CN115696475A

CN115696475A - Cell selection method, device and system

Info

Publication number: CN115696475A
Application number: CN202110835798.1A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 庄宏成
Original assignee: Honor Device Co Ltd
Current assignee: Honor Device Co Ltd
Priority date: 2021-07-23
Filing date: 2021-07-23
Publication date: 2023-02-03
Also published as: WO2023000820A1

Abstract

The embodiment of the application provides a cell selection method, a device and a system, which can enable a target cell accessed by a terminal device to meet the requirements of a slicing service operated by the terminal device. The method comprises the following steps: the method comprises the steps that a first network device determines one or more first neighbor cells meeting a terminal device switching condition; the method comprises the steps that first network equipment obtains slice resource state information of each first neighbor cell in one or more first neighbor cells; the slice resource state information comprises resource information which can be used by the first adjacent cell for a network slice to which the first adjacent cell belongs; and the first network equipment selects a target cell to which the terminal equipment is to be switched from one or more first adjacent cells according to the slice resource state information.

Description

Cell selection method, device and system

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a cell selection method, apparatus, and system.

Background

With the development of communication technology, new Radio (NR) of fifth generation mobile communication technology (5 th generation,5 g) introduced network slicing. The network slice can realize isolation of different users on the basis of guaranteeing quality of service (QoS) of the users, thereby guaranteeing Service Level Agreement (SLA) of the users.

However, during the movement of the terminal device, the capabilities of the network slices to which the terminal device belongs may be different for different cells accessed by the terminal device, for example, different types of supported network slices, or different resources that can be allocated to the network slices, and so on. If the capability of the network slice to which the selected target cell belongs does not support the slice service when the terminal device running a certain slice service switches cells, for example, the slice type of the network slice to which the target cell belongs does not support the slice service or the slice resource of the network slice to which the target cell belongs is insufficient, the continuity of the slice service currently running by the terminal device cannot be ensured.

In the current scheme, a source cell originally accessed by a terminal device selects a target cell for switching for the terminal device according to information about whether a network slice to which a neighboring cell belongs is overloaded, but the scheme only considers whether the network slice is overloaded, and the determined target cell may not meet the requirement of a slice service operated by the terminal device.

Therefore, how to enable the target cell accessed by the terminal device to meet the requirement of the slicing service operated by the terminal device is a problem to be solved urgently at present.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the application provides a cell selection method, a device and a system, which are used for solving the problem that the existing cell selection method can not meet the requirements of a slicing service operated by a terminal device.

In order to achieve the above purpose, the embodiment of the present application adopts the following technical solutions:

in a first aspect, a method for cell selection is provided, where the method includes: the method comprises the steps that a first network device determines one or more first neighbor cells meeting a terminal device switching condition; the method comprises the steps that first network equipment obtains slice resource state information of each first neighbor cell in one or more first neighbor cells; the slice resource state information comprises resource information which can be used by the first adjacent cell for a network slice to which the first adjacent cell belongs; and the first network equipment selects a target cell to which the terminal equipment is to be switched from one or more first adjacent cells according to the slice resource state information. Based on the cell selection method provided by the embodiment of the present application, the first network device may determine, according to the acquired slice resource state information of the first neighboring cell, resource information that the first neighboring cell can be used for network slicing to which the first neighboring cell belongs, and may select, according to the resource information that the first neighboring cell can be used for network slicing, a most appropriate target cell for the terminal device, in other words, the selection of the target cell is more accurate, so that continuity of a slice service that the terminal device operates can be ensured.

With reference to the foregoing first aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the acquiring, by a first network device, slice resource state information of each first neighboring cell in one or more first neighboring cells includes: the method comprises the steps that first network equipment sends a first message to second network equipment associated with a first adjacent cell, wherein the first message is used for inquiring slice resource state information of the first adjacent cell; the first network device receives slice resource status information of a first neighbor cell from a second network device. Based on the scheme, the first network device may obtain the slice resource state information of the first neighbor cell from the second network device associated with the first neighbor cell through the first message for querying the slice resource state information.

With reference to the first aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the first message is a handover request message; the first network device receiving slice resource status information of a first neighbor cell from a second network device comprises: the first network device receives a handover confirmation message from the second network device, the handover confirmation message including slice resource status information. Based on the scheme, the second network device may send a handover confirmation message including the slice resource status information to the first network device in response to the handover request message sent by the first network device.

With reference to the first aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the handover request message includes slice resource requirement information, and the slice resource requirement information is used to query slice resource state information of the first neighboring cell. Based on the scheme, the slice resource demand information can be added into the switching request message to inquire the slice resource state information.

With reference to the foregoing first aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the first message is a slice resource status query message. Based on the scheme, the first network equipment can inquire the slice resource state information of the first adjacent cell to the second network equipment through the slice resource state inquiry information.

With reference to the foregoing first aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the slice resource state information is determined according to a first calculation rule and a first parameter set; the first calculation rule is used for calculating the resource which can be used by the first neighbor cell for the slice type corresponding to the network slice to which the first neighbor cell belongs. Based on the scheme, a method for determining resource state information is provided, and resources of slice types corresponding to network slices to which the first neighbor cell belongs can be determined according to a first calculation rule.

With reference to the first aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the first parameter set includes one or more of a slice type parameter, a slice quota ratio parameter, or a slice quota ratio margin parameter. Based on the present solution, parameters that may be included in the first set of parameters are provided.

With reference to the foregoing first aspect, in a possible implementation manner, at least one of a slice quota type parameter, a slice quota proportion parameter, or a slice quota proportion margin parameter is associated with the slice type parameter. Based on the scheme, the incidence relation among the parameters in the first parameter set is provided.

With reference to the first aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the determining, by the first network device, one or more first neighboring cells that satisfy the handover condition of the terminal device includes: the first network equipment receives a measurement report from the terminal equipment; wherein the measurement report includes identification information of one or more second neighbor cells and the first information; the first information is used for representing the signal quality of the second adjacent cell; and the first network equipment determines one or more first adjacent cells meeting the switching condition of the terminal equipment in the one or more second adjacent cells according to the identification information and the first information of the one or more second adjacent cells. Based on the scheme, the first network device may determine the first neighbor cell from the second neighbor cells according to the signal quality of the second neighbor cells based on information in the measurement report sent by the terminal device, thereby ensuring the signal quality of the first neighbor cells.

With reference to the foregoing first aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the determining, by a first network device, one or more first neighboring cells that meet a handover condition of a terminal device includes: the first network equipment receives a measurement report from the terminal equipment; wherein the measurement report includes identification information of the one or more first neighbor cells; and the first network equipment determines one or more first adjacent cells meeting the switching condition of the terminal equipment according to the identification information of the one or more first adjacent cells. Based on the scheme, the first network device may directly determine the first neighboring cell based on information in a measurement report sent by the terminal device.

With reference to the first aspect, in a possible implementation manner, before the first network device receives the measurement report from the terminal device, the method further includes: the first network equipment determines one or more third adjacent cells, wherein the third adjacent cells are adjacent cells supporting the slicing service operated by the terminal equipment; the first network equipment sends the measurement configuration information of one or more third neighbor cells to the terminal equipment; and the measurement configuration information of the one or more third neighbor cells is used for the terminal equipment to measure the one or more third neighbor cells. Based on the scheme, the first network device can issue the adjacent cell supporting the slicing service operated by the terminal device to the terminal device for measurement. The method and the device avoid the terminal device from measuring the adjacent cell which does not support the slicing service operated by the terminal device, and reduce the measurement overhead of the terminal device.

With reference to the first aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the determining, by the first network device, one or more third neighboring cells includes: the first network equipment acquires the slicing capability information of one or more fourth adjacent cells, wherein the fourth adjacent cells are adjacent cells of a current access cell of the terminal equipment; and the first network equipment determines a third adjacent cell in one or more fourth adjacent cells according to the slicing capability information of the fourth adjacent cell. Based on the scheme, the first network device can screen out the third neighbor cell from the fourth neighbor cell according to the slicing capability information of the fourth neighbor cell.

With reference to the first aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the acquiring, by the first network device, slicing capability information of one or more fourth neighboring cells includes: the first network equipment sends a second message to third network equipment associated with a fourth adjacent cell, wherein the second message is used for inquiring slicing capability information of the fourth adjacent cell; the first network device receiving slicing capability information of a fourth neighbor cell from the third network device; or, the first network device receives the slice capability information of the fourth neighboring cell from the operation, maintenance and management function module OAM. Based on the scheme, two modes for acquiring the slicing capability information of the fourth neighbor cell are provided.

With reference to the first aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the slicing capability information of the fourth neighboring cell includes whether the fourth neighboring cell supports network slicing and/or a slicing type corresponding to a network slice to which the fourth neighboring cell belongs. Based on the scheme, the first network device may screen the third neighboring cell from the fourth neighboring cell according to whether the fourth neighboring cell supports the network slice and/or the slice type corresponding to the network slice to which the fourth neighboring cell belongs.

