Paging method and apparatus

Abstract

The present application provides a paging method and apparatus. The paging method can be applied to a scenario of a shared radio access network (shared-RAN), and includes: a user equipment receives, through a first network, an indication from an access device that the user equipment accesses at least a second network, and the user equipment responds to a paging of the second network. Responding to the paging of the second network includes accessing the second network through the access device with the assistance of the first network, or accessing the second network through the access device via the second network. In the paging method provided by the embodiments of the present application, one of the two different networks supported by the access device can assist the other network in paging the user equipment.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application relates to the field of communications, and more particularly, to a paging method and apparatus. Background Art

[0002] With the development of communication technologies, the concept of a shared radio access network (shared-RAN) device has been proposed, that is, a user equipment can access different networks through a shared-RAN, and a user equipment can also access different networks through dual radio or multiple subscriber identity modules (SIMs). A user equipment with dual radio capabilities can access different networks through two Uu interfaces, and a user equipment with multiple SIM cards can access different networks through different SIM cards. Different networks are identified by different public land mobile network (PLMN) identifiers (IDs), and it is necessary to ensure normal paging for different networks in the shared-RAN scenario. Summary of the Invention

[0003] This application provides a paging method and apparatus, aiming to ensure normal paging in the shared radio access network scenario.

[0004] In a first aspect, a paging method is provided, including: a user equipment receives a first message from an access device through a first network, where the first message is used to indicate that the user equipment is paged by at least a second network; the user equipment accesses the second network through the access device.

[0005] In the paging method provided in the embodiments of this application, the user equipment can receive, through the first network, a first message indicating that the user equipment is paged by at least the second network, so as to respond to the paging of the second network, and access the second network through the access device, enabling the user equipment to respond to the paging of different networks. Specifically, the first network assists the second network in paging. On the one hand, it can enable terminal devices that cannot receive the paging information of the second network to receive the paging message of the second network. On the other hand, the first network assists the second network in control plane signaling transmission, achieving load balancing of control plane signaling between networks, and at the same time avoiding the second network continuously sending paging messages because it never receives a paging response from the terminal device, reducing the signaling storm of the second network. Normal paging in the shared radio access network scenario can be ensured.

[0006] For example, in a shared-RAN scenario, an access device can support access to two different networks. The access device sends a paging message of another network to the user equipment through one of the two networks it supports for access, so that the user equipment can respond to paging from different networks in the shared-RAN scenario.

[0007] In a possible implementation, the first network is a standalone non-public network (SNPN), and the second network is a public network integrated NPN (PNI-NPN) or a PLMN.

[0008] In another possible implementation, the first network is a PNI-NPN, and the second network is an SNPN or a PLMN.

[0009] In yet another possible implementation, the first network is a PLMN, and the second network is an SNPN or a PNI-NPN.

[0010] The "resource" involved in this application can be understood as a bearer resource, which is used to bear user plane data and / or signaling plane data.

[0011] In this application, the user equipment accesses the second network through the access device, including the following possible situations:

[0012] Situation 1: The first message is used to indicate that the user equipment is paged by the second network. If the user equipment has accessed the first network, the user equipment receives the first message from the access device through the SRB in the first network, or the user equipment receives the first message from the access device through the paging information in the first network. It can be understood that the first network that the user equipment has accessed assists the second network that has not been accessed to page the user equipment.

[0013] Situation 2: The first message is used to indicate that the user equipment is paged by the first network and the second network. Optionally, the user equipment first accesses the first network, and then, with the assistance of the first network that has been accessed, the second network that has not been accessed pages the user equipment.

[0014] Combined with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, when the first message is used to indicate that the user equipment is paged by the second network, the first message includes at least one of the following information: the second identifier of the user equipment, the identifier of the second network, or the identifier of the second cell, where the second identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the user equipment in the second network, the identifier of the second network is used to indicate the second network that the user equipment needs to access, and the identifier of the second cell is used to indicate the cell in the second network through which the user equipment accesses via the access device.

[0015] Based on the above technical solution, by including at least one of the second identifier of the user equipment, the identifier of the second network, or the identifier of the second cell in the first message, it is to assist the terminal device to resolve that the second network is paging the terminal device, and provide reference information for the terminal device to access the second network, so that the terminal device can select a suitable cell and access as soon as possible.

[0016] Combined with the first aspect, in some implementation manners of the first aspect, the first message for indicating that the user equipment is paged by at least the second network includes: the first message is used to indicate that the user equipment is paged by the first network and the second network; when the first message is used to indicate that the user equipment accesses the first network and the second network through the access device, the first message includes at least one of the second identifier of the user equipment, the identifier of the second network, or the identifier of the second cell, and at least one of the following information: the first identifier of the user equipment, the identifier of the first network, or the identifier of the first cell, where the first identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the user equipment in the first network, the identifier of the first network is used to indicate the first network that the user equipment needs to access, and the identifier of the first cell is used to indicate the cell in the first network for the user equipment to access through the access device.

[0017] Based on the above technical solution, by including at least one of the second identifier of the user equipment, the identifier of the second network, or the identifier of the second cell and at least one of the first identifier of the user equipment, the identifier of the first network, or the identifier of the first cell in the first message, it is to assist the terminal device to resolve that the first network and the second network are paging the terminal device, and provide reference information for the terminal device to access the first network and the second network, so that the terminal device can select a suitable cell and access as soon as possible.

[0018] The first identifier of the user equipment included in the above first message may be included in the first identifier list of the user equipment, that is, there may be multiple identifiers of the user equipment in the first network. The first message may send the multiple first identifiers of the user equipment to the user equipment as the first identifier list of the user equipment to indicate that the first network pages the user equipment. Similarly, the second identifier of the user equipment included in the above first message may be included in the second identifier list of the user equipment, that is, there may be multiple identifiers of the user equipment in the second network. The first message may send the multiple second identifiers of the user equipment to the user equipment as the second identifier list of the user equipment to indicate that the second network pages the user equipment.

[0019] Optionally, the first identifier of the user equipment may be the first 5G S-temporary mobile subscriber identity (5G-S-TMSI), the first inactive radio network temporary identity (I-RNTI), the first globally unique temporary identity (GUTI), the first subscription concealed identifier (SUCI), or the first temporary mobile subscriber identity (TMSI) of the user equipment in the first network, etc. Similarly, the second identifier of the user equipment may be the second 5G-S-TMSI, the second I-RNTI, the second GUTI, the second SUCI, or the second TMSI of the user equipment in the second network, etc. Herein, "first" and "second" only represent the identifiers of the user equipment in different networks, and do not constitute any limitation to the protection scope of this application.

[0020] Optionally, the first message includes the second identifier of the user equipment, indicating the identifier of the user equipment in the second network. If the user equipment receives the second identifier of the user equipment through this first message after accessing the first network through the access device, the user equipment determines that it still needs to access the second network through the access device.

[0021] The second identifier of the user equipment included in the first message may be included in the second identifier list of the user equipment, that is, there may be multiple identifiers of the user equipment in the second network. The first message may send the multiple second identifiers of the user equipment to the user equipment as the second identifier list of the user equipment, indicating that the second network paging the user equipment.

[0022] Optionally, the first message includes the identifier of the second network, indicating that the second network needs to page the user equipment.

[0023] The identifier of the second network included in the first message may be included in the identifier list of the second network, that is, there may be multiple identifiers of the second network. The first message may send the multiple identifiers of the second network to the user equipment as the identifier list of the second network, indicating that there is also a second network paging the user equipment.

[0024] Optionally, the identifier of the second network included in the first message may be a second PLMN ID, a second network identifier (NID), a second closed access group (CAG) ID, a second PLMN ID and a second NID, a second PLMN ID and a CAG second ID, a second PLMN ID and a second NID, or a second PLMN ID and a first CAG ID, etc. Similarly, the identifier of the first network may be a first PLMN ID, a first NID, a first CAG ID, a first PLMN ID and a first NID, or a first PLMN ID and a first CAG ID, etc.

[0025] Optionally, the identifier of the second cell is included in the first message, indicating that the second network needs to page the user equipment.

[0026] There may be multiple cells in the second network that can provide the user equipment to access through the access device, that is, there may be multiple identifiers of the second cell included in the first message. The first message may send the multiple identifiers of the second cell to the user equipment as a list of identifiers of the second cell, indicating that multiple cells in the second network can provide the user equipment to access through the access device.

[0027] Optionally, the identifier of the second cell may be a second new radio (NR), a cell ID, or a second cell global identify (CGI), a second CAG ID, or a second NID. Similarly, the identifier of the first cell may be a first NR cell ID, a first CGI, a first CAG ID, or a first NID, etc.

[0028] When there is only one cell in a certain network, the identifier of the network may be used as the identifier of the cell.

[0029] Optionally, the first message includes a first identifier of the user equipment, indicating the identifier of the user equipment in the first network. The user equipment determines that it needs to access the first network based on the first identifier of the user equipment received in the first message.

[0030] The first identifier of the user equipment included in the first message may be included in a first identifier list of the user equipment, that is, there may be multiple identifiers of the user equipment in the first network. The first message may send the multiple first identifiers of the user equipment to the user equipment as a first identifier list of the user equipment, indicating that the first network pages the user equipment.

[0031] Optionally, the first message includes the identifier of the first network, indicating that the first network needs to page the user equipment;

[0032] The identifier of the first network included in the first message may be included in the identifier list of the first network. That is, there may be multiple identifiers of the second network. The first message may send the multiple identifiers of the first network as the identifier list of the first network to the user equipment, indicating that the first network paging the user equipment.

[0033] Optionally, the first message includes the identifier of the first cell, indicating that the cell in the first network is available for the user equipment to access through the access device.

[0034] In the first network, multiple cells may provide the user equipment to access through the access device. That is, there may be multiple identifiers of the first cell included in the first message. The first message may send the multiple identifiers of the first cell as the identifier list of the first cell to the user equipment, indicating that multiple cells in the first network can provide the user equipment to access through the access device.

[0035] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementation manners of the first aspect, when the first message is used to indicate that the user equipment is paged by the first network and the second network, the first message further includes a first cause value and / or a second cause value. The first cause value is used to indicate the reason for the first network to page the user equipment, and the second cause value is used to indicate the reason for the second network to page the user equipment; or, when the first message is used to indicate that the user equipment is paged by the second network, the first message further includes the second cause value.

[0036] The paging method provided by the embodiments of the present application may include the reason for the network to page the user equipment in the first message, so that the user equipment can know the reasons for different networks to initiate paging, which can assist the user equipment to quickly locate the reason for the paging message to be initiated, distinguish the paging scenario, so that the user equipment can quickly make appropriate strategies and actions next.

[0037] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementation manners of the first aspect, when the first message is used to indicate that the user equipment is paged by the second network, the first message further includes a first duration and / or a second duration. The first duration is used to identify that the user equipment accesses the first network through the access device within the first duration, and the second duration is used to identify that the user equipment accesses the second network through the access device within the second duration; or, when the first message is used to indicate that the user equipment is paged by the second network, the first message includes the second duration.

[0038] The paging method provided by the embodiments of the present application may include the duration when the network hopes the user equipment to make a response when paging the user equipment in the first message, so that the user equipment can know which networks need to respond as soon as possible when initiating paging. The terminal device can continue to receive services of other networks within the time threshold and then access the paging network when approaching the time threshold, ensuring the continuity of user services.

[0039] The duration of the first time period can be specified by the protocol, or can be specified by the core network side, or can be agreed between the user equipment and the core network. This application does not limit the specific length of the first time period.

[0040] For example, the first time period is 10 ms, that is, after the user equipment receives the paging message, it needs to access the first network within 10 ms.

[0041] Similarly, the duration of the second time period can be specified by the protocol, or can be specified by the core network side, or can be agreed between the user equipment and the core network. This application does not limit the specific length of the second time period.

[0042] For example, the second time period is 20 ms, that is, after the user equipment receives the paging message, it needs to access the second network within 20 ms.

[0043] Combined with the first aspect, in some implementation manners of the first aspect, the user equipment has accessed the first network, and the paging method further includes: the user equipment receives a first message from an access device through the first network, including: the user equipment receives the first message from the access device through a signaling radio bearer (SRB) in the first network. For example, the user equipment receives the first message from the access device through a radio resource control (RRC) message in the first network; or, the user equipment receives the first message from the access device through paging information in the first network, and the first message is used to indicate that the user equipment is paged by the second network.

[0044] The paging method provided by the embodiments of this application, when the user equipment has accessed the first network, the first network can assist the second network in paging the user equipment, so that the user equipment in the connected state can respond to the paging of other networks.

[0045] Optionally, the user equipment has accessed the first network can be understood as that the user equipment has established an RRC connection with the above-mentioned access device in the first network.

[0046] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the paging method further includes: the user equipment sending a first response message to the access device. The first response message can be understood as a response to the above-mentioned first message. The first response message includes information about a third cell, and the third cell is a cell in the second network determined by the user equipment for access. The user equipment receives a second message sent by the access device through the first network, and the second message includes at least one of the following parameters: a first parameter for supporting the user equipment to randomly access the third cell, a second parameter indicating the resources of the third cell, a fourth parameter indicating the context information of the user equipment in the second network via the user equipment, or a fifth parameter indicating the security and integrity protection information of the user equipment in the second network.

[0047] The above-mentioned first response message can be a radio resource control reconfiguration complete (RRC reconfiguration complete) message; it can also be a radio resource control setup complete (RRC setup complete) message; it can also be an uplink information transfer message; it can also be a radio resource control setup response (RRC setup request) message; it can also be a message 1 (MSG1) message of the random access process, and it can also be a medium access control (MAC) layer signaling, such as including a MAC control element (CE); or it can also be a physical layer signaling, such as including uplink control information (UCI), etc.

