CN116782315A

CN116782315A - Cell switching method and device

Info

Publication number: CN116782315A
Application number: CN202210240992.XA
Authority: CN
Inventors: 徐敏
Original assignee: Spreadtrum Communications Shanghai Co Ltd
Current assignee: Spreadtrum Communications Shanghai Co Ltd
Priority date: 2022-03-10
Filing date: 2022-03-10
Publication date: 2023-09-19

Abstract

The embodiment of the application provides a cell switching method and equipment, which relate to the technical field of mobile communication and comprise the steps that UE receives configuration information sent by source network equipment, wherein the configuration information comprises configuration parameters of at least one candidate cell for the UE to perform conditional switching; when the UE determines that the candidate cells needing to perform dual-activation protocol stack switching exist in the candidate cells, a conditional switching flow is performed, and configuration information of a source cell is reserved in the process of performing the conditional switching flow. In the embodiment of the application, when at least one candidate cell for the UE to perform the conditional switching exists, the UE reserves the configuration information of the source cell in the process of executing the conditional switching flow, so that the data transmission with the source network equipment can be still maintained under the condition that the conditional switching flow fails, the cell reestablishment flow does not need to be triggered, and the switching time delay and interruption can be avoided.

Description

Cell switching method and device

Technical Field

The embodiment of the application relates to the technical field of mobile communication, in particular to a cell switching method and cell switching equipment.

Background

In a New Radio (NR) system, a handover of a cell introduces a handover of a dual active protocol stack (Dual Active Protocol Handover, DAPS). Compared with the traditional switching mode, the DAPS is different in that after receiving a switching instruction, the UE keeps on the connection with the radio resource control (Radio Resource control, RRC) of the source cell, and initiates a random access procedure to the target cell. After the UE successfully establishes an RRC connection with the target cell, the target cell instructs the UE to disconnect the RRC connection with the source cell, thereby reducing interruption and delay in cell handover.

Meanwhile, in order to improve the robustness of cell switching, conditional switching (Conditional Handover, abbreviated as CHO) is also introduced into the NR system, and a CHO-based cell switching mode and a DAPS-based cell switching mode can be configured to the UE at the same time.

However, when the UE configures both the CHO-based cell switching mode and the DAPS-based cell switching mode, the switching delay and interruption are easily caused, which affects the user experience.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the application provides a cell switching method and a cell switching device, which can solve the technical problem that delay and interruption are easily caused when UE is simultaneously configured with a cell switching mode based on CHO and a cell switching mode based on DAPS in the prior art.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a cell handover method, which is applied to a UE, including:

receiving configuration information sent by source network equipment, wherein the configuration information comprises configuration parameters of at least one candidate cell of CHO performed by the UE;

determining whether a candidate cell requiring DAPS execution exists in the at least one candidate cell;

and when the candidate cell needing to execute the DAPS exists in the at least one candidate cell, executing the CHO flow, and reserving configuration information of the source cell in the process of executing the CHO flow.

In a possible embodiment, after the performing CHO procedure, the method further comprises:

if the UE is successfully switched to a first target cell in the at least one candidate cell, deleting the reserved configuration information of the source cell; wherein the first target cell needs to perform the CHO, but does not need to perform the DAPS.

if the UE is successfully switched to a second target cell in the at least one candidate cell, deleting the reserved configuration information of the source cell when a first message sent by target network equipment corresponding to the second target cell is received; wherein the second target cell needs to perform the DAPS and CHO.

In a possible embodiment, the first message is an RRC reconfiguration message.

and if the UE is not successfully switched to any candidate cell in the at least one candidate cell, carrying out data transmission with the source network equipment based on the reserved configuration information of the source cell.

if the UE is not successfully switched to any candidate cell in the at least one candidate cell, cell selection is carried out;

if the selected third target cell is a cell of the at least one candidate cell, continuing to execute the CHO or continuing to execute the DAPS and the CHO.

In a possible embodiment, the UE determining whether there is a candidate cell in the at least one candidate cell that needs to perform DAPS includes:

and determining whether a candidate cell needing to execute DAPS exists in the at least one candidate cell according to the configuration parameters of the at least one candidate cell.

In a possible implementation manner, the configuration parameters of the candidate cell include first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate whether the candidate cell needs to perform DAPS.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a cell handover method, applied to a network device, where the method includes:

transmitting configuration information to User Equipment (UE), wherein the configuration information comprises configuration parameters of at least one candidate cell of CHO performed by the UE; the configuration parameters of the candidate cell include first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate whether the candidate cell needs to execute DAPS.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a cell switching apparatus, applied to a UE, including:

the receiving module is used for receiving configuration information sent by source network equipment, wherein the configuration information comprises configuration parameters of at least one candidate cell of CHO performed by the UE;

a determining module, configured to determine whether a candidate cell that needs to perform DAPS exists in the at least one candidate cell;

and the processing module is used for executing the CHO flow when the candidate cell needing to execute the DAPS exists in the at least one candidate cell, and reserving the configuration information of the source cell in the process of executing the CHO flow.