With reference to the first aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the determining, by the first network device, the third neighboring cell in the one or more fourth neighboring cells according to the slicing capability information of the fourth neighboring cell includes: and the first network equipment determines the fourth adjacent cell of which the slice type corresponding to the network slice comprises the slice type corresponding to the slice service operated by the terminal equipment in one or more fourth adjacent cells as a third adjacent cell. Based on the scheme, the first network device may screen out, in the fourth neighboring cell, a third neighboring cell that supports a slicing service operated by the terminal device according to the slicing type supported by the fourth neighboring cell.

With reference to the first aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the resource information that the first neighboring cell can use for the network slice to which the first neighboring cell belongs includes: the first neighboring cell may be used for resource information of a slice service operated by the terminal device, where a slice type corresponding to a network slice to which the first neighboring cell belongs includes a slice type corresponding to the slice service operated by the terminal device. Based on the scheme, the first network device may determine the most appropriate target cell for the terminal device according to the resource information of the slice service that the first neighboring cell may use for the terminal device to operate.

In a second aspect, a communication device is provided, which has the function of implementing the method of the first aspect. The function can be realized by hardware, and can also be realized by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the functions described above. Such as: the communication apparatus may include: and a processing module. The processing module is used for determining one or more first adjacent cells meeting the switching condition of the terminal equipment; the processing module is further configured to obtain slice resource state information of each of the one or more first neighboring cells; the slice resource state information comprises resource information which can be used by the first adjacent cell for a network slice to which the first adjacent cell belongs; and the processing module is further used for selecting a target cell to which the terminal equipment is to be switched from one or more first neighbor cells according to the slice resource state information.

Specifically, for a specific implementation of the processing module, reference may be made to the first aspect or any possible implementation manner of the first aspect, and details are not repeated here.

With reference to the second aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the communication device further includes a transceiver module; a transceiver module, configured to send a first message to a second network device associated with a first neighboring cell, where the first message is used to query slice resource state information of the first neighboring cell; the transceiver module is further configured to receive slice resource status information of the first neighbor cell from the second network device.

With reference to the second aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the communication apparatus further includes a transceiver module; the first message is a switching request message; a transceiver module, configured to receive a handover confirmation message from the second network device, where the handover confirmation message includes slice resource status information.

With reference to the second aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the communication device further includes a transceiver module; the receiving and sending module is used for receiving the measurement report from the terminal equipment; wherein the measurement report includes identification information of one or more second neighbor cells and the first information; the first information is used for representing the signal quality of the second adjacent cell.

With reference to the second aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the communication device further includes a transceiver module; the receiving and sending module is used for sending the measurement configuration information of one or more third neighbor cells to the terminal equipment; the measurement configuration information of the one or more third neighboring cells is used for the terminal device to measure the one or more third neighboring cells.

With reference to the second aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the communication device further includes a transceiver module; the receiving and sending module is configured to send a second message to a third network device associated with a fourth neighboring cell, where the second message is used to query the slicing capability information of the fourth neighboring cell; the receiving and sending module is further used for receiving the slicing capability information of a fourth neighboring cell from the third network equipment;

or, the transceiver module is configured to receive the slice capability information of the fourth neighboring cell from the operation, maintenance and management function module OAM.

For technical effects of the second aspect, reference may be made to the first aspect, which is not described herein again.

In a third aspect, a communication apparatus is provided, including: a processor and a memory; the memory is configured to store computer executable instructions, and when the communication device is running, the processor executes the computer executable instructions stored in the memory, so as to enable the communication device to perform the cell selection method according to any one of the above first aspects.

In a fourth aspect, a communication apparatus is provided, including: a processor; the processor is configured to couple to the memory, and after reading the instruction in the memory, perform the cell selection method according to any one of the above first aspects according to the instruction.

In a fifth aspect, there is provided a computer readable storage medium having stored therein instructions, which when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the cell selection method of any one of the above first aspects.

A sixth aspect provides a computer program product comprising instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the cell selection method of any one of the first aspects above.

In a seventh aspect, an apparatus is provided, which includes a processor configured to enable a communication apparatus to implement the functions recited in the first aspect. In one possible design, the device further includes a memory for storing program instructions and data necessary for the communication device. The device may be constituted by a chip or may comprise a chip and other discrete components.

In an eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication system, where the communication system may include: a first network device and a terminal device; the first network equipment is used for determining one or more first adjacent cells meeting the switching condition of the terminal equipment; the first network equipment is further used for acquiring the slice resource state information of each first adjacent cell in the one or more first adjacent cells; the slice resource state information comprises resource information which can be used by the first adjacent cell for a network slice to which the first adjacent cell belongs; the first network equipment is also used for selecting a target cell to which the terminal equipment is to be switched from one or more first adjacent cells according to the slice resource state information; the terminal device is used for switching to a target cell. Specifically, for a specific implementation of the first network device, reference may be made to the first aspect or any possible implementation manner of the first aspect, and details are not repeated here.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic architecture diagram of a communication system according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a first network device and a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of another terminal device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a cell selection method according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 5 is an interaction diagram provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 6 is another schematic interaction diagram provided by embodiments of the present application;

fig. 7 is a schematic flowchart of determining, by a second network device, slice resource status information according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 8 is a flowchart of another cell selection method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

Before describing the embodiments of the present application in detail, to facilitate understanding of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, a brief introduction of the related terms of the present application is first given as follows:

1. network slicing:

network slicing is to cut a physical network into a plurality of virtual end-to-end networks, each of which can obtain logically independent network resources, and slices can be isolated from each other. Therefore, when an error or a failure occurs in one slice, the other slices are not affected. And the network slice of the 5G system is to cut the 5G network into a plurality of virtual networks, thereby supporting more services. Currently, network slices include enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) slices, ultra-reliable and low latency communications (urrllc) slices, and massive machine type communication (mtc) slices, etc. corresponding to various scenarios of a 5G network.

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present application. Where in the description of the present application, "/" indicates a relationship where the objects associated before and after are an "or", unless otherwise stated, for example, a/B may indicate a or B; in the present application, "and/or" is only an association relationship describing an associated object, and means that there may be three relationships, for example, a and/or B, and may mean: a exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone, wherein A and B can be singular or plural. Also, in the description of the present application, "a plurality" means two or more than two unless otherwise specified. "at least one of the following" or similar expressions refer to any combination of these items, including any combination of the singular or plural items. For example, at least one (one) of a, b, or c, may represent: a, b, c, a-b, a-c, b-c, or a-b-c, wherein a, b, c may be single or multiple. In addition, in order to facilitate clear description of technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, in the embodiments of the present application, terms such as "first" and "second" are used to distinguish the same items or similar items having substantially the same functions and actions. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the terms "first," "second," etc. do not denote any order or quantity, nor do the terms "first," "second," etc. denote any order or importance. Also, in the embodiments of the present application, the words "exemplary" or "such as" are used herein to mean serving as an example, instance, or illustration. Any embodiment or design described herein as "exemplary" or "such as" is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments or designs. Rather, use of the word "exemplary" or "such as" is intended to present relevant concepts in a concrete fashion for ease of understanding.

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

The technical scheme of the embodiment of the application can be applied to various communication systems. For example: a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, an LTE Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) system, an LTE Time Division Duplex (TDD) system, a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), a universal microwave access (WiMAX) communication system, a 5G system, a New Radio (NR) system, or the like, and the 5G mobile communication system related in the present application includes a non-standalone-group (NSA) 5G mobile communication system or a stand-alone-group (SA) 5G mobile communication system. The technical scheme provided by the application can also be applied to future communication systems, such as a sixth generation mobile communication system. In addition, the communication system may be a Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) network, a device-to-device (D2D) communication system, a machine-to-machine (M2M) communication system, an internet of things (IoT) communication system, or other communication systems

Fig. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a communication system 10 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The communication system 10 includes a first network device 101, and one or more terminal devices 102 connected to the first network device 101. The terminal device 102 is connected to the first network device 101 in a wireless manner.

It should be noted that fig. 1 is only a schematic diagram, and although not shown, the communication system 10 may further include other network devices, for example, the communication system 10 may further include one or more of a core network device, a wireless relay device, and a wireless backhaul device, which is not limited in this respect. The network device may be connected to the core network device in a wireless or wired manner. The core network device and the first network device 101 may be different independent physical devices, or a function of the core network device and a logical function of the first network device 101 may be integrated on the same physical device, or a physical device into which a part of functions of the core network device and a part of functions of the first network device 101 are integrated, which is not specifically limited in this embodiment of the present application.