[0048] Optionally, when the above-mentioned first message is an RRC reconfiguration message, the first response message can be an RRC reconfiguration complete message; optionally, when the above-mentioned first message is an RRC setup message, the first response message can be an RRC setup complete message; optionally, when the above-mentioned first message is a paging message, the first response message can be an uplink control information in response to the paging message.

[0049] Based on the above technical solution, the user equipment responds to the paging of the second network, selects the third cell in the second network to be accessed, and notifies the access device of the relevant information of the third cell. The access device can provide the relevant parameters for accessing the third cell to assist the user equipment in accessing the third cell through the access device.

[0050] The fourth parameter and the fifth parameter can be configured by the second network. For example, they are configured by the third cell, and the third cell transmits the configuration parameters to the first network. The first network then transmits them to the user equipment via the first cell; or they can be directly configured by the first network. For example, the cell in the first network that configures the user context parameters, security, and integrity protection information parameters in the first network sends the existing user context parameters, security, and integrity protection information parameters to the user equipment, that is, the second network reuses the user context parameters, security, and integrity protection information parameters in the first network.

[0051] The user equipment receiving the second message sent by the access device through the first network can be understood as that the above parameters included in the second message are transmitted to the user equipment via the first network.

[0052] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementation manners of the first aspect, the first message includes at least one of the following parameters: a sixth parameter for supporting the user equipment to randomly access the second cell, a seventh parameter indicating the resources of the second cell, a ninth parameter indicating the context information of the user equipment in the second network, or a tenth parameter indicating the security and integrity protection information of the user equipment in the second network.

[0053] Based on the above technical solution, the access device can provide the relevant parameters of multiple cells for the user equipment to select for access.

[0054] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementation manners of the first aspect, when the first message is used to indicate that the user equipment is paged by the second network, the paging method further includes: the user equipment receives a third message sent by the access device through the first network, and the third message is used to indicate that the user equipment accesses the first network through the access device. The third message includes at least one of the following information: the first identifier of the user equipment, the identifier of the first network, or the identifier of the first cell, where the first identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the user equipment in the first network, the identifier of the first network is used to indicate the first network that the user equipment needs to access, and the identifier of the first cell is used to indicate the cell in the first network for the user equipment to access through the access device.

[0055] In the paging method provided by the embodiments of the present application, the paging of the first network and the second network can be respectively sent by the access device to the user equipment. After the user equipment responds to the paging of the first network, it responds to the paging of the second network with the assistance of the first network.

[0056] In the embodiment of the present application, the user equipment that has been connected to the first network can be understood as that the access device receives the first paging message and the second paging message sent by the second core network device and the first core network device respectively, but the user equipment responds to the first paging message first and accesses the cell in the first network.

[0057] When the above-mentioned first network and second network share the core network, the above-mentioned second core network device and first core network device can be the same core network device. For example, the first network is PNI-NPN, and the second network is PLMN, where PNI-NPN and PLMN share the core network device.

[0058] Combined with the first aspect, in some implementation manners of the first aspect, the paging method further includes: the user equipment sends a second response message to the access device, and the second response message includes information of a fourth cell, and the fourth cell is the cell in the first network determined by the user equipment to access.

[0059] Based on the above technical solution, the user equipment can send a second response message to the access device to respond to the paging of the first network. It can be understood as a response to the above-mentioned third message.

[0060] The second response message can be an RRC reconfiguration complete message, can also be an RRC setup complete message, can also be an uplink information transfer message, can also be an MSG1 message of a random access process, can also be MAC CE information, can also be UCI, etc.

[0061] Optionally, when the above-mentioned third message is an RRC reconfiguration message, the second response message can be an RRC reconfiguration complete message; optionally, when the above-mentioned third message is an RRC setup message, the second response message can be an RRC setup complete message.

[0062] After the user equipment accesses the fourth cell through the access device, it can detect paging messages only in the fourth cell, and the second network can page the user equipment in the fourth cell, which can save the energy consumption of the user equipment. For example, the access device can send an RRC message or a paging message in the fourth cell to inform the user equipment that the second network is paging the user equipment.

[0063] Combined with the first aspect, in some implementation manners of the first aspect, the third message further includes a first cause value, and the first cause value is used to indicate the reason for the first network to page the user equipment.

[0064] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the third message further includes a first duration, which is used to identify that within the first duration, the user equipment accesses the first network through the access device.

[0065] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the paging method further includes: the user equipment sends a first identifier of the user equipment and a second identifier of the user equipment to the access device, where the first identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the user equipment in the first network, and the second identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the user equipment in the second network.

[0066] Based on the above technical solution, the user equipment can notify the access device of the identifiers in different networks, so that when the access device receives paging from different networks, it can determine whether different paging messages are paging the same user equipment according to the identifiers of different user equipments.

[0067] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the user equipment includes a first subscriber identity module (SIM) card and a second SIM card, where the first identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the first SIM card in the first network, and the second identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the second SIM card in the second network.

[0068] The above user equipment can be a user equipment connected to the access device, a user equipment in a dual-radio state, or a user equipment with multiple SIM cards. For a user equipment in a dual-radio state, the user equipment can have two Uu interfaces, and a set of SRB, DRB, and other resources can be configured for each Uu interface, that is, the user equipment can be configured with two sets of SRB, DRB, and other resources. The Uu interface between the user equipment and the first network is the first Uu interface, and the Uu interface between the user equipment and the second network is the second Uu interface. The method of the present application can solve the problem that the first Uu interface assists the second Uu interface to page the user equipment and assist the second Uu interface to configure relevant SRB and DRB parameters. For a user equipment with multiple SIM cards, the user identifier of the user equipment in the first network can be the identifier of the first SIM card, and the user identifier of the user equipment in the second network can be the identifier of the second SIM card. That is, in the present application, the problem that the first SIM card assists in paging the second SIM card and assists the second SIM card to configure relevant parameters can be solved. For example, when the first SIM card and the second SIM in the user equipment share a single-transmit and single-receive antenna device.

[0069] When the user equipment includes the above first SIM card and second SIM card, the above first network and second network can be the same network or different networks.

[0070] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the paging method further includes: the user equipment sends a first identifier of the user equipment and a second identifier of the user equipment to the access device, where the first identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the first SIM card of the user equipment in the first network, and the second identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the second SIM card of the user equipment in the second network; and / or, the user equipment sends a third identifier of the user equipment and a fourth identifier of the user equipment to the access device, where the third identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the first SIM card of the user equipment in the second network, and the fourth identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the second SIM card of the user equipment in the first network.

[0071] When the user equipment has a first SIM card and a second SIM card, different networks page different SIM cards of the user equipment. For example, the first network sends a first identifier to page the first SIM card of the user equipment, and the second network sends a second identifier to page the second SIM card of the user equipment. Or, the same network pages different SIM cards of the user equipment. For example, the first network sends a first identifier and a fourth identifier to page the first SIM card and the second SIM card of the user equipment, or the second network sends a third identifier and a second identifier to page the first SIM card and the second SIM card of the user equipment. Or, different networks page the same SIM card of the user equipment. For example, the first network sends a first identifier to page the first SIM card of the user equipment, and the second network sends a third identifier to page the first SIM card of the user equipment.

[0072] Based on the above technical solution, the user equipment can notify the access device of the identifiers of the same SIM card of the user equipment in different networks, the identifiers of different SIM cards in the same network, or the identifiers of different SIM cards in different networks, so that when the access device receives paging from different networks or the same network, it can determine that different paging messages are paging the same user equipment according to different identifiers of the user equipment.

[0073] In a second aspect, a paging method is provided, including: the access device receives a first paging message from a second core network device, where the first paging message is at least used for the second network to page the user equipment; the access device sends a first message to the user equipment through the first network, where the first message is used to indicate that the user equipment is paged by at least the second network.

[0074] In the paging method provided by the embodiment of the present application, the access device may send a first message to the user equipment through a first network, so that the user equipment responds to the paging of a second network and accesses the second network through the access device. The user equipment can respond to the paging of different networks. Specifically, the first network assists the second network in paging. On the one hand, it enables terminal devices that cannot receive the paging information of the second network to receive the paging message of the second network. On the other hand, the first network assists the second network in control plane signaling transmission, achieving load balancing of control plane signaling between networks. At the same time, it avoids the second network continuously sending paging messages because it never receives a paging response from the terminal device, reducing the signaling storm of the second network. It can ensure normal paging in the shared radio access network scenario.

[0075] In combination with the second aspect, in some implementation manners of the second aspect, when the first paging message is used for the second network to page the user equipment, the first paging message and the first message respectively include at least one of the following information: the second identifier of the user equipment, the identifier of the second network, or the identifier of the second cell. The second identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the user equipment in the second network. The identifier of the second network is used to indicate the second network that the user equipment needs to access. The identifier of the second cell is used to indicate the cell in the second network for the user equipment to access through the access device.

[0076] Based on the above technical solution, by including at least one of the second identifier of the user equipment, the identifier of the second network, or the identifier of the second cell in the first message, it assists the terminal device in parsing that the second network is paging the terminal device and provides reference information for the terminal device to access the second network, so that the terminal device can quickly select a suitable cell and access.

[0077] In combination with the second aspect, in some implementation manners of the second aspect, that the first paging message is at least used for the first network to page the user equipment includes: the first paging message is used for the first network and the second network to page the user equipment; when the first paging message is used for the first network and the second network to page the user equipment, the first paging message and the first message respectively include at least one of the second identifier of the user equipment, the identifier of the second network, or the identifier of the second cell, and at least one of the following information: the first identifier list of the user equipment, the identifier list of the first network, or the identifier of the first cell. The first identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the user equipment in the first network. The identifier of the first network is used to indicate the first network that the user equipment needs to access. The identifier of the first cell is used to indicate the cell in the first network for the user equipment to access through the access device.

[0078] Based on the above technical solution, by including at least one of the second identifier of the user equipment, the identifier of the second network, or the identifier of the second cell, and at least one of the first identifier of the user equipment, the identifier of the first network, or the identifier of the first cell in the first message, it is to assist the terminal device to resolve that the first network and the second network are paging the terminal device, and provide reference information for the terminal device to access the first network and the second network, so that the terminal device can quickly select a suitable cell and access it.

[0079] The first identifier of the user equipment included in the above first paging message may be included in the first identifier list of the user equipment, that is, there may be multiple first identifiers of the user equipment in the first network. The first paging message may send the multiple first identifiers of the user equipment as the first identifier list of the user equipment to the user equipment to indicate that the first network is paging the user equipment. Similarly, the second identifier of the user equipment included in the above first paging message may be included in the second identifier list of the user equipment, that is, there may be multiple second identifiers of the user equipment in the second network. The first paging message may send the multiple second identifiers of the user equipment as the second identifier list of the user equipment to the user equipment to indicate that the second network is paging the user equipment.

[0080] Optionally, the first paging message includes the second identifier of the user equipment, indicating the identifier of the user equipment in the second network. If the user equipment accesses the first network through an access device and then receives the second identifier of the user equipment through this first paging message, it is determined that it is also necessary to access the second network through the access device.

[0081] The second identifier of the user equipment included in the first paging message may be included in the second identifier list of the user equipment, that is, there may be multiple second identifiers of the user equipment in the second network. The first paging message may send the multiple second identifiers of the user equipment as the second identifier list of the user equipment to the user equipment to indicate that the second network is paging the user equipment.

[0082] Optionally, the first paging message includes the identifier of the second network, indicating that the second network needs to page the user equipment.

[0083] The identifier of the second network included in the first paging message may be included in the identifier list of the second network, that is, there may be multiple identifiers of the second network. The first paging message may send the multiple identifiers of the second network as the identifier list of the second network to the user equipment to indicate that there is also a second network paging the user equipment.

[0084] Optionally, the first paging message includes the identifier of the second cell, indicating that the cell in the second network is available for the user equipment to access.

[0085] In the second network, multiple cells can provide access for the user equipment through the access device. That is, there can be multiple identifiers of the second cell included in the first paging message. The first paging message can send the multiple identifiers of the second cell as a list of identifiers of the second cell to the user equipment, indicating that multiple cells in the second network can provide access for the user equipment through the access device.

[0086] Optionally, the first paging message includes a first identifier of the user equipment, indicating the identifier of the user equipment in the first network. The user equipment determines that it needs to access the first network based on the first identifier of the user equipment received through the first paging message.

[0087] The first identifier of the user equipment included in the first paging message can be included in a list of first identifiers of the user equipment. That is, there can be multiple identifiers of the user equipment in the first network. The first paging message can send the multiple first identifiers of the user equipment as a list of first identifiers of the user equipment to the user equipment, indicating that the first network is paging the user equipment.

[0088] Optionally, the first paging message includes an identifier of the first network, indicating that the first network needs to page the user equipment;

[0089] The identifier of the first network included in the first paging message can be included in a list of identifiers of the first network. That is, there can be multiple identifiers of the second network. The first paging message can send the multiple identifiers of the first network as a list of identifiers of the first network to the user equipment, indicating that the first network is paging the user equipment.

[0090] Optionally, the first paging message includes an identifier of the first cell, indicating that the cell in the first network is available for the user equipment to access through the access device.

[0091] In the first network, multiple cells can provide access for the user equipment through the access device. That is, there can be multiple identifiers of the first cell included in the first paging message. The first paging message can send the multiple identifiers of the first cell as a list of identifiers of the first cell to the user equipment, indicating that multiple cells in the first network can also provide access for the user equipment through the access device.

[0092] In combination with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, when the first paging message is used to page the user equipment by the first network and the second network, the first paging message further includes a first cause value and / or a second cause value. The first cause value is used to indicate the reason for the first network to page the user equipment, and the second cause value is used to indicate the reason for the second network to page the user equipment; or, when the first paging message is used to page the user equipment by the second network, the first paging message further includes the second cause value.