In a possible embodiment, the processing module is further configured to:

after performing the CHO procedure, if the UE is successfully handed over to a first target cell of the at least one candidate cell, deleting configuration information of the source cell reserved by the UE; wherein the first target cell needs to perform the CHO, but does not need to perform the DAPS.

In a possible embodiment, the processing module is further configured to:

after performing the CHO procedure, if the UE is successfully handed over to a second target cell in the at least one candidate cell, deleting configuration information of the source cell reserved by the UE when the UE receives a first message sent by a target network device corresponding to the second target cell; wherein the second target cell needs to perform the DAPS and CHO.

In a possible embodiment, the first message is an RRC reconfiguration message.

In a possible embodiment, the processing module is further configured to:

after performing the CHO procedure, if the UE is not successfully handed over to any candidate cell of the at least one candidate cell, performing data transmission with the source network device based on the reserved configuration information of the source cell.

In a possible embodiment, the processing module is further configured to:

after performing the CHO procedure, if the UE is not successfully handed over to any of the at least one candidate cell, performing cell selection;

In a possible embodiment, the determining module is specifically configured to:

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a cell switching apparatus, which is applied to a network device, including:

a sending module, configured to send configuration information to a UE, where the configuration information includes configuration parameters of at least one candidate cell that the UE performs CHO; the configuration parameters of the candidate cell include first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate whether the candidate cell needs to execute DAPS.

In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a user equipment, including: at least one processor and memory;

the memory stores computer-executable instructions;

the at least one processor executes computer-executable instructions stored by the memory, causing the at least one processor to perform a cell handover method as provided in the first aspect.

In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a network device, including: at least one processor and memory;

the memory stores computer-executable instructions;

the at least one processor executing computer-executable instructions stored in the memory causes the at least one processor to perform a cell handover method as provided in the second aspect.

In a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer readable storage medium having stored therein computer executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, implement a cell handover method as provided in the first aspect.

Alternatively, the cell handover method as provided in the second aspect is implemented when the processor executes the computer-executable instructions.

In an eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer program product comprising a computer program which, when executed by a processor, implements a cell handover method as provided in the first aspect.

Alternatively, the computer program, when executed by a processor, implements a cell handover method as provided in the second aspect.

According to the cell switching method and the cell switching equipment provided by the embodiment of the application, when the candidate cell which needs to execute the dual-activation protocol stack switching exists in at least one candidate cell which is subjected to the conditional switching by the UE, the configuration information of the source cell is reserved in the process of executing the conditional switching process by the UE, so that the data transmission with the source network equipment can be still maintained under the condition that the execution of the conditional switching process fails, the cell reconstruction process does not need to be triggered, and the switching time delay and the interruption can be avoided.

Drawings

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

fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a cell handover procedure using DAPS according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a cell handover procedure using CHO according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4 is a flow chart of a cell handover method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 is a schematic program module diagram of a cell switching apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6 is a schematic hardware structure of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

For the purpose of making the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present application more apparent, the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present application, and it is apparent that the described embodiments are some embodiments of the present application, but not all embodiments of the present application. All other embodiments, which can be made by those skilled in the art based on the embodiments of the application without making any inventive effort, are intended to be within the scope of the application. Furthermore, while the present disclosure has been described in terms of an exemplary embodiment or embodiments, it should be understood that each aspect of the disclosure can be practiced separately from the other aspects.

It should be noted that the brief description of the terminology in the present application is for the purpose of facilitating understanding of the embodiments described below only and is not intended to limit the embodiments of the present application. Unless otherwise indicated, these terms should be construed in their ordinary and customary meaning.

The terms first, second and the like in the description and in the claims and in the above-described figures are used for distinguishing between similar or similar objects or entities and not necessarily for describing a particular sequential or chronological order, unless otherwise indicated. It is to be understood that the terms so used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances such that the embodiments of the application are, for example, capable of operation in sequences other than those illustrated or otherwise described herein.

Furthermore, the terms "comprise" and "have," and any variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a product or apparatus that comprises a list of elements is not necessarily limited to those elements expressly listed, but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such product or apparatus.

The term "module" as used in this disclosure refers to any known or later developed hardware, software, firmware, artificial intelligence, fuzzy logic, or combination of hardware and/or software code that is capable of performing the function associated with that element.

