CN113676964B

CN113676964B - NSA switching method, device and storage medium

Info

Publication number: CN113676964B
Application number: CN202010413873.0A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 周娇; 邓伟; 李新; ***; 张宏旭
Original assignee: China Mobile Communications Group Co Ltd; China Mobile Communications Ltd Research Institute
Current assignee: China Mobile Communications Group Co Ltd; China Mobile Communications Ltd Research Institute
Priority date: 2020-05-15
Filing date: 2020-05-15
Publication date: 2022-11-15
Anticipated expiration: 2040-05-15
Also published as: WO2021227861A1; CN113676964A

Abstract

The invention discloses a NSA switching method, a NSA switching device and a storage medium, wherein the NSA switching method applied to first network equipment comprises the following steps: determining a target configuration mode; reconfiguring the DRB according to the target configuration mode; and sending a switching request to a second network device according to the reconfigured DRB so as to carry out NSA switching.

Description

NSA switching method, device and storage medium

Technical Field

The present invention relates to wireless communication technologies, and in particular, to a Non-Stand Alone (NSA) switching method, apparatus, and storage medium.

Background

The networking mode of the current network includes Stand Alone networking (SA) and NSA. The SA mode is a network-based network independent networking. The NSA mode is a network mixed networking of a plurality of network standards. For example, in the fifth Generation mobile communication network (5g, 5th-Generation), the SA mode includes 5G network single networking, and the NSA mode includes the fourth Generation mobile communication network (4g, 4 th-Generation) and 5G network mixed networking.

Based on the situation that a network is built by a different manufacturer base station, when the different manufacturer base station performs NSA switching, wireless bearers (RB, radio Bearer) are not communicated with each other, which results in that the failure rate of NSA switching is increased and the time delay of NSA switching is increased.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of the above, the main objective of the present invention is to provide an NSA switching method, apparatus and storage medium.

In order to achieve the purpose, the technical scheme of the invention is realized as follows:

the embodiment of the invention provides an NSA switching method, which is applied to first network equipment and comprises the following steps:

determining a target configuration mode;

reconfiguring a Data Radio Bearer (DRB) according to the target configuration mode;

and sending a switching request to a second network device according to the reconfigured DRB so as to carry out NSA switching.

In the foregoing solution, the reconfiguring the DRB according to the target configuration mode includes:

corresponding to the situation that the target configuration mode is the first configuration mode, reconfiguring the type of the DRB from a secondary cell group SCG to an SCG separation Split-SCG;

and corresponding to the condition that the target configuration mode is the second configuration mode, reconfiguring the type of the DRB from the SCG to a master cell group MCG and/or adding at least one MCG, and reconfiguring the PDCP to the first network.

In the above scheme, the reconfiguring the PDCP to the first network includes:

determining that the PDCP is configured in the first network or the second network;

when the PDCP is configured to the second network, the PDCP is reconfigured to the first network, and the PDCP configured to the second network is deleted.

In the foregoing solution, the handover request includes: at least one DRB related information reconfigured;

the sending a handover request to a second network device according to the reconfigured DRB for performing NSA handover, including:

sending a handover request to a second network device, the handover request including at least: at least one DRB related information reconfigured.

The embodiment of the invention provides an NSA switching method, which is applied to second network equipment and comprises the following steps:

receiving a switching request;

determining first information according to the switching request; the first information characterizes DRB information related to a first network;

determining that NSA switching can be executed when the first information meets the matching condition, and sending switching success feedback information to the first network equipment;

the first information meets the matching condition and represents that partial information in the first information is successfully matched.

In the foregoing solution, the first information includes: at least one DRB related information reconfigured;

determining that NSA handover can be performed when it is determined that the first information satisfies a matching condition, including:

matching at least one DRB according to the reconfigured at least one DRB related information;

upon determining that the at least one DRB match is successful, it is determined that an NSA handover may be performed.

An embodiment of the present invention provides an NSA switching apparatus, including: the device comprises a first processing module, a second processing module and a third processing module; wherein,

the first processing module is used for determining a target configuration mode;

the second processing module is configured to reconfigure the DRB according to the target configuration mode;

and the third processing module is configured to send a handover request to a second network device according to the reconfigured DRB, so as to perform NSA handover.

In the foregoing solution, the second processing module is configured to reconfigure the type of the DRB from the SCG to the Split-SCG in response to the target configuration mode being the first configuration mode;

and in response to the target configuration mode being the second configuration mode, reconfiguring the type of the DRB from the SCG to the MCG and/or adding at least one MCG, and reconfiguring the PDCP to the first network.

