CN114557064B - Communication method and device - Google Patents

Abstract

A method and apparatus for communication, the method comprising: the terminal equipment generates first information, wherein the first information is information for indicating a first area in a service cell of the terminal equipment, and the service cell comprises at least two areas; the service cell is a cell under the first network equipment; the terminal device sends the first information to the second network device. Thus, the terminal device may generate information each time a region change occurs, and transmit a plurality of information to the second network device, and the second network device may determine a movement trace of the terminal device based on the plurality of information transmitted by the terminal device.

Description

Communication method and device

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a communication method and apparatus.

Background

The user equipment history information (UE history information) includes information of a User Equipment (UE) camping cell, and the network device may determine a history track of the UE based on the UE camping cell to perform mobility optimization. The user equipment history information may be recorded on the UE side or on the network equipment side.

Because the conventional terrestrial network cannot provide seamless coverage for the UE, especially in places where base stations cannot be deployed in the sea, desert, air, etc., a Non-terrestrial network (Non-terrestrial network, NTN) is introduced into the 5G system, which provides seamless coverage for the UE by deploying base stations or part of the base station functions on an aerial platform or satellite, and the aerial platform or satellite is less affected by natural disasters, so that the reliability of the 5G system can be improved.

However, satellite cells have a larger coverage area, which is much higher than the cell diameter of conventional terrestrial cells. Therefore, if the UE camps on the satellite cell, the residence time is generally long, and the network device, particularly the land network device, cannot determine the motion trail of the UE based on the user equipment history information, so that mobility optimization cannot be performed. For example, a GEO satellite (GEO) cell typically has a cell diameter of 500km, which is much higher than the cell diameter of a conventional terrestrial cell. If the UE camps on the GEO cell, the camping time is generally long, so the network device, especially the land network device, cannot determine the motion trail of the UE based on the user equipment history information.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the application provides a communication method and device, which solve the problem that network equipment cannot determine the motion trail of UE (user equipment) based on historical information of the UE.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, including: the method comprises the steps that a terminal device generates first information, wherein the first information is information for indicating a first area in a service cell of the terminal device, and the service cell comprises at least two areas; the service cell is a cell under the first network equipment; and the terminal equipment sends the first information to the second network equipment.

By adopting the method, the terminal equipment can generate information when the area changes each time and send a plurality of pieces of information to the second network equipment, and the second network equipment can determine the movement track of the terminal equipment based on the pieces of information sent by the terminal equipment.

In one possible design, the method further comprises: the terminal equipment receives first configuration information from the first network equipment, wherein the first configuration information indicates information of the at least two areas; the terminal device determines that the terminal device is located in the first area based on the first configuration information.

With the adoption of the design, the terminal equipment can determine the area where the terminal equipment is located based on the first configuration information sent by the first network equipment.

In one possible design, the terminal device determines that the terminal device is located in the first area based on the location information of the terminal device and the first configuration information.

With the adoption of the design, the terminal equipment can determine the area where the terminal equipment is located based on the first configuration information and the position information sent by the first network equipment.

In one possible design, the first information includes the serving cell information and the first region information.

With the adoption of the design, the first information can accurately indicate the first area.

In one possible design, the first information further includes at least one of the following information: the type information of the service cell, the network information of the service cell, the identification of the wave beam where the terminal equipment is located, the time information of the terminal equipment in the service cell, and the time information of the terminal equipment in the first area.

By adopting the design, the first information comprises various information, and the history information of the terminal equipment can be perfectly embodied.

In a second aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a communication method, including: the method comprises the steps that first network equipment obtains first information, wherein the first information is information for indicating a first area in a service cell of terminal equipment, and the service cell comprises at least two areas; the service cell is a cell under the first network device; the first network device sends the first information to a second network device.

By adopting the method, the first network device can acquire information when the terminal device changes the area every time and send a plurality of pieces of information to the second network device, and the second network device can determine the movement track of the terminal device based on the pieces of information sent by the first network device.

In one possible design, the method further comprises: the first network device generating first configuration information, the first configuration information indicating information of the at least two areas; the first network device sends the first configuration information to the terminal device.

With the above design, the first network device notifies the terminal device of the first configuration information.

In one possible design, the method further comprises: and the network equipment determines that the terminal equipment is positioned in the first area according to the first configuration information.

By adopting the design, the first network device can determine the area where the terminal device is located.

In one possible design, the first network device obtains first information, including: the first network device receives the first information from the terminal device; alternatively, the first network device generates the first information.

With the above design, the first network device may obtain the first information in different manners.

In one possible design, the first information includes the serving cell information and the first region information.

With the adoption of the design, the first information can accurately indicate the first area.

In one possible design, the first information further includes at least one of the following information: the method comprises the steps of determining type information of a service cell, network information of the service cell, identification of a wave beam where terminal equipment is located, time information of the terminal equipment in the service cell, time information of the terminal equipment in a first area and a first switching reason value, wherein the first switching reason value indicates that the reason that the terminal equipment is switched from another cell to the service cell is satellite movement or cell movement.

By adopting the design, the first information comprises various information, and the history information of the terminal equipment can be perfectly embodied.

In one possible design, the method further comprises: the first network device sends the first configuration information to the second network device.

With the above design, the first network device may notify the second network device of the first configuration information.

In one possible design, the method further comprises: the first network device receives second configuration information from the second network device, the second configuration information being used to determine information of at least two areas under each of at least one cell under the second network device.

With the adoption of the design, the first network device can receive the second configuration information sent by the second network device.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, including: the second network device receives first information from the first network device or the terminal device; the first information is used for indicating information of a first area in a service cell of the terminal equipment, and the service cell comprises at least two areas; the service cell is a cell under the first network device; the second network device determines a motion trail of the terminal device based on the first information.

By adopting the method, the second network device can determine the motion trail of the terminal device based on a plurality of pieces of information sent by the first network device or the terminal device.

In one possible design, the first information includes the serving cell information and the first region information.

With the adoption of the design, the first information can accurately indicate the first area.

In one possible design, the first information further includes at least one of the following information: the method comprises the steps of providing type information of a service cell, network information of the service cell, identification of a wave beam where terminal equipment is located, time information of the terminal equipment in the service cell, time information of the terminal equipment in a first area and a first switching reason value, wherein the first switching reason value indicates that the reason that the terminal equipment is switched from another cell to the service cell is satellite movement or cell movement.

By adopting the design, the first information comprises various information, and the history information of the terminal equipment can be perfectly embodied.

In one possible design, the second network device receives first configuration information from the first network device, the first configuration information being used to indicate information of the at least two areas.

With the above design, the first network device may notify the second network device of the first configuration information.

In one possible design, the method further comprises: the second network device sends second configuration information to the first network device, the second configuration information being used to determine information of at least two areas under each of at least one cell under the second network device.

With the adoption of the design, the first network device can receive the second configuration information sent by the second network device.

In a fourth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a communication apparatus, for example, a first communication apparatus, where the apparatus may be a terminal device, or may be a chip in the terminal device. The apparatus may include a processing unit, a transmitting unit, and a receiving unit. It should be understood that the transmitting unit and the receiving unit may also be transceiving units here. When the apparatus is a terminal device, the processing unit may be a processor, and the transmitting unit and the receiving unit may be transceivers; the terminal device may further include a storage unit, which may be a memory; the storage unit is configured to store instructions, and the processing unit executes the instructions stored in the storage unit, so that the terminal device performs the method in the first aspect or any one of the possible designs of the first aspect. When the apparatus is a chip in a terminal device, the processing unit may be a processor, and the transmitting unit and the receiving unit may be input/output interfaces, pins, circuits, or the like; the processing unit executes instructions stored by the storage unit to cause the chip to perform the method of the first aspect or any one of the possible designs of the first aspect. The storage unit is used for storing instructions, and the storage unit may be a storage unit (for example, a register, a cache, etc.) in the chip, or may be a storage unit (for example, a read-only memory, a random access memory, etc.) located outside the chip in the terminal device.