The embodiment of the application can be applied to various wireless communication systems, such as: code division multiple access (Code Division Multiple Access, CDMA) systems, wideband code division multiple access (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access, WCDMA) systems, general packet Radio service (General Packet Radio Service, GPRS), long term evolution (Long Term Evolution, LTE) systems, long term evolution advanced (Advanced long term evolution, LTE-a) systems, new Radio (NR) systems, evolved systems for NR systems, LTE-based access to unlicensed spectrum, LTE-U systems over unlicensed spectrum, NR (NR-based access to unlicensed spectrum, NR-U) systems over unlicensed spectrum, or other communication systems, and the like.

In general, the conventional wireless communication system supports a limited number of connections and is easy to implement, however, with the development of communication technology, the mobile communication system will support not only conventional communication but also, for example: device-to-Device (D2D) communication, machine-to-machine (Machine to Machine, M2M) communication, machine type communication (Machine Type Communication, MTC), and inter-Vehicle (Vehicle to Vehicle, V2V) communication, vehicle-to-anything (V2X), etc., embodiments of the present application may also be applied to these communication systems.

Optionally, the wireless communication system in the embodiment of the present application may be applied to a carrier aggregation (Carrier Aggregation, CA) scenario, a dual connectivity (Dual Connectivity, DC) scenario, or a Stand Alone (SA) networking scenario.

Referring to fig. 1, fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of an architecture of a wireless communication system according to an embodiment of the present application. The wireless communication system provided in the present embodiment includes a terminal device 101 and a network device 102.

Alternatively, the terminal device 101 may be various forms of User Equipment (UE), an access terminal, a subscriber unit, a subscriber station, a Mobile Station (MS), a remote station, a remote terminal, a mobile device, a wireless communication device, a User agent, or a User Equipment. But also a cellular phone, a cordless phone, a session initiation protocol (Session Initiation Protocol, SIP) phone, a wireless local loop (Wireless Local Loop, WLL) station, a palm top computer (Personal Digital Assistant, PDA), a handheld device with wireless communication capability, a computing device or other processing device connected to a wireless modem, a car-mounted device, a wearable device, a terminal device in a future 5G network or a terminal device in a future evolved public land mobile network (Public Land Mobile Network, PLMN), etc., as long as the terminal device is capable of wireless communication with the network device 102.

Optionally, the network device 102, i.e. public mobile communication network device, is an interface device for accessing the internet by the terminal device 101, and is also a form of a radio Station, which refers to a radio transceiver Station for performing information transfer with the terminal device in a certain radio coverage area, and includes a Base Station (BS), which may also be referred to as a Base Station device, and is an apparatus deployed in a radio access network (Radio Access Network, RAN) to provide a wireless communication function. For example, the device for providing a base station function in the 2G network includes a base radio transceiver station (Base Transceiver Station, abbreviated as BTS), the device for providing a base station function in the 3G network includes a node B (NodeB), the device for providing a base station function in the 4G network includes an evolved NodeB (eNB), the device for providing a base station function in the wireless local area network (Wireless Local Area Networks, abbreviated as WLAN) is an Access Point (AP), the device for providing a base station function in the 5G NR includes a nb, and a continuously evolved NodeB (ng-eNB), wherein the nb and the terminal device communicate using NR technology, the nb and the terminal device communicate using evolved universal terrestrial radio Access network (Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access, abbreviated as E-UTRA) technology, and the nb and the ng-eNB are both connectable to the 5G core network. The network device 103 in the embodiment of the present application also includes a device that provides a base station function in a new communication system in the future, and the like.

In the NR system, if a UE in rrc_connected state moves from one cell to another, the network device decides whether to perform cell handover according to the measurement result of the UE. The UE, after receiving the RRC Reconfiguration message sent by the source network device, is detached from the source cell, and synchronizes with the new cell and performs a random access procedure. If the handover fails, the UE performs cell selection, and selects a proper cell for RRC reestablishment.

Compared with a general switching mode, the difference of the NR system R16 version is that after the UE receives a switching instruction sent by the source network equipment, the UE still maintains the configuration and the link of the source cell and can still receive the data of the source cell, but simultaneously establishes a link with the target cell for data transmission until the link of the source cell is released after receiving the RRC message sent by the target cell.

For a better understanding of the embodiments of the present application, referring to fig. 2, fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a cell handover procedure using DAPS according to an embodiment of the present application.

In some embodiments, the above-mentioned cell handover flow is as follows:

step 1: the source network equipment configures UE to measure, and the UE measures surrounding cells and reports a measurement report.

Step 2: the source network device decides whether to use DAPS handoff.

Step 3: if the source network device decides to use DAPS handoff, a handoff request signaling is sent to the target network device.

Step 4-5: and the target network equipment performs access control, and if the target network equipment agrees to the DAPS switching, a switching request confirmation message is fed back to the source network equipment.