In the foregoing solution, the second processing module is configured to determine that the PDCP is configured in the first network or the second network;

when the PDCP is configured to a second network, the PDCP is reconfigured to the first network, and the PDCP configured to the second network is deleted.

the third processing module is configured to send a handover request to a second network device, where the handover request at least includes: at least one DRB related information reconfigured.

An embodiment of the present invention provides an NSA switching apparatus, including: the fourth processing module, the fifth processing module and the sixth processing module; wherein,

the fourth processing module is configured to receive a handover request;

the fifth processing module is configured to determine first information according to the handover request; the first information characterizes DRB information related to a first network;

the sixth processing module is configured to determine that NSA handover can be performed when it is determined that the first information meets a matching condition, and send handover success feedback information to the first network device;

and the first information meets the matching condition and represents that partial information in the first information is successfully matched.

the sixth processing module is configured to match the at least one DRB according to the reconfigured at least one DRB related information;

determining that the NSA handover can be performed when it is determined that the at least one DRB match is successful.

The embodiment of the invention provides an NSA switching device, which comprises a memory, a processor and a computer program which is stored on the memory and can run on the processor, wherein the processor executes the program and realizes the step of the NSA switching method at the side of first network equipment; or,

the processor implements the steps of the NSA handover method on the second network device side when executing the program.

An embodiment of the present invention further provides a computer-readable storage medium, on which a computer program is stored, where the computer program, when executed by a processor, implements the steps of the NSA handover method on the first network device side; or,

the computer program realizes the steps of the NSA handover method on the second network device side when executed by a processor.

According to the NSA switching method, the NSA switching device and the storage medium provided by the embodiment of the invention, the target configuration mode is determined through the first network equipment; reconfiguring the DRB according to the target configuration mode; sending a switching request to a second network device according to the reconfigured DRB so as to carry out NSA switching; therefore, the success rate of NSA switching is improved and the time delay of NSA switching is reduced by reconfiguring the obtained DRB;

correspondingly, another NSA handover method, apparatus, and storage medium provided in the embodiments of the present invention receive a handover request through a second network device; determining first information according to the switching request; the first information characterizes DRB information related to a first network; determining that NSA switching can be executed when the first information meets the matching condition, and sending switching success feedback information to the first network equipment; the first information meets the matching condition and represents that partial information in the first information is successfully matched; therefore, by distinguishing the DRB of the LTE (first) network from the DRB of the NR network and only matching the DRBs of the LTE network, the understanding of different manufacturers is ensured to be consistent, the success rate of NSA switching is improved, and the time delay of NSA switching is reduced.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of an NSA handover procedure;

figure 2 is a schematic diagram of an NSA radio bearer;

fig. 3 is a schematic flowchart of an NSA handover method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 4 is a schematic flowchart of another NSA handover method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of LTE reconfiguration according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of an NSA switching apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of another NSA switching apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of another NSA switching apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

Before describing the present invention in further detail with reference to embodiments, the related art of NSA handover will be described.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an NSA handover process; as shown in fig. 1, NSA handover involves a User Equipment (UE), a source network side, a target network side, and a Mobility Management node (MME); the source network side includes: a base station (gNB) of a Source (Source) 5G network, a base station (eNB) of a Source 4G network; the target network side includes: target (Target) eNB, target gbb.

The NSA switching process of carrying a Secondary Cell Group (SCG) between different factories comprises the following steps:

the Source eNB sends a Handover request (Handover Required) to the MME; to the S1 interface;

MME sends a Handover Request (Handover Request) to Target eNB; to the S1 interface;

the Target eNB feeds a switching Request confirmation (Handover Request acknowledgement) back to the MME; to the S1 interface;

MME sends a Handover Command (Handover Command) to Source eNB; to the S1 interface;

the Source eNB sends an S-NODE RELEASE message (S-NODE RELEASE) to the Source gNB; to an Xn interface;

the Source eNB sends a Handover Command (Handover Command) to the UE;

the UE sends a Handover confirmation (Handover Confirm) to the Target eNB;

the MME sends a Handover notification (Handover Notify) to the Target eNB; to the S1 interface;

the Target eNB sends an S-NODE ADDITION message (S-NODE ADDITION) to the Target gNB; to an Xn interface;

MME sends a UE Context Release Command (UE Context Release Command) to Source eNB; to the S1 interface;

the Source eNB feeds back UE Context Release completion (UE Context Release Complete) to the MME; to the S1 interface.

It should be noted that the S1 interface is used for switching the NSA of the different manufacturer base stations because the X2 interfaces of different manufacturers are not intercommunicated.