Taking an example of interaction between the first network device 101 shown in fig. 1 and any terminal device 102, the first network device 101 is configured to determine one or more first neighboring cells that satisfy a handover condition of the terminal device 102, and then obtain slice resource state information of each first neighboring cell in the one or more first neighboring cells; the slice resource state information comprises resource information which can be used by the first neighbor cell for a network slice to which the first neighbor cell belongs; then, the first network device 101 selects a target cell to which the terminal device 102 is to be handed over from one or more first neighbor cells according to the slice resource status information. The terminal device 102 switches to the target cell selected by the first network device 101. The specific implementation of the scheme and the related technical effects will be described in detail in the following method embodiments, and are not described herein again.

Optionally, the network device in this embodiment is a device that accesses a terminal device to a wireless network, and may be a base station (base station), an evolved node b (eNodeB), a Transmission Receiving Point (TRP), a next generation base station (gNB) in a 5G mobile communication system, a base station in a future mobile communication system, or an access node in a wireless-fidelity (Wi-Fi) system, and the like; or may be a module or a unit that performs part of the functions of the base station, for example, a Central Unit (CU) or a Distributed Unit (DU). The embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific technologies and the specific device forms used by the network devices. In this application, a network device refers to a radio access network device unless otherwise specified.

Optionally, the terminal device in this embodiment may be a device for implementing a wireless communication function, for example, a terminal or a chip that can be used in the terminal. A terminal may also be referred to as a User Equipment (UE), a mobile station, a mobile terminal, etc. The terminal can be a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a computer with a wireless transceiving function, a virtual reality terminal device, an augmented reality terminal device, a wireless terminal in industrial control, a wireless terminal in unmanned driving, a wireless terminal in remote operation, a wireless terminal in a smart grid, a wireless terminal in transportation safety, a wireless terminal in a smart city, a wireless terminal in a smart home and the like. The embodiment of the present application does not limit the specific technology and the specific device form adopted by the terminal device.

Optionally, the first network device 101 and the terminal device 102 in this embodiment may also be referred to as communication apparatuses, which may be a general device or a special device, and this is not specifically limited in this embodiment of the present application.

Optionally, as shown in fig. 2, a schematic structural diagram of the first network device 101 and the terminal device 102 provided in the embodiment of the present application is shown.

The terminal device 102 includes at least one processor 1001 and at least one transceiver 1003. Optionally, terminal device 102 may also include at least one memory 1002, at least one output device 1004, or at least one input device 1005.

The processor 1001, the memory 1002, and the transceiver 1003 are connected by a communication line. The communication link may include a path for transmitting information between the aforementioned components.

The processor 1001 may be a general-purpose Central Processing Unit (CPU), other general-purpose processor, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), other programmable logic device, a transistor logic device, a hardware component, or any combination thereof. The general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but may be any conventional processor. In a specific implementation, as an embodiment, the processor 1001 may also include a plurality of CPUs, and the processor 1001 may be a single-core processor or a multi-core processor. A processor herein may refer to one or more devices, circuits, or processing cores that process data.

The memory 1002 may be a device having a storage function. Such as, but not limited to, a read-only memory (ROM) or other type of static storage device that may store static information and instructions, a Random Access Memory (RAM) or other type of dynamic storage device that may store information and instructions, a programmable read-only memory (PROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) or other optical disc storage, optical disc storage (including compact discs, disks, laser disks, digital versatile discs, blu-ray discs, etc.), a magnetic disk storage medium or other magnetic storage device, or 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. The memory 1002 may be separate and coupled to the processor 1001 via a communication link. The memory 1002 may also be integrated with the processor 1001.

The memory 1002 is used for storing computer-executable instructions for executing the present invention, and is controlled by the processor 1001. Specifically, the processor 1001 is configured to execute computer-executable instructions stored in the memory 1002, so as to implement the cell selection method described in the embodiment of the present application.

Alternatively, in this embodiment of the present application, the processor 1001 may also execute a function related to processing in a cell selection method provided in the following embodiments of the present application, and the transceiver 1003 is responsible for communicating with other devices or a communication network, which is not specifically limited in this embodiment of the present application.

Optionally, the computer execution instruction in the embodiment of the present application may also be referred to as an application program code or a computer program code, which is not specifically limited in the embodiment of the present application.

The transceiver 1003 may use any transceiver or other device for communicating with other devices or communication networks, such as an ethernet, a Radio Access Network (RAN), or a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN). The transceiver 1003 includes a transmitter (Tx) and a receiver (Rx).

The output device 1004 is in communication with the processor 1001 and may display information in a variety of ways. For example, the output device 1004 may be a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), a Light Emitting Diode (LED) display device, a Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) display device, a projector (projector), or the like.

The input device 1005 communicates with the processor 1001 and may accept user input in a variety of ways. For example, the input device 1005 may be a mouse, a keyboard, a touch screen device, a sensing device, or the like.

The first network device 101 comprises at least one processor 1101, at least one transceiver 1103, and at least one network interface 1104. Optionally, the first network device 101 may further include at least one memory 1102. The processor 1101, the memory 1102, the transceiver 1103 and the network interface 1104 are connected by a communication line. The network interface 1104 is configured to be connected to a core network device through a link (e.g., an S1 interface), or connected to a network interface of another network device (not shown in fig. 2) through a wired or wireless link (e.g., an X2 interface), which is not specifically limited in this embodiment of the present invention. In addition, the description of the processor 1101, the memory 1102 and the transceiver 1103 can refer to the description of the processor 1001, the memory 1002 and the transceiver 1003 in the terminal device 102, and will not be repeated herein.

In conjunction with the schematic structural diagram of the terminal device 102 shown in fig. 2, for example, fig. 3 is a specific structural form of the terminal device 102 provided in the embodiment of the present application.

In some embodiments, the functions of the processor 1001 in fig. 2 may be implemented by the processor 110 in fig. 3.

In some embodiments, the functions of the transceiver 1003 in fig. 2 may be implemented by the antenna 1, the antenna 2, the mobile communication module 150, the wireless communication module 160, and the like in fig. 3. The mobile communication module 150 may provide a solution for wireless communication technologies including LTE, NR, or future mobile communication applied on the terminal device 102. The wireless communication module 160 may provide solutions including wireless communication technologies such as WLAN (e.g., wi-Fi network), bluetooth (BT), global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), frequency Modulation (FM), near Field Communication (NFC), infrared, and the like, which are applied to the terminal device 102. In some embodiments, antenna 1 of terminal device 102 is coupled to mobile communication module 150 and antenna 2 is coupled to wireless communication module 160 so that terminal device 102 can communicate with networks and other devices via wireless communication techniques.

In some embodiments, the functions of the memory 1002 in fig. 2 may be implemented by the internal memory 121 in fig. 3 or an external memory connected to the external memory interface 120, or the like.

In some embodiments, the functionality of output device 1004 in FIG. 2 may be implemented via display screen 194 in FIG. 3.

In some embodiments, the functionality of input device 1005 in fig. 2 may be implemented by a mouse, a keyboard, a touch screen device, or sensor module 180 in fig. 3.

In some embodiments, as shown in fig. 3, the terminal device 102 may further include one or more of an audio module 170, a camera 193, a key 190, a SIM card interface 195, a USB interface 130, a charging management module 140, a power management module 141, and a battery 142.

It is to be understood that the structure shown in fig. 3 does not constitute a specific limitation to the terminal device 102. For example, in other embodiments of the present application, terminal device 102 may include more or fewer components than shown, or some components may be combined, some components may be split, or a different arrangement of components. The illustrated components may be implemented in hardware, software, or a combination of software and hardware.

The cell selection method provided in the embodiment of the present application will be described below with reference to fig. 1 to 3, taking an example of interaction between the first network device 101 and any terminal device 102 shown in fig. 1.

It should be noted that, in the following embodiments of the present application, names of messages between network elements or names of parameters in messages are only an example, and other names may also be used in a specific implementation, which is not specifically limited in this embodiment of the present application.

As shown in fig. 4, a cell selection method provided in this embodiment of the present application includes the following steps S401 to S403:

s401, the first network equipment determines one or more first adjacent cells meeting the switching condition of the terminal equipment.

S402, a first network device acquires slice resource state information of each first neighbor cell in one or more first neighbor cells; the slice resource status information comprises resource information available to the first neighbor cell for a slice of the network to which the first neighbor cell belongs.

And S403, the first network equipment selects a target cell to which the terminal equipment is to be switched from one or more first adjacent cells according to the slice resource state information.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, a cell may belong to one or more network slices, and correspondingly, a cell may belong to one or more types of network slices. The terminal device may run one or more slicing services, and correspondingly, the slicing services run by the terminal device may include one or more types.

It should be noted that, for convenience of description, the cell selection method provided by the embodiment of the present application is described below with a network device supporting one cell. However, it can be understood that, for a case where one network device supports multiple cells, the cell selection method provided in the embodiment of the present application may still be applicable.