Step 6: the source network device configures the UE for DAPS handoff via RRC Reconfiguration message.

Step 7 a-7: and the source network equipment forwards the user data and the SN state information corresponding to the user data to the target network equipment.

Step 8: the UE initiates a random access process to the target network device, and simultaneously maintains connection and data transmission with the source network device until the target cell is successfully accessed.

Step 9-10: the target network equipment sends a successful switching message to the source network equipment, informs the source network equipment that the UE has successfully accessed to the target cell, and feeds back SN state information.

The subsequent procedure is the same as the conventional switching.

In some embodiments, if the DAPS handover fails, the UE may revert to the source cell configuration, resume connection with the source cell, and notify the source cell of the target cell handover failure without restarting the RRC connection reestablishment procedure since the UE still maintains the source link. If the DAPS handover is successful, upon receiving an RRC reconfiguration indication sent by the target cell, the UE releases the connection with the source cell, including the MAC configuration with the source cell, the radio link layer control (Radio Link Control, RLC) entity and logical channel carried by the DAPS of the source cell, and the physical channel and ciphering key of the radio signaling bearer (Signalling Radio Bearers, SRB) related entity and source cell.

Meanwhile, in order to improve the robustness of cell switching, a conditional switching (Conditional Handover, abbreviated CHO) is introduced in the R16 version of the NR system, mainly to prevent that a source base station cannot issue a switching command to a UE in time due to too intense signal variation of the UE, so that one or more candidate cells and their related configurations are pre-configured based on UE measurement reporting (the pre-reporting may not meet the switching requirement under the conditions such as the current channel quality, etc.), and meanwhile, switching conditions are configured, when the switching conditions are met, the UE directly switches to one of the candidate cells (initiates a random access procedure in a target cell and sends an RRC reconfiguration complete message), and meanwhile, the UE does not keep RRC connection with the source cell base station.

In some embodiments, the above-described handoff conditions may include A3 and A5 events. The A3 event is that the channel quality of the adjacent cell is higher than the value set by the service cell, the A5 event is that the channel quality of the adjacent cell is higher than the first set threshold, and the channel quality of the service cell is lower than the second set threshold.

After the CHO performing attempt is initiated to fail or after the handover, the UE needs to perform cell selection, and if the selected cell is an alternative cell to CHO, the UE may perform CHO handover again without re-establishment.

For a better understanding of the embodiments of the present application, referring to fig. 3, fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a cell handover procedure using CHO according to the embodiment of the present application.

In some embodiments, the above-mentioned cell handover flow is as follows:

Step 2: the source network device decides whether CHO needs to be used or not based on the measurement report and the radio resource management (Radio Resource Management, RRM) information.

Step 3: if the source network device decides to use the conditional handover, CHO request signaling is sent to neighboring network devices (e.g., candidate network device 1, candidate network device 2) that satisfy the conditional handover condition according to the measurement report.

Step 4-5: and the candidate network equipment performs access control, and if the candidate network equipment agrees to the condition switching, the CHO request confirmation message is fed back to the source network equipment.

Step 6: the source network device is configured to the UE through the RRC reconfiguration message downlink component switching, and comprises switching execution conditions of the candidate network device and configuration parameters of the candidate network device.

Step 7: the UE sends an RRC reconfiguration complete message to the source network device while the UE continues to measure the state of the candidate network device.

Step 7a: the source network device determines whether to use early data forwarding or late data forwarding for the present handover, and if it determines to use early data forwarding, forwards the user data and SN status information corresponding to the user data to the candidate target base station.

Step 8: and the UE measures the candidate network equipment, directly starts a switching execution process after a certain candidate network equipment meets a switching condition, disconnects the source network equipment, initiates random access to the candidate network equipment, and successfully accesses the target cell.

At present, the CHO-based cell switching mode and the DAPS-based cell switching mode may be configured to the UE at the same time, that is, the network device configures the candidate cell and the switching condition in advance, but requires the UE to keep the link of the source cell to continue transmitting data, and once the UE evaluates that the candidate cell satisfies the CHO condition, the conditional switching is performed, but simultaneously keeps the link of the source cell. After the switching is successful, the target cell needs to be informed to execute DAPS+CHO switching, and the target cell is triggered to release the source cell configuration and the link; or the source cell is informed to execute DAPS+CHO switching, and the source cell can be triggered to delete the source cell configuration and the link after success.

The above case may exist for both an alternative cell that performs CHO only and an alternative cell that performs daps+cho simultaneously. If the source cell link is not maintained according to CHO handover (i.e., the UE finds that only the candidate cell configured with CHO satisfies the handover condition, only CHO handover is performed), once the handover fails, the UE cannot fall back to the source cell configuration immediately, which may trigger the cell reestablishment procedure, thereby causing handover delay and interruption.

