implemented or performed. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor or the processor may be any conventional processor or the like. The steps of the method disclosed in connection with the embodiments of the present application may be directly implemented by a hardware decoding processor, or implemented by a combination of hardware and software modules in the decoding processor. The software module may be located in ram, flash memory, rom, prom, or eprom, registers, etc. storage media as is well known in the art. The storage medium is located in a memory, and a processor reads information in the memory and completes the steps of the method in combination with hardware of the processor.

It will be appreciated that the memory in the embodiments of the subject application can be either volatile memory or nonvolatile memory, or can include both volatile and nonvolatile memory. The non-volatile memory may be a read-only memory (ROM), a Programmable ROM (PROM), an Erasable PROM (EPROM), an electrically Erasable EPROM (EEPROM), or a flash memory. Volatile memory can be Random Access Memory (RAM), which acts as external cache memory. By way of example, but not limitation, many forms of RAM are available, such as Static Random Access Memory (SRAM), Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory (SDRAM), double data rate SDRAM, enhanced SDRAM, SLDRAM, Synchronous Link DRAM (SLDRAM), and direct rambus RAM (DR RAM). It should be noted that the memory of the systems and methods described herein is intended to comprise, without being limited to, these and any other suitable types of memory.

According to the method provided by the embodiment of the present application, the present application further provides a computer program product, which includes: computer program code which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method of any of the above embodiments.

According to the method provided by the embodiment of the present application, a computer-readable medium is further provided, and the computer-readable medium stores program codes, and when the program codes are executed on a computer, the computer is caused to execute the method of any one of the embodiments shown in fig. 2 to 4.

According to the method provided by the embodiment of the present application, the present application further provides a system, which includes the foregoing one or more terminal devices and one or more network devices.

In the above embodiments, the implementation may be wholly or partially realized by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, may be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When loaded and executed on a computer, cause the processes or functions described in accordance with the embodiments of the application to occur, in whole or in part. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a network of computers, or other programmable device. The computer instructions may be stored on a computer readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer readable storage medium to another, for example, from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center via wire (e.g., coaxial cable, fiber optic, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.). The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device, such as a server, a data center, etc., that includes one or more available media. The usable medium may be a magnetic medium (e.g., a floppy disk, a hard disk, a magnetic tape), an optical medium (e.g., a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), or a semiconductor medium (e.g., a Solid State Disk (SSD)), among others.

The network device in the foregoing various apparatus embodiments corresponds to the terminal device or the network device in the terminal device and method embodiments, and the corresponding module or unit executes the corresponding steps, for example, the communication unit (transceiver) executes the steps of receiving or transmitting in the method embodiments, and other steps besides transmitting and receiving may be executed by the processing unit (processor). The functions of the specific elements may be referred to in the respective method embodiments. The number of the processors may be one or more.

As used in this specification, the terms "component," "module," "system," and the like are intended to refer to a computer-related entity, either hardware, firmware, a combination of hardware and software, or software in execution. For example, a component may be, but is not limited to being, a process running on a processor, an object, an executable, a thread of execution, a program, and/or a computer. By way of illustration, both an application running on a computing device and the computing device can be a component. One or more components can reside within a process and/or thread of execution and a component may be localized on one computer and/or distributed between two or more computers. In addition, these components can execute from various computer readable media having various data structures stored thereon. The components may communicate by way of local and/or remote processes such as in accordance with a signal having one or more data packets (e.g., data from two components interacting with one another over a local system, distributed system, and/or network, such as the internet with other systems by way of the signal).

In the present application, "at least one" means one or more, "a plurality" means two or more. "and/or" describes the association relationship of the associated objects, meaning that there may be three relationships, e.g., a and/or B, which may mean: a alone, both A and B, and B alone, where A, B may be singular or plural. The character "/" generally indicates that the former and latter associated objects are in an "or" relationship. "at least one of the following" or similar expressions refer to any combination of these items, including any combination of the singular or plural items. For example, at least one (one) of a, b, or c, may represent: a, b, c, a-b, a-c, b-c or a-b-c, wherein a, b and c can be single or multiple.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the various illustrative logical blocks and steps (step) described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware or combinations of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the implementation. 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 application.