In a fifth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a communication apparatus, which may be a first network device or a chip in the first network device. The apparatus may include a processing unit, a transmitting unit, and a receiving unit. It should be understood that the transmitting unit and the receiving unit may also be transceiving units here. When the apparatus is a network device, the processing unit may be a processor, and the transmitting unit and the receiving unit may be transceivers; the network device may further include a storage unit, which may be a memory; the storage unit is configured to store instructions, and the processing unit executes the instructions stored by the storage unit, so that the network device performs the method in the second aspect or any one of the possible designs of the second aspect. When the apparatus is a chip within the first network device, the processing unit may be a processor, and the transmitting unit and the receiving unit may be input/output interfaces, pins, circuits, or the like; the processing unit executes instructions stored by the storage unit to cause the chip to perform the method of the second aspect or any one of the possible designs of the second aspect. The storage unit is configured to store instructions, and the storage unit may be a storage unit (for example, a register, a cache, etc.) in the chip, or may be a storage unit (for example, a read-only memory, a random access memory, etc.) located outside the chip in the first network device.

In a sixth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a communications apparatus that may be a second network device or a chip in the second network device. The apparatus may include a processing unit, a transmitting unit, and a receiving unit. It should be understood that the transmitting unit and the receiving unit may also be transceiving units here. When the apparatus is a network device, the processing unit may be a processor, and the transmitting unit and the receiving unit may be transceivers; the network device may further include a storage unit, which may be a memory; the storage unit is configured to store instructions, and the processing unit executes the instructions stored by the storage unit, so that the network device performs the method in the third aspect or any one of the possible designs of the third aspect. When the apparatus is a chip in the second network device, the processing unit may be a processor, and the transmitting unit and the receiving unit may be input/output interfaces, pins, circuits, or the like; the processing unit executes instructions stored by the storage unit to cause the chip to perform the method of the second aspect or any one of the possible designs of the second aspect. The storage unit is configured to store instructions, and the storage unit may be a storage unit (for example, a register, a cache, etc.) in the chip, or may be a storage unit (for example, a read-only memory, a random access memory, etc.) located outside the chip in the second network device.

In a seventh aspect, embodiments of the present application also provide a computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the methods of the first to third aspects described above.

In an eighth aspect, embodiments of the present application also provide a computer program product comprising a program which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the methods of the first to third aspects described above.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a mapping manner of a ground stationary cell in the present application;

fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a mapping manner of a ground mobile cell in the present application;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a satellite communication architecture according to the present application;

FIG. 4 is a second schematic diagram of the architecture of satellite communication in the present application;

FIG. 5 is a third schematic diagram of the satellite communication architecture in the present application;

FIG. 6 is a fourth schematic diagram of a satellite communication architecture in the present application;

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating the transition between RRC states in the present application;

fig. 8 is a flowchart of determining an area where a terminal device is located in a serving cell in the present application;

fig. 9 (a), 9 (b) and 9 (c) are schematic diagrams of a plurality of areas included in a cell in the present application;

FIG. 10 is one of the flow charts of the communication method of the present application;

FIG. 11 is a second flow chart of a communication method of the present application;

FIG. 12 is a third flowchart of a communication method in the present application;

FIG. 13 is a fourth flow chart of a communication method of the present application;

FIG. 14 is a schematic view of the device structure of the present application;

FIG. 15 is a second schematic view of the structure of the device of the present application.

Detailed Description

Embodiments of the present application are described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The network element related in the embodiment of the application comprises network equipment and terminal equipment.

The network device is an entity in the network side for transmitting or receiving signals, such as a new generation base station (generation Node B, gNodeB). The network device may be a device for communicating with a mobile device. The network device may be an AP in a wireless local area network (wireless local area networks, WLAN), a base station (base transceiver station, BTS) in a global system for mobile communications (global system for mobile communications, GSM) or code division multiple access (Code Division Multiple Access, CDMA), a base station (NodeB, NB) in wideband code division multiple access (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access, WCDMA), an evolved base station (evolutional Node B, eNB or eNodeB) in long term evolution (Long Term Evolution, LTE), or a relay station or access point or access backhaul integration (integrated access and backhaul, IAB), or a network device in a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, and a future 5G network, or a network device in a future evolved public land mobile network (public land mobile network, PLMN) network, or a gndeb in an NR system, etc. In addition, in the embodiment of the present application, the network device provides services for the cell, and the terminal device communicates with the network device through the transmission resources (for example, frequency domain resources, or spectrum resources) used by the cell. The network device in the embodiment of the present application may refer to a Central Unit (CU) or a Distributed Unit (DU), or the network device may also be composed of CU and DU. The CU and the DU may be physically separated or may be disposed together, which is not specifically limited in the embodiment of the present application. One CU may be connected to one DU, or one CU may be shared by a plurality of DUs, which may save costs and facilitate network expansion. The segmentation of CUs and DUs may be in terms of protocol stack segmentation, with one possible way being to deploy radio resource control (Radio Resource Control, RRC), traffic data adaptation protocol stack (Service Data Adaptation Protocol, SDAP) and packet data convergence protocol (Packet Data Convergence Protocol, PDCP) layers at the CUs and the remaining radio link control (Radio Link Control, RLC), medium access control (Media Access Control, MAC) and physical layers at the DUs. The present invention is not limited to the above protocol stack splitting method, and other splitting methods are also possible. The CU and the DU are connected through an F1 interface. CU stands for gNB connected to the core network via Ng interface. The network device in the embodiments of the present application may refer to a centralized unit control plane (CU-CP) node or a centralized unit user plane (CU-UP) node, or the network device may also be a CU-CP and a CU-UP. Wherein the CU-CP is responsible for control plane functions, mainly including RRC and PDCP-C. The PDCP-C is mainly responsible for encryption and decryption of control plane data, integrity protection, data transmission and the like. CU-UP is responsible for user plane functions, mainly including SDAP and PDCP-U. Wherein the SDAP is mainly responsible for processing data of the core network and mapping flows to bearers. The PDCP-U is mainly responsible for encryption and decryption of a data surface, integrity protection, header compression, sequence number maintenance, data transmission and the like. Wherein CU-CP and CU-UP are connected through E1 interface. CU-CP stands for gNB connected to the core network via Ng interface. Connected through F1-C (control plane) and DU. CU-UP is connected to DU through F1-U (user plane). Of course, a further possible implementation is that the PDCP-C is also in the CU-UP. The access network device mentioned in the embodiments of the present application may be a device including a CU, or a DU, or a device including a CU and a DU, or a device including a control plane CU node (CU-CP node) and a user plane CU node (CU-UP node), and a DU node. Furthermore, the network device may be other means of providing wireless communication functionality for the terminal device, as other possibilities. The embodiment of the application does not limit the specific technology and the specific device form adopted by the network device. For convenience of description, in the embodiments of the present application, an apparatus that provides a wireless communication function for a terminal device is referred to as a network device.