[0093] The paging method provided by the embodiments of this application can include the reason for the network to page the user equipment in the first paging message, so that the user equipment can know the reasons for different networks to initiate paging based on the first paging message, which can assist the user equipment to quickly locate the reason for the paging message to be initiated, distinguish the paging scenario, so that the user equipment can quickly make appropriate strategies and actions next.

[0094] In combination with the second aspect, in some implementation manners of the second aspect, when the first paging message is used for the first network and the second network to page the user equipment, the first paging message further includes a first duration and / or a second duration, where the first duration is used to identify that the user equipment accesses the first network within the first duration, and the second duration is used to identify that the user equipment accesses the second network within the second duration; or, when the first paging message is used for the second network to page the user equipment, the first paging message includes the second duration.

[0095] The paging method provided by the embodiments of this application can include the duration for which the network hopes the user equipment to make a response when paging the user equipment in the first paging message, so that the user equipment can know which networks' paging needs to be responded to as soon as possible based on the first paging message. The terminal device can continue to receive services from other networks within the time threshold and then access the paging network when approaching the time threshold, ensuring the continuity of user services.

[0096] In combination with the second aspect, in some implementation manners of the second aspect, before the access device sends a first message to the user equipment, the method further includes: the access device establishes a connection with the user equipment; the access device sending the first message to the user equipment through the first network includes: the access device sending the first message to the user equipment through a signaling radio bearer SRB in the first network, where the first message is used to indicate that the user equipment is paged by the second network, or the access device sending the first message to the user equipment through paging information in the first network.

[0097] For the paging method provided by the embodiments of this application, in the case where the user equipment has accessed the first network, the first network can assist the second network to page the user equipment, so that the user equipment in the connected state can respond to the paging of other networks.

[0098] In combination with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the paging method further includes: the access device receives a first response message sent by the user equipment. The first response message can be understood as a response to the above-mentioned first message. The first response message includes information about a third cell, and the third cell is a cell in the second network determined by the user equipment to access; the access device sends a second message to the user equipment through the first network, and the second message includes at least one of the following parameters: a first parameter for supporting the user equipment to randomly access the third cell, a second parameter indicating the resources of the third cell, a fourth parameter indicating the context information of the user equipment in the second network, or a fifth parameter indicating the security and integrity protection information of the user equipment in the second network.

[0099] Based on the above technical solution, the user equipment responds to the paging of the second network, selects a third cell in the second network to access, and notifies the access device of the relevant information of the third cell. The access device can provide relevant parameters for accessing the third cell to assist the user equipment in accessing the third cell.

[0100] In combination with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the first message includes at least one of the following parameters: a sixth parameter for supporting the user equipment to randomly access a second cell in the second network, a seventh parameter indicating the resources of the second cell, a ninth parameter indicating the context information of the user equipment in the second network, or a tenth parameter indicating the security and integrity protection information of the user equipment in the second network.

[0101] Based on the above technical solution, the access device can provide relevant parameters of multiple cells for the user equipment to select for access.

[0102] In combination with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, when the first paging message is used for the second network to page the user equipment, the method further includes: the access device receives a second paging message sent by a first core network device, and the access device sends a third message to the user equipment through the first network. The third message is used to instruct the user equipment to access the first network. The second paging message and the third message respectively include at least one of the following information: a first identifier list of the user equipment, an identifier list of the first network, or an identifier of a first cell. The first identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the user equipment in the first network, the identifier of the first network is used to indicate the first network that the user equipment needs to access, and the identifier of the first cell is used to indicate the cell in the first network for the user equipment to access.

[0103] In the paging method provided by the embodiments of the present application, paging in the first network and the second network can be separately sent by the access device to the user equipment. After the user equipment responds to the paging of the first network, it responds to the paging of the second network with the assistance of the first network.

[0104] In combination with the second aspect, in some implementation manners of the second aspect, the method further includes: the access device receives a second response message sent by the user equipment, and the second response message includes information about a fourth cell, where the fourth cell is a cell in the first network determined by the user equipment to access.

[0105] In the paging method provided by the embodiments of the present application, the user equipment can send a second response message to the access device to respond to the paging of the first network, and notify the access device of relevant information about the fourth cell. The access device can provide relevant parameters for accessing the fourth cell to assist the user equipment in accessing the fourth cell.

[0106] In combination with the second aspect, in some implementation manners of the second aspect, the paging method further includes: the access device determines based on the first paging message and the second paging message that: the access device pages the user equipment in a cell in the first network and a cell in the second network respectively; or, the access device pages the user equipment in a cell in the second network.

[0107] In the paging method provided by the embodiments of the present application, after the access device receives paging messages separately sent by multiple networks, it can determine the order of paging the user equipment in different networks.

[0108] In combination with the second aspect, in some implementation manners of the second aspect, when the access device determines to page the user equipment in a cell in the first network or a cell in the second network, the first message includes a first identifier of the user equipment and a second identifier of the user equipment, where the first identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the user equipment in the first network, and the second identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the user equipment in the second network; the third message includes the first identifier of the user equipment and the second identifier of the user equipment.

[0109] In the paging method provided by the embodiments of the present application, when the access device determines to page the user equipment in the first network and the second network simultaneously, it can include the identifiers of the user equipment in the first network and the second network in the above first message or the third message.

[0110] In connection with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, before the access device sends the first message to the user equipment, the method further includes: the access device receives a first identifier of the user equipment and a second identifier of the user equipment from the user equipment, where the first identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the user identifier of the user equipment in the first network, and the second identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the user identifier of the user equipment in the second network; or, the access device receives the first identifier of the user equipment and the second identifier of the user equipment from the first core network device; or, the access device receives the first identifier of the user equipment and the second identifier of the user equipment from the second core network device.

[0111] In the paging method provided by the embodiments of the present application, the access device can obtain the identifiers of the user equipment in different networks.

[0112] In connection with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the access device includes: an access network device; or, the access device includes a distributed unit (DU) and a central unit (CU), where the CU is configured to receive the signaling from the first core network device and receive the signaling from the second core network device, and send a fourth message to the DU.

[0113] In the paging method provided by the embodiments of the present application, the access device can be an access network device or an access device including a CU and a DU. This provides a flexible option.

[0114] The CU is configured to receive the signaling from the first core network device and receive the signaling from the second core network device includes: the CU receives the above-mentioned first paging message from the second core network device, and the CU receives the above-mentioned second paging message from the first core network device. When the access device includes a DU and a CU, the CU is configured to receive the signaling sent by the core network device and send a fourth message to the DU. When the fourth message is used for paging the user equipment in the second network, the fourth message includes at least one of the following information: the second identifier of the user equipment, the identifier of the second network, or the identifier of the second cell, where the second identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the user equipment in the second network, the identifier of the second network is used to indicate the second network that the user equipment needs to access, and the identifier of the second cell is used to indicate the cell in the second network for the user equipment to access; when the fourth message is used to indicate paging the user equipment in the second network and the first network, the fourth message includes at least one of the second identifier of the user equipment, the identifier of the second network, or the identifier of the second cell, and at least one of the following information: the first identifier of the user equipment, the identifier of the first network, or the identifier of the first cell, where the first identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the user equipment in the first network, the identifier of the first network is used to indicate the first network that the user equipment needs to access, and the identifier of the first cell is used to indicate the cell in the first network for the user equipment to access.

[0115] When the access device includes a DU and a CU, the access device may include a DU and multiple CUs. For example, the above-mentioned access device includes a DU, a first CU, and a second CU. Among them, the first CU is used to receive the signaling of the first core network device, and the second CU is used to receive the signaling of the second core network device. The first CU and the second CU respectively send paging information to the DU, and respectively include the first identifier and the second identifier of the user equipment. The DU then pages the user equipment in the first network cell and the second network cell respectively, and respectively includes the first identifier and the second identifier of the user equipment, or the DU notifies the user equipment through a paging message that both the first network and the second network are paging the device. After the user equipment accesses the first network, the first CU and the cell of the first network under the DU assist in configuring the random access parameters, or bearer parameters, etc. of the cell of the second network under the second CU and the DU.

[0116] Combined with the second aspect, in some implementation manners of the second aspect, when the access device includes a DU and a CU, the method further includes: the DU sends a first signaling to the CU, and the first signaling is used to indicate the network that the DU can support for access; the DU receives a second signaling sent by the CU, and the second signaling is used to indicate the network that the CU and the DU can jointly support for access, or the second signaling is used to indicate the network that the CU can support for access, or the second signaling is used to send the auxiliary configuration parameters of the CU for the DU, and the auxiliary configuration parameters are used to assist the DU in configuring the relevant parameters of the supported network. For example, the CU sends a network access rate reduction signaling to the DU to assist the DU in configuring the user access control (UAC) parameters of the network cell under it.

[0117] In the paging method provided by the embodiments of the present application, the CU and the DU can interact through signaling to learn about the networks that each other can support for access, so as to determine the network that the CU and the DU can support for access at the same time.

[0118] In combination with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the first signaling includes any one of the following signaling: F1 interface establishment request signaling, DU configuration update request signaling, or DU serving cell message, where the DU serving cell message includes a cell identifier and a network identifier of a network supported by the cell for access; the second signaling includes any one of the following signaling: F1 interface establishment response signaling, DU configuration update response signaling, CU configuration update request signaling, network access rate reduction signaling, F1 interface establishment failure signaling, DU configuration update failure signaling, or information about a network that the CU can support for access, where the information about the network that the CU can support for access includes the network identifier of the network that the CU can support for access.

[0119] In the paging method provided by the embodiments of this application, there can be multiple choices for the types of signaling exchanged between the CU and the DU.

[0120] In combination with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the CU includes a control plane CU-CP and a user plane CU-UP; the paging method further includes: the CU-UP sends a third signaling to the CU-CP, and the third signaling is used to indicate a network that the CU-UP can support for access; the CU-UP receives a fourth signaling sent by the CU-CP, and the fourth signaling is used to indicate a network that the CU-CP and the CU-UP can jointly support for access, or the fourth signaling is used to indicate a network that the CU-CP can support for access.

[0121] In the paging method provided by the embodiments of this application, the CU-CP and the CU-UP can exchange signaling to learn about the networks supported by each other for access, so as to determine the network that the CU-CP and the CU-UP can both support for access.

[0122] In combination with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the third signaling includes any one of the following signaling: E1 interface establishment request signaling, CU-UP configuration update request signaling, or CU-CP configuration update response signaling; the fourth signaling includes any one of the following signaling: E1 interface establishment response signaling, CU-UP configuration update response signaling, CU-CP configuration update request signaling, E1 interface establishment failure signaling, or CU-UP configuration update failure signaling.

[0123] In the paging method provided by the embodiments of this application, there can be multiple choices for the types of signaling exchanged between the CU-UP and the CU-CP.

[0124] In a third aspect, a paging method is provided, including: a second core network device sends a first paging message to an access device, and the first paging message is at least used for a second network to page a user equipment.

[0125] In combination with the third aspect, in some implementation manners of the third aspect, when the first paging message is used by the second network to page the user equipment, the first paging message includes at least one of the following information: a second identifier of the user equipment, an identifier of the second network, or an identifier of the second cell. The second identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the user equipment in the second network. The identifier of the second network is used to indicate the second network that the user equipment needs to access. The identifier of the second cell is used to indicate the cell in the second network for the user equipment to access. The first paging message being at least used for the first network to page the user equipment includes: the first paging message is used for the first network and the second network to page the user equipment. When the first paging message is used for the first network and the second network to page the user equipment, the first paging message and the first message respectively include at least one of the second identifier of the user equipment, the identifier of the second network, or the identifier of the second cell, and at least one of the following information: a first identifier list of the user equipment, an identifier list of the first network, or an identifier of the first cell. The first identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the user equipment in the first network. The identifier of the first network is used to indicate the first network that the user equipment needs to access. The identifier of the first cell is used to indicate the cell in the first network for the user equipment to access.

[0126] In a fourth aspect, a communication method is provided, including: the DU sends a first signaling to the CU, and the first signaling is used to indicate the networks that the DU can support for access; the DU receives a second signaling sent by the CU, and the second signaling is used to indicate the networks that the CU and the DU can jointly support for access, or the second signaling is used to indicate the networks that the CU can support for access, or the second signaling is used for the CU to fail to respond to the first signaling and includes the reason for the response failure, or the second signaling is used to send auxiliary configuration parameters of the CU for the DU, and the auxiliary configuration parameters are used to assist the DU in configuring relevant parameters of the supported networks. For example, the CU sends a network access rate reduction signaling to the DU to assist the DU in configuring user access control (UAC) parameters of the network cells thereunder.

[0127] In a possible implementation manner, when the CU and the DU do not jointly support the networks for access, the CU fails to respond to the first signaling.

[0128] In the communication method provided by the embodiments of this application, the CU and the DU can know the networks that the other party can support for access through signaling interaction, so as to determine the networks that the CU and the DU jointly support for access. When a user requests access, the DU can select the correct CU. At the same time, when the CU establishes user plane resources for the UE, selects a handover target cell, and initiates paging for the UE, the CU can select the correct DU.

[0129] When the second signaling includes the reason for response failure, the DU can quickly locate the problem based on the failure reason value, identify the specific time and scenario corresponding to the failure, so that the DU can quickly make appropriate policies and actions next.

[0130] Combined with the fourth aspect, in some implementation manners of the fourth aspect, the first signaling includes any one of the following signaling: F1 interface establishment request signaling, DU configuration update request signaling, or DU serving cell message, where the DU serving cell message includes a cell identifier and a network identifier of a network supported by the cell for access; the second signaling includes any one of the following signaling: F1 interface establishment response signaling, DU configuration update response signaling, network access rate reduction signaling, CU configuration update request signaling, F1 interface establishment failure signaling, DU configuration update failure signaling, or information on a network supported by the CU for access, where the information on the network supported by the CU for access includes a network identifier of the network supported by the CU for access.