For step S401, in this embodiment of the present application, the first network device is a network device to which the terminal device is currently accessed, and after the terminal device is accessed to the first network device, the terminal device may establish a connection with a cell supported by the first network device, where the cell establishing an initial connection with the terminal device may be referred to as a serving cell or a source cell. The terminal device may perform data transmission with the first network device through the serving cell.

After the terminal device accesses the serving cell, if a condition for the terminal device to perform cell handover is satisfied, for example, the terminal device moves out of a coverage area of an originally accessed serving cell, or a signal of the serving cell is not good, in order to ensure normal operation of a current service of the terminal device, the first network device needs to select a target cell for the terminal device to perform handover in an adjacent cell satisfying the handover condition of the terminal device. In the embodiment of the present application, a neighboring cell that satisfies a handover condition of a terminal device is referred to as a first neighboring cell. The neighboring cell satisfying the terminal device handover condition may be understood as a cell to which the terminal device can perform handover. And after the terminal equipment is switched, the terminal equipment establishes connection with the switched target cell.

In this embodiment of the present application, the target cell may be a pilot frequency cell of a serving cell to which the terminal device is currently accessed, that is, a frequency point of the target cell may be different from that of the serving cell. The target cell may also be a co-frequency cell of the serving cell, that is, the frequency point of the target cell may be the same as that of the serving cell. The target cell may also be a heterogeneous system cell of the serving cell, i.e. the target cell may not belong to the same communication system as the serving cell, e.g. the target cell belongs to a 5G system and the serving cell belongs to an LTE system.

In order for the first network device to determine the target cell, the first network device needs to determine a first neighboring cell that satisfies the handover condition of the terminal device. In this embodiment of the present application, in a possible manner, determining, by a first network device, one or more first neighboring cells that satisfy a handover condition of a terminal device includes: the first network equipment receives a measurement report from the terminal equipment; wherein the measurement report includes identification information of one or more second neighbor cells and the first information; wherein the first information is used for characterizing the signal quality of the second neighbor cell. And the first network equipment determines one or more first adjacent cells meeting the switching condition of the terminal equipment in the one or more second adjacent cells according to the identification information and the first information of the one or more second adjacent cells.

Specifically, the measurement report sent (or reported) by the terminal device to the first network device includes the identifier information of the second neighboring cell and the first information, where the identifier information of the second neighboring cell may be information such as a cell ID (identity) of the second neighboring cell, and the first network device may determine the second neighboring cell according to the identifier information of the second neighboring cell. The first information may be information indicating signal quality of the second neighbor cell, such as signal strength, reference Signal Receiving Power (RSRP), or Reference Signal Receiving Quality (RSRQ) of the second neighbor cell. The first network device may determine the signal quality of each second neighboring cell according to the first information of each second neighboring cell, and screen out a first neighboring cell that meets the handover condition of the terminal device from all the second neighboring cells according to the signal quality of the second neighboring cells.

Optionally, the first network device may sort the second neighboring cells according to the signal quality of the second neighboring cells, and use the second neighboring cell n before the signal quality as the first neighboring cell that is screened out and meets the terminal device handover condition, where n may be a preset positive integer. Or, the first network device may use the second neighboring cell whose signal quality exceeds a certain preset threshold as the screened first neighboring cell that satisfies the terminal device handover condition, and the embodiment of the present application does not limit the manner in which the first network device screens the first neighboring cell that satisfies the terminal device handover condition from all the second neighboring cells according to the first information of the second neighboring cell.

After the first network device selects the neighboring cell that satisfies the terminal device handover condition according to the first information of the second neighboring cell, the first network device may determine, as the first neighboring cell, the neighboring cell corresponding to the identification information according to the identification information of the selected neighboring cell.

In another possible manner, the determining, by the first network device, one or more first neighboring cells that satisfy the handover condition of the terminal device includes: the first network equipment receives a measurement report from the terminal equipment; wherein the measurement report includes identification information of the one or more first neighbor cells. The first network equipment determines one or more first neighbor cells according to the identification information of the one or more first neighbor cells.

In this implementation, the terminal device may determine the first neighboring cell, and include the identification information of the first neighboring cell in the measurement report sent to the first network device, and after receiving the measurement report reported by the terminal device, the first network device may determine, according to the acquired identification information of the cell, the neighboring cell corresponding to the identification information as the first neighboring cell.

It should be noted that, in the two implementation manners of determining the first neighboring cell by the first network device, the first neighboring cell included in the measurement report sent by the terminal device in the second implementation manner may be a second neighboring cell included in the measurement report sent by the terminal device in the first implementation manner. In other words, the first implementation manner may be an implementation manner in which, on the basis of the second implementation manner, the first network device further screens neighboring cells included in the measurement report sent by the terminal device to obtain the first neighboring cell.

It can be understood that if the terminal device is to obtain the measurement report, the terminal device needs to measure the neighboring cells and obtain the measurement result. In the embodiment of the present application, the neighboring cell measured by the terminal device is issued to the terminal device by the first network device. Therefore, optionally, before the first network device receives the measurement report from the terminal device, the method for selecting a cell provided in the embodiment of the present application includes: the first network equipment determines one or more third adjacent cells, and the third adjacent cells are adjacent cells supporting the slicing service operated by the terminal equipment. The first network equipment sends the measurement configuration information of one or more third adjacent cells to the terminal equipment; the measurement configuration information of one or more third neighboring cells is used for the terminal device to measure the one or more third neighboring cells.

Specifically, the first network device may determine, according to the slicing service operated by the terminal device, a third neighboring cell that supports the slicing service operated by the terminal device, and send measurement configuration information of the third neighboring cell to the terminal device. The measurement configuration information of the third neighboring cell includes a cell ID of the third neighboring cell and frequency point information of the third neighboring cell. After receiving the measurement configuration information of the third neighboring cell, the terminal device may determine the neighboring cell to be measured according to the cell ID of the third neighboring cell, and may measure the frequency point indicated by the frequency point information according to the frequency point information corresponding to the cell ID, to obtain the measurement result of the third neighboring cell indicated by the cell ID.

For example, the first network device may send the measurement configuration information of the third neighboring cell to the terminal device through Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling, for example, an RRC connection reconfiguration (RRC _ connection reconfiguration) message.

In the scheme, the first network device determines the adjacent cell supporting the slicing service operated by the terminal device first, and then issues the adjacent cell supporting the slicing service to the terminal device for measurement, so that the terminal device does not need to measure the adjacent cell not supporting the slicing service of the terminal device, and the measurement overhead of the terminal device is reduced. Furthermore, because the neighbor cells measured by the terminal device are all neighbor cells supporting the slicing service of the terminal device, it can be understood that the neighbor cells indicated by the measurement report sent by the terminal device are also all neighbor cells supporting the slicing service of the terminal device, and the first neighbor cells determined by the first network device according to the measurement report sent by the terminal device are also all neighbor cells supporting the slicing service of the terminal device, so that it can be ensured that the target cell to which the terminal device is switched supports the slicing service of the terminal device, and further, the continuity of the slicing service of the terminal device is ensured.

The following describes how the first network device specifically determines the third neighboring cell supporting the slicing service operated by the terminal device. In this embodiment, the determining, by the first network device, the third neighboring cell includes: the first network equipment acquires the slicing capability information of one or more fourth adjacent cells, wherein the fourth adjacent cells are adjacent cells of the current access cell of the terminal equipment. And the first network equipment determines a third adjacent cell in one or more fourth adjacent cells according to the slicing capability information of the fourth adjacent cell.

Optionally, the first network device may determine, according to the preconfigured neighbor cell list or according to the neighbor cell list acquired from the operation, maintenance, and management function module OAM, a neighbor cell of the terminal device currently accessed to the cell, and use the neighbor cell as the fourth neighbor cell. The OAM is a core network functional module.

In a possible implementation manner, the acquiring, by the first network device, slicing capability information of one or more fourth neighboring cells includes:

the first network equipment sends a second message to third network equipment associated with a fourth adjacent cell, wherein the second message is used for inquiring slicing capability information of the fourth adjacent cell; the first network device receives slice capability information of a fourth neighbor cell from the third network device.

In this implementation, the third network device is associated with the fourth neighboring cell, or the third network device supports the fourth neighboring cell, and the third network device may obtain the slice capability information of the fourth neighboring cell associated with the third network device. The third network device comprises the second network device. The first network device may send second information to the third network device through an interface with the third network device, for example, an Xn interface, or the first network device through an interface with the core network, for example, an N2 interface, where the second information is used to query the slice capability information of the fourth neighboring cell. After receiving the second information, the third network device sends, in response to the second information, the slicing capability information of the fourth neighboring cell associated with the third network device to the first network device, and correspondingly, the first network device receives the slicing capability information of the fourth neighboring cell from the third network device.

In another possible implementation manner, the first network device receives slice capability information of a fourth neighboring cell from an operation, maintenance and management function module OAM.