The terminal device may be a wireless terminal device capable of receiving network device scheduling and indication information, and the wireless terminal device may be a device providing voice and/or data connectivity to a user, or a handheld device having wireless connection functionality, or other processing device connected to a wireless modem. The wireless terminal device may communicate with one or more core networks or the internet via a radio access network (e.g., radio access network, RAN), which may be a mobile terminal device such as a mobile phone (or "cellular" phone), a computer, and a data card, e.g., a portable, pocket, hand-held, computer-built-in, or vehicle-mounted mobile device that exchanges voice and/or data with the radio access network. Such as personal communication services (personal communications service, PCS) phones, cordless phones, session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phones, wireless local loop (wireless local loop, WLL) stations, personal digital assistants (personal digital assistant, PDAs), tablet computers (Pad), computers with wireless transceiver capabilities, and the like. The wireless terminal device may also be referred to as a system, subscriber unit (subscriber unit), subscriber station (subscriber station), mobile Station (MS), remote station (AP), access Point (AP), remote terminal device (remote), access terminal device (access terminal), user terminal device (user terminal), user agent (user agent), user station (subscriber station, SS), user equipment (customer premises equipment, CPE), terminal (terminal), user Equipment (UE), mobile Terminal (MT), etc. The wireless terminal device may also be a wearable device as well as a next generation communication system, e.g. a terminal device in a 5G network or a terminal device in a future evolved PLMN network, a terminal device in a New Radio (NR) communication system, etc.

In addition, the embodiment of the application can be also applied to other communication technologies facing the future. The network architecture and the service scenario described in the present application are for more clearly describing the technical solution of the present application, and do not constitute a limitation on the technical solution provided in the present application, and as a person of ordinary skill in the art can know, with evolution of the network architecture and appearance of a new service scenario, the technical solution provided in the present application is also applicable to similar technical problems.

The embodiments of the present application may be applied to a fourth generation mobile communication system (the fourth generation, 4G) system, a 5G system, an NTN system, or a future mobile communication system.

As one possible application scenario, the NTN system may include a satellite system. Satellite systems can be classified into high elliptical orbit (highly elliptical orbiting, HEO) satellites, high orbit (geostationary earth orbit, GEO) satellites, medium orbit (medium earth orbit, MEO) satellites, and low orbit (LEO) satellites according to satellite heights, i.e., satellite orbital heights. In addition, the NTN system may also include an high altitude platform (high altitude platform station, HAPS) communication system.

As one example, a simple description of the mechanism by which GEO satellites and LEO satellites provide coverage cells is as follows.

1. GEO satellites: also called stationary satellites, the satellite motion speed is the same as that of the earth's rotation system, so the satellites remain stationary relative to the ground, and correspondingly, the cells of GEO satellites are stationary. The coverage area of GEO satellite cells is large, typically 500km in cell diameter.

As shown in fig. 1, the mapping manner of the ground stationary cells means that the locations of the cells are fixed on the ground, and the moving satellites form the cells by adjusting their beams. For example, at time T1: cell 1 and cell 2 are covered by the beam of gNB1, and cell 3 and cell 4 are covered by the beam of gNB 2; time T2: although the gNB1 and the gNB2 move leftwards, the beam of the gNB1 and the gNB2 can still be adjusted, and coverage of the cell 1, the cell 2, the cell 3 and the cell 4 is ensured; time T3: compared to time T1, gNB1 and gNB2 have moved far enough, gNB1 cannot provide coverage for cell 2 again by adjusting the beam, gNB2 cannot provide coverage for cell 4 by adjusting the beam, at which time gNB2 may provide coverage for cell 2 and gNB3 may provide coverage for cell 4.

2. LEO satellite: satellites move relatively fast to the ground, about 7Km/s, so do the coverage areas serviced by LEO satellites.

As shown in fig. 2, the mapping manner of the ground mobile cell means that the mobile satellite does not dynamically adjust its beam direction, and the beam generated by the mobile satellite moves on the ground along with the movement of the satellite. Illustrating: time T1: the area shown in fig. 2 is covered by cell 1, cell 2, cell 3, cell 4 of gNB1 and gNB2, while at time T3 the area is covered by cell 2, cell 3, cell 4, cell 5 of gNB1, gNB2, gNB 3.

In NTN systems, the architecture of satellite communication is divided into two major types, namely a transparent forwarding (transparent) architecture, and at this time, the satellite only performs a relay or an amplifier, and can perform radio frequency filtering, amplifying, and the like, so as to regenerate signals, as shown in fig. 3; and secondly, a regeneration (regeneration) architecture, when the satellite can be used as a gNB (as shown in fig. 4 and 5), a Distributed Unit (DU) (as shown in fig. 6), a relay, wherein the relay is different from the relay in the first class, is not a pure relay at this time, has a signal processing function, and is similar to an access backhaul integrated (integrated access and backhaul, IAB) node or other relay nodes. Wherein when the satellite is a gNB, DU, IAB or other relay node, it functions similarly to a normal gNB, DU, IAB or other relay node.

The NTN communication system provides seamless coverage for terminal equipment by deploying the functions of access network equipment or part of access network equipment on non-ground equipment (such as a high-altitude platform or a satellite and the like), and the reliability of the communication system can be improved because the non-ground equipment is less affected by natural disasters. For convenience in description and understanding of the embodiments of the present application, the present application will be described hereinafter with reference to an NTN communication system in which network devices are deployed on a satellite. For convenience of description, the "network device on satellite" will be replaced by "satellite" in the following description. That is, the communication between the terminal device and the satellite referred to later in this application actually refers to the communication between the terminal device and the network device on the satellite. The details are unified and will not be described in detail later.

In the 5G system, the radio resource control (radio resource control, RRC) state of the UE includes a CONNECTED state (rrc_connected), a deactivated state (rrc_inactive), and an IDLE state (rrc_idle), and transitions between the three states are shown in fig. 7. Illustratively, when the UE is in the rrc_connected state, the UE has established a link with both the network device and the core network device, and may transmit directly to the UE when data arrives at the network. When the UE is in RRC_INACTIVE state, it means that the UE has established a link with the network device and the core network device before, but the link from the UE to the network device is released, and the UE and the network device save the context of the UE, when there is data to be transmitted, the network device can quickly recover the link; in general, a source network device (or anchor) network device may be understood as a network device storing a context of a UE, and/or a source network device may be a network device generating a configuration for the UE to enter an rrc_inactive state. When the UE is in rrc_idle state, there is no link between the UE and the network device and between the UE and the core network device, and when there is data to be transmitted, a link between the UE and the network device and between the UE and the core network device needs to be established.

In the prior art, the UE-side recorded UE history information may include all cell information accessed by the UE and residence time information of each cell. The cell herein may include at least one of a cell in which the UE resides in an idle state, a cell in which the UE resides in a deactivated state, or a cell in which the UE is connected in a connected state. Because the network device side can only sense the UE in the connected state, the user equipment history information recorded by the network device side may include the cell information and the corresponding residence time information when the UE is in the connected state. In addition, the user equipment history information recorded on the network equipment side can also include cell type, handover reason and the like. The cell information may include: at least one of a cell global identity (cell global identifier, CGI), a physical cell identity (physical cell identifier, PCI) and a cell frequency point of the cell. Based on this, when the coverage area of the satellite cell is large, the network device cannot determine the motion trail of the UE based on the user equipment history information, so that mobility optimization cannot be performed.

Example 1:

The embodiment of the application provides a method for determining an area of terminal equipment in a service cell, which is used for determining the area of the terminal equipment in the service cell. As shown in fig. 8, the method includes:

s801: the first network device determines at least two areas comprised by the first cell.

In a possible implementation, the at least two areas constitute the coverage area of the first cell, that is to say the coverage area of the first cell may comprise at least two areas. As shown in fig. 9 (a), the solid line represents the coverage area of the first cell, the broken line represents the boundary of the area included in the first cell, and the first cell includes 4 areas in total of area 1, area 2, area 3, and area 4.