It is clear to those skilled in the art that, for convenience and brevity of description, the specific working processes of the above-described systems, apparatuses and units may refer to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments, and are not described herein again.

In the several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed system, apparatus and method may be implemented in other ways. For example, the above-described apparatus embodiments are merely illustrative, and for example, the division of the units is only one logical division, and other divisions may be realized in practice, for example, a plurality of units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted, or not executed. In addition, the shown or discussed mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection may be an indirect coupling or communication connection through some interfaces, devices or units, and may be in an electrical, mechanical or other form.

The units described as separate parts may or may not be physically separate, and parts displayed as units may or may not be physical units, may be located in one place, or may be distributed on a plurality of network units. Some or all of the units can be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of the embodiment.

In addition, functional units in the embodiments of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist alone physically, or two or more units are integrated into one unit.

The functions, if implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as a stand-alone product, may be stored in a computer readable storage medium. Based on such understanding, the technical solution of the present application or portions thereof that substantially contribute to the prior art may be embodied in the form of a software product stored in a storage medium and including instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device) to execute all or part of the steps of the method according to the embodiments of the present application. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: various media capable of storing program codes, such as a usb disk, a removable hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM), a magnetic disk, or an optical disk.

The above description is only for the specific embodiments of the present application, but the scope of the present application is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art can easily conceive of the changes or substitutions within the technical scope of the present application, and shall be covered by the scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A method of communication, comprising:

the method comprises the steps that a terminal device receives second information, wherein the second information is used for indicating the terminal device to judge whether a candidate cell meets a switching condition according to the number of wave beams associated with a contention-free random access CFRA resource in the cell, and the switching condition comprises the following steps: the number of beams associated with the CFRA resource in the candidate cell is greater than or equal to a sixth threshold value P, where the sixth threshold value P is a positive integer; or, the number of beams associated with the CFRA resource in the candidate cell is greater than or equal to the number of beams associated with the CFRA resource in the source cell;

the terminal equipment determines a first cell as a target cell, wherein the first cell is a cell which meets the switching condition in the candidate cells;

and the terminal equipment is switched from the source cell to the target cell.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

and the terminal equipment receives a trigger parameter of the switching condition, wherein the trigger parameter is used for indicating the sixth threshold value P.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the terminal device determines the first cell as the target cell, comprising:

if a plurality of candidate cells meet the switching condition, the first cell is a cell corresponding to a beam with the highest signal quality and associated with the CFRA resource among the candidate cells meeting the switching condition.

4. A method of communication, comprising:

the network equipment sends second information to the terminal equipment, wherein the second information is used for indicating the terminal equipment to judge whether a candidate cell meets a switching condition according to the number of wave beams associated with contention-free random access CFRA resources in the cell, and the switching condition comprises the following steps: the number of beams associated with the CFRA resource in the candidate cell is greater than or equal to a sixth threshold value P, where the sixth threshold value P is a positive integer; or, the number of beams associated with the CFRA resource in the candidate cell is greater than or equal to the number of beams associated with the CFRA resource in the source cell;

the network equipment determines a trigger parameter of the handover condition, wherein the trigger parameter is used for determining the handover condition;

and the network equipment sends the triggering parameters to the terminal equipment.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the trigger parameter is used to indicate the sixth threshold value P.

6. A communications apparatus, comprising:

means for implementing the method of any one of claims 1 to 3.

7. A communications apparatus, comprising:

means for implementing the method of any one of claims 4 to 5.

8. A communication system comprising the communication apparatus of claim 6 and the communication apparatus of claim 7.

9. A computer-readable storage medium, having stored thereon a computer program which, when run on a computer,

causing the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 3, or,

causing the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 4 to 5.

10. A chip system, comprising: a processor for calling and running the computer program from the memory,

causing a communication device on which the chip system is mounted to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 3; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

causing a communication device on which the chip system is mounted to perform the method of any of claims 4 to 5.