[0131] In the communication method provided by the embodiments of the present application, there can be multiple choices for the types of signaling exchanged between the CU and the DU.

[0132] Combined with the fourth aspect, in some implementation manners of the fourth aspect, the CU includes a control plane CU-CP and a user plane CU-UP; the communication method further includes: the CU-UP sends a third signaling to the CU-CP, and the third signaling is used to indicate a network supported by the CU-UP for access; the CU-UP receives a fourth signaling sent by the CU-CP, and the fourth signaling is used to indicate a network supported by both the CU-CP and the CU-UP for access, or the fourth signaling is used to indicate a network supported by the CU-CP for access, or the fourth signaling is used to indicate that the CU-CP fails to respond to the third signaling and includes the reason for response failure.

[0133] In a possible implementation manner, when the CU-UP and the CU-CP do not have a network supported by both for access, the CU-CP fails to respond to the third signaling.

[0134] In the communication method provided by the embodiments of the present application, the CU-CP and the CU-UP can exchange signaling to know the networks supported by each other, so as to determine the network supported by both the CU-CP and the CU-UP for access.

[0135] In combination with the fourth aspect, in certain implementations of the fourth aspect, the third signaling includes any one of the following signaling: E1 interface establishment request signaling, CU-UP configuration update request signaling, or CU-CP configuration update response signaling; the fourth signaling includes any one of the following signaling: E1 interface establishment response signaling, CU-UP configuration update response signaling, CU-CP configuration update request signaling, E1 interface establishment failure signaling, or CU-UP configuration update failure signaling.

[0136] In the communication method provided by the embodiments of this application, there can be multiple choices for the types of signaling exchanged between CU-UP and CU-CP.

[0137] In a fifth aspect, a communication method is provided, including: the CU receives a first signaling sent by the DU, where the first signaling is used to indicate the network that the DU can support access to; the CU sends a second signaling to the DU, where the second signaling is used to indicate the network that the CU and the DU can jointly support access to, or the second signaling is used to indicate the network that the CU can support access to, or the second signaling is used to indicate that the CU fails to respond to the first signaling and includes the reason for the response failure.

[0138] In the communication method provided by the embodiments of this application, the CU and the DU can interact through signaling to learn about the networks that each other can support access to, so as to determine the network that the CU and the DU can support access to simultaneously.

[0139] In combination with the fifth aspect, in certain implementations of the fifth aspect, the first signaling includes any one of the following signaling: F1 interface establishment request signaling, DU configuration update request signaling, or DU serving cell message, where the DU serving cell message includes a cell identifier and a network identifier of the network that the cell can support access to; the second signaling includes any one of the following signaling: F1 interface establishment response signaling, DU configuration update response signaling, network access rate reduction signaling, CU configuration update request signaling, F1 interface establishment failure signaling, DU configuration update failure signaling, or information about the network that the CU can support access to, where the information about the network that the CU can support access to includes the network identifier of the network that the CU can support access to.

[0140] In the communication method provided by the embodiments of this application, there can be multiple choices for the types of signaling exchanged between the CU and the DU.

[0141] In a sixth aspect, a communication method is provided, including: the user equipment receives a first message from an access device through a first network, where the first message is used to indicate the resources in the first network for transmitting data of the second network, where the first network and the second network are the networks that the access device can support access to; the user equipment determines the resources in the first network for transmitting data of the second network.

[0142] In the communication method provided by the embodiment of the present application, the user equipment can receive a first message indicating that the user equipment is paged by at least a second network through a first network, and determine resources in the first network for transmitting data of the second network, so as to implement transmitting data of the second network using resources in the first network. The first network can assist the second network in transmitting user plane and control plane data, achieve load balancing between networks, offload data traffic of a high-load network to a low-load network, and reduce signaling interaction between networks to prevent signaling storms. Based on paging, the access device side can perform control plane signaling splitting and user plane data splitting to achieve load balancing of different cells in different networks.

[0143] The data of the second network mentioned above includes user plane data of the second network and signaling plane data of the second network. For example, PDU session user plane data.

[0144] Combined with the sixth aspect, in some implementation manners of the sixth aspect, the user equipment has accessed the first network, and the communication method further includes: the user equipment receiving a first message from an access device through the first network includes: the user equipment receiving the first message from the access device through a signaling radio bearer SRB in the first network, for example, receiving the first message from the access device through an RRC message in the first network; or, the user equipment receiving the first message from the access device through paging information in the first network.

[0145] In the communication method provided by the embodiment of the present application, when the user equipment has accessed the first network, the first network can assist the second network in paging the user equipment, so that the user equipment in the connected state can respond to paging from other networks.

[0146] Combined with the sixth aspect, in some implementation manners of the sixth aspect, the communication method further includes: the user equipment sending a first response message to the access device, the first response message including information of a third cell, the third cell being a cell in the second network determined by the user equipment to access; the user equipment receiving a second message sent by the access device through the first network, the second message including: a third parameter indicating resources of the first network and a first indication information, the first indication information being used to indicate that the resources of the first network carry data of the second network.

[0147] The resources of the first network mentioned above are resources in the first network configured via the first network.

[0148] In the communication method provided by the embodiment of the present application, the user equipment responds to the paging of the second network, selects a third cell in the second network to access, and notifies the access device of the relevant information of the third cell. The access device can provide resources in the first network for transmitting data of the second network through a second message to assist the user equipment and the second network in transmitting data of the second network.

[0149] In combination with the sixth aspect, in some implementation manners of the sixth aspect, the first message includes an eighth parameter indicating the resources of the first network and a first indication information, and the first indication information is used to indicate that the resources of the first network carry data of the second network.

[0150] Based on the above technical solution, the access device can provide resources in the first network for transmitting data of the second network through the first message to assist the user equipment and the second network in transmitting data of the second network.

[0151] The above resources of the first network are resources in the first network configured via the first network.

[0152] In combination with the sixth aspect, in some implementation manners of the sixth aspect, the communication method further includes: the user equipment receives a third message sent by the access device through the first network, and the third message is used to instruct the user equipment to access the first network. The third message includes at least one of the following information: a first identifier of the user equipment, an identifier of the first network, or an identifier of a first cell. The first identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the user equipment in the first network, the identifier of the first network is used to indicate the first network that the user equipment needs to access, and the identifier of the first cell is used to indicate the cell in the first network for the user equipment to access.

[0153] In the communication method provided by the embodiment of the present application, the first network paging can be sent by the access device to the user equipment. After the user equipment responds to the paging of the first network, resources for transmitting data of the second network are allocated in the first network.

[0154] In combination with the sixth aspect, in some implementation manners of the sixth aspect, the communication method further includes: the user equipment sends the first identifier of the user equipment and the second identifier of the user equipment to the access device. The first identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the user equipment in the first network, and the second identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the user equipment in the second network.

[0155] Based on the above technical solution, the user equipment can notify the access device of the identifiers in different networks, so that when the access device receives paging from different networks, it can determine whether different paging messages are paging the same user equipment according to the identifiers of different user equipments.

[0156] In combination with the sixth aspect, in some implementations of the sixth aspect, the communication method further includes: the user equipment sending a first identifier of the user equipment and a second identifier of the user equipment to the access device, where the first identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the first SIM card of the user equipment in the first network, and the second identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the second SIM card of the user equipment in the second network; and / or,

[0157] the user equipment sending a third identifier of the user equipment and a fourth identifier of the user equipment to the access device, where the third identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the first SIM card of the user equipment in the second network, and the fourth identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the second SIM card of the user equipment in the first network.

[0158] The seventh aspect provides a communication method, including: the access device receiving a first paging message from a second core network device, where the first paging message is at least used for the second network to page the user equipment; the access device sending a first message to the user equipment through the first network, where the first message is used to indicate the resources in the first network for transmitting data of the second network.

[0159] In the communication method provided by the embodiments of the present application, the access device can send, through the first network among the two different networks supported by the access device, the resources in the first network for transmitting data of the second network to the user equipment, so that the user equipment can transmit data of the second network in the first network.

[0160] In combination with the seventh aspect, in some implementations of the seventh aspect, before the access device sends the first message to the user equipment, the communication method further includes: the access device establishing a connection with the user equipment; the access device sending the first message to the user equipment through the first network includes: the access device sending the first message to the user equipment through a signaling radio bearer (SRB) in the first network, or the access device sending the first message to the user equipment through paging information in the first network.

[0161] In the communication method provided by the embodiments of the present application, in the case where the user equipment has accessed the first network, the first network can assist the second network in paging the user equipment, so that the user equipment in the connected state can respond to the paging of other networks.

[0162] In combination with the seventh aspect, in some implementations of the seventh aspect, the access device receives a first response message sent by the user equipment, where the first response message includes information about a third cell, and the third cell is a cell in the second network determined by the user equipment to access; the access device sends a second message to the user equipment through the first network, and the second message includes: a third parameter indicating the resources of the first network and a first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate that the resources of the first network carry the data of the second network.

[0163] In the communication method provided by the embodiments of the present application, the user equipment responds to the paging of the second network, selects a third cell in the second network to access, and notifies the access device of the relevant information of the third cell. The access device can provide resources in the first network for transmitting the data of the second network through the second message to assist the user equipment and the second network in transmitting the data of the second network.

[0164] In combination with the seventh aspect, in some implementations of the seventh aspect, the first message includes an eighth parameter indicating the resources of the first network configured via a cell in the first network and a first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate that the resources of the first network configured via a cell in the first network carry the data of the second network.

[0165] Based on the above technical solutions, the access device can provide resources in the first network for transmitting the data of the second network through the first message to assist the user equipment and the second network in transmitting the data of the second network.

[0166] In combination with the seventh aspect, in some implementations of the seventh aspect, when the first paging message is used for the second network to page the user equipment, the method further includes: the access device receives a second paging message sent by a first core network device, and the access device sends a third message to the user equipment through the first network, where the third message is used to instruct the user equipment to access the first network, and the second paging message and the third message respectively include at least one of the following information: a first identifier list of the user equipment, an identifier list of the first network, or an identifier of a first cell, where the first identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the user equipment in the first network, the identifier of the first network is used to indicate the first network that the user equipment needs to access, and the identifier of the first cell is used to indicate the cell in the first network for the user equipment to access.

[0167] In the communication method provided by the embodiments of the present application, the paging of the first network and the second network can be respectively sent by the access device to the user equipment. After the user equipment responds to the paging of the first network, resources for transmitting the data of the second network are allocated in the first network.

[0168] In an eighth aspect, a paging apparatus is provided, including: a receiver, configured to receive, via a first network, a first message from an access device, where the first message is used to indicate that a user equipment is paged by at least the second network; and a processor, configured to page the second network. In the following, the paging apparatus is taken as an example of the user equipment for description.

[0169] In combination with the eighth aspect, in some implementations of the eighth aspect, when the first message is used to indicate that the user equipment is paged by the second network, the first message includes at least one of the following information: a second identifier of the user equipment, an identifier of the second network, or an identifier of a second cell, where the second identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the user equipment in the second network, the identifier of the second network is used to indicate the second network that the user equipment needs to access, and the identifier of the second cell is used to indicate the cell in the second network for the user equipment to access; that the first message is used to indicate that the user equipment is paged by at least the second network includes: the first message is used to indicate that the user equipment is paged by the second network and the first network; when the first message is used to indicate that the user equipment accesses the second network and is paged by the first network, the first message includes at least one of the second identifier of the user equipment, the identifier of the second network, or the identifier of the second cell, and at least one of the following information: a first identifier of the user equipment, an identifier of the first network, or an identifier of a first cell, where the first identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the user equipment in the first network, the identifier of the first network is used to indicate the first network that the user equipment needs to access, and the identifier of the first cell is used to indicate the cell in the first network for the user equipment to access.

[0170] In combination with the eighth aspect, in some implementations of the eighth aspect, when the first message is used to indicate that the user equipment is paged by the first network and the second network, the first message further includes a first cause value and / or a second cause value, where the first cause value is used to indicate the reason for the first network to page the user equipment, and the second cause value is used to indicate the reason for the second network to page the user equipment; or, when the first message is used to indicate that the user equipment is paged by the second network, the first message further includes the second cause value.

[0171] In combination with the eighth aspect, in some implementations of the eighth aspect, when the first message is used to indicate that the user equipment is paged by the second network and the first network, the first message further includes a first duration and / or a second duration, where the first duration is used to identify that the user equipment accesses the first network within the first duration, and the second duration is used to identify that the user equipment accesses the second network within the second duration; or, when the first message is used to indicate that the user equipment is paged by the second network, the first message includes the second duration.

[0172] In combination with the eighth aspect, in some implementations of the eighth aspect, the user equipment has accessed the first network; the receiver receives a first message from the access device through the first network, including: the receiver receives the first message from the access device through a signaling radio bearer (SRB) in the first network. For example, the receiver receives the first message from the access device through an RRC message in the first network; or, the user equipment receives the first message from the access device through paging information in the first network, and the first message is used to indicate that the user equipment is paged by the second network.

[0173] In combination with the eighth aspect, in some implementations of the eighth aspect, the paging device further includes: a transmitter, configured to send a first response message to the access device, where the first response message includes information about a third cell, and the third cell is a cell in the second network determined for the user equipment to access; the receiver is further configured to receive a second message sent by the access device, where the second message includes at least one of the following parameters: a first parameter for supporting the user equipment to randomly access the third cell, a second parameter indicating the resources of the third cell, a fourth parameter indicating the context information of the user equipment in the second network, or a fifth parameter indicating the security and integrity protection information of the user equipment in the second network.