In another possible implementation, the at least two areas may comprise the coverage area of the first cell, that is, the area coverage of the at least two areas may be larger than the coverage area of the first cell. As shown in fig. 9 (b), the area constituted by the solid line represents the coverage area of the first cell, and the 4 areas constituted by the broken line represent 4 areas of the total of area 1, area 2, area 3, and area 4, the area range of the 4 areas being larger than the coverage area of the first cell.

It should be noted that fig. 9 (a) and fig. 9 (b) are only schematic diagrams of the plurality of areas included in the first cell, and in practical applications, the plurality of areas included in the first cell may also have other forms, for example, the first cell includes a plurality of circular areas, as shown in fig. 9 (c), which is not limited in particular in this embodiment of the present application.

The first cell is any one of one or more cells under the first network device. The first cell may be an NTN cell or a TN cell. The at least two areas are logically virtual areas, and the sizes of the at least two areas may be the same or different. The area coverage of each of the at least two areas may be non-overlapping with other areas or there may be overlapping areas, but the area coverage of one area may not completely cover the area coverage of another area.

S802: the first network device sends configuration information to the terminal device. Correspondingly, the terminal device receives configuration information from the first network device.

Wherein the configuration information indicates configuration information of the at least two areas.

Wherein the terminal device resides in the first cell, which can thus be understood as the current serving cell of the terminal device.

Optionally, the first network device may send configuration information to all terminal devices residing in the first cell by broadcasting a message; or, the configuration information may be separately transmitted to the terminal device residing in the first cell through a unicast message; alternatively, the configuration information may be sent to a group of terminal devices residing in the first cell through a multicast message, which is not specifically limited in the embodiments of the present application.

Alternatively, the first network device may send the configuration information in a system message, or may send the configuration information in a dedicated RRC message, which is not specifically limited in this embodiment of the present application.

Alternatively, in different implementations of the embodiments of the present application, the content of the configuration information may also be different:

in one possible implementation, the configuration information may include: the central position coordinates of each region in the at least two regions and the region radius of each region; alternatively, the configuration information may include: the center position coordinates of each of the at least two regions, the region radius of each region, the region identification of each region.

For example, assuming that the first cell under the first network device includes 2 areas, when the configuration information includes a center position coordinate and an area radius of each of at least two areas, the configuration information may be { center position coordinate 1, area radius 1}, { center position coordinate 2, area radius 2}; or, when the configuration information includes the center position coordinate, the region radius, and the region identifier of each of the at least two regions, the configuration information may be { region 1, center position coordinate 1, region radius 1}, { region 2, center position coordinate 2, region radius 2}. Optionally, the configuration information may directly indicate the region identifier of each region, for example, the configuration information is { region 1, center position coordinate 1, region radius 1}; alternatively, the region identifier of each region may be indirectly indicated, and the sequence of the regions in the configuration information is the region identifier of the region, for example, { the center position coordinate 1, the region radius 1} is the 1 st region information in the configuration information, and may correspond to the region 1, { the center position coordinate 2, and the region radius 2} is the 2 nd region information in the configuration information, and may correspond to the region 2.

In one possible implementation, the configuration information may include: the center position coordinates of each of the at least two regions, the region radius of each region, the user readable name of each region; or the configuration information may include: a user readable name for each of the at least two regions. Wherein the user-readable name of each region may reflect the region extent of the region.

For example, assuming that the first cell under the first network device includes 2 areas, and the area range where the area radius of the 1 st area is the radius is the Shanghai yellow pumping area, with the center position coordinate of the 1 st area as the center, the user readable name of the 1 st area may be the Shanghai yellow pumping area; the user readable name of the 2 nd region may be Shanghai creep zone, with the center of the 2 nd region as the center and the region range of the 2 nd region radius as the radius as Shanghai creep zone. Alternatively, the user-readable name of each region may reflect a certain location in the region. For example, the 1 st area is the Shanghai Huang Pu area, and the user readable name of the 1 st area may be a certain logo building name of the Shanghai Huang Pu area. It should be noted that, when the first network device determines at least two areas, the area range (for example, the center position coordinate and the area radius of each area) of each area needs to be defined, but in the configuration information, only the user readable name of each area in the at least two areas may be carried.

The center position coordinates of each region are different, and the region radius of each region may be the same or different.

In another possible implementation, the configuration information may include a length and a width of each of the at least two regions, a total number of regions in a longitudinal direction, and a total number of regions in a latitudinal direction. The total number of the areas in the longitudinal direction is the total number of the areas in the longitudinal direction corresponding to the coverage area of the first cell, and the total number of the areas in the latitudinal direction is the total number of the areas in the latitudinal direction corresponding to the coverage area of the first cell. The product of the total number of regions in the longitudinal direction and the total number of regions in the latitudinal direction is the number of at least two regions in step S801. Optionally, the configuration information may also include a user readable name for each region. The description of the user readable names refers to the foregoing description and is not repeated here.

Wherein the length and width of the same sub-region in the plurality of sub-regions may be the same or different, for example, for sub-region 1 in the plurality of sub-regions, the length and width thereof may be 200, or the length and width thereof may be 200 and 100, respectively; the lengths of the different subareas may be the same or different; the widths of the different sub-regions may be the same or different, for example, for sub-region 1 and sub-region 2 of the plurality of sub-regions, the length and width of sub-region 1 may be 200 and 100, respectively, and the length and width of sub-region 2 may be 400 and 300, respectively; or the length and width of the sub-area 1 may be 200 and 100, respectively, and the length and width of the sub-area 2 may also be 200 and 100, respectively, which is not specifically limited in the embodiment of the present application.

S803: the terminal equipment determines a first area according to the configuration information.

The first area is one area where the terminal equipment is currently located in the at least two areas.

In a possible implementation manner, if the terminal device has a positioning function, the determining, by the terminal device, the first area according to the configuration information may be: the terminal equipment acquires the position information of the terminal equipment, and determines a first area according to the position information and the configuration information of the terminal equipment.

Optionally, in this possible implementation manner, according to the difference of the configuration information, the manner in which the terminal device determines the first area according to the location information and the configuration information of the terminal device is also different. By way of example, there may be two ways:

mode one: the configuration information includes a center position coordinate of each of the at least two areas and an area radius of each of the areas. In addition, the configuration information may also include a region identification for each region or a user-readable name for each region.

In this manner, the location information of the terminal device acquired by the terminal device may be the location coordinate of the geographic location where the terminal device is currently located. The terminal equipment determines a first area according to the position information and the configuration information of the terminal equipment. The terminal device calculates the linear distance corresponding to each area of the terminal device, and compares each linear distance with the area radius of the corresponding area; and if the certain linear distance is smaller than the area radius of the corresponding area, determining the area as a first area. The linear distance between the terminal equipment and each region is the linear distance between the position coordinate of the current geographic position of the terminal equipment and the central position coordinate of each region.

Optionally, if there are a plurality of linear distances smaller than the area radius of the corresponding area, determining an area corresponding to a minimum value of a difference between the plurality of linear distances and the area radius of the corresponding area as the first area.