The problem that NSA switching fails in a different manufacturer base station NSA in an existing network and NSA switching fails in the scene that the NSA of an external field different manufacturer base station is not shunted exists. As seen in connection with fig. 1, the entire NSA handover procedure involves the Xn interface and the S1 interface; the Xn interface only relates to the SCG adding and deleting process, and after the Source network side initiates a switching Request through the S1 interface, the Target network side replies switching failure, namely after the Source eNB sends Handover Required to the MME and the MME sends Handover Request to the Target eNB, the switching failure is fed back. Since only the S1 interface is involved, it can be seen that the reason for the handover failure is independent of the Xn interface, and the handover failure is due to rejection (reject) of the S1 interface, i.e., related to the S1 interface.

Through the test, only one Radio Bearer (RB, radio Bearer) is established under the condition that NSA is not split, as shown in fig. 2, that is, only the 5G access technology (NR, new Radio) network side has the Radio Bearer; because the SCG does not shunt output Data of the Data plane, the Radio Link Control Protocol (RLC, radio Link Control)/Media Access Control (MAC)/Physical Layer (PHY) of the 4G LTE network Data plane are all NULL (NULL), and the Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP, packet Data Convergence Protocol)/RLC/MAC/PHY of the 5G NR network Data plane are not NULL.

The NSA handover failure is found because of non-interworking between Radio bearers of the heterogeneous base stations, where the Radio bearers include a Data Radio Bearer (DRB) of the LTE network and a DRB (also referred to as SCG DRB) of the NR network. Aiming at the problem that RB is not intercommunicated, an NSA shunting algorithm is also provided in the related technology so as to ensure DRB intercommunication of an LTE network firstly and temporarily solve the problem; however, the use of the NSA offloading algorithm introduces the problem of offloading parameters and offloading policy intercommunication, and the NSA offloading algorithm can only be used in specific manufacturers, that is, parameters of LTE and NR specific bearers are intercommunicated with each other, but in a scenario where the NSA offloading algorithm is switched with other manufacturers or includes other non-intercommunicated parameters, the problem of non-intercommunicated radio bearers of manufacturers still occurs when NSA of different manufacturers is switched.

In addition, since there is no Xn interface between the eNB and the gNB of the different manufacturers, the different manufacturers cannot complete the NSA handover with the SCG, and the source SCG needs to be deleted first in the handover process, and after the NSA handover of the LTE network is completed (specifically, S1 handover is completed), the SCG is added and completed in the target LTE network, which also results in longer handover delay.

Based on this, in the method provided by the embodiment of the present invention, the first network device determines the target configuration mode; reconfiguring DRB according to the target configuration mode; sending a switching request to a second network device according to the reconfigured DRB so as to carry out NSA switching; the second network equipment receives a switching request; determining first information according to the switching request; the first information characterizes DRB information related to a first network; determining that NSA switching can be executed when the first information meets the matching condition, and sending switching success feedback information to the first network equipment; the first information meets the matching condition and represents that partial information in the first information is successfully matched; therefore, the problem can be solved, the failure rate of NSA switching of different manufacturers is reduced, and the time delay of NSA switching is also reduced.

The present invention will be described in further detail with reference to examples.

Fig. 3 is a schematic flowchart of an NSA handover method according to an embodiment of the present invention; as shown in fig. 3, the NSA handover method is applied to a first network device, where the first network device is a base station on a source network side, such as the source eNB; the method comprises the following steps:

step 301, determining a target configuration mode;

step 302, reconfiguring DRB according to the target configuration mode;

step 303, sending a handover request to the second network device according to the reconfigured DRB for performing NSA handover.

The method provided by the embodiment of the invention is suitable for a scene of realizing a network (a 5G NR network and a 4G LTE network) based on a different manufacturer base station.

The heterogeneous factory base station provides network side service, and the method comprises the following steps: a source network side and a target network side; wherein, the source network side includes: a source gNB, a target eNB; the target network side comprises: target eNB, target gNB.

Here, the DRBs are used for carrying user plane data between the network side and the UE, and each DRB is configured with an identifier.

Wherein, the DRB types comprise:

master Cell Group (MCG), slave Cell Group (SCG), MCG Split (Split-MCG), SCG Split (Split-SCG).

Here, MCG and Split-MCG are implemented by a master base station, which refers to a base station, i.e., eNB, that implements an LTE network;

SCG and Split-SCG are implemented by a secondary base station, which refers to a base station implementing an NR network, i.e., a gNB.

Specifically, before the step 301, the method further includes:

determining an NSA shunting strategy, and selecting a target configuration mode according to the NSA shunting strategy;

determining a target configuration mode according to a preset configuration mode under the condition that the NSA shunting strategy is a non-shunting strategy;

corresponding to the case that the NSA shunting scenario is the situation of adopting the shunting strategy, that is, the relevant NSA shunting algorithm is adopted, which is not described herein.