The OAM stores slice capability information of neighbor cells (including a fourth neighbor cell) within the OAM management range. Optionally, the first network device may send, to the OAM, second information used to query the slicing capability information of the fourth neighboring cell, after the OAM receives the second information, in response to the second information, the OAM sends the slicing capability information of the fourth neighboring cell to the first network device, and correspondingly, the first network device receives the slicing capability information of the fourth neighboring cell from the OAM. Or, the OAM periodically sends the slicing capability information of the fourth neighboring cell to the first network device. Or, the OAM sends the slicing capability information of the fourth neighboring cell to the first network device according to the operation of the physical device integrated by the worker on the OAM.

It should be noted that, in this embodiment of the present application, the first network device may obtain the slicing capability information of the fourth neighboring cell through one of the two implementation manners, or may obtain the slicing capability information of the fourth neighboring cell by combining the two implementation manners (receiving the slicing capability information of the fourth neighboring cell from the third network device and receiving the slicing capability information of the fourth neighboring cell from the OAM), which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

It should be noted that, in this embodiment, the first network device may obtain the slice capability information of the neighboring cell list and the fourth neighboring cell at the same time, for example, the OAM sends a message including the slice capability information of the neighboring cell list and the fourth neighboring cell to the first network device. The first network device may further obtain the slice capability information of the fourth neighboring cell after obtaining the neighboring cell list, for example, after determining the fourth neighboring cell according to the preconfigured neighboring cell list, the first network device sends a second message to a third network device associated with the fourth neighboring cell, and then receives the slice capability information of the fourth neighboring cell from the third network device.

The slicing capability information of the fourth neighboring cell includes whether the fourth neighboring cell supports network slicing and/or a slicing type corresponding to a network slice to which the fourth neighboring cell belongs.

After the first network device obtains the slicing capability information of the fourth neighboring cell, it may determine (or screen out), as the third neighboring cell, a neighboring cell that supports the slicing service operated by the terminal device in the fourth neighboring cell according to the slicing capability information of the fourth neighboring cell.

Because the slicing capability information of the fourth neighboring cell includes whether the fourth neighboring cell supports network slicing and/or a slicing type corresponding to a network slice to which the fourth neighboring cell belongs, after the first network device acquires the slicing capability information of the fourth neighboring cell, in which the slicing type corresponding to the network slice to which the first network device belongs includes the slicing type corresponding to the slicing service operated by the terminal device, may be determined as the third neighboring cell according to the slicing type corresponding to the slicing service operated by the terminal device. For example, the slice capability information of a fourth neighboring cell includes that the fourth neighboring cell supports network slice, the type of the network slice to which the fourth neighboring cell belongs includes an eMBB type and a urrllc type, and a slice type corresponding to a slice service run by the terminal device is the eMBB type, so that the fourth neighboring cell may support the slice service run by the terminal device, and the first network device may determine the fourth neighboring cell as the third neighboring cell.

In this scheme, the first network device may determine, according to the acquired slicing capability information of the neighboring cell, a neighboring cell that supports a slicing service of the terminal device, among all neighboring cells of a cell to which the terminal device is currently accessed, and then issue the neighboring cell that supports the slicing service to the terminal device for measurement, thereby reducing measurement overhead of the terminal device.

For convenience of understanding, fig. 5 is an interaction diagram illustrating that the first network device acquires the slice capability information of the fourth neighboring cell and sends the determined measurement configuration information of the third neighboring cell to the terminal device.

As shown in fig. 5, the first network device sends a slice capability query message to the third network device, and after receiving the slice capability query message, the third network device sends slice capability information of the fourth neighboring cell associated with the third network device to the first network device. And, the OAM also sends the slicing capability information of the fourth neighbor cell to the first network device. After receiving the slicing capability information of the fourth neighboring cell from the third network device and the OAM, the first network device determines the third neighboring cell from the fourth neighboring cell according to the slicing capability information of the fourth neighboring cell (specifically, how to determine the third neighboring cell may refer to the above, which is not described herein again), and sends the measurement configuration information of the third neighboring cell to the terminal device through the RRC connection reconfiguration message.

Or, optionally, in this embodiment of the application, the first network device may also issue the acquired fourth neighboring cell to the terminal device for measurement, or send measurement configuration information of neighboring cells of a cell to which the terminal device is currently accessed to the terminal device for measurement.

In this embodiment, after the terminal device receives the measurement configuration information from the third neighboring cell or the fourth neighboring cell of the first network device, the terminal device measures the obtained channel quality of the neighboring cell, for example, measures the reference signal received power, the reference signal received quality, and the like of the neighboring cell.

Optionally, after the terminal device measures the obtained channel quality of the neighboring cell (third neighboring cell or fourth neighboring cell), the neighboring cell meeting the reporting condition may be determined as the neighboring cell (first neighboring cell or second neighboring cell) in the measurement report to be sent to the first network device according to the obtained measurement result. The reporting condition is satisfied, for example, the quality of the neighboring cell is higher than a certain threshold of the quality of the serving cell (also referred to as an A3 event) or a B1 (Inter rat neighbor times threshold) event, and the A3 event or the B1 event may refer to the existing definition and is not described herein again. Optionally, the terminal device may further measure the channel quality of the serving cell and compare the measured channel quality with the measured channel quality of the neighboring cell, so as to determine the neighboring cell that meets the reporting condition.

For step S402, the slice resource status information of the first neighboring cell includes resource information that the first neighboring cell can use for a slice of the network to which the first neighboring cell belongs. Optionally, if the slice type corresponding to the network slice to which the first neighboring cell belongs includes a slice type corresponding to a network slice operated by the terminal device, it may be understood that, at this time, the first neighboring cell may support a slice service operated by the terminal device, and the slice resource state information of the first neighboring cell acquired by the first network device may include resource information of the slice service operated by the terminal device.

In this embodiment, the obtaining, by the first network device, the slice resource state information of each of the one or more first neighbor cells includes: the first network equipment sends a first message to second network equipment associated with the first adjacent cell, wherein the first message is used for inquiring the slice resource state information of the first adjacent cell. The first network device receives slice resource status information of a first neighbor cell from a second network device.

Specifically, the second network device is associated with the first neighboring cell, or the second network device supports the first neighboring cell, and the second network device may learn the slice capability information of the first neighboring cell associated therewith. The first network device may send a first message for querying the slice resource status information of the first neighbor cell to the second network device through an interface with the second network device, for example, an Xn interface, or through an interface with the core network and an interface, for example, an N2 interface. And after receiving the first message from the first network equipment, the second network equipment responds to the first message and sends the slice resource state information of the first adjacent cell associated with the first network equipment to the first network equipment. Accordingly, the first network device receives slice resource status information of the first neighbor cell from the second network device.

In a possible implementation manner of the foregoing scheme, the first message may be a handover request message (handover request). In this implementation, after the first network device sends the handover request message to the second network device, the second network device sends a handover confirmation message (handover request acknowledge) to the first network device in response to the received handover request message, where the handover confirmation message includes the slice resource state information of the first neighboring cell.

Optionally, in this implementation, the handover request message may include slice resource requirement information, where the slice resource requirement information is used to query slice resource state information of the first neighboring cell. After receiving the handover request message from the first network device, the second network device responds to the slice resource requirement information in the handover request message, and carries the slice resource state information of the first neighboring cell in a handover confirmation message sent to the first network device. It should be noted that the slice resource requirement information is an example of an information name used for querying the slice resource status information in a handover request message provided in the embodiment of the present application, and may also be another name in a specific implementation, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present application.

In another possible implementation manner of the foregoing scheme, the first message may be a slice resource status query message (slice resource status request). In this implementation, after the first network device sends the slice resource status query message to the second network device, the second network device sends slice resource status information (slice resource status response) of the first neighboring cell to the first network device in response to the received slice resource status query message.

For example, with reference to the two possible implementation manners, an interaction diagram of the first network device and the second network device may be as shown in fig. 6, where the first network device sends a slice resource status query message to the second network device, and the second network device sends, in response to the received slice resource status query message, slice resource status information of the first neighboring cell to the first network device. Or, the first network device sends a handover request message including slice resource requirement information to the second network device, and the second network device sends a handover confirmation message including slice resource status information of the first neighbor cell to the first network device in response to the received handover request message.

In this embodiment of the present application, the slice resource status information is determined by the second network device according to the first calculation rule and the first parameter set. The first calculation rule is used for calculating the resource which can be used by the first neighbor cell for the slice type corresponding to the network slice to which the first neighbor cell belongs. Therefore, the second network device may determine, according to the first calculation rule and the first parameter set, that the associated first neighboring cell may be used for the resource of the slice type corresponding to the network slice to which the second neighboring cell belongs.

In an embodiment of the present application, the first calculation rule may be a pre-configured mathematical model or formula.

Optionally, the first parameter set includes one or more of a slice type parameter, a slice quota ratio parameter, or a slice quota ratio margin parameter. Wherein at least one of the slice quota type parameter, the slice quota occupancy parameter, or the slice quota occupancy margin parameter is associated with the slice type parameter.