For example, assuming that the first cell under the first network device includes 2 areas, the configuration information includes { center position coordinate 1, area radius 1}, { center position coordinate 2, area radius 2}, the position coordinate of the geographic position where the terminal device is currently located is position coordinate 0, the straight line distance between center position coordinate 1 and position coordinate 0 calculated by the terminal device is distance 1, the straight line distance between center position coordinate 2 and position coordinate 0 is distance 2, if distance 1 is greater than area radius 1, distance 2 is less than area radius 2, the terminal device determines the area corresponding to { center position coordinate 2, area radius 2} as the first area; or if the distance 1 is smaller than the area radius 1 and the distance 2 is larger than the area radius 2, the terminal device determines the area corresponding to the { center position coordinate 1 and the area radius 1} as the first area. If the distance 1 is smaller than the area radius 1 and the distance 2 is also smaller than the area radius 2, the terminal equipment calculates the difference between the distance 1 and the area radius 1 and the difference between the distance 2 and the area radius 2, and if the difference between the distance 1 and the area radius 1 is smaller than the difference between the distance 2 and the area radius 2, the terminal equipment determines the area corresponding to the { center position coordinate 1 and the area radius 1} as a first area.

The second mode, the configuration information includes a length of each of the at least two areas, a width of each of the at least two areas, a total number of areas in a longitudinal direction, and a total number of areas in a latitudinal direction.

In the embodiment of the present application, the length and width of different areas in at least two areas are the same as each other.

Optionally, the configuration information may further include a region identifier of each sub-region.

In the second mode, the location information of the terminal device acquired by the terminal device may be location coordinates (x, y) of the geographic location where the terminal device is currently located. Wherein x is the distance of the terminal equipment from the longitude direction of the relative reference point of the position system adopted by the terminal equipment, and y is the distance of the terminal equipment from the latitude direction of the relative reference point of the position system.

Optionally, the location system adopted by the terminal device may be, for example, a global positioning system (global positioning system, GPS), or may be a beidou satellite system, or may be other positioning systems; the relative reference points of the location system may be different according to the location system, for example, (0, 0) or others, which is not specifically limited in the embodiments of the present application.

In this second mode: the determining, by the terminal device, the first area according to the location information and the configuration information of the terminal device may be: the terminal equipment determines the position of the terminal equipment in the longitudinal direction according to the distance of the longitudinal direction, the length of each area and the total number of the areas in the longitudinal direction; determining the position of the terminal equipment in the latitudinal direction according to the latitudinal distance, the width of each area and the total number of the areas in the latitudinal direction; and then determining an area identifier according to the position in the longitudinal direction and the position in the latitudinal direction, wherein the area identified by the area identifier is the first area.

Alternatively, the position of the terminal device in the longitudinal direction may satisfy the following formula (1):

the position of the terminal device in the latitudinal direction may satisfy the following formula (2):

/>

the region identification may satisfy the following formula (3):

zone_id＝y ₁ *Nx+x ₁ (3)；

wherein x is the longitudinal distance between the terminal equipment and the relative reference point of the position system adopted by the terminal equipment, y is the latitudinal distance between the terminal equipment and the relative reference point of the position system, L is the length of each area, W is the width of each area, nx is the total number of areas in the longitudinal direction, ny is the total number of areas in the latitudinal direction, x ₁ For the position, y, of the terminal device in the longitudinal direction ₁ For the position of the terminal equipment in the latitude direction, zone_id is the area identifier and symbol determined by the terminal equipment

Representing a rounding down and the% symbols represent the remainder.

By way of example, taking the geographical location coordinate where the terminal device is currently located as (500 ), the total number of areas in the longitudinal direction and the latitudinal direction is 4 (i.e. the first cell includes 16 areas), the length and the width of each area are 200, and the terminal device can determine x according to the above formula (1) ₁ =2, y is determined according to the above formula (2) ₁ =2, if the area identifier is determined to be 10 according to the above formula (3), the terminal device determines an area of which the area identifier is 10 among the 16 areas as the first area.

It should be understood that, based on the same idea, when the first network device obtains the location information of the terminal device, the first network device may determine, based on the location information and the configuration information of the terminal device, the area where the terminal device is located in the serving cell, and specifically, the methods provided in the first and second modes may be referred to, and details are not repeated.

In another possible implementation manner, if the terminal device does not have a positioning function and the configuration information includes a user readable name of each of at least two areas, the determining, by the terminal device, the first area according to the configuration information may be: and the terminal equipment determines the area corresponding to the first user readable name in the configuration information as a first area. The first user readable name is a user readable name corresponding to the current geographic position of the terminal device.

Optionally, for a terminal device that does not have a positioning function, the user may manually determine the current geographic location of the terminal device, e.g., the user may carry the terminal device with him, and determine the current geographic location of the terminal device as the current geographic location of the terminal device. In addition, the terminal device may request the user-readable name corresponding to the current geographic location of the terminal device from the user through the human-computer interaction interface. For example, the terminal device may display a user readable name of each of the at least two regions on the human-computer interaction interface, where the user (manually) selects a user readable name corresponding to the current geographical location of the terminal device from the plurality of user readable names.

If the user readable name of the area reflects the area range of the area, the user selects the user readable name of the area corresponding to the current geographic position of the terminal equipment; if the user readable name of the area reflects a certain position of the area, the user selects the user readable name corresponding to the position closest to the current geographic position of the terminal device. After a user selects a user readable name corresponding to the current geographic position, the terminal device determines an area corresponding to the user readable name as a first area.

For example, the user readable names of the areas reflect the area range of the areas, the first cell under the first network device includes 3 areas, the user readable names of each area are { Shanghai Huang Pu district }, { Shanghai Xiu district }, { Shanghai Pudong district }, then the terminal device may display the user readable names of the 3 areas on the man-machine interaction interface, if the user determines that the terminal device is currently in the Xiu district, the user selects Shanghai Xiu district through the man-machine interaction interface, and then the terminal device determines the area corresponding to { Shanghai Xiu district } as the first area.

For example, the user readable names of the areas reflect a certain position of the areas, the first cell under the first network device includes 3 areas, the user readable names of each area are { landmark building 1}, { landmark building 2}, { landmark building 3}, and the landmark building 1, the landmark building 2, and the landmark building 3 belong to 3 areas respectively, then the terminal device may display the user readable names of the 3 areas on the man-machine interaction interface, if the user determines that the terminal device is closest to the landmark building 1 currently, the user selects the landmark building 1 through the man-machine interaction interface, and then the terminal device determines the area corresponding to { landmark building 1} as the first area.

Example 2:

as shown in fig. 10, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, which includes:

s1001: the terminal equipment generates first information, wherein the first information is information for indicating a first area in a service cell of the terminal equipment, and the service cell comprises at least two areas; the serving cell is a cell under the first network device.

For example, the first information may indicate history information of the terminal device.

The first information may include first cell information and first area information under the first cell, for example. Optionally, the first information may further include time information of the terminal device in the first area, and/or time information of the terminal device in the first cell. Wherein the current serving cell of the terminal device may be referred to as a first cell. The first cell information may include at least one of CGI, PCI, or cell frequency point of the first cell. The first region information may include at least one of a region identification of the first region, a center position coordinate of the first region, and a user-readable name of the first region. The time information of the terminal device in the first area may include a time when the terminal device determines that the terminal device is in the first area, and/or may include a time period when the terminal device is in the first area; the time information of the terminal device in the first cell may include a time at which the terminal device resides or reselects or switches to the first cell, and/or may include a duration of the terminal device in the first cell. The time information of the terminal device in the first area and/or the time information of the terminal device in the first cell may enable assisting the network device in determining a history track of the terminal device. For example, the network device may determine the absolute time of the terminal device accessing the first area and/or the first cell according to the time when the terminal device resides in the first area and/or the first cell, and further, may reverse the motion trail of the terminal device according to the satellite orbit information of the satellite.

In one possible design, the first information may further include first configuration information indicating configuration information of at least two areas under the first cell. The first configuration information is the configuration information in the embodiment shown in fig. 8, and details thereof are not described herein. It should be understood that the first configuration information may or may not be included in the first information. The embodiment of the application describes taking an example that the terminal device includes the first configuration information in the first information.