[0174] In combination with the eighth aspect, in some implementations of the eighth aspect, the first message includes at least one of the following parameters: a sixth parameter for supporting the user equipment to randomly access a second cell, a seventh parameter indicating the resources of the second cell, a ninth parameter indicating the context information of the user equipment in the second network, or a tenth parameter indicating the security and integrity protection information of the user equipment in the second network.

[0175] In combination with the eighth aspect, in some implementations of the eighth aspect, when the first message is used to indicate that the user equipment is paged by the second network, the receiver is further configured to receive a third message sent by the access device through the first network, and the third message is used to indicate that the user equipment accesses the first network. The third message includes at least one of the following information: a first identifier of the user equipment, an identifier of the first network, or an identifier of a first cell, where the first identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the user equipment in the first network, the identifier of the first network is used to indicate the first network that the user equipment needs to access, and the identifier of the first cell is used to indicate the cell in the first network for the user equipment to access.

[0176] In combination with the eighth aspect, in some implementations of the eighth aspect, the transmitter is further configured to send a second response message to the access device, where the second response message includes information about a fourth cell, and the fourth cell is a cell in the first network determined for the user equipment to access.

[0177] In combination with the eighth aspect, in some implementations of the eighth aspect, the third message further includes a first cause value, which is used to indicate the reason for the first network to page the user equipment.

[0178] In combination with the eighth aspect, in some implementations of the eighth aspect, the third message further includes a first duration, which is used to identify the duration within which the user equipment accesses the first network.

[0179] In combination with the eighth aspect, in some implementations of the eighth aspect, the transmitter is further configured to send a first identifier of the user equipment and a second identifier of the user equipment to the access device. The first identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the user equipment in the first network, and the second identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the user equipment in the second network.

[0180] In combination with the eighth aspect, in some implementations of the eighth aspect, the user equipment includes a first subscriber identity module (SIM) and a second SIM. The first identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the first SIM in the first network, and the second identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the second SIM in the second network.

[0181] The paging device provided in the eighth aspect and any possible implementation of the eighth aspect can be used to perform the operations of the user equipment in the first aspect and any possible implementation of the first aspect.

[0182] Specifically, the paging device includes components (means) corresponding to the steps or functions described in the first aspect and any possible implementation of the first aspect. The components can be the user equipment in the first aspect, or a chip or functional module inside the user equipment. The steps or functions can be implemented by software, or by hardware, or by a combination of hardware and software.

[0183] In a ninth aspect, a paging device is provided, including: a receiver, configured to receive a first paging message from a second core network device, where the first paging message is at least used for the second network to page the user equipment; a transmitter, configured to send a first message to the user equipment through the first network, where the first message is used to indicate that the user equipment is paged by the second network at least.

[0184] In combination with the ninth aspect, in some implementations of the ninth aspect, when the first paging message is used by the second network to page the user equipment, the first paging message and the first message respectively include at least one of the following information: a second identifier of the user equipment, an identifier of the second network, or an identifier of the second cell. The second identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the user equipment in the second network. The identifier of the second network is used to indicate the second network to which the user equipment needs to connect. The identifier of the second cell is used to indicate the cell in the second network for the user equipment to connect to.

[0185] In combination with the ninth aspect, in some implementations of the ninth aspect, the first paging message is at least used by the first network to page the user equipment, which includes: the first paging message is used by the first network and the second network to page the user equipment. When the first paging message is used by the first network and the second network to page the user equipment, the first paging message and the first message respectively include at least one of the second identifier of the user equipment, the identifier of the second network, or the identifier of the second cell, and at least one of the following information: a first identifier list of the user equipment, an identifier list of the first network, or an identifier of the first cell. The first identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the user equipment in the first network. The identifier of the first network is used to indicate the first network to which the user equipment needs to connect. The identifier of the first cell is used to indicate the cell in the first network for the user equipment to connect to. Wherein, when the first paging message includes the first identifier and the second identifier of the user equipment, it indicates that the user equipment that needs to or has connected to the second network also needs to connect to the first network.

[0186] In combination with the ninth aspect, in some implementations of the ninth aspect, when the first paging message is used by the first network and the second network to page the user equipment, the first paging message and the first message respectively further include a first cause value and / or a second cause value. The first cause value is used to indicate the reason for the first network to page the user equipment. The second cause value is used to indicate the reason for the second network to page the user equipment. Or, when the first paging message is used by the second network to page the user equipment, the first paging message and the first message respectively further include the second cause value.

[0187] In combination with the ninth aspect, in some implementations of the ninth aspect, when the first paging message is used by the first network and the second network to page the user equipment, the first paging message and the first message respectively further include a first duration and / or a second duration. The first duration is used to identify that the user equipment connects to the first network within the first duration. The second duration is used to identify that the user equipment connects to the second network within the second duration. Or, when the first paging message is used by the second network to page the user equipment, the first paging message and the first message respectively include the second duration.

[0188] In combination with the ninth aspect, in some implementations of the ninth aspect, before the transmitter sends a first message to the user equipment, the access device establishes a connection with the user equipment; the transmitter sending the first message to the user equipment via a first network includes: the transmitter sending the first message to the user equipment via a signaling radio bearer (SRB) in the first network, and the first message is used to indicate that the user equipment is paged by the second network.

[0189] In combination with the ninth aspect, in some implementations of the ninth aspect, the receiver is further configured to receive a first response message sent by the user equipment, where the first response message includes information about a third cell, and the third cell is a cell in the second network that the user equipment determines to access; the transmitter is further configured to send a second message to the user equipment via the first network, and the second message includes at least one of the following parameters: a first parameter for supporting the user equipment to randomly access the third cell, a second parameter indicating the resources of the third cell, a fourth parameter indicating the context information of the user equipment in the second network, or a fifth parameter indicating the security and integrity protection information of the user equipment in the second network.

[0190] In combination with the ninth aspect, in some implementations of the ninth aspect, the first message includes at least one of the following parameters: a sixth parameter for supporting the user equipment to randomly access a second cell in the second network, a seventh parameter indicating the resources of the second cell, a ninth parameter indicating the context information of the user equipment in the second network, or a tenth parameter indicating the security and integrity protection information of the user equipment in the second network.

[0191] In combination with the ninth aspect, in some implementations of the ninth aspect, when the first paging message is used for the second network to page the user equipment, the apparatus further includes: the receiver receives a second paging message sent by a first core network device, and the transmitter sends a third message to the user equipment via the first network, where the third message is used to indicate that the user equipment accesses the first network, and the second paging message and the third message respectively include at least one of the following information: a first identifier list of the user equipment, an identifier list of the first network, or an identifier of a first cell, where the first identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the user equipment in the first network, the identifier of the first network is used to indicate the first network that the user equipment needs to access, and the identifier of the first cell is used to indicate the cell in the first network for the user equipment to access.

[0192] In combination with the ninth aspect, in some implementations of the ninth aspect, the receiver is further configured to receive a second response message sent by the user equipment, where the second response message includes information about a fourth cell, and the fourth cell is a cell in the first network to which the user equipment determines to access. In combination with the ninth aspect, in some implementations of the ninth aspect, the apparatus further includes: a processor, configured to determine, based on the first paging message and the second paging message, to page the user equipment in the cell in the first network and the cell in the second network respectively; or, to page the user equipment in the cell in the second network.

[0193] In combination with the ninth aspect, in some implementations of the ninth aspect, before the transmitter sends the first message to the user equipment, the apparatus further includes: the receiver receives a first identifier of the user equipment and a second identifier of the user equipment from the user equipment, where the first identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the user identifier of the user equipment in the first network, and the second identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the user identifier of the user equipment in the second network; or, the receiver receives the first identifier of the user equipment and the second identifier of the user equipment from the first core network device; or, the receiver receives the first identifier of the user equipment and the second identifier of the user equipment from the second core network device.

[0194] In combination with the ninth aspect, in some implementations of the ninth aspect, the access apparatus includes: an access network device; or, the access apparatus includes a distributed unit (DU) and a centralized unit (CU), where the CU is configured to receive signaling from the first core network device and receive signaling from the second core network device, and send the signaling to the DU.

[0195] In combination with the ninth aspect, in some implementations of the ninth aspect, when the access apparatus includes the DU and the CU, the apparatus further includes: the DU sends a first signaling to the CU, where the first signaling is used to indicate the network that the DU can support for access; the DU receives a second signaling sent by the CU, where the second signaling is used to indicate the network that the CU and the DU can jointly support for access, or, the second signaling is used to indicate the network that the CU can support for access.

[0196] In combination with the ninth aspect, in some implementations of the ninth aspect, the first signaling includes any one of the following signaling: F1 interface establishment request signaling, DU configuration update request signaling, or DU serving cell message, where the DU serving cell message includes a cell identifier and a network identifier of a network that the cell supports access to; the second signaling includes any one of the following signaling: F1 interface establishment response signaling, DU configuration update response signaling, network access rate reduction signaling, CU configuration update request signaling, F1 interface establishment failure signaling, DU configuration update failure signaling, or information about a network that the CU can support access to, where the information about a network that the CU can support access to includes a network identifier of a network that the CU can support access to.

[0197] In combination with the ninth aspect, in some implementations of the ninth aspect, the CU includes a control plane CU-CP and a user plane CU-UP; the apparatus further includes: the CU-UP sends a third signaling to the CU-CP, and the third signaling is used to indicate a network that the CU-UP can support access to; the CU-UP receives a fourth signaling sent by the CU-CP, and the fourth signaling is used to indicate a network that the CU-CP and the CU-UP can jointly support access to, or the fourth signaling is used to indicate a network that the CU-CP can support access to.

[0198] In combination with the ninth aspect, in some implementations of the ninth aspect, the third signaling includes any one of the following signaling: E1 interface establishment request signaling, CU-UP configuration update request signaling, or CU-CP configuration update response signaling; the fourth signaling includes any one of the following signaling: E1 interface establishment response signaling, CU-UP configuration update response signaling, CU-CP configuration update request signaling, E1 interface establishment failure signaling, or CU-UP configuration update failure signaling.

[0199] The paging apparatus provided in the ninth aspect and any possible implementation of the ninth aspect can be used to perform the operations of the access apparatus in the second aspect and any possible implementation of the second aspect.

[0200] Specifically, the paging apparatus includes components (means) corresponding to the steps or functions described in the second aspect and any possible implementation of the second aspect, and can be the access apparatus in the second aspect or a chip or functional module inside the access apparatus. The steps or functions can be implemented by software, or by hardware, or by a combination of hardware and software.

[0201] The tenth aspect provides a paging apparatus, including: a transmitter, configured to send a first paging message to an access apparatus, where the first paging message is at least used for a second network to page a user equipment.

[0202] In combination with the tenth aspect, in some implementations of the tenth aspect, when the first paging message is used for the second network to page the user equipment, at least one of the following information is included in the first paging message and the first message respectively: a second identifier of the user equipment, an identifier of the second network, or an identifier of the second cell. The second identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the user equipment in the second network. The identifier of the second network is used to indicate the second network that the user equipment needs to access. The identifier of the second cell is used to indicate the cell in the second network for the user equipment to access.

[0203] In combination with the tenth aspect, in some implementations of the tenth aspect, the first paging message is at least used for the first network to page the user equipment, including: the first paging message is used for the first network and the second network to page the user equipment; when the first paging message is used for the first network and the second network to page the user equipment, at least one of the second identifier of the user equipment, the identifier of the second network, or the identifier of the second cell is included in the first paging message and the first message respectively, and at least one of the following information is included: a list of first identifiers of the user equipment, a list of identifiers of the first network, or an identifier of the first cell. The first identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the user equipment in the first network. The identifier of the first network is used to indicate the first network that the user equipment needs to access. The identifier of the first cell is used to indicate the cell in the first network for the user equipment to access. Wherein, when the first paging message includes the first identifier and the second identifier of the user equipment, it indicates that the user equipment that needs to or has accessed the second network also needs to access the first network.

[0204] The paging device provided in the tenth aspect and any possible implementation of the tenth aspect can be used to perform the operations of the DU in the third aspect and any possible implementation of the third aspect.

[0205] Specifically, the components (means) corresponding to the steps or functions described in the above-mentioned third aspect and any possible implementation of the third aspect for the paging device to execute may be the second core network device in the third aspect or a chip or functional module inside the second core network device. The steps or functions can be implemented by software, or by hardware, or by a combination of hardware and software.

[0206] The eleventh aspect provides a communication device, including: a transmitter for sending a first signaling to the CU, where the first signaling is used to indicate the networks that the DU can support for access; a receiver for receiving a second signaling sent by the CU, where the second signaling is used to indicate the networks that the CU and the DU can jointly support for access, or the second signaling is used to indicate the networks that the CU can support for access, or the second signaling is used to indicate that the CU fails to respond to the first signaling and includes the reason for the response failure.

[0207] In combination with the eleventh aspect, in some implementations of the eleventh aspect, the first signaling includes any one of the following signaling: F1 interface establishment request signaling, DU configuration update request signaling, or DU serving cell message, where the DU serving cell message includes a cell identifier and a network identifier of the network supported by the cell for access; the second signaling includes any one of the following signaling: F1 interface establishment response signaling, DU configuration update response signaling, network access rate reduction signaling, CU configuration update request signaling, F1 interface establishment failure signaling, DU configuration update failure signaling, or information on the network that the CU can support access to, where the information on the network that the CU can support access to includes the network identifier of the network that the CU can support access to.

[0208] In combination with the eleventh aspect, in some implementations of the eleventh aspect, the communication device includes a control plane CU-CP and a user plane CU-UP; the CU-UP sends a third signaling to the CU-CP, and the third signaling is used to indicate the network that the CU-UP can support access to; the CU-UP receives a fourth signaling sent by the CU-CP, and the fourth signaling is used to indicate the network that the CU-CP and the CU-UP can jointly support access to, or the fourth signaling is used to indicate the network that the CU-CP can support access to, or the fourth signaling is used to indicate that the CU-CP fails to respond to the third signaling and includes the reason for the response failure.