The following describes the slice type parameter, slice quota ratio parameter, or slice quota ratio margin parameter.

The slice type parameter is used to characterize a slice type corresponding to the network slice defined by the parameter, for example, the slice type parameter includes an eMBB slice, a urrllc slice, or an mtc slice.

And the slice quota type parameter is used for representing whether the resources allocated to the network slice defined by the parameter can be allocated to other slices when the resources are idle. Exemplarily, in delta _i，t And indicating a slice quota type parameter corresponding to the network slice with the slice type t in the network slice to which the first neighbor cell i belongs. When delta _i，t If =0, this means that the first neighboring cell i strictly allocates the resources allocated to the network slice of slice type t to the slice defined by the parameter for use, and the other types of network slices cannot use these resources.

The slice quota ratio parameter is used to represent a threshold of the percentage of the resource of the slice type corresponding to the network slice defined by the parameter allocated to the first neighboring cell to the total resource of the first neighboring cell, where the threshold may be an upper threshold (the maximum percentage of the total resource of the cell) or a lower threshold (the minimum percentage of the total resource of the cell). For example, in ρ _i,t A slice quota proportion parameter corresponding to a network slice with a slice type of t in a network slice to which a first neighbor cell i belongs is represented, exemplarily, ρ _i,t When representing the maximum percentage, if p _i,t =50%, meaning that the first neighbor cell i allocates 50% of the total cell resources at most for a network slice of slice type t.

And the slice quota occupation margin parameter is used for representing the maximum or minimum resource reservation ratio of the slice type corresponding to the network slice defined by the parameter. Illustratively, in order to

Showing a slice quota proportion margin parameter corresponding to a network slice with the slice type of t in a network slice to which a first adjacent cell i belongs, when rho is _i,t When the indicated first neighboring cell i is the maximum or minimum percentage of resources allocated to the network slice with the slice type t and the free resources (unused resources) are greater than the resource amount indicated by the margin ratio, ρ may be set _i,t Other types of network slices are allocated with the difference between free resources in the indicated maximum or minimum percentage of resources and resources allocated by the margin ratio. For ease of understanding, a specific example is explained, if a network slice with slice type t currently occupies 5% of the total resources of the first neighbor cell i, and ρ _i,t ＝50％，

It can be known that, in 50% of the resources allocated to the network slice with the slice type t by the first neighboring cell i, the network slice currently occupies 5% of the 50%, and 45% of the allocated resources of the 50% are idle resources, because 45% is greater than 40%, the first neighboring cell can subtract the idle 45% of the resources by the first neighboring cell i

I.e., 5% allocated for use by other types of network slices.

The following describes, with reference to a specific example, a method for determining, by a second network device, slice resource status information of a first neighboring cell according to a first calculation rule and a first parameter set according to an embodiment of the present application. Exemplarily, as shown in fig. 7, a flowchart for determining the slice resource status information of the first neighbor cell for the second network device is shown.

S701, first, the second network device obtains the total resource of the associated first neighboring cell.

S702, then, the second network device obtains a first parameter set corresponding to each type of network slice in the network slices to which the associated first neighboring cells belong. The parameters included in the first parameter set may refer to the above description, and are not described herein again.

And S703, finally, the second network device determines the slice resource state information of the associated first neighboring cell according to the first calculation rule and the first parameter set.

In a possible manner, if the first neighboring cell associated with the second network device supports the slicing service operated by the terminal device, the second network device may only calculate the resource that can be used by the first neighboring cell for the slicing service operated by the terminal device. In this way, the first network device may send, to the second network device, indication information indicating a slice type corresponding to the slice service operated by the terminal device, and after receiving the indication information, the second network device may obtain the slice type corresponding to the slice service operated by the terminal device, and then calculate, according to the first calculation rule and the first parameter set, a resource of a network slice, which is available for the obtained slice type, in the first neighboring cell, and use the resource as a resource of the slice service operated by the terminal device in the first neighboring cell. For example, the first network device may carry the indication information indicating the slice type corresponding to the slice service operated by the terminal device in the first message for querying the slice resource status described above, or the first network device may also independently send the indication information.

In another possible implementation, the second network device may calculate the resources that the first neighbor cell may use for all network slices to which the first neighbor cell belongs. In this implementation, the second network device determines slice types corresponding to all network slices to which the first neighboring cell belongs, and calculates available resources of the first neighboring cell corresponding to each slice type.

Wherein, for example, the first calculation rule satisfies the following relationship:

wherein the content of the first and second substances,

wherein, ω is _i，k Indicating available resources of a network slice with the slice type k in a network slice to which the first neighbor cell i belongs;

representing available resources of other network slices with the slice type t in the network slices to which the first neighbor cell i belongs;

the method comprises the steps of obtaining available resources of a network slice with the slice type k in a network slice to which a first neighbor cell i belongs; delta _i，t 、ρ _i,t 、

The meaning of (1) can refer to the above description, and is not repeated herein; w is a group of _i Is the total resource of the first neighbor cell i.

The second network device calculates available resource omega of the network slice with slice type k _i,k Thereafter, the second network device may compare ω to ω _i,k And sending the slice resource state information corresponding to the network slice with the slice type k to the first network equipment.

For step S403, after obtaining the slice resource state information of each first neighboring cell, the first network device may select, according to the slice resource state information, a first neighboring cell with the most sufficient resources, which may be used for the slice service executed by the terminal device, from all the first neighboring cells as a target cell to which the terminal device is to be switched.

Optionally, if the slicing service executed by the terminal device only corresponds to one slicing type, the first network device may select, from all first neighboring cells, the first neighboring cell with the largest resource available for the network slicing of the type as the target cell. Illustratively, the type of the slicing service run by the terminal device is k, and the first network device obtains ω of all the first neighbor cells i _i,k Then, a first neighbor cell i is selected ^* As a target cell, wherein i ^* ＝argmaxω _i,k ；argmaxω _i,k To make omega _i,k Obtaining the variable i, omega corresponding to the maximum value _i,k Reference is made to the above description and no further description is given.

Or, if the slice service operated by the terminal device has multiple types, the first network device may select, from all first neighboring cells, a first neighboring cell that is largest in resource weighting sum and is available for network slices corresponding to the multiple slice types as a target cell, where a higher priority of a slice type corresponding to the slice service operated by the terminal device is, a larger weighting coefficient is. Illustratively, the type of the slicing service operated by the terminal device corresponds to a value that is desirable for the variable k, and the first network device selects the first neighboring cell i ^* As a target cell, wherein i ^* ＝arg max∑ _k α _k ω _i,k (ii) a Wherein alpha is _k As a weighting coefficient of slice type k, 0 ≦ α _k ≤1，∑ _k α _k And =1.argmax and ω _i,k Reference is made to the above description and no further description is given.

Based on the cell selection method provided by the embodiment of the present application, the first network device may determine, according to the acquired slice resource state information of the first neighboring cell, resource information that the first neighboring cell can be used for network slicing to which the first neighboring cell belongs, and may select, according to the resource information that the first neighboring cell can be used for network slicing, a most appropriate target cell for the terminal device, in other words, the selection of the target cell is more accurate, so that continuity of a slice service that the terminal device operates can be ensured.

Optionally, if the resources available to the slice service operated by the terminal device in the first neighboring cell are the same, the first network device may select the first neighboring cell with the best signal quality as the target cell.

Optionally, after determining the target cell, the first network device may send the identification information (e.g., cell ID) of the determined target cell to the terminal device through the indication information, so that the terminal device determines the target cell to be switched according to the indication information, and then performs the switching. For example, the first network device may send an RRC connection reconfiguration message including a cell ID of the target cell to the terminal device, instruct the terminal device to select the target cell for handover, and accordingly, the terminal device sends an RRC reconfiguration complete message (RRC connection reconfiguration complete) to the target network device associated with the target cell to handover to the target cell.

The actions of the first network device in steps S401 to S403 may be executed by the processor 1101 in the first network device 101 shown in fig. 2 calling the application program code stored in the memory 1102 to instruct the first network device to execute; the present embodiment does not set any limit to this. The actions of the terminal device in the above steps S401 to S403 may be executed by the processor 1001 in the terminal device 102 shown in fig. 2 calling the application program code stored in the memory 1002 to instruct the terminal device to execute; this embodiment does not set any limit to this.

For convenience of understanding, for example, the cell selection method described in conjunction with fig. 4 is shown in fig. 8 as a specific flowchart of the cell selection method provided in this embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 8, the method comprises the following steps:

s801, the first network device obtains slice capability information of a neighboring cell (i.e., a fourth neighboring cell) of a cell to which the terminal device currently accesses. For details, how to obtain the slice capability information of the fourth neighboring cell, reference may be made to the description of step S401 above, and details are not described herein again.