The first information may further include type information of the first cell and/or network information of the first cell.

The type information of the first cell may be used to indicate that the type of the first cell is NTN or TN. Alternatively, the type information of the first cell is used to indicate at least one of the types GEO, MEO, LEO, HAPS of the first cell. The problem that the cell type cannot be indicated to be NTN in the prior art can be solved by adopting the design.

The network information of the first cell may be a private network identity (non-public network identifier, NPN ID) or a public network identity. The private network may also be referred to as a non-public network (NPN); private network identification may include any of stand alone private network identification (SNPN-public network identifier, SNPN ID), closed access group identification (closed access group identifier, CAG ID); in general, a cell may indicate the private network type to which the cell belongs by sending a private network identification. The public network identity may be a PLMN ID.

In one possible design, the first information may further include an identification of a beam in which the terminal device is located.

It should be noted that, based on the embodiment shown in fig. 8, the terminal device may determine an area where the terminal device is located in the serving cell, that is, the first area, and further generate the first information. In addition, the terminal device may generate the first information when the terminal device is in an active state, or may generate the first information when the terminal device is in an idle state or in a deactivated state.

S1002: the terminal device sends the first information to the second network device.

Optionally, the terminal device sends the first information to the first network device.

S1003: the second network device receives the first information from the terminal device, and the second network device determines a motion trail of the terminal device based on the first information.

With the above embodiment, the terminal device may generate information and send a plurality of pieces of information to the second network device each time a region change occurs, and the second network device may determine a motion trajectory of the terminal device based on the plurality of pieces of information sent by the terminal device, thereby performing mobility optimization.

Example 3:

as shown in fig. 11, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, which includes:

S1101: the method comprises the steps that first network equipment obtains first information, wherein the first information is information for indicating a first area in a service cell of terminal equipment, and the service cell comprises at least two areas; the serving cell is a cell under the first network device.

For example, the first information may indicate history information of the terminal device.

The specific content of the first information may refer to the description in S1001, which is not described herein.

The first network device may acquire the first information in the following two manners:

mode one: the first network device determines a first area based on the location information of the terminal device and the first configuration information, and generates first information. The content of the area where the terminal device is located in the serving cell may be determined by referring to the terminal device in the embodiment shown in fig. 8 based on the location information of the terminal device and the first configuration information, and the repetition is not repeated.

In one possible design, the first information may further comprise a first handover cause value indicating that the cause of the terminal device handover from another cell into the first cell is a satellite movement or a cell movement.

Mode two: the first network device receives first information from the terminal device.

It should be noted that the first network device may acquire the first information when the terminal device is in an active state.

S1102: the first network device sends first information to the second network device.

It may be understood that the first network device sends the first information to the second network device, which may be that the first network device sends the first information to the second network device through an interface between the first network device and the second network device, or that the first network sends the first information to the second network device through the core network device, for example, the first network device sends the first information to the core network device, and the core network device sends the first information to the second network device.

The core network device may be a mobility management module (mobility management entity, MME), or may be an access mobility management function (Access and Mobility Management Function, AMF), or may be an AMF and session management function (session manage function, SMF), or may be other core network devices.

S1103: the second network device receives first information from the first network device, and the second network device determines a motion trail of the terminal device based on the first information.

The first network device may also receive second configuration information from the second network device, the second configuration information being used to determine information for at least two areas under each of the at least one cell under the second network device.

It will be appreciated that, as an implementation, the first network device and the second network device may interact configuration information of the respective managed cells in an interface setup or configuration update procedure. The method can comprise the following steps:

the first network equipment sends a first request message to the second network equipment, wherein the first request message carries configuration information of at least one cell under the first network equipment; optionally, the first request message may further carry configuration information of at least one neighboring cell of at least one cell under the first network device.

The first network device receives a first response message of the second network device, wherein the first response message carries configuration information of at least one cell under the second network device. Optionally, the first request message may further carry configuration information of at least one neighboring cell of at least one cell under the first network device. Optionally, the first response message may further carry configuration information of at least one neighboring cell of at least one cell under the second network device.

As an example, if the first request message is an interface setup request message, the first response message is an interface setup response message; if the first request message is a node configuration update request message, the first response message is a node configuration update request acknowledgement message.

As an example, both the first network device and the second network device are base stations. As another example, the first network device is a CU and the second network device is a DU; or the first network device is a DU and the second network device is a CU.

It should be noted that, the process of interacting configuration information of each managed cell between the first network device and the second network device may be implemented separately as a solution.

By adopting the embodiment, the first network device can acquire information and send a plurality of pieces of information to the second network device when the terminal device changes the area each time, and the second network device can determine the movement track of the terminal device based on the plurality of pieces of information sent by the first network device, so as to execute mobility optimization.

Example 4:

an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, as shown in fig. 12, for implementing information recording for an NTN cell. It should be understood that this embodiment 4 may be used to implement information recording for NTN cells, and may also be used to record information for TN cells of different networks.

S1201: the terminal device or the first network device generates the second information.

The second information may indicate history information of the terminal device, for example.

In one possible design, the second information includes time information of the terminal device in the first cell. Wherein the current serving cell of the terminal device may be referred to as a first cell. The time information of the terminal device in the first cell may include a time at which the terminal device resides or reselects or switches to the first cell, and/or may include a duration of the terminal device in the first cell. The time information of the terminal device in the first cell may be implemented to assist the network device in determining a history track of the terminal device. The network device may determine the absolute time of the terminal device accessing the first cell according to the time when the terminal device resides in the first cell, and further back-push the motion trail of the terminal device according to the satellite orbit information of the satellite.

In one possible design, the second information may also include type information of the first cell and/or network information of the first cell.

The type information of the first cell may be used to indicate that the type of the first cell is NTN or TN. Alternatively, the type information of the first cell is used to indicate at least one of the types GEO, MEO, LEO, HAPS of the first cell. The problem that the cell type cannot be indicated to be NTN in the prior art can be solved by adopting the design.

The network information of the first cell may be an NPN ID or a public network identity. The private network may also be referred to as NPN; the private network identification can comprise any one of SNPN ID and CAG ID; in general, a cell may indicate the private network type to which the cell belongs by sending a private network identification. The public network identity may be a PLMN ID.

In one possible design, the second information may further include an identification of the beam in which the terminal device is located.

In one possible design, the second information may further comprise a first handover cause value indicating that the cause of the terminal device handover from another cell into the first cell is satellite movement or cell movement.

It should be understood that the second information may include a combination of one or more of the above possible designs, which is not limited in this embodiment.

S1202: the terminal device or the first network device sends the second information to the second network device.

Example 5:

an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, as shown in fig. 13, for determining a motion trail of a terminal device, where the method includes:

s1301: the first network device sends the first threshold to the terminal device.

S1302: the terminal equipment receives a first threshold from the first network equipment, and generates third information at a first moment. The terminal equipment determines a first position of the terminal equipment at the first moment; the third information may include first time information, and first location information.

S1303: the terminal equipment periodically detects the position of the terminal equipment, and if the terminal equipment determines at the second moment that the distance between the second position of the terminal equipment at the second moment and the first position is greater than or equal to the first threshold, the terminal equipment generates second moment information and second position information in the third information.

S1304: the terminal device sends the third information to the first network device or other network devices.

Illustratively, the terminal device in fig. 13 sends the third information to the second network device.

Accordingly, the network device that receives the third information may determine the movement trace of the terminal device based on the first time information and the first position information, the second time information, and the second position information in the third information.