Here, the NSA offload policy characterizes an offload policy currently employed by the first network device.

The preset configuration mode may be set by a developer and stored in the first network device (i.e., the source base station, which may be specifically the source eNB), and the first network device performs a corresponding operation based on the preset configuration mode.

Specifically, two configuration modes, specifically, a first configuration mode and a second configuration mode, are provided, and both modes can be implemented, and one of the modes can be selected.

Specifically, in the step 302, reconfiguring the DRB according to the target configuration mode includes:

corresponding to the situation that the target configuration mode is the first configuration mode, reconfiguring the type of the DRB from the SCG to the Split-SCG; the distributed Split-SCG realizes the radio bearer of user plane data between a network side and the UE;

corresponding to the target configuration mode is a second configuration mode, the type of the DRB is reconfigured to MCG by SCG and/or at least one MCG is added in a first network (namely an LTE network), and PDCP is reconfigured to the first network; and the MCG obtained by configuration realizes the radio bearer of the user plane data between the network side and the UE.

Specifically, the reconfiguring the PDCP to the first network comprises:

Here, the first network represents an LTE network, and the second network represents an NR network.

It should be noted that, in the first configuration mode, the type of the DRB is reconfigured from SCG to Split-SCG, so as to change from the non-offloading policy to the offloading policy, which is different from the second configuration mode in that the PDCP is still on the NR network side; because the SCG is reconfigured into the Split-SCG and the PDCP is on the NR network side, the PDCP does not need to be judged whether the PDCP is on the LTE network or the NR network.

The second configuration mode is used for configuring the DRB to the LTE, and specifically, the DRB type is reconfigured from the SCG to the MCG, which requires configuring the DRB from the NR network side to the LTE network side, so that it is necessary to determine whether the PDCP is on the LTE network side or the NR network side, and when determining that the PDCP is on the NR network side, the PDCP is reconfigured to the LTE network side and the SCG of the NR network is deleted.

Specifically, the method for reconfiguring the type of the DRB includes:

the first network equipment sends Radio Resource Control (RRC) reconfiguration information (RRC) to the UE for reconfiguration;

and after receiving the RRC connection reconfiguration message from the network side, the UE executes each parameter in the RRC connection reconfiguration message.

Here, the RRC connection reconfiguration message may include: a data bearer identity and a bearer type indication;

the data bearing identifier is used for identifying a DRB;

the bearer type indication is used for indicating the type of the DRB to be reconfigured.

For the first configuration mode, the bearer type indication shall characterize Split-SCG;

for the second configuration mode described above, the bearer type indication should characterize the MCG.

Specifically, the RRC connection reconfiguration message may further include: an indication to add at least one MCG;

the adding at least one MCG includes:

after receiving an RRC connection reconfiguration message from a network side, the UE determines that at least one MCG needs to be added according to the RRC connection reconfiguration message;

and executing corresponding configuration operation according to the instruction of adding the at least one MCG to add the configuration of the at least one MCG, namely realizing the addition of the at least one MCG.

Specifically, the RRC connection reconfiguration message further includes: a configuration indication of PDCP;

the reconfiguring the PDCP to the first network and deleting the PDCP configured by the second network comprises:

after receiving the RRC connection reconfiguration message, the UE determines a configuration instruction of the PDCP according to the RRC connection reconfiguration message;

and after the UE determines that the PDCP needs to be reconfigured to the first network and deletes the PDCP configured by the second network according to the configuration indication of the PDCP, the UE executes corresponding configuration operation according to the configuration indication of the PDCP so as to reconfigure the PDCP to the first network and delete the PDCP configured by the second network.

Namely, the UE receives the RRC connection reconfiguration message from the network side, and reconfigures the corresponding DRB according to the RRC connection reconfiguration message.

Specifically, the sending a handover request to a second network device according to the reconfigured DRB for performing NSA handover includes:

sending a Handover request (Handover Required) to the second network device; the switching request is used for requesting to execute NSA switching operation;

wherein the handover request includes: at least one DRB related information reconfigured;

the method specifically comprises the following steps: first information and second information; the first information represents LTE network related information; the second information characterizes NR network related information; the NR-related information includes: SCG related information.

Here, the sending, by the first network device, the handover request to the second network device may include:

the first network equipment sends the switching request to the MME, and the switching request is received by the MME and then forwarded to the second network equipment.

As can be seen in connection with the NSA handover procedure shown in fig. 1, the NSA handover also specifically involves the second network device; the embodiment of the invention also provides another NSA switching method.