In view of the above technical problems, in the embodiment of the present application, a cell switching method is provided, where when there is a candidate cell that needs to perform dual-active protocol stack switching in at least one candidate cell for conditional switching of a UE, the UE retains configuration information of a source cell in the process of performing a conditional switching procedure, so that data transmission with a source network device can still be maintained under the condition that the conditional switching procedure fails, and a cell reestablishing procedure does not need to be triggered, thereby avoiding causing switching delay and interruption. The following will explain in detail the embodiments.

Referring to fig. 4, fig. 4 is a flowchart of a cell switching method according to an embodiment of the present application, where the cell switching method may be applied to the terminal device shown in fig. 1. Alternatively, the cell switching method may be executed by a certain chip or a functional module in the UE, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present application.

In one possible embodiment, the method includes:

s401, receiving configuration information sent by source network equipment, wherein the configuration information comprises configuration parameters of at least one candidate cell of the UE for conditional switching CHO.

In a possible implementation manner, the source network device configures the UE to perform measurement, the UE measures surrounding cells and reports measurement reports, and the source network device decides whether to use conditional handover CHO according to the measurement reports and RRM information; and if the source network equipment decides to use the condition switching, sending a CHO request signaling to the neighbor network equipment meeting the condition switching condition according to the measurement report. And the candidate network equipment performs access control, and if the candidate network equipment agrees to the condition switching, the CHO request confirmation message is fed back to the source network equipment. The source network device issues configuration information to the UE via a RRC Reconfiguration message, the configuration information including configuration parameters of at least one candidate cell for conditional handover by the UE.

In another possible implementation manner, the source network device configures the UE to perform measurement, the UE measures surrounding cells and reports measurement reports, and the source network device decides whether to use conditional handover CHO and DAPS handover according to the measurement reports and RRM information; if the source network device decides to use the conditional switch and the DAPS switch, a CHO request signaling is sent to the neighbor network device meeting the conditional switch condition according to the measurement report, wherein the method can also comprise the instruction of executing the DAPS. And the candidate network equipment performs access control, and if the candidate network equipment agrees to switch, a confirmation message is fed back to the source network equipment. The source network device issues configuration information to the UE via a RRC Reconfiguration message, the configuration information including configuration parameters of at least one candidate cell for conditional handover by the UE.

The configuration parameters of the candidate cells include the handover execution conditions of the candidate network equipment and the configuration parameters of the candidate network equipment.

In addition, the configuration parameters of the candidate cell may further include first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate whether the candidate cell needs to perform DAPS.

S402, determining whether a candidate cell needing to execute DAPS exists in the at least one candidate cell.

In a possible implementation manner, the UE may determine whether a candidate cell that needs to perform DAPS exists in the at least one candidate cell according to configuration information sent by the source network device.

S403, executing a CHO flow when the candidate cell needing to execute the DAPS exists in the at least one candidate cell, and reserving configuration information of a source cell in the process of executing the CHO flow.

The source cell is a cell to which the UE is currently connected.

In a possible implementation manner, if a candidate cell needing to perform DAPS exists in the at least one candidate cell, the UE reserves configuration information and resources of the source cell during the CHO procedure, continues to perform radio link detection (Radio Link Monitor, RLM), and continues to receive downlink data from the source cell base station.

For example, assuming that candidate cells needing to execute DAPS exist in candidate cells of the UE, and that a candidate cell only needing to execute CHO in the candidate cells of the UE satisfies a handover condition, the UE performs CHO procedure and switches to the candidate cell, but the UE still maintains configuration and link of the source cell, and performs RLM on the source cell.

In another possible embodiment, if there is no candidate cell that needs to perform DAPS among the at least one candidate cell, the UE performs CHO procedure in a conventional CHO manner.

In the cell switching method provided by the embodiment of the application, when at least one candidate cell for the UE to perform the conditional switching exists in the candidate cell for the dual-activation protocol stack switching, the UE reserves the configuration information of the source cell in the process of executing the conditional switching flow, so that the data transmission with the source network equipment can be still maintained under the condition that the conditional switching flow fails to be executed, the cell reconstruction flow does not need to be triggered, and the switching time delay and the interruption can be avoided.

Based on the descriptions in the above embodiments, in some embodiments of the present application, if the UE successfully switches to the first target cell in the at least one candidate cell, the configuration information of the reserved source cell is deleted; wherein the first target cell needs to perform CHO, but does not need to perform DAPS.

If the UE is successfully switched to the second target cell in the at least one candidate cell, deleting the configuration information of the reserved source cell when receiving a first message sent by target network equipment corresponding to the second target cell; wherein the second target cell needs to perform DAPS and CHO.