[0209] In combination with the eleventh aspect, in some implementations of the eleventh aspect, the third signaling includes any one of the following signaling: E1 interface establishment request signaling, CU-UP configuration update request signaling, or CU-CP configuration update response signaling; the fourth signaling includes any one of the following signaling: E1 interface establishment response signaling, CU-UP configuration update response signaling, CU-CP configuration update request signaling, E1 interface establishment failure signaling, or CU-UP configuration update failure signaling.

[0210] The paging device provided in the eleventh aspect and any possible implementation of the eleventh aspect can be used to perform the operations of the DU in the fourth aspect and any possible implementation of the fourth aspect.

[0211] Specifically, the paging device includes components (means) corresponding to the steps or functions described in any possible implementation of the above-mentioned third aspect and fourth aspect, which can be the DU in the fourth aspect or a chip or functional module inside the DU. The steps or functions can be implemented by software, or by hardware, or by a combination of hardware and software.

[0212] In a twelfth aspect, a communication device is provided, including: a receiver, configured to receive a first signaling sent by a DU, where the first signaling is used to indicate a network that the DU can support access to; a transmitter, configured to send a second signaling to the DU, where the second signaling is used to indicate a network that the CU and the DU can jointly support access to, or the second signaling is used to indicate a network that the CU can support access to, or the second signaling is used to indicate that the CU fails to respond to the first signaling and includes a reason for the response failure.

[0213] In combination with the twelfth aspect, in some implementations of the twelfth aspect, the first signaling includes any one of the following signaling: an F1 interface establishment request signaling, a DU configuration update request signaling, or a DU serving cell message, where the DU serving cell message includes a cell identifier and a network identifier of a network that the cell supports access to; the second signaling includes any one of the following signaling: an F1 interface establishment response signaling, a DU configuration update response signaling, a network access rate reduction signaling, a CU configuration update request signaling, an F1 interface establishment failure signaling, a DU configuration update failure signaling, or information about a network that the CU can support access to, where the information about a network that the CU can support access to includes a network identifier of a network that the CU can support access to.

[0214] The paging device provided in the twelfth aspect and any possible implementation of the twelfth aspect can be used to perform the operations of the CU in the fifth aspect and any possible implementation of the fifth aspect.

[0215] Specifically, the components (means) of the paging device for performing the steps or functions described in any possible implementation of the above fourth aspect and fifth aspect may be the CU in the fifth aspect or a chip or functional module inside the CU. The steps or functions can be implemented by software, or by hardware, or by a combination of hardware and software.

[0216] In a thirteenth aspect, a communication device is provided, including: a receiver, configured to receive a first message from an access device through a first network, where the first message is used to indicate resources in the first network for transmitting data of the second network, where the first network and the second network are networks that the access device supports access to; a processor, configured to determine resources in the first network for transmitting data of the second network.

[0217] In connection with the thirteenth aspect, in some implementations of the thirteenth aspect, the communication device includes a user equipment that has accessed the first network. The receiver is configured to receive a first message from an access device via the first network, including: the receiver receives the first message from the access device via a signaling radio bearer (SRB) in the first network. For example, the receiver receives the first message from the access device via an RRC message in the first network; or the receiver receives the first message from the access device via paging information in the first network.

[0218] In connection with the thirteenth aspect, in some implementations of the thirteenth aspect, the communication device further includes: a transmitter configured to send a first response message to the access device, where the first response message includes information about a third cell, and the third cell is a cell in the second network to which the user equipment is determined to access; the user equipment receives a second message sent by the access device via the first network, and the second message includes: a third parameter indicating resources of the first network and a first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate that the resources of the first network carry data of the second network.

[0219] In connection with the thirteenth aspect, in some implementations of the thirteenth aspect, the first message includes an eighth parameter indicating resources of the first network and a first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate that the resources of the first network carry data of the second network.

[0220] In connection with the thirteenth aspect, in some implementations of the thirteenth aspect, when the first message is used to indicate that the user equipment is paged by the second network, the receiver is further configured to receive a third message sent by the access device via the first network, where the third message is used to indicate that the user equipment accesses the first network, and the third message includes at least one of the following information: a first identifier of the user equipment, an identifier of the first network, or an identifier of a first cell, where the first identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the user equipment in the first network, the identifier of the first network is used to indicate the first network that the user equipment needs to access, and the identifier of the first cell is used to indicate the cell in the first network for the user equipment to access.

[0221] In connection with the thirteenth aspect, in some implementations of the thirteenth aspect, the transmitter is further configured to send the first identifier of the user equipment and a second identifier of the user equipment to the access device, where the first identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the user equipment in the first network, and the second identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the user equipment in the second network.

[0222] In combination with the thirteenth aspect, in some implementations of the thirteenth aspect, the transmitter is further configured to send a first identifier of the user equipment and a second identifier of the user equipment to the access device. The first identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the first SIM card of the user equipment in the first network, and the second identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the second SIM card of the user equipment in the second network.

[0223] The communication device provided in the thirteenth aspect and any possible implementation of the thirteenth aspect can be used to perform the operations of the user equipment in the sixth aspect and any possible implementation of the sixth aspect.

[0224] Specifically, the paging device includes components (means) corresponding to the steps or functions described in the first aspect and any possible implementation of the first aspect. It can be the user equipment in the first aspect or a chip or functional module inside the user equipment. The steps or functions can be implemented by software, or by hardware, or by a combination of hardware and software.

[0225] In a fourteenth aspect, a communication device is provided, including: a receiver, configured to receive a first paging message from a second core network device, where the first paging message is at least used for the second network to page the user equipment; a transmitter, configured to send a first message to the user equipment through the first network, where the first message is used to indicate resources in the first network for transmitting data of the second network.

[0226] In combination with the fourteenth aspect, in some implementations of the fourteenth aspect, before the transmitter sends the first message to the user equipment, the access device establishes a connection with the user equipment; the transmitter sending the first message to the user equipment through the first network includes: the transmitter sending the first message to the user equipment through a signaling radio bearer (SRB) in the first network, or the transmitter sending the first message to the user equipment through paging information in the first network.

[0227] In combination with the fourteenth aspect, in some implementations of the fourteenth aspect, the receiver is further configured to receive a first response message sent by the user equipment, where the first response message includes information about a third cell, and the third cell is a cell in the second network determined by the user equipment to access; the transmitter sends a second message to the user equipment through the first network, and the second message includes: a third parameter indicating resources of the first network and a first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate that the resources of the first network carry data of the second network.

[0228] In combination with the fourteenth aspect, in certain implementations of the fourteenth aspect, the first message includes an eighth parameter indicating the resources of the first network and first indication information for indicating that the resources of the first network carry the data of the second network.

[0229] In combination with the fourteenth aspect, in certain implementations of the fourteenth aspect, when the first paging message is used for the second network to page a user equipment, the receiver is further configured to receive a second paging message sent by a first core network device, and the transmitter sends a third message to the user equipment via the first network, where the third message is used to instruct the user equipment to access the first network. At least one of the following information is included in the second paging message and the third message respectively: a first identifier list of the user equipment, an identifier list of the first network, or an identifier of a first cell. The first identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the user equipment in the first network, the identifier of the first network is used to indicate the first network that the user equipment needs to access, and the identifier of the first cell is used to indicate the cell in the first network for the user equipment to access.

[0230] The communication device provided in the fourteenth aspect and any possible implementation of the fourteenth aspect can be used to perform the operations of the access device in the seventh aspect and any possible implementation of the seventh aspect.

[0231] Specifically, the paging device includes components (means) corresponding to the steps or functions described in the above seventh aspect and any possible implementation of the seventh aspect. The components can be the access device in the seventh aspect, or a chip or functional module inside the access device. The steps or functions can be implemented by software, or by hardware, or by a combination of hardware and software.

[0232] Fifteenth aspect, a paging device is provided, the paging device includes a processor for implementing the functions of the user equipment in the method described in the first aspect above.

[0233] Optionally, the paging device may further include a memory coupled to the processor, and the processor is used to implement the functions of the user equipment in the method described in the first aspect above. In a possible implementation, the memory is used to store program instructions and data. The memory is coupled to the processor, and the processor can call and execute the program instructions stored in the memory to implement the functions of the user equipment in the method described in the first aspect above.

[0234] Optionally, the paging device may further include a communication interface for the paging device to communicate with other devices. When the paging device is a user equipment, the transceiver can be a communication interface, or an input / output interface.

[0235] In a possible design, the paging device includes a processor and a communication interface, which are used to implement the functions of the user equipment in the method described in the first aspect above. Specifically, it includes:

[0236] The processor communicates with the outside through the communication interface;

[0237] The processor is used to run a computer program so that the device implements any of the methods described in the first aspect above.

[0238] It can be understood that the outside can be an object other than the processor or an object outside the device.

[0239] In another implementation, when the paging device is a chip or a chip system, the communication interface can be an input / output interface, an interface circuit, an output circuit, an input circuit, a pin or a related circuit, etc. on the chip or the chip system. The processor can also be embodied as a processing circuit or a logic circuit.

[0240] In the sixteenth aspect, a paging device is provided. The paging device includes a processor, which is used to implement the functions of the access device in the method described in the second aspect above.

[0241] Optionally, the paging device may further include a memory, which is coupled to the processor. The processor is used to implement the functions of the access device in the method described in the second aspect above. In a possible implementation, the memory is used to store program instructions and data. The memory is coupled to the processor, and the processor can call and execute the program instructions stored in the memory to implement the functions of the access device in the method described in the second aspect above. Optionally, the paging device may further include a communication interface, which is used for the paging device to communicate with other devices. When the paging device is an access device, the communication interface is a transceiver, an input / output interface, or a circuit, etc.

[0242] In a possible design, the paging device includes a processor and a communication interface,

[0243] The processor communicates with the outside through the communication interface;

[0244] The processor is used to run a computer program so that the device implements any of the methods described in the second aspect above.

[0245] In another possible design, the paging device is a chip or a chip system. The communication interface can be an input / output interface, an interface circuit, an output circuit, an input circuit, a pin or a related circuit, etc. on the chip or the chip system. The processor can also be embodied as a processing circuit or a logic circuit.

[0246] In a seventeenth aspect, a paging device is provided. The paging device includes a processor configured to implement the functions of the second core network device in the method described in the above third aspect.

[0247] Optionally, the paging device may further include a memory coupled to the processor. The processor is configured to implement the functions of the second core network device in the method described in the above third aspect. In a possible implementation, the memory is used to store program instructions and data. The memory is coupled to the processor, and the processor can call and execute the program instructions stored in the memory to implement the functions of the second core network device in the method described in the above third aspect. Optionally, the paging device may further include a communication interface for the paging device to communicate with other devices. When the paging device is an access device, the communication interface is a transceiver, an input / output interface, or a circuit, etc.

[0248] In a possible design, the paging device includes: a processor and a communication interface,

[0249] The processor uses the communication interface to communicate externally;

[0250] The processor is configured to run a computer program such that the device implements any of the methods described in the above third aspect.

[0251] In another possible design, the paging device is a chip or a chip system. The communication interface may be an input / output interface, an interface circuit, an output circuit, an input circuit, a pin, or a related circuit, etc. on the chip or chip system. The processor may also be embodied as a processing circuit or a logic circuit.

[0252] In an eighteenth aspect, a communication device is provided. The communication device includes a processor configured to implement the functions of the DU in the method described in the above fourth aspect.

[0253] Optionally, the communication device may further include a memory coupled to the processor. The processor is configured to implement the functions of the DU in the method described in the above fourth aspect. In a possible implementation, the memory is used to store program instructions and data. The memory is coupled to the processor, and the processor can call and execute the program instructions stored in the memory to implement the functions of the DU in the method described in the above fourth aspect.

[0254] Optionally, the communication device may further include a communication interface for the communication device to communicate with other devices. When the communication device is a DU, the transceiver may be the communication interface, or an input / output interface.

[0255] In a possible design, the communication device includes a processor and a communication interface, which are used to implement the functions of the DU in the method described in the fourth aspect above. Specifically, it includes:

[0256] The processor communicates with the outside through the communication interface;

[0257] The processor is used to run a computer program so that the device implements any of the methods described in the fourth aspect above.

[0258] It can be understood that the "outside" can be an object other than the processor or an object outside the device.

[0259] In another implementation, when the communication device is a chip or a chip system, the communication interface can be an input / output interface, an interface circuit, an output circuit, an input circuit, a pin, or a related circuit, etc. on the chip or the chip system. The processor can also be embodied as a processing circuit or a logic circuit.

[0260] In the nineteenth aspect, a communication device is provided. The communication device includes a processor, which is used to implement the functions of the CU in the method described in the fifth aspect above.

[0261] Optionally, the communication device may further include a memory. The memory is coupled to the processor, and the processor is used to implement the functions of the CU in the method described in the fifth aspect above. In a possible implementation, the memory is used to store program instructions and data. The memory is coupled to the processor, and the processor can call and execute the program instructions stored in the memory to implement the functions of the CU in the method described in the fifth aspect above. Optionally, the communication device may further include a communication interface, and the communication interface is used for the communication device to communicate with other devices. When the communication device is a CU, the communication interface is a transceiver, an input / output interface, or a circuit, etc.

[0262] In a possible design, the communication device includes a processor and a communication interface,

[0263] The processor communicates with the outside through the communication interface;

[0264] The processor is used to run a computer program so that the device implements any of the methods described in the fifth aspect above.

[0265] In another possible design, the communication device is a chip or a chip system. The communication interface can be an input / output interface, an interface circuit, an output circuit, an input circuit, a pin, or a related circuit, etc. on the chip or the chip system. The processor can also be embodied as a processing circuit or a logic circuit.