Fig. 4 is a schematic flowchart of another NSA handover method according to an embodiment of the present invention; as shown in fig. 4, the method is applied to a second network device, which is a base station on a target network side, such as the target eNB mentioned above; the method comprises the following steps:

step 401, receiving a switching request;

step 402, determining first information according to the switching request; the first information characterizes DRB information related to a first network;

step 403, determining that NSA handover can be executed when it is determined that the first information meets the matching condition, and sending handover success feedback information to the first network device;

Specifically, the first information includes: a first RRC connector;

the first RRC container includes at least one DRB-related information reconfigured;

here, the at least one DRB includes at least one Split-SCG or at least one MCG including a reconfigured MCG and/or at least one MCG added in the LTE network, in particular with reference to the method shown in fig. 3.

Specifically, the determining that NSA handover can be performed when it is determined that the first information satisfies a matching condition includes:

Here, the matching at least one DRB according to the reconfigured at least one DRB-related information includes:

determining related information of each DRB in at least one DRB;

and matching according to the related information of each DRB, and determining the DRB successfully matched.

Here, the NSA handover procedure may refer to a procedure shown in fig. 1; the sending of the Handover Request corresponds to the sending, by the source eNB, of the Handover Request to the MME based on the S1 interface shown in fig. 1, and the sending, by the MME, of the Handover Request to the target eNB based on the S1 interface.

The second network device receives a handover request sent by the first network device, where the handover request may be sent by an MME; that is, the first network device sends a handover request to the MME; the MME sends the switching request to a second network device, so that the second network device receives the switching request.

The following description is directed to the handover request, and the first information and the second information included in the handover request.

The handover request includes: a Source eNB to Target eNB Transparent container (Source eNB to Target eNB transit container) carrying RRC container messages.

The RRC container comprises: a first part of content, a second part of content;

the first part of content is related to LTE, and the first part of content may include: a switching instruction (Handover Command) and switching Preparation Information (Handover Preparation Information), wherein the first part of content is configured based on as-config; the first part of content does not include related messages of SCG;

the second portion of content is associated with an NR, and the second portion of content may include: SCG configuration (SCG-Config), SCG configuration information (SCG-configInfo); the second portion of content is based on the scg-config configuration.

Considering two parts, one part includes related messages of LTE, and the other part includes related messages of NR, that is, the RRC container includes two RRC containers, one is RRC container related to LTE (referred to as LTE RRC container), and the other is RRC container related to NR (referred to as SCG RRC container); two RRC containers can be distinguished according to the as-config and scg-config mentioned above.

That is, a first RRC container (i.e., LTE RRC container) and a second RRC container (i.e., SCG RRC container) can be distinguished according to the RRC containers, and the first RRC container (i.e., LTE RRC container) and the second RRC container (i.e., SCG RRC container) are respectively associated with the LTE (specifically, the first RRC container) and the SCG (specifically, the second RRC container).

Based on the above, the determining the first information according to the handover request includes: and determining a first RRC container as first information according to the switching request.

In the embodiment of the present invention, at the time of NSA handover, the Assigned Criticality of the first RRC container (i.e. LTE RRC container) is reject (reject), with drb-ToAddModList information. The DRB-ToAddModList information is the information of the DRB that needs to be added or modified.

Specifically, the determining whether the first information meets a matching condition includes:

judging whether at least one DRB is matched or not according to the first RRC container;

when all DRBs are determined not to be matched, the Assigned Criticality is reject, namely the matching is considered to be failed, and NSA switching is refused (the reject is sent to the first network equipment);

when partial DRB matching (meaning that at least one DRB matching exists) is determined, namely the matching is considered to be successful, NSA switching can be executed, and the second network equipment feeds back an Acknowledgement (ACK) to the first network equipment, namely the switching success is informed.

By applying the method of the embodiment of the invention, even if the SCG RRC container configuration is not accordant, namely cannot be matched, the success of LTE switching is not influenced, and the SCG can be measured and added again subsequently, so that the determination of whether the SCG RRC container is matched is not needed. In the embodiment of the invention, the Assigned Criticality of the SCG RRC container can be configured to ignore (ignore), and the information of drb-toaddmodlist SCG is provided, i.e. whether the Assigned Criticality of the SCG RRC container is matched or matched successfully is not considered, and the Handover Failure (Handover Failure) is not fed back even if the Assigned Criticality of the SCG RRC container is not matched. The DRB-ToAddModListSCG information is information of the DRB of the eNB that needs to be added or modified.

By the method, the data bearing on the LTE side is successfully matched, and whether the data bearing of the SCG is matched or not is not required to be detected; NSA switching can be completed only by successful data bearing matching at the LTE side, and normal use of user equipment is not influenced.