S802, the first network equipment determines a third adjacent cell supporting the slicing service operated by the terminal equipment from the fourth adjacent cell according to the obtained slicing capability information of the fourth adjacent cell. For how to determine the third neighboring cell, reference may be made to the description of step S401 above, and details are not repeated here.

And S803, the first network device sends the determined measurement configuration information of the third neighboring cell to the terminal device, so that the terminal device measures the third neighboring cell. And after the terminal equipment measures the third adjacent cells, determining the adjacent cells meeting the reporting conditions from the third adjacent cells as the first adjacent cells. For how the terminal device measures the third neighboring cell and determines the first neighboring cell, reference may be made to the above description of step S401, which is not repeated herein.

S804, the first network equipment receives a measurement report from the terminal equipment, wherein the measurement report comprises identification information of the first adjacent cell, and the first network equipment determines the first adjacent cell according to the acquired identification information of the cell.

S805, the first network device sends a first message for querying the slice resource status information to a second network device associated with the first neighboring cell. Correspondingly, after receiving the first message, the second network device calculates the slice resource state information of the first neighboring cell. For how the second network device calculates the slice resource status information of the first neighboring cell, reference may be made to the above description of step S402, which is not described herein again.

S806, the first network device receives slice resource status information of a first neighboring cell from the second network device, where the slice resource status information includes resource information of a slice type corresponding to a slice service that the first neighboring cell can use for the terminal device to operate.

And S807, the first network device determines the first neighboring cell with the largest resource of the slice type corresponding to the slice service operated by the terminal device according to the acquired slice resource state information of each first neighboring cell, and uses the first neighboring cell as a target cell for switching the terminal device.

It is to be understood that, in the above embodiments, the method and/or steps implemented by the first network device may also be implemented by a component (e.g., a chip or a circuit) available for the first network device; the methods and/or steps implemented by the second network device may also be implemented by a component (e.g., a chip or a circuit) that is available to the second network device; the methods and/or steps implemented by the third network device may also be implemented by components (e.g., chips or circuits) that may be used in the third network device; the methods and/or steps implemented by the terminal device may also be implemented by components (e.g., chips or circuits) that may be used in the terminal device.

The above mainly introduces the scheme provided by the embodiment of the present application from the perspective of interaction between various devices. Correspondingly, the embodiment of the application also provides a communication device, and the communication device is used for realizing the various methods. The communication device may be the first network device in the above method embodiment, or a device including the first network device, or a component available for the first network device; alternatively, the communication apparatus may be the second network device in the above method embodiment, or an apparatus including the above second network device, or a component available for the second network device; alternatively, the communication device may be the third network device in the above method embodiment, or a device including the third network device, or a component available for the third network device. Alternatively, the communication device may be the terminal device in the above method embodiment, or a device including the above terminal device, or a component that can be used for the terminal device. It is understood that the communication device comprises hardware structures and/or software modules for performing the respective functions in order to realize the functions. Those of skill in the art will readily appreciate that the various illustrative elements and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as hardware or combinations of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is performed as hardware or computer software drives hardware depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the solution. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present application.

In the embodiment of the present application, the communication apparatus may be divided into functional modules according to the method embodiments, for example, each functional module may be divided corresponding to each function, or two or more functions may be integrated into one processing module. The integrated module can be realized in a hardware mode, and can also be realized in a software functional module mode. It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the division of the module is schematic, and is only one logic function division, and there may be another division manner in actual implementation.

Fig. 9 shows a schematic structural diagram of a communication device 90. The communication device 90 comprises a processing module 901, and optionally, the communication device further comprises a transceiver module 902. The transceiver module 902, which may also be referred to as a transceiver unit, may be a transceiver circuit, a transceiver, or a communication interface, for example.

Taking the communication device 90 as the first network device in the above method embodiment as an example: the first network device comprises a processing module 901. A processing module 901, configured to determine one or more first neighboring cells that meet a handover condition of a terminal device; the processing module 901 is further configured to obtain slice resource state information of each first neighboring cell in one or more first neighboring cells; the slice resource state information comprises resource information which can be used by the first adjacent cell for a network slice to which the first adjacent cell belongs; the processing module 901 is further configured to select a target cell to which the terminal device is to be handed over from one or more first neighboring cells according to the slice resource status information.

Optionally, the communication device 90 further includes a transceiver module 902; a transceiver module 902, configured to send a first message to a second network device associated with a first neighboring cell, where the first message is used to query the slice resource state information of the first neighboring cell; the transceiving module 902 is further configured to receive slice resource status information of the first neighbor cell from the second network device.

Optionally, the first message is a handover request message; a transceiver module 902 configured to receive slice resource status information of a first neighbor cell from a second network device includes: the transceiving module 902 is configured to receive a handover confirmation message from the second network device, where the handover confirmation message includes slice resource status information.

Optionally, the handover request message includes slice resource requirement information, and the slice resource requirement information is used to query slice resource state information of the first neighboring cell.

Optionally, the first message is a slice resource status query message.

Optionally, the slice resource status information is determined according to a first calculation rule and a first parameter set; the first calculation rule is used for calculating the resource which can be used by the first neighbor cell for the slice type corresponding to the network slice to which the first neighbor cell belongs.

Optionally, the first parameter set includes one or more of a slice type parameter, a slice quota proportion parameter, or a slice quota proportion margin parameter.

Optionally, at least one of the slice quota type parameter, the slice quota ratio parameter, or the slice quota ratio margin parameter is associated with the slice type parameter.

Optionally, the transceiver module 902 is further configured to receive a measurement report from the terminal device; wherein the measurement report includes identification information of one or more second neighbor cells and the first information; the first information is used for representing the signal quality of the second adjacent cell; a processing module 901, configured to determine, according to the identification information and the first information of the one or more second neighboring cells, one or more first neighboring cells that meet the handover condition of the terminal device in the one or more second neighboring cells.

Optionally, the transceiver module 901 is further configured to receive a measurement report from the terminal device; wherein the measurement report includes identification information of one or more first neighbor cells; the processing module 901 is further configured to determine one or more first neighboring cells that meet the handover condition of the terminal device according to the identification information of the one or more first neighboring cells.

Optionally, before the transceiver module 902 receives the measurement report from the terminal device, the processing module 901 is further configured to determine one or more third neighboring cells, where the third neighboring cells are neighboring cells that support a slice service operated by the terminal device; a transceiver module 902, configured to send measurement configuration information of one or more third neighboring cells to a terminal device; and the measurement configuration information of the one or more third neighbor cells is used for the terminal equipment to measure the one or more third neighbor cells.

Optionally, the processing module 901 is configured to determine one or more third neighboring cells, and includes: the processing module 901 obtains slice capability information of one or more fourth neighboring cells, where the fourth neighboring cells are neighboring cells of a current access cell of the terminal device; the processing module 901 determines a third neighboring cell from the one or more fourth neighboring cells according to the slicing capability information of the fourth neighboring cell.

Optionally, the transceiver module 902 is further configured to send a second message to a third network device associated with the fourth neighboring cell, where the second message is used to query the slice capability information of the fourth neighboring cell; the transceiver module 902 is further configured to receive slicing capability information of a fourth neighboring cell from the third network device; alternatively, the transceiver module 902 receives the slice capability information of the fourth neighboring cell from the operation, maintenance and management function module OAM.

Optionally, the slicing capability information of the fourth neighboring cell includes whether the fourth neighboring cell supports network slicing and/or a slicing type corresponding to a network slice to which the fourth neighboring cell belongs.

Optionally, the processing module 901 determines a third neighboring cell from the one or more fourth neighboring cells according to the slicing capability information of the fourth neighboring cell, including: the processing module 901 determines, as a third neighboring cell, a fourth neighboring cell in one or more fourth neighboring cells, where the slice type corresponding to the network slice to which the terminal device belongs includes a slice type corresponding to a slice service operated by the terminal device.

Optionally, the resource information that the first neighboring cell can use for the network slice to which the first neighboring cell belongs includes: the first neighboring cell may be used for resource information of a slice service operated by the terminal device, where a slice type corresponding to a network slice to which the first neighboring cell belongs includes a slice type corresponding to the slice service operated by the terminal device.

All relevant contents of the steps related to the method embodiment may be referred to the functional description of the corresponding functional module, and are not described herein again.

In the present embodiment, the communication device 90 is presented in a form in which the respective functional modules are divided in an integrated manner. A "module" herein may refer to a particular ASIC, a circuit, a processor and memory that execute one or more software or firmware programs, an integrated logic circuit, and/or other device that provides the functionality described herein. In a simple embodiment, the communication device 90 may take the form of the first network device 101 shown in fig. 2, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art.

For example, the processor 1101 in the first network device 101 shown in fig. 2 may execute the instructions by calling a computer stored in the memory 1102, so that the first network device 101 executes the cell selection method in the above-described method embodiment.