Namely, in the embodiment of the present application, when the UE successfully switches to one of the at least one candidate cell, if the candidate cell only needs to perform CHO, the UE may delete the configuration information and/or RRC connection of the reserved source cell by itself; if the candidate cell needs to execute CHO and DAPS at the same time, the UE deletes the configuration information of the reserved source cell after receiving the first message sent by the network device in case of notifying the target or source cell.

In some embodiments of the present application, if the UE does not successfully handover to any candidate cell of the at least one candidate cell, the UE may further perform cell selection; if the third target cell selected by the UE is a cell of the at least one candidate cell, the UE continues to perform CHO or continues to perform DAPS and CHO.

Alternatively, the first message may be an RRC reconfiguration message.

It can be understood that the cell switching triggered by the CHO mechanism is performed by using the DAPS method, which may be the cell switching initiated by the UE by using the DAPS method when the switching trigger condition based on the conditional switching CHO mechanism is satisfied. Here, after receiving the DAPS handover command, the UE maintains a connection with the source cell while initiating a random access procedure to the target cell. After successfully establishing a connection with the target cell, the target cell then instructs the UE to disconnect a Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection with the source cell. In this way, the service delay due to the interruption of the data transmission of the UE before the connection is successfully established with the target cell is reduced.

In some embodiments of the present application, if the UE does not successfully switch to any candidate cell in the at least one candidate cell, the UE may fall back to the configuration information of the reserved source cell, resume connection of the source cell, and perform data transmission with the source network device.

Optionally, when the UE does not successfully switch to any candidate cell in the at least one candidate cell, the UE may re-perform cell selection, and if the selected cell is a candidate cell and the network allows the UE to try CHO next time, the UE may perform CHO next time; alternatively, the UE may fall back to the source cell based on the reserved configuration information of the source cell and proceed with CHO evaluation, delete cell configurations for which CHO has been attempted or cease evaluation for a period of time, and/or notify the source cell of a previous candidate cell handover failure.

According to the cell switching method provided by the embodiment of the application, when at least one candidate cell for the UE to perform the conditional switching exists in the candidate cell for the dual-activation protocol stack switching, the UE can still keep the data transmission with the source network equipment under the condition that the conditional switching process fails by reserving the configuration information of the source cell, and the cell reestablishment process is not required to be triggered, so that the switching time delay and interruption can be avoided.

Based on the description in the foregoing embodiments, the embodiment of the present application further provides a cell switching device, which is applied to a UE, and referring to fig. 5, fig. 5 is a schematic program module of the cell switching device according to the embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 5, the cell switching device 50 includes:

and a receiving module 501, configured to receive configuration information sent by a source network device, where the configuration information includes configuration parameters of at least one candidate cell that the UE performs CHO.

A determining module 502 is configured to determine whether a candidate cell that needs to perform DAPS exists in the at least one candidate cell.

And the processing module 503 is configured to execute a CHO procedure when there is a candidate cell that needs to execute DAPS in the at least one candidate cell, and retain configuration information of the source cell during execution of the CHO procedure.

In one possible implementation, the processing module 503 is further configured to:

after the CHO procedure is performed, if the UE is successfully handed over to a first target cell of the at least one candidate cell, deleting configuration information of the source cell reserved by the UE; wherein the first target cell needs to perform CHO, but not DAPS.

after performing the CHO procedure, if the UE successfully switches to a second target cell in the at least one candidate cell, deleting configuration information of the source cell reserved by the UE when the UE receives a first message sent by a target network device corresponding to the second target cell; wherein the second target cell needs to perform the DAPS and CHO.

After the CHO procedure is performed, if the UE is not successfully handed over to any of the at least one candidate cell, performing cell selection; if the selected third target cell is a cell of the at least one candidate cell, continuing to execute CHO or continuing to execute DAPS and CHO.

In one possible implementation, the determining module 502 is specifically configured to:

and determining that a candidate cell needing to execute DAPS exists in the at least one candidate cell according to the configuration parameters of the at least one candidate cell.

In the cell switching device 50 provided in the embodiment of the present application, when there is a candidate cell that needs to perform dual-activation protocol stack switching in at least one candidate cell for conditional switching of the UE, the UE retains configuration information of the source cell in the process of performing the conditional switching procedure, so that in the case that the conditional switching procedure is performed in failure, data transmission with the source network device can still be maintained, and the cell reestablishment procedure does not need to be triggered, thereby avoiding causing switching delay and interruption.