In the corresponding technology (refer to 3gpt tr36.331.10.2.2), the Source eNB to Target eNB Transparent container (Source eNB to Target eNB transit container) feeds back Handover failure if the specified Criticality (Assigned Criticality) of Handover request (Handover Required) is reject (reject), i.e. mismatch, where the Assigned Criticality of RRC container is empty, resulting in inconsistent understanding from different manufacturers, and feeds back to reject or ignore if parameters partially do not match.

By applying the scheme of the embodiment of the invention, the problem that the parameters of the RRC container are not successfully matched (for example, when four DRBs are included, one piece of DRB related information is successfully matched, some manufacturers understand that the uniform matching is successful because one piece of DRB is successfully matched, and some manufacturers understand that the uniform matching is unsuccessful because only one piece of DRB is successfully matched) due to inconsistent understanding of the configuration parameters is solved, so that NSA switching between different manufacturer base stations is failed.

It should be noted that, as shown in fig. 1, the whole procedure of NAS handover may refer to operations after the second network device feeds back an acknowledgement to the first network device (that is, the Target eNB feeds back a handover request acknowledgement to the MME, and the MME sends a handover command to the Source eNB after receiving the handover request acknowledgement), and details are not repeated here.

The scheme of the embodiment of the present invention is further explained with reference to fig. 2 and fig. 5, and fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of LTE reconfiguration provided by the embodiment of the present invention;

as shown in fig. 2, under the NSA handover non-offloading policy, the SCG is deleted after the handover request is sent, and the DRB configuration of the SCG is exchanged through the S1 interface according to the original configuration, but in the scenario where there are only 1 DRB, the RLC and the following configurations of the LTE network are both empty, and at this time, the S1 interface may cause handover rejection due to non-interworking of parameters between base stations of different manufacturers; if the SCG is deleted before the NSA handover request, the DRB data plane of the LTE network needs to be reconfigured, otherwise, the user is in an idle (idle) state.

Based on the above consideration, in the scheme of the embodiment of the invention, before the NSA handover request, the DRB of the LTE network is reconfigured, and the DRB of the LTE network data plane is established, so that the problem of interpretation difference between different manufacturer base stations is avoided.

Specifically, if the network side (i.e., the first network device) determines that the current offloading policy is adopted, it is not necessary to consider the reconfiguration of the PDCP/RLC, that is, it is implemented by adopting any NSA offloading algorithm; if the current non-shunting strategy is determined, the RLC of the LTE network needs to be reconfigured, and the PDCP is used for allocating and not reconfiguring two scenes, specifically, the PDCP is distinguished to be positioned at the LTE network side or the NR network side, the existing PDCP is generally positioned at the NR network side, the SCG is considered to be deleted, and the retransmission delay can be reduced when the PDCP is reconfigured to the LTE network, so the reconfiguration to the LTE network is suggested. That is, as shown in fig. 5, the DRB is reconfigured from SCG to LTE before NSA handover is initiated. The specific method is implemented by referring to the methods shown in fig. 3 and fig. 4, and details thereof are not repeated here

According to the scheme of the embodiment of the invention, the NSA switching time delay is also reduced in a manner of reconfiguring the DRB of the LTE network. Specifically, after the DBR of the LTE network is reconfigured, after the base station of the LTE network is switched, not only one DRB of the SCG but also the DRB of the LTE network are available, so that data transmission can be started immediately after the base station of the LTE network is switched, instead of waiting for the completion of the DRB reestablishment of the SCG, the process includes B1 policy reporting of the SCG on the target side and SCG leg adding delay, which is about several minutes. The method of the embodiment of the invention can be used for subtracting the time delay.

Fig. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of an NSA switching apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention; as shown in fig. 6, the NSA switching apparatus includes: the device comprises a first processing module, a second processing module and a third processing module; wherein,

Specifically, the second processing module is configured to reconfigure the type of the DRB from SCG to Split-SCG in response to the target configuration mode being the first configuration mode;

Specifically, the second processing module is configured to determine that the PDCP is configured in the first network or the second network;

Specifically, the handover request includes: at least one DRB related information reconfigured;

It should be noted that: in the NSA switching apparatus provided in the foregoing embodiment, when implementing the corresponding NSA switching method on the first network device side, the division of each program module is merely used for illustration, and in practical applications, the processing allocation may be completed by different program modules according to needs, that is, the internal structure of the network device is divided into different program modules, so as to complete all or part of the processing described above. In addition, the apparatus provided by the above embodiment and the embodiment of the corresponding method belong to the same concept, and the specific implementation process thereof is described in the method embodiment, which is not described herein again.

Fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of another NSA switching apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention; as shown in fig. 7, the NSA switching apparatus includes: the fourth processing module, the fifth processing module and the sixth processing module; wherein,

the fourth processing module is configured to receive a handover request;

Specifically, the first information includes: at least one DRB related information reconfigured;

It should be noted that: in the NSA switching apparatus provided in the foregoing embodiment, when implementing the corresponding NSA switching method on the second network device side, only the division of the program modules is described as an example, and in practical applications, the processing distribution may be completed by different program modules according to needs, that is, the internal structure of the network device may be divided into different program modules to complete all or part of the processing described above. In addition, the apparatus provided in the above embodiments and the embodiments of the corresponding methods belong to the same concept, and specific implementation processes thereof are described in the method embodiments, and are not described herein again.

Fig. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of an NSA switching apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention; as shown in fig. 8, the apparatus 80 includes: a processor 801 and a memory 802 for storing computer programs operable on the processor; wherein,

when the apparatus is applied to a first network device, the processor 801 is configured to execute, when running the computer program, the following steps: determining a target configuration mode; reconfiguring the DRB according to the target configuration mode; and sending a switching request to a second network device according to the reconfigured DRB so as to carry out NSA switching.

In an embodiment, the processor 801 is configured to execute, when running the computer program, the following: corresponding to the situation that the target configuration mode is the first configuration mode, reconfiguring the type of the DRB from the SCG to the Split-SCG;

In an embodiment, the processor 801 is configured to, when running the computer program, perform: determining that the PDCP is configured in the first network or the second network;

In an embodiment, the processor 801 is configured to, when running the computer program, perform: sending a handover request to a second network device, the handover request including at least: at least one DRB related information reconfigured.

When the apparatus is applied to a second network device, the processor 801 is configured to execute, when running the computer program, the following steps: receiving a switching request; determining first information according to the switching request; the first information characterizes DRB information related to a first network; determining that NSA switching can be executed when the first information meets the matching condition, and sending switching success feedback information to the first network equipment; the first information meets the matching condition and represents that partial information in the first information is successfully matched.

In an embodiment, the processor 801 is configured to execute, when running the computer program, the following: matching the at least one DRB according to the reconfigured at least one DRB related information; upon determining that the at least one DRB match is successful, it is determined that an NSA handover may be performed.

In practical applications, the apparatus 80 may further include: at least one network interface 803. The various components in the NSA switching device 80 are coupled together by a bus system 804. It is understood that the bus system 804 is used to enable communications among the components for the connection. The bus system 804 includes a power bus, a control bus, and a status signal bus in addition to a data bus. For clarity of illustration, however, the various buses are labeled as bus system 804 in FIG. 8. The number of the processors 801 may be at least one. The network interface 803 is used for wired or wireless communication between the NSA switching apparatus 80 and other devices.

The memory 802 in embodiments of the present invention is used to store various types of data to support the operation of the NSA switching device 80.

The methods disclosed in the embodiments of the present invention described above may be implemented in the processor 801 or implemented by the processor 801. The processor 801 may be an integrated circuit chip having signal processing capabilities. In implementation, the steps of the above method may be performed by integrated logic circuits of hardware or instructions in the form of software in the processor 801. The Processor 801 may be a general purpose Processor, a DiGital Signal Processor (DSP), or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic device, discrete hardware components, or the like. Processor 801 may implement or perform the methods, steps, and logic blocks disclosed in embodiments of the present invention. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor or any conventional processor or the like. The steps of the method disclosed by the embodiment of the invention can be directly implemented by a hardware decoding processor, or can be implemented by combining hardware and software modules in the decoding processor. The software modules may be located in a storage medium that is located in the memory 802, and the processor 801 reads the information in the memory 802 and performs the steps of the aforementioned methods in conjunction with its hardware.

In an exemplary embodiment, the NSA switching Device 80 may be implemented by one or more Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), DSPs, programmable Logic Devices (PLDs), complex Programmable Logic Devices (CPLDs), field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), general purpose processors, controllers, micro Controllers (MCUs), microprocessors (microprocessors), or other electronic components for performing the foregoing methods.

An embodiment of the present invention further provides a computer-readable storage medium, on which a computer program is stored; when the computer readable storage medium is applied to a first network device, the computer program is executed by a processor to execute: determining a target configuration mode; reconfiguring the DRB according to the target configuration mode; and sending a switching request to a second network device according to the reconfigured DRB so as to carry out NSA switching.

In one embodiment, the computer program, when executed by the processor, performs: corresponding to the situation that the target configuration mode is the first configuration mode, reconfiguring the type of the DRB from the SCG to the Split-SCG;

In one embodiment, the computer program, when executed by the processor, performs: determining that the PDCP is configured in the first network or the second network;

In one embodiment, the computer program, when executed by the processor, performs: sending a handover request to a second network device, the handover request including at least: at least one DRB related information reconfigured.