Specifically, the functions/implementation procedures of the processing module 901 and the transceiver module 902 in fig. 9 can be implemented by the processor 1101 in the first network device 101 shown in fig. 2 calling the computer execution instructions stored in the memory 1102. Alternatively, the function/implementation process of the processing module 901 in fig. 9 may be implemented by the processor 1101 in the first network device 101 shown in fig. 2 calling the computer execution instructions stored in the memory 1102, and the function/implementation process of the transceiving module 902 in fig. 9 may be implemented by the communication interface 1104 in the first network device 101 shown in fig. 2.

Since the communication device 90 provided in this embodiment can perform the cell selection method, the technical effects obtained by the method can be obtained by referring to the above method embodiment, which is not described herein again.

It should be noted that one or more of the above modules or units may be implemented in software, hardware or a combination of both. When any of the above modules or units are implemented in software, which is present as computer program instructions and stored in a memory, a processor may be used to execute the program instructions and implement the above method flows. The processor may be built in a SoC (system on chip) or ASIC, or may be a separate semiconductor chip. The processor may further include necessary hardware accelerators such as Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), PLDs (programmable logic devices), or logic circuits for implementing dedicated logic operations, in addition to the core for executing software instructions to perform operations or processes.

When the above modules or units are implemented in hardware, the hardware may be any one or any combination of a CPU, a microprocessor, a Digital Signal Processing (DSP) chip, a Micro Controller Unit (MCU), an artificial intelligence processor, an ASIC, an SoC, an FPGA, a PLD, a dedicated digital circuit, a hardware accelerator, or a non-integrated discrete device, which may run necessary software or is independent of software to perform the above method flow.

Optionally, an embodiment of the present application further provides a chip system, including: at least one processor coupled with the memory through the interface, and an interface, the at least one processor causing the method of any of the above method embodiments to be performed when the at least one processor executes the computer program or instructions in the memory. In one possible implementation, the communication device further includes a memory. Optionally, the chip system may be composed of a chip, and may also include a chip and other discrete devices, which is not specifically limited in this embodiment of the present application.

In the above embodiments, the implementation may be wholly or partially realized by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented using a software program, it 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. The procedures or functions described in accordance with the embodiments of the present application are all or partially generated upon loading and execution of computer program instructions on a computer. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a network of computers, or other programmable device. The computer instructions may be stored on a computer readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer readable storage medium to another, for example, from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center via wire (e.g., coaxial cable, fiber optic, digital Subscriber Line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.). The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or can comprise one or more data storage devices, such as a server, a data center, etc., that can be integrated with the medium. The usable medium may be a magnetic medium (e.g., floppy disk, hard disk, magnetic tape), an optical medium (e.g., DVD), or a semiconductor medium (e.g., solid State Disk (SSD)), among others.

While the present application has been described in connection with various embodiments, other variations to the disclosed embodiments can be understood and effected by those skilled in the art in practicing the claimed application, from a review of the drawings, the disclosure, and the appended claims. In the claims, the word "comprising" does not exclude other elements or steps, and the word "a" or "an" does not exclude a plurality. A single processor or other unit may fulfill the functions of several items recited in the claims. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in mutually different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used to advantage.

Although the present application has been described in conjunction with specific features and embodiments thereof, it will be evident that various modifications and combinations may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the application. Accordingly, the specification and figures are merely exemplary of the present application as defined in the appended claims and are intended to cover any and all modifications, variations, combinations, or equivalents within the scope of the present application. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made in the present application without departing from the spirit and scope of the application. Thus, if such modifications and variations of the present application fall within the scope of the claims of the present application and their equivalents, the present application is intended to include such modifications and variations as well.

Claims

1.A method of cell selection, the method comprising:

the method comprises the steps that a first network device determines one or more first neighbor cells meeting a terminal device switching condition;

the first network equipment acquires slice resource state information of each first adjacent cell in the one or more first adjacent cells; the slice resource status information comprises resource information available to the first neighbor cell for a slice of a network to which the first neighbor cell belongs;

and the first network equipment selects a target cell to which the terminal equipment is to be switched from the one or more first adjacent cells according to the slice resource state information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the obtaining, by the first network device, the slice resource status information of each of the one or more first neighbor cells comprises:

the first network equipment sends a first message to second network equipment associated with the first neighbor cell, wherein the first message is used for inquiring the slice resource state information of the first neighbor cell;

the first network device receives slice resource status information of the first neighbor cell from the second network device.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the first message is a handover request message;

the first network device receiving slice resource status information of the first neighbor cell from the second network device comprises:

the first network device receives a handover confirmation message from the second network device, the handover confirmation message including the slice resource status information.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the handover request message includes slice resource requirement information, and wherein the slice resource requirement information is used for querying slice resource status information of the first neighbor cell.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the first message is a slice resource status query message.

6. The method according to any of claims 1-5, wherein the slice resource status information is determined according to a first calculation rule and a first set of parameters; the first calculation rule is used for calculating resources which can be used by the first neighbor cell for a slice type corresponding to a network slice to which the first neighbor cell belongs.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the first set of parameters comprises one or more of a slice type parameter, a slice quota ratio parameter, or a slice quota ratio margin parameter.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein at least one of the slice quota type parameter, the slice quota proportion parameter, or the slice quota proportion margin parameter is associated with the slice type parameter.

9. The method according to any of claims 1-8, wherein the determining, by the first network device, one or more first neighbor cells satisfying a handover condition of a terminal device comprises:

the first network equipment receives a measurement report from the terminal equipment; wherein the measurement report includes identification information of one or more second neighbor cells and the first information; wherein the first information is used for characterizing the signal quality of the second adjacent cell;

and the first network equipment determines one or more first adjacent cells meeting the switching condition of the terminal equipment in the one or more second adjacent cells according to the identification information of the one or more second adjacent cells and the first information.

10. The method according to any of claims 1-8, wherein the first network device determines one or more first neighbor cells satisfying a terminal device handover condition, comprising:

the first network equipment receives a measurement report from the terminal equipment; wherein the measurement report includes identification information of the one or more first neighbor cells;

and the first network equipment determines one or more first adjacent cells meeting the switching condition of the terminal equipment according to the identification information of the one or more first adjacent cells.

11. The method according to claim 9 or 10, characterized in that before the first network device receives a measurement report from the terminal device, the method further comprises:

the first network equipment determines one or more third adjacent cells, wherein the third adjacent cells are adjacent cells supporting the slicing service operated by the terminal equipment;

the first network equipment sends the measurement configuration information of the one or more third neighbor cells to the terminal equipment; wherein the measurement configuration information of the one or more third neighboring cells is used for the terminal device to measure the one or more third neighboring cells.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the first network device determines one or more third neighboring cells, comprising:

the first network equipment acquires slice capability information of one or more fourth adjacent cells, wherein the fourth adjacent cells are adjacent cells of a current access cell of the terminal equipment;

and the first network equipment determines the third adjacent cell in the one or more fourth adjacent cells according to the slicing capability information of the fourth adjacent cell.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the obtaining, by the first network device, slicing capability information of one or more fourth neighboring cells comprises:

the first network device sends a second message to a third network device associated with the fourth neighboring cell, where the second message is used to query the slice capability information of the fourth neighboring cell; the first network device receiving slicing capability information of the fourth neighbor cell from the third network device;

or, the first network device receives slice capability information of the fourth neighboring cell from an operation, maintenance and management function module OAM.

14. The method according to claim 12 or 13, wherein the slicing capability information of the fourth neighboring cell comprises whether the fourth neighboring cell supports network slicing and/or a slicing type corresponding to the network slicing to which the fourth neighboring cell belongs.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the determining, by the first network device, the third neighboring cell among the one or more fourth neighboring cells according to the slicing capability information of the fourth neighboring cell, comprises:

and the first network equipment determines the fourth adjacent cell of which the slice type corresponding to the network slice comprises the slice type corresponding to the slice service operated by the terminal equipment in the one or more fourth adjacent cells as the third adjacent cell.

16. The method according to any of claims 1-15, wherein the resource information available to the first neighbor cell for the network slice to which the first neighbor cell belongs comprises:

the first neighboring cell may be used for resource information of a slice service operated by the terminal device, where a slice type corresponding to a network slice to which the first neighboring cell belongs includes a slice type corresponding to the slice service operated by the terminal device.

17. A computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the cell selection method of any one of claims 1-16.

18. A communication system, characterized in that the communication system comprises: a first network device and a terminal device;

the first network equipment is used for determining one or more first adjacent cells meeting the switching condition of the terminal equipment;

the first network device is further configured to obtain slice resource status information of each of the one or more first neighboring cells; the slice resource status information comprises resource information available to the first neighbor cell for a slice of a network to which the first neighbor cell belongs;

the first network device is further configured to select, according to the slice resource status information, a target cell to which the terminal device is to be handed over from the one or more first neighboring cells;

the terminal device is used for switching to a target cell.