Based on the description in the foregoing embodiment, the embodiment of the present application further provides a cell switching device, which is applied to a network device, where the cell switching device includes:

The cell handover apparatus described in the above embodiments may include each module, which may be a software module, a hardware module, or a part of a software module and a part of a hardware module. For example, for each device or product applied to or integrated in a chip, each module included in the device or product may be implemented in hardware such as a circuit, or at least some modules may be implemented in software program, where the software program runs on a processor integrated in the chip, and the remaining (if any) some modules may be implemented in hardware such as a circuit; for each device and product applied to or integrated in the chip module, each module contained in the device and product can be realized in a hardware mode such as a circuit, different modules can be located in the same component (such as a chip and a circuit module) of the chip module or in different components, or at least part of the modules can be realized in a software program, the software program runs in a processor integrated in the chip module, and the rest (if any) of the modules can be realized in a hardware mode such as a circuit; for each device or product applied to or integrated in the terminal, the included modules may all be implemented in hardware such as a circuit, and different modules may be located in the same component (e.g. a chip, a circuit module, etc.) or different components in the terminal, or at least some modules may be implemented in a software program, where the software program runs on a processor integrated in the terminal, and the remaining (if any) some modules may be implemented in hardware such as a circuit.

Further, based on the descriptions in the above embodiments, the embodiment of the present application further provides a user equipment, where the user equipment includes at least one processor and a memory; wherein the memory stores computer-executable instructions; the at least one processor executes computer-executable instructions stored in the memory to perform steps for performing the UE in the cell handover method as described above.

Further, based on the description in the foregoing embodiment, the embodiment of the present application further provides a network device, where the network device includes at least one processor and a memory; wherein the memory stores computer-executable instructions; the at least one processor executes computer-executable instructions stored in the memory to perform steps performed by the network device in the cell handover method as described above.

For better understanding of the embodiments of the present application, referring to fig. 6, fig. 6 is a schematic hardware structure of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present application.

As shown in fig. 6, the electronic device 60 of the present embodiment includes: a processor 601 and a memory 602; wherein the method comprises the steps of

A memory 602 for storing computer-executable instructions;

a processor 601, configured to execute computer-executable instructions stored in a memory, to implement steps executed by a network device in the cell handover method described in the above embodiment; or alternatively. The steps executed by the UE in implementing the cell handover method described in the foregoing embodiments may be specifically referred to the relevant descriptions in the foregoing method embodiments.

Alternatively, the memory 602 may be separate or integrated with the processor 601.

When the memory 602 is provided separately, the device further comprises a bus 603 for connecting said memory 602 and the processor 601.

An embodiment of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium having stored therein computer-executable instructions which, when executed by a processor, implement the steps performed by a network device in a cell handover method as described in the above embodiment.

An embodiment of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium having stored therein computer-executable instructions which, when executed by a processor, implement the steps performed by a UE in a cell handover method as described in the above embodiments.

An embodiment of the present application provides a computer program product comprising a computer program which, when executed by a processor, implements the steps performed by a network device in a cell handover method as described in the above embodiment.

An embodiment of the present application provides a computer program product, including a computer program, which when executed by a processor, implements the steps performed by a UE in a cell handover method as described in the above embodiment.

In the several embodiments provided by the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed apparatus and method may be implemented in other ways. For example, the above-described embodiments of the apparatus are merely illustrative, and for example, the division of the modules is merely a logical function division, and there may be additional divisions when actually implemented, for example, multiple modules may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted or not performed. Alternatively, the coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed with each other may be an indirect coupling or communication connection via some interfaces, devices or modules, which may be in electrical, mechanical, or other forms.

The modules described as separate components may or may not be physically separate, and components shown as modules may or may not be physical units, may be located in one place, or may be distributed over multiple network units. Some or all of the modules may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of this embodiment.

In addition, each functional module in the embodiments of the present application may be integrated in one processing unit, or each module may exist alone physically, or two or more modules may be integrated in one unit. The units formed by the modules can be realized in a form of hardware or a form of hardware and software functional units.

The integrated modules, which are implemented in the form of software functional modules, may be stored in a computer readable storage medium. The software functional module is stored in a storage medium, and includes several instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) or a processor (english: processor) to perform some of the steps of the methods according to the embodiments of the application.

It should be understood that the above processor may be a central processing unit (english: central Processing Unit, abbreviated as CPU), or may be other general purpose processors, digital signal processors (english: digital Signal Processor, abbreviated as DSP), application specific integrated circuits (english: application Specific Integrated Circuit, abbreviated as ASIC), or the like. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor or the processor may be any conventional processor or the like. The steps of a method disclosed in connection with the present application may be embodied directly in a hardware processor for execution, or in a combination of hardware and software modules in a processor for execution.

The memory may comprise a high-speed RAM memory, and may further comprise a non-volatile memory NVM, such as at least one magnetic disk memory, and may also be a U-disk, a removable hard disk, a read-only memory, a magnetic disk or optical disk, etc.