When the computer readable storage medium is applied to a second network device, the computer program is executed by a processor to execute: receiving a switching request; determining first information according to the switching request; the first information characterizes DRB information related to a first network; determining that NSA switching can be executed when the first information meets the matching condition, and sending switching success feedback information to the first network equipment; the first information meets the matching condition and represents that partial information in the first information is successfully matched.

In one embodiment, the computer program, when executed by a processor, performs: matching at least one DRB according to the reconfigured at least one DRB related information; upon determining that the at least one DRB match is successful, it is determined that an NSA handover may be performed.

In the several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed apparatus and method may be implemented in other ways. The above-described device embodiments are merely illustrative, for example, the division of the unit is only a logical functional division, and there may be other division ways in actual implementation, such as: multiple units or components may be combined, or may be integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted, or not implemented. In addition, the coupling, direct coupling or communication connection between the components shown or discussed may be through some interfaces, and the indirect coupling or communication connection between the devices or units may be electrical, mechanical or other forms.

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, that is, 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, all the functional units in the embodiments of the present invention may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may be separately regarded as one unit, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit; the integrated unit can be realized in a form of hardware, or in a form of hardware plus a software functional unit.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will understand that: all or part of the steps of implementing the method embodiments may be implemented by hardware related to program instructions, and the program may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium, and when executed, executes the steps including the method embodiments; and the aforementioned storage medium includes: a mobile storage device, a Read-Only Memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM), a magnetic disk or an optical disk, and other various media capable of storing program codes.

Alternatively, the integrated unit of the present invention may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium if it is implemented in the form of a software functional module and sold or used as a separate product. Based on such understanding, the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention or portions thereof contributing to the prior art may be embodied in the form of a software product, which is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions for enabling a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device) to execute all or part of the methods described in the embodiments of the present invention. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: a removable storage device, a ROM, a RAM, a magnetic or optical disk, or various other media that can store program code.

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

Claims

1. An NSA switching method, applied to a first network device, the method comprising:

determining a target configuration mode;

sending a switching request to a second network device according to the reconfigured DRB so as to carry out NSA switching; the handover request includes: at least one DRB related information reconfigured.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the reconfiguring the DRB according to the target configuration mode comprises:

and in case of the second configuration mode corresponding to the target configuration mode, reconfiguring the type of the DRB from the SCG to a Master Cell Group (MCG) and/or adding at least one MCG, and reconfiguring the PDCP to the first network.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the reconfiguring the PDCP to the first network comprises:

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the sending a handover request to a second network device for NSA handover according to the reconfigured DRB comprises:

5. An NSA handover method, applied to a second network device, the method comprising:

receiving a switching request;

determining first information according to the switching request; the first information characterizes DRB information related to a first network; the first information includes: at least one DRB related information reconfigured;

6. The method of claim 5, wherein determining that an NSA handover can be performed when the first information satisfies a matching condition comprises:

7. An NSA switching device, the device comprising: the device comprises a first processing module, a second processing module and a third processing module; wherein,

the third processing module is configured to send a handover request to a second network device according to the reconfigured DRB, so as to perform NSA handover; the handover request includes: at least one DRB related information reconfigured.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the second processing module is configured to reconfigure the type of DRB from SCG to Split-SCG corresponding to the target configuration mode being the first configuration mode;

and in case of the second configuration mode corresponding to the target configuration mode, reconfiguring the type of the DRB from the SCG to the MCG and/or adding at least one MCG, and reconfiguring the PDCP to the first network.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the second processing module is configured to determine whether PDCP is configured in the first network or the second network;

10. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the third processing module is configured to send a handover request to a second network device, and wherein the handover request at least includes: at least one DRB related information reconfigured.

11. An NSA switching device, the device comprising: the fourth processing module, the fifth processing module and the sixth processing module; wherein,

the fourth processing module is configured to receive a handover request;

the fifth processing module is configured to determine first information according to the handover request; the first information characterizes DRB information related to a first network; the first information comprises: at least one DRB related information reconfigured;

the sixth processing module is configured to determine that NSA handover can be performed when it is determined that the first information meets the matching condition, and send handover success feedback information to the first network device;

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the sixth processing module is configured to match at least one DRB according to the reconfigured at least one DRB related information;

13. An NSA switching apparatus comprising a memory, a processor and a computer program stored on the memory and executable on the processor, wherein the processor when executing the program performs the steps of the method of any one of claims 1 to 4; or,

the processor when executing the program realizes the steps of the method of claim 5 or 6.

14. A computer-readable storage medium, on which a computer program is stored which, when being executed by a processor, carries out the steps of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 4; alternatively, the computer program realizes the steps of the method of claim 5 or 6 when executed by a processor.