It will be understood that in the embodiments of the present application, the terminal device and/or the network device may perform some or all of the steps in the embodiments of the present application, these steps or operations are merely examples, and other operations or variations of various operations may also be performed in the embodiments of the present application. Furthermore, the various steps may be performed in a different order presented in accordance with embodiments of the present application, and it is possible that not all of the operations in the embodiments of the present application may be performed.

In the various embodiments of the application, if there is no specific description or logical conflict, terms and/or descriptions between the various embodiments are consistent and may reference each other, and features of the various embodiments may be combined to form new embodiments according to their inherent logical relationships.

In the embodiments provided in the present application, each scheme of the communication method provided in the embodiments of the present application is described from the perspective of each network element itself and from the perspective of interaction between each network element. It will be appreciated that the respective network elements, e.g. the first network device, the second network device and the terminal device, comprise, in order to implement the above-mentioned functions, corresponding hardware structures and/or software modules performing the respective functions. Those of skill in the art will readily appreciate that the elements and algorithm steps of the examples described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as hardware or combinations of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is implemented as hardware or computer software driven hardware depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the solution. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present application.

As well as the above concept, as shown in fig. 14, the embodiment of the present application further provides an apparatus 1400, where the apparatus 1400 includes a transceiver unit 1402 and a processing unit 1401.

In an example, the apparatus 1400 is configured to implement the functions of the terminal device in the above method. The device may be a terminal device or may be a device in a terminal device, such as a chip system.

Wherein, the processing unit 1401 is configured to generate first information, where the first information is information for indicating a first area in a serving cell of the terminal device, and the serving cell includes at least two areas; the service cell is a cell under the first network equipment;

a transceiver unit 1402, configured to send the first information to a second network device.

In an example, the apparatus 1400 is configured to implement the functionality of the first network device in the method described above. The apparatus may be the first network device or may be an apparatus in the first network device, such as a system on a chip.

The processing unit 1401 is configured to obtain first information, where the first information is information for indicating a first area in a serving cell of the terminal device, and the serving cell includes at least two areas; the service cell is a cell under the first network device;

A transceiver unit 1402, configured to send the first information to a second network device.

In an example, the apparatus 1400 is configured to implement the functionality of the second network device in the method described above. The apparatus may be the second network device or may be an apparatus in the second network device, such as a system-on-a-chip.

The transceiver 1402 is configured to receive first information from a first network device or a terminal device; the first information is used for indicating information of a first area in a service cell of the terminal equipment, and the service cell comprises at least two areas; the service cell is a cell under the first network device;

a processing unit 1401 is configured to determine a motion trajectory of the terminal device based on the first information.

For specific execution of the processing unit 1401 and the transceiver unit 1402, reference may be made to the description in the above method embodiment. The division of the modules in the embodiment of the present application is schematic, which is merely a logic function division, and there may be another division manner in actual implementation, for example, the transceiver unit 1402 may be further divided into a transmitting unit and a receiving unit. In addition, each functional module in the embodiments of the present application may be integrated in one processor, or may exist alone physically, or two or more modules may be integrated in one module. The integrated modules may be implemented in hardware or in software functional modules.

As another alternative variant, the device may be a system-on-chip. In the embodiment of the application, the chip system may be formed by a chip, and may also include a chip and other discrete devices. Illustratively, the apparatus includes a processor and an interface, which may be an input/output interface. The processor performs the functions of the processing unit 1401, and the interface performs the functions of the transceiver unit 1402. The apparatus may further comprise a memory for storing a program executable on a processor which when executed performs the method of the various embodiments described above.

As with the concepts described above, the present embodiment also provides an apparatus 1500, as shown in fig. 15. The apparatus 1500 includes: a communication interface 1501, at least one processor 1502, at least one memory 1503. A communication interface 1501 for communicating with other apparatus over a transmission medium, such that an apparatus for use in apparatus 1500 may communicate with other apparatus. A memory 1503 for storing a computer program. The processor 1502 invokes a computer program stored in the memory 1503 to transmit and receive data through the communication interface 1501 to implement the method in the above embodiment.

The memory 1503 is for storing a computer program when the apparatus is a first network device, for example; the processor 1502 invokes the computer program stored in the memory 1503 to perform the method performed by the first network device in the above embodiment through the communication interface 1501. When the apparatus is a second network device, the memory 1503 is used to store a computer program; the processor 1502 invokes the computer program stored in the memory 1503 to perform the method performed by the second network device in the above embodiment through the communication interface 1501. When the apparatus is a terminal device, the memory 1503 is used for storing a computer program; the processor 1502 invokes the computer program stored in the memory 1503 to perform the method performed by the terminal device in the above embodiment through the communication interface 1501.

In the present embodiment, the communication interface 1501 may be a transceiver, a circuit, a bus, a module, or other type of communication interface. The processor 1502 may be a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor, an application specific integrated circuit, a field programmable gate array or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic device, discrete hardware components, which may implement or perform the methods, steps, and logic blocks disclosed in the embodiments of the present application. The general purpose processor may be a microprocessor or any conventional processor or the like. The steps of a method disclosed in connection with the embodiments of the present application may be embodied directly in a hardware processor for execution, or in a combination of hardware and software modules in the processor for execution. The memory 1503 may be a nonvolatile memory such as a Hard Disk Drive (HDD) or a Solid State Drive (SSD), or may be a volatile memory (RAM). The memory is any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer, but is not limited to such. The memory in the embodiments of the present application may also be a circuit or any other device capable of implementing a memory function. A memory 1503 is coupled to the processor 1502. The coupling in the embodiments of the present application is a spaced coupling or communication connection between devices, units or modules, and may be in electrical, mechanical or other forms, for information interaction between devices, units or modules. As another implementation, the memory 1503 may also be located outside the apparatus 1500. The processor 1502 may operate in conjunction with the memory 1503. The processor 1502 may execute program instructions stored in the memory 1503. At least one of the at least one memory 1503 may also be included in the processor 1502. The connection medium between the communication interface 1501, the processor 1502, and the memory 1503 is not limited in the embodiment of the present application. For example, in fig. 15, the memory 1503, the processor 1502, and the communication interface 1501 may be connected by a bus, which may be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, and the like.

It will be appreciated that the apparatus of the embodiment shown in fig. 14 described above may be implemented by the apparatus 1500 shown in fig. 15. In particular, the processing unit 1401 may be implemented by the processor 1502, and the transceiver unit 1402 may be implemented by the communication interface 1501.

The present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the methods shown in the above embodiments.

The method provided in the embodiments of the present application may be implemented in whole or in part 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, produces a flow or function in accordance with embodiments of the present invention, in whole or in part. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a computer network, a network device, a user device, or other programmable apparatus. The computer instructions may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium, for example, the computer instructions may be transmitted from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center by a wired (e.g., coaxial cable, fiber optic, digital subscriber line (digital subscriber line, DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) means. The computer readable storage medium may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device such as a server, data center, etc. that contains an integration of 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 disc (digital video disc, abbreviated as DVD)), or a semiconductor medium (e.g., a solid state disk Solid State Disk SSD), etc.

The foregoing embodiments are merely used to describe the technical solutions of the present application in detail, but the descriptions of the foregoing embodiments are merely used to facilitate understanding of the methods of the embodiments of the present invention and should not be construed as limiting the embodiments of the present invention. Variations or alternatives readily apparent to those skilled in the art are intended to be encompassed within the scope of the embodiments of the present invention.