[0266] In a twentieth aspect, a communication device is provided. The communication device includes a processor configured to implement the functions of the user equipment in the method described in the sixth aspect above.

[0267] Optionally, the communication device may further include a memory coupled to the processor. The processor is configured to implement the functions of the user equipment in the method described in the sixth aspect above. In a possible implementation, the memory is used to store program instructions and data. The memory is coupled to the processor, and the processor can call and execute the program instructions stored in the memory to implement the functions of the user equipment in the method described in the sixth aspect above.

[0268] Optionally, the communication device may further include a communication interface for the communication device to communicate with other devices. When the communication device is a user equipment, the transceiver may be the communication interface, or an input / output interface.

[0269] In a possible design, the communication device includes a processor and a communication interface configured to implement the functions of the user equipment in the method described in the sixth aspect above. Specifically, it includes:

[0270] The processor communicates with the outside using the communication interface;

[0271] The processor is configured to run a computer program so that the device implements any of the methods described in the fifth aspect above.

[0272] It can be understood that the outside may be an object other than the processor, or an object outside the device.

[0273] In another implementation, when the communication device is a chip or a chip system, the communication interface may be an input / output interface, an interface circuit, an output circuit, an input circuit, a pin, or a related circuit, etc. on the chip or the chip system. The processor may also be embodied as a processing circuit or a logic circuit.

[0274] In a twenty - first aspect, a communication device is provided. The communication device includes a processor configured to implement the functions of the access device in the method described in the seventh aspect above.

[0275] Optionally, the communication device may further include a memory coupled to the processor, and the processor is configured to implement the functions of the access device in the method described in the seventh aspect above. In a possible implementation, the memory is used to store program instructions and data. The memory is coupled to the processor, and the processor may call and execute the program instructions stored in the memory to implement the functions of the access device in the method described in the seventh aspect above. Optionally, the communication device may further include a communication interface for the communication device to communicate with other devices. When the communication device is an access device, the communication interface is a transceiver, an input / output interface, or a circuit, etc.

[0276] In a possible design, the communication device includes: a processor and a communication interface,

[0277] The processor uses the communication interface to communicate with the outside;

[0278] The processor is configured to run a computer program, so that the device implements any of the methods described in the seventh aspect above.

[0279] In another possible design, the communication device is a chip or a chip system. The communication interface may be an input / output interface, an interface circuit, an output circuit, an input circuit, a pin, or a related circuit, etc. on the chip or the chip system. The processor may also be embodied as a processing circuit or a logic circuit.

[0280] In the twenty-second aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, on which a computer program is stored. When the computer program is executed by a communication device, the communication device implements the methods in the first aspect to the seventh aspect and any possible implementation manners of the first aspect and the seventh aspect.

[0281] In the twenty-third aspect, a computer program product including instructions is provided. When the instructions are executed by a computer, the communication device implements the methods in the first aspect to the seventh aspect and any possible implementation manners of the first aspect and the seventh aspect.

[0282] In the twenty-fourth aspect, a communication system is provided, including the paging device shown in the ninth aspect and the paging device shown in the tenth aspect.

[0283] In the twenty-fifth aspect, a paging method is provided, including: a second core network device sends a first paging message to an access device, and the first paging message is at least used for a second network to page a user equipment; the access device sends a first message to the user equipment through a first network, and the first message is used to indicate that the user equipment is paged by the second network at least.

[0284] Based on the above solution, when the second network needs to page a user equipment, the second core network device sends a first paging message to an access device. After receiving the first paging message, the access device learns that the second network needs to page the user equipment. Then, the access device can send a first message to the user equipment through the first network, enabling the user equipment to respond to the paging of the second network and access the second network through the access device. Specifically, the first network assists the second network in paging. On the one hand, it enables terminal devices that cannot receive the paging information of the second network to receive the paging message of the second network. On the other hand, the first network assists the second network in control plane signaling transmission, achieving load balancing of control plane signaling between networks. At the same time, it avoids the second network continuously sending paging messages due to not receiving a paging response from the terminal device, reducing the signaling storm of the second network. It can ensure normal paging in the shared radio access network scenario.

[0285] In a twenty-sixth aspect, a paging system is provided, including: a second core network device and an access device, where the second core network device is configured to send a first paging message to the access device, and the first paging message is at least used for the second network to page a user equipment; the access device is configured to send a first message to the user equipment through the first network, and the first message is used to indicate that the user equipment is paged by at least the second network. Description of the Drawings

[0286] Figure 1 is a network architecture applicable to the embodiments of the present application.

[0287] Figure 2 is a schematic block diagram of another communication system applicable to the embodiments of the present application.

[0288] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of an SNPN and a PLMN provided by an embodiment of the present application.

[0289] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of a PNI-NPN and a PLMN provided by an embodiment of the present application.

[0290] Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of an SNPN and a PLMN in a shared-RAN scenario provided by an embodiment of the present application.

[0291] Figure 6 is a schematic diagram of a PNI-NPN and a PLMN in a shared-RAN scenario provided by an embodiment of the present application.

[0292] Figure 7 is a schematic diagram of a PNI-NPN and an SNPN in a shared-RAN scenario provided by an embodiment of the present application.

[0293] Figure 8It is a schematic flowchart of a paging method provided by an embodiment of the present application.

[0294] Figure 9 It is another schematic flowchart of a paging method provided by an embodiment of the present application.

[0295] Figure 10 It is yet another schematic flowchart of a paging method provided by an embodiment of the present application.

[0296] Figure 11 It is a schematic flowchart of a communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application.

[0297] Figure 12 It is another schematic flowchart of a communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application.

[0298] Figure 13 It is yet another schematic flowchart of a paging method provided by an embodiment of the present application.

[0299] Figure 14 It is a schematic diagram of a paging device 1400 proposed by the present application.

[0300] Figure 15 It is a schematic structural diagram of a terminal device 1500 applicable to an embodiment of the present application.

[0301] Figure 16 It is a schematic diagram of a paging device 1600 proposed by the present application.

[0302] Figure 17 It is a schematic structural diagram of an access device 1700 applicable to an embodiment of the present application.

[0303] Figure 18 It is a schematic diagram of a paging device 1800 proposed by the present application.

[0304] Figure 19 It is a schematic structural diagram of an access device 1900 applicable to an embodiment of the present application. Detailed implementation manners

[0305] Next, the technical solutions in the present application will be described in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

[0306] The technical solutions of the embodiments of this application can be applied to various communication systems, such as: Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems, LTE Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) systems, LTE Time Division Duplex (TDD) systems, Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS), 5th generation (5G) systems or NR, etc. The 5G mobile communication systems described in this application include non-standalone (NSA) 5G mobile communication systems or standalone (SA) 5G mobile communication systems. The technical solutions provided in this application can also be applied to future communication systems, such as the sixth-generation mobile communication system. The communication system can also be a Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN), 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.

[0307] Figure 1 is the network architecture applicable to the embodiments of this application. As Figure 1 shown, each part involved in this network architecture will be described separately below.

[0308] 1. User Equipment (UE) 110: It can include various handheld devices, vehicle-mounted devices, wearable devices, computing devices or other processing devices connected to a wireless modem with wireless communication functions, as well as various forms of terminals, mobile stations (MS), terminals, soft terminals, etc. For example, water meters, electricity meters, sensors, etc.

[0309] 2. (Radio) Access Network ((R)AN) network element 120: It is used to manage radio resources, provide access services for user equipment, and then complete the forwarding of control signals and user equipment data between the user equipment and the core network.

[0310] 3. User plane network element 130: It is used for packet routing and forwarding and quality of service (QoS) processing of user plane data, etc.

[0311] In a 5G communication system, the user plane network element may be a user plane function (UPF) network element. In future communication systems, the user plane network element may still be a UPF network element, or it may have other names, which are not limited in this application.

[0312] 4. Data network network element 140: Used to provide a network for transmitting data.

[0313] In a 5G communication system, the data network network element may be a data network (DN) network element. In future communication systems, the data network network element may still be a DN network element, or it may have other names, which are not limited in this application.

[0314] 5. Access and mobility management network element 150: Mainly used for mobility management and access management, etc., and can be used to implement other functions of the mobility management entity (MME) function except session management, such as lawful interception and access authorization / authentication functions.

[0315] In a 5G communication system, the access and mobility management network element may be an access and mobility management function (AMF). In future communication systems, the access and mobility management device may still be an AMF, or it may have other names, which are not limited in this application.

[0316] 6. Session management network element 160: Mainly used for session management, allocation and management of the internet protocol (IP) address of the user equipment, selection of manageable user plane functions, termination of the policy control and charging function interface, and downlink data notification, etc.

[0317] In a 5G communication system, the session management network element may be a session management function (SMF) network element. In future communication systems, the session management network element may still be an SMF network element, or it may have other names, which are not limited in this application.

[0318] 7. Policy control network element 170: A unified policy framework for guiding network behavior, providing policy rule information for control plane function network elements (such as AMF, SMF network elements, etc.).

[0319] In a 4G communication system, the policy control network element may be a policy and charging rules function (PCRF) network element. In a 5G communication system, the policy control network element may be a policy control function (PCF) network element. In future communication systems, the policy control network element may still be a PCF network element, or it may have other names, which are not limited in this application.

[0320] 8. Authentication Server 180: Used for authentication services, generating keys to implement mutual authentication of user equipment, and supporting a unified authentication framework.

[0321] In a 5G communication system, the authentication server may be an authentication server function (AUSF) network element. In future communication systems, the authentication server function network element may still be an AUSF network element, or it may have other names, which are not limited in this application.

[0322] 9. Data Management Network Element 190: Used to process user equipment identification, access authentication, registration, and mobility management, etc.

[0323] In a 5G communication system, the data management network element may be a unified data management (UDM) network element; in a 4G communication system, the data management network element may be a home subscriber server (HSS) network element. In future communication systems, unified data management may still be a UDM network element, or it may have other names, which are not limited in this application.

[0324] 10. Application Network Element 1100: Used for data routing that affects applications, accessing the network open function network element, and interacting with the policy framework for policy control, etc.

[0325] In a 5G communication system, the application network element may be an application function (AF) network element. In future communication systems, the application network element may still be an AF network element, or it may have other names, which are not limited in this application.

[0326] 11. Network Storage Network Element: Used to maintain real-time information of all network function services in the network.

[0327] In a 5G communication system, the network storage network element may be a network repository function (NRF) network element. In future communication systems, the network storage network element may still be an NRF network element, or may have other names, which are not limited in this application.

[0328] It can be understood that the above network element or function can be either a network element in a hardware device, or a software function running on dedicated hardware, or a virtualized function instantiated on a platform (such as a cloud platform). For ease of explanation, in the following of this application, the access and mobility management device is taken as the AMF, the data management network element is taken as the UDM network element, the session management network element is taken as the SMF network element, and the user plane network element is taken as the UPF network element for illustration.

[0329] For ease of explanation, in the embodiments of this application, the method for paging is described by taking the device as the AMF entity and the UDM entity as examples. For the implementation methods of the chips in the AMF entity and the chips in the UDM entity of the device, reference can be made to the specific descriptions of the device as the AMF entity and the UDM entity respectively.

[0330] In Figure 1 In the network architecture shown, the user equipment is connected to the AMF through an interface (such as the N1 interface), the (R)AN is connected to the AMF through an interface (such as the N2 interface), and the (R)AN is connected to the UPF through an interface (such as the N3 interface). The UPFs are connected through an interface (such as the N9 interface), and the UPF is interconnected with the DN through an interface (such as the N6 interface). The SMF controls the UPF through the N4 interface. The AMF interfaces with the SMF through an interface (such as the N11 interface). The AMF obtains the user equipment subscription data from the UDM unit through an interface (such as the N8 interface), and the SMF obtains the user equipment subscription data from the UDM unit through an interface (such as the N10 interface).

[0331] The above network architecture applied to the embodiments of this application is only an example, and the network architecture applicable to the embodiments of this application is not limited thereto. Any network architecture that can implement the functions of the above-mentioned network elements is applicable to the embodiments of this application.

[0332] For example, in some network architectures, network function network element entities such as the AMF, SMF network element, PCF network element, BSF network element, and UDM network element are all called network function (NF) network elements. Or, in some other network architectures, the set of network elements such as the AMF, SMF network element, PCF network element, BSF network element, and UDM network element can be called control plane function network elements.

[0333] The user equipment (UE) in the embodiments of this application may refer to an access terminal, user unit, user station, mobile station, mobile terminal, relay station, remote station, remote terminal, mobile device, user terminal, terminal equipment, terminal, wireless communication device, user agent or user device. The user equipment may also be a cellular phone, cordless phone, session initiation protocol (SIP) phone, wireless local loop (WLL) station, personal digital assistant (PDA), handheld device with wireless communication function, computing device or other processing device connected to a wireless modem, vehicle-mounted device, wearable device, user equipment in a future 5G network, user equipment in a future evolved PLMN, or user equipment in a future vehicle-to-everything network, etc. The embodiments of this application are not limited thereto.

[0334] By way of example and not limitation, in the embodiments of this application, a wearable device may also be referred to as a wearable intelligent device, which is a general term for devices developed by applying wearable technologies to the intelligent design of daily wear, such as glasses, gloves, watches, clothing, shoes, etc. A wearable device is a portable device that is either directly worn on the body or integrated into the user's clothes or accessories. A wearable device is not only a hardware device, but also realizes powerful functions through software support, data interaction, and cloud interaction. Broadly speaking, wearable intelligent devices include those with complete functions and large sizes that can realize complete or partial functions without relying on a smart phone, such as smart watches or smart glasses, etc., and those that only focus on a certain type of application function and need to cooperate with other devices such as smart phones, such as various smart bracelets and smart jewelry for physical sign monitoring.