The bus may be an industry standard architecture (Industry Standard Architecture, ISA) bus, an external device interconnect (Peripheral Component, PCI) bus, or an extended industry standard architecture (Extended Industry Standard Architecture, EISA) bus, among others. The buses may be divided into address buses, data buses, control buses, etc. For ease of illustration, the buses in the drawings of the present application are not limited to only one bus or to one type of bus.

The storage medium may be implemented by any type or combination of volatile or nonvolatile memory devices such as Static Random Access Memory (SRAM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), read-only memory (ROM), magnetic memory, flash memory, magnetic or optical disk. A storage media may be any available media that can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer.

An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor such the processor can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may be integral to the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in an application specific integrated circuit (Application Specific Integrated Circuits, ASIC for short). It is also possible that the processor and the storage medium reside as discrete components in an electronic device or a master device.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that: all or part of the steps for implementing the method embodiments described above may be performed by hardware associated with program instructions. The foregoing program may be stored in a computer readable storage medium. The program, when executed, performs steps including the method embodiments described above; and the aforementioned storage medium includes: various media that can store program code, such as ROM, RAM, magnetic or optical disks.

Finally, it should be noted that: the above embodiments are only for illustrating the technical solution of the present application, and not for limiting the same; although the application has been described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that: the technical scheme described in the foregoing embodiments can be modified or some or all of the technical features thereof can be replaced by equivalents; such modifications and substitutions do not depart from the spirit of the application.

Claims

1. A method for cell handover, applied in a user equipment UE, the method comprising:

receiving configuration information sent by source network equipment, wherein the configuration information comprises configuration parameters of at least one candidate cell of the UE for conditional switching CHO;

Determining whether a candidate cell needing to execute dual-activation protocol stack switching DAPS exists in the at least one candidate cell;

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising, after performing the CHO procedure:

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising, after performing the CHO procedure:

4. A method according to claim 3, characterized in that the first message is a radio resource control, RRC, reconfiguration message.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising, after performing the CHO procedure:

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising, after performing the CHO procedure:

7. The method of any of claims 1-6, wherein the determining whether there is a candidate cell in the at least one candidate cell for which DAPS needs to be performed comprises:

and the UE determines whether a candidate cell needing to execute DAPS exists in the at least one candidate cell according to the configuration parameters of the at least one candidate cell.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein configuration parameters of the candidate cell include first indication information indicating whether the candidate cell needs to perform DAPS.

9. A method of cell switching for use in a network device, the method comprising:

transmitting configuration information to User Equipment (UE), wherein the configuration information comprises configuration parameters of at least one candidate cell of the UE for Conditional Handover (CHO); the configuration parameters of the candidate cell include first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate whether the candidate cell needs to execute dual-activation protocol stack switching DAPS.

10. A cell switching apparatus, applied in a user equipment UE, comprising:

the receiving module is used for receiving configuration information sent by source network equipment, wherein the configuration information comprises configuration parameters of at least one candidate cell of the UE for conditional switching CHO;

a determining module, configured to determine whether a candidate cell that needs to perform dual-activation protocol stack handover DAPS exists in the at least one candidate cell;

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the processing module is further configured to:

12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the processing module is further configured to:

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the first message is a radio resource control, RRC, reconfiguration message.

14. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the processing module is further configured to:

15. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the processing module is further configured to:

16. The apparatus according to any one of claims 10-15, wherein the determining module is specifically configured to:

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein configuration parameters of the candidate cell comprise first indication information, the first indication information being used to indicate whether the candidate cell needs to perform DAPS.

18. A cell switching apparatus, for use in a network device, comprising:

a sending module, configured to send configuration information to a UE, where the configuration information includes configuration parameters of at least one candidate cell in which the UE performs conditional handover CHO; the configuration parameters of the candidate cell include first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate whether the candidate cell needs to execute dual-activation protocol stack switching DAPS.

19. A user device, comprising: at least one processor and memory;

the memory stores computer-executable instructions;

the at least one processor executing computer-executable instructions stored in the memory, causing the at least one processor to perform the cell handover method of any one of claims 1 to 8.

20. A network device, comprising: at least one processor and memory;

the memory stores computer-executable instructions;

the at least one processor executing computer-executable instructions stored in the memory causes the at least one processor to perform the cell handover method of claim 9.

21. A computer readable storage medium having stored therein computer executable instructions which, when executed by a processor, implement the cell handover method of any of claims 1 to 8;

alternatively, the cell handover method of claim 9 is implemented when the processor executes the computer-executable instructions.

22. A computer program product comprising a computer program which, when executed by a processor, implements the cell handover method according to any of claims 1 to 8;

Alternatively, the computer program, when executed by a processor, implements the cell handover method as claimed in claim 9.