Claims (33)

1. A method of communication, the method comprising:

the method comprises the steps that a terminal device generates first information, wherein the first information is information for indicating a first area in a service cell of the terminal device, the service cell comprises at least two areas, and the service cell is a cell under first network equipment; the service cell is a non-land network NTN cell;

the terminal equipment sends the first information to second network equipment, wherein the first information comprises the service cell information and the first area information, and the time information of the terminal equipment in the first area.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

the terminal equipment receives first configuration information from the first network equipment, wherein the first configuration information indicates information of the at least two areas;

The terminal device determines that the terminal device is located in the first area based on the first configuration information.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the terminal device determining that the terminal device is located in the first region based on the first configuration information comprises:

the terminal equipment determines that the terminal equipment is located in the first area based on the position information of the terminal equipment and the first configuration information.

4. A method according to any of claims 1-3, wherein the first information further comprises at least one of the following information:

the type information of the service cell, the network information of the service cell, the identification of the wave beam where the terminal equipment is located, and the time information of the terminal equipment in the service cell.

5. A method of communication, the method comprising:

the method comprises the steps that first network equipment obtains first information, wherein the first information is information for indicating a first area in a service cell of terminal equipment, and the service cell comprises at least two areas; the service cell is a cell under the first network device; the service cell is an NTN cell;

The first network device sends the first information to a second network device, wherein the first information comprises the service cell information and the first area information, and the time information of the terminal device in the first area.

6. The method as recited in claim 5, further comprising:

the first network device generating first configuration information, the first configuration information indicating information of the at least two areas;

the first network device sends the first configuration information to the terminal device.

7. The method as recited in claim 6, further comprising:

and the first network equipment determines that the terminal equipment is positioned in the first area according to the first configuration information.

8. The method of any of claims 5-7, wherein the first network device obtains the first information, comprising:

the first network device receives the first information from the terminal device; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

the first network device generates the first information.

9. The method of any of claims 5-7, wherein the first information further comprises at least one of:

The method comprises the steps of providing type information of a service cell, network information of the service cell, identification of a wave beam where terminal equipment is located, time information of the terminal equipment in the service cell, and a first switching reason value, wherein the first switching reason value indicates that the reason that the terminal equipment is switched from another cell to the service cell is satellite movement or cell movement.

10. The method of claim 6 or 7, wherein the method further comprises: the first network device sends the first configuration information to the second network device.

11. The method of any one of claims 5-7, wherein the method further comprises: the first network device receives second configuration information from the second network device, the second configuration information being used to determine information of at least two areas under each of at least one cell under the second network device.

12. A method of communication, the method comprising:

the second network device receives first information from the first network device or the terminal device; the first information is used for indicating information of a first area in a service cell of the terminal equipment, and the service cell comprises at least two areas; the service cell is a cell under the first network device; the service cell is an NTN cell; the first information comprises the service cell information and the first area information, and the time information of the terminal equipment in the first area;

The second network device determines a motion trail of the terminal device based on the first information.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the first information further comprises at least one of:

the method comprises the steps of providing type information of a service cell, network information of the service cell, identification of a wave beam where the terminal equipment is located, time information of the terminal equipment in the service cell and a first switching reason value, wherein the first switching reason value indicates that the reason that the terminal equipment is switched from another cell to the service cell is satellite movement or cell movement.

14. The method of claim 12 or 13, wherein the method further comprises: the second network device receives first configuration information from the first network device, the first configuration information being used to indicate information of the at least two areas.

15. The method of claim 12 or 13, wherein the method further comprises: the second network device sends second configuration information to the first network device, the second configuration information being used to determine information of at least two areas under each of at least one cell under the second network device.

16. A communication device, characterized in that the device is a terminal device or a chip within a terminal device, the device comprising:

a processing unit, configured to generate first information, where the first information is information for indicating a first area in a serving cell of the terminal device, and the serving cell includes at least two areas; the service cell is a cell under the first network equipment; the service cell is an NTN cell;

and the sending unit is used for sending the first information to the second network equipment, wherein the first information comprises the service cell information and the first area information, and the time information of the terminal equipment in the first area.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the apparatus further comprises: a receiving unit, configured to receive first configuration information from the first network device, where the first configuration information indicates information of the at least two areas;

the processing unit is further configured to determine that the terminal device is located in the first area based on the first configuration information.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the processing unit is configured to determine that the terminal device is located in the first area based on location information of the terminal device and the first configuration information.

19. The apparatus of any of claims 16-18, wherein the first information further comprises at least one of:

the type information of the service cell, the network information of the service cell, the identification of the wave beam where the terminal equipment is located, and the time information of the terminal equipment in the service cell.

20. A communication apparatus, the apparatus being a first network device, or a chip within a first network device, the apparatus comprising:

the processing unit is used for acquiring first information, wherein the first information is information for indicating a first area in a service cell of the terminal equipment, and the service cell comprises at least two areas; the service cell is a cell under the first network device; the service cell is an NTN cell;

and the sending unit is used for sending the first information to the second network equipment, wherein the first information comprises the service cell information and the first area information, and the time information of the terminal equipment in the first area.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the processing unit is further for generating first configuration information indicating information for the at least two regions;

The sending unit is further configured to send the first configuration information to the terminal device.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the processing unit is further configured to determine that the terminal device is located in the first region based on the first configuration information.

23. The apparatus according to any of claims 20-22, wherein a receiving unit is configured to receive the first information from the terminal device; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

the processing unit is further configured to generate the first information.

24. The apparatus of any of claims 20-22, wherein the first information further comprises at least one of:

the method comprises the steps of determining type information of a service cell, network information of the service cell, identification of a wave beam where terminal equipment is located, time information of the terminal equipment in the service cell, and a first switching reason value, wherein the first switching reason value indicates that the reason that the terminal equipment is switched from another cell to the service cell is satellite movement or cell movement.

25. The apparatus according to claim 21 or 22, wherein the sending unit is further configured to send the first configuration information to the second network device.

26. The apparatus according to any of claims 20-22, wherein the receiving unit is further configured to receive second configuration information from the second network device, the second configuration information being used to determine information of at least two areas under each of at least one cell under the second network device.

27. A communication apparatus, the apparatus being a second network device, or a chip within a second network device, the apparatus comprising:

a receiving unit, configured to receive first information from a first network device or a terminal device; the first information is used for indicating information of a first area in a service cell of the terminal equipment, and the service cell comprises at least two areas; the service cell is a cell under the first network device; the service cell is an NTN cell; the first information comprises the service cell information and the first area information, and the time information of the terminal equipment in the first area;

and the processing unit is used for determining the motion trail of the terminal equipment based on the first information.

28. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the first information further comprises at least one of:

The method comprises the steps of determining type information of a service cell, network information of the service cell, identification of a wave beam where terminal equipment is located, time information of the terminal equipment in the service cell and a first switching reason value, wherein the first switching reason value indicates that the reason that the terminal equipment is switched from another cell to the service cell is satellite movement or cell movement.

29. The apparatus of claim 27 or 28, wherein the receiving unit is configured to receive first configuration information from the first network device, the first configuration information being configured to indicate information of the at least two areas.

30. The apparatus of claim 27 or 28, wherein the transmitting unit is configured to transmit second configuration information to the first network device, the second configuration information being used to determine information of at least two areas under each of at least one cell under the second network device.

31. A communication apparatus, wherein the device comprises a transceiver, a processor, and a memory; program instructions are stored in the memory; the program instructions, when executed, cause the apparatus to perform the method of any of claims 1 to 15.

32. A chip, characterized in that the chip is coupled to a memory in an electronic device such that the chip, when run, invokes program instructions stored in the memory, implementing the method according to any of claims 1 to 15.

33. A computer readable storage medium comprising program instructions which, when run on a device, cause the device to perform the method of any of claims 1 to 15.

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