[0335] In addition, in the embodiments of this application, the user equipment may also be the user equipment in an IoT system. IoT is an important part of the future development of information technology. Its main technical feature is to connect items to the network through communication technologies, so as to realize an intelligent network of human-machine interconnection and thing-thing interconnection. In the embodiments of this application, IoT technology can achieve massive connection, deep coverage, and power saving of terminals through, for example, narrow band (NB) technology.

[0336] In addition, in the embodiments of this application, the user equipment may also include devices such as intelligent printers, train detectors, driving recorders, or in-vehicle audio systems. The main functions include collecting data, receiving control information and downlink data from network devices, and sending electromagnetic waves to transmit uplink data to network devices.

[0337] The access network device in the embodiments of the present application can be any communication device with wireless transceiver functions for communicating with user equipment. The device includes but is not limited to: evolved Node B (eNB), radio network controller (RNC), Node B (NB), base station controller (BSC), base transceiver station (BTS), home evolved NodeB (HeNB, or home Node B, HNB), baseBand unit (BBU), access point (AP) in a wireless fidelity (WIFI) system, wireless relay node, wireless backhaul node, transmission point (TP), or transmission and reception point (TRP), etc. It can also be a gNB in a 5G system, such as an NR system, or a transmission point (TRP or TP), one or a group (including multiple antenna panels) of antenna panels of a base station in a 5G system, or it can also be a network node constituting a gNB or a transmission point, such as a baseband unit (BBU), or a distributed unit (DU), etc.

[0338] In some deployments, a gNB can include a centralized unit (CU) and a DU. As Figure 2 shown, Figure 2 is a schematic block diagram of another communication system applicable to the embodiments of the present application. It includes a core network device and a radio access network device. The radio access network device includes a centralized unit and a distributed unit.

[0339] In the embodiments of the present application Figure 2 The core network device shown in can be a core network device in different communication systems. For example, a core network device in a 5G communication system or a core network device in an LTE communication system. The radio access network device includes a first radio access network device and a second radio access network device).

[0340] Specifically, Figure 2The first radio access network device therein can be a base station (gNodeB, gNB) or (ng-eNodeB, ng-eNB); the second radio access network device can also be a gNB or an ng-eNB. Among them, the gNB provides the user plane and control plane protocols and functions of NR for the terminal device, and the ng-eNB provides the user plane and control plane protocols and functions of evolved universal terrestrial radio access (E-UTRA) for the terminal device. The interfaces between radio access network devices are all Xn interfaces; the interface between a radio access network device and a core network device is called an NG interface.

[0341] Specifically, a gNB or an ng-eNB can include a CU and a DU. Specifically, a radio access network device can include a central unit and one or more distributed units. In Figure 2 it, the second radio access network device includes a first distributed unit and a second distributed unit).

[0342] Among them, the CU device has the function of hosting the radio high-level protocol stack. For example, the CU has an RRC layer, a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, etc. Even the CU can also support the sinking of some core network functions to the access network, called the edge computing network, which can meet the higher requirements of emerging services (such as video, online shopping, virtual / augmented reality) for network latency in future communication networks. The CU has the radio access network high-level protocol stack and part of the functions of the core network. The main protocol layers involved include RRC function, service discovery application protocol (SDAP), and packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) sub-layer function. The DU has the physical layer of baseband processing and part of the functions of layer 2. Specifically, the DU implements radio frequency processing functions and baseband processing functions such as radio link control (RLC), medium access control (MAC), and physical layer (PHY). The CU can be deployed in a centralized manner. The deployment of the DU depends on the actual network environment. In core urban areas with high traffic density, small inter-station distances, and limited computer room resources, such as universities and large performance venues, the DU can also be deployed in a centralized manner. In areas with sparse traffic and large inter-station distances, such as suburban counties and mountainous areas, the DU can adopt a distributed deployment method.

[0343] Furthermore, the CU may also include a central unit for the control plane (i.e., the central unit control plane CU-CP network element) and a central unit for the user plane (i.e., the central unit user plane CU-UP network element). Among them, CU-CP and CU-UP can also be deployed on different physical devices respectively. CU-CP is responsible for the processing of the control plane of the RRC layer and the PDCP layer, and CU-UP is responsible for the processing of the user plane of the SDAP layer and the PDCP layer. A gNB may include one CU-CP, one or more CU-UPs, and one or more DUs. One CP-UP is connected to one CU-CP through a control plane interface (such as E1) for transmitting control plane data; one DU is connected to one CU-CP through a control plane interface (such as F1-C) for transmitting control plane data. Under the control of CU-CP, one DU can be connected to one or more CU-UPs, and one CU-UP can also be connected to one or more DUs. CU-UP and DU are connected through a user plane interface (such as F1-U) for transmitting user plane data. It is worth noting that in order to maintain the flexibility of the network, one DU or one CU-UP can also be connected to multiple CU-CPs. At this time, multiple CU-CPs serve as backups for each other. In practical applications, only one CU-CP can be running at the same time. For the RAN device architecture including CU and DU, the above protocol stack division method is only exemplary. The RAN device can also divide CU and DU according to other division methods. For example, CU can be responsible for the operations of the RRC layer, the SDAP layer, the PDCP layer, and the RLC layer, and DU can be responsible for the operations of the MAC layer and the PHY layer; or CU can be responsible for the operations of the RRC layer and the SDAP layer, and DU can be responsible for the operations of the PDCP layer, the RLC layer, the MAC layer, and the PHY layer, etc. Similarly, the protocol stack division method between CU-CP and CU-UP in CU is also variable. The application does not make specific limitations on this.

[0344] The gNB may also include an active antenna unit (AAU). The CU implements some functions of the gNB, and the DU implements some functions of the gNB. Since the information of the RRC layer will ultimately become the information of the PHY layer, or is transformed from the information of the PHY layer, thus, in this architecture, high-layer signaling, such as RRC layer signaling, can also be considered to be sent by the DU, or sent by the DU + AAU. It can be understood that the network device may be a device including one or more of a CU node, a DU node, and an AAU node. In the embodiments of this application, the user equipment or the network equipment includes a hardware layer, an operating system layer running on the hardware layer, and an application layer running on the operating system layer. The hardware layer includes hardware such as a central processing unit (CPU), a memory management unit (MMU), and a memory. The operating system may be any one or more computer operating systems that implement service processing through a process, for example, Linux operating system, Unix operating system, Android operating system, iOS operating system, or windows operating system, etc. The application layer includes applications such as a browser, an address book, a word processing software, and an instant messaging software. Moreover, the embodiments of this application do not particularly limit the specific structure of the execution subject of the method provided in the embodiments of this application, as long as it can communicate according to the method provided in the embodiments of this application by running a program recorded with the code of the method provided in the embodiments of this application. For example, the execution subject of the method provided in the embodiments of this application may be a user equipment or an access network equipment, or a functional module in the user equipment or the access network equipment that can call and execute the functions of the program.

[0345] Additionally, various aspects or features of the present application can be implemented as a method, apparatus, or article of manufacture using standard programming and / or engineering techniques. The term "article of manufacture" as used in this application encompasses a computer program accessible from any computer-readable device, carrier, or medium. For example, computer-readable media can include, but are not limited to: magnetic storage devices (such as hard disks, floppy disks, or magnetic tapes, etc.), optical discs (such as compact discs (CDs), digital versatile discs (DVDs), etc.), smart cards, and flash memory devices (such as erasable programmable read-only memories (EPROMs), cards, sticks, or key drives, etc.). Additionally, the various storage media described herein can represent one or more devices and / or other machine-readable media for storing information. The term "machine-readable storage medium" can include, but is not limited to, wireless channels and various other media capable of storing, containing, and / or carrying instructions and / or data.

[0346] To facilitate the understanding of the paging method provided in the embodiments of the present application, several basic concepts involved in the embodiments of the present application are briefly introduced below:

[0347] 1. Non-Public Networks (NPN).

[0348] NPN is a network being discussed in the 3GPP standard. Different from traditional cellular networks, NPN networks allow certain users with specific permissions to access. NPN includes two network architectures. One network architecture is Standalone (SA) networking, and the other network architecture is Non-Standalone (NSA) networking. Among them, the non-standalone NPN can also be referred to as (Public Network Integrated NPN, PNI-NPN). For the convenience of description, the standalone NPN is denoted as SNPN and the non-standalone NPN is denoted as PNI-NPN in the following text. The connection and difference between NPN and PLMN are briefly introduced below in combination with Figure 3 and Figure 4 briefly introduce the connection and difference between NPN and PLMN.

[0349] As Figure 3 shown, Figure 3It is a schematic diagram of an SNPN and a PLMN provided by an embodiment of the present application. The SNPN and the PLMN have independent RANs and core networks. The SNPN is regarded as a non-3GPP network. The core networks of the SNPN and the PLMN are connected by a non-3GPP inter working function (N3IWF) network element, and the user plane and the control plane can be interconnected through the N3IWF network element. In the SNPN, an SNPN is identified by a combination of an NID and a PLMN ID. A certain cell in the SNPN can be identified by a Cell ID, a PLMN ID, and an NID. For example, when the first cell (Cell ID is the first Cell) can simultaneously access the first network and the second network (PLMN IDs are the first PLMN and the second PLMN respectively), and a user equipment in the first network with the first independent private network (NID is the first NID) needs to access the first independent private network, the identifiers that need to be included are the first Cell, the first PLMN, and the first NID.

[0350] It can be seen from Figure 3 that the PLMN PDU session resources of the UE are carried on: UE, NPN-RAN, NPN-UPF, DN, PLMN-N3IWF, PLMN-UPF, DN; It can be seen from Figure 3 that the NPN PDU session resources of the UE are carried on: UE, NPN-RAN, NPN-UPF, DN. In the present application, the "session resources are carried on" certain devices or network elements can be understood as that the "session resources" are provided by these certain devices or network elements. In the figure, 5GC is a 5G core network device.

[0351] As Figure 4 shown, Figure 4 It is a schematic diagram of a PNI-NPN and a PLMN provided by an embodiment of the present application. The PNI-NPN and the PLMN share a core network or an access network. In the PNI-NPN, users who have the right to access the PNI-NPN are called users belonging to the CAG. A certain cell in the PNI-NPN can be identified by a PLMN ID, a CAG ID, and a Cell ID. As Figure 4 shown, the PLMN and the PNI-NPN networks share a core network (AMF, UPF, etc.), and a PLMN-RAN and a PNI-NPN-RAN are respectively deployed, and there can be an Xn interface between different RANs.

[0352] It can be seen from Figure 4 that the PLMN PDU session resources of the UE are carried on: UE, PLMN-RAN, UPF, DN; It can be seen from Figure 4As can be seen, the NPN PDU session resources of the UE are carried on: UE, INPN-RAN, UPF, DN.

[0353] 2. CAG.

[0354] If a network device or cell belongs to PNI-NPN, the network device or cell will broadcast the CAG identifier. Then only the registered terminal devices in this closed access group can access this network. That is to say, only the terminal devices registered in this closed access group can be served by this cell. Different CAGs correspond to different CAG identifiers (identifies, IDs).

[0355] 3. Shared access network device (shared-RAN).

[0356] Shared-RAN means that different networks' cells can be configured under a RAN, and the user equipment can access different networks through a RAN (for example, access networks with different PLMN IDs). The following combines Figure 5 and Figure 6 to briefly introduce the relationship and differences between NPN and PLMN in the shared-RAN scenario.

[0357] As Figure 5 shown, Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of SNPN and PLMN in a shared-RAN scenario provided by an embodiment of the present application. In Figure 5 , NPN-RAN is shared-RAN, and shared-RAN is configured with PLMN and NPN cells. The protocol data unit (PDU) session resources of the PLMN of the user equipment can be directly established through shared-RAN. The PLMN PDU session resources of the UE are carried on: UE, shared-RAN, PLMN UPF, DN. The NPN PDU session resources of the UE are carried on: UE, shared-RAN, NPN UPF, DN. There may be an Xn interface between shared-RAN and PLMN-RAN.

[0358] As Figure 6 shown, Figure 6 is a schematic diagram of PNI-NPN and PLMN in a shared-RAN scenario provided by an embodiment of the present application. In the shared-RAN scenario, compared with Figure 5 , Figure 6 (a), PNI-NPN and PLMN share the core network and RAN. Figure 6(b) In the case of PNI-NPN and PLMN sharing the RAN, the core networks are deployed separately. PLMN cells and PNI-NPN cells are configured in the shared-RAN. Specifically, as can be seen from Figure 6 (a), PNI-NPN and PLMN share the AMF, UPF, and DN. The PLMN PDU and NPN PDU session resources of the UE are carried on: UE, shared-RAN, UPF, DN; as can be seen from Figure 6 (b), PNI-NPN and PLMN share the RAN and DN, but PNI-NPN and PLMN each have their own AMF and UPF. The PLMN PDU session resources of the UE are carried on: UE, shared-RAN, PLMN UPF, DN, and the NPN PDU session resources of the UE are carried on: UE, shared-RAN, NPN UPF, DN.

[0359] Furthermore, the shared-RAN can also be applicable to Figure 2 the CU-DU shown. In the CU-DU architecture, taking PNI-NPN and SNPN as examples, as Figure 7 shown, Figure 7 is a schematic diagram of PNI-NPN and SNPN in a shared-RAN scenario provided by an embodiment of the present application. As Figure 7 shown, PLMN and SNPN are respectively connected to their own CUs. The PNI-NPN-CU and SNPN-CU share the Shared-DU, and there may be an Xn interface between the PNI-NPN-CU and SNPN-CU. Similarly, there are similar derivative scenarios for PNI-NPN and SNPN, PNI-NPN and PLMN, and there are also similar derivative scenarios for the Shared-CU, which will not be elaborated one by one.

[0360] 4. Paging.

[0361] Paging includes paging triggered by the core network (CN paging) and paging triggered by the RAN side (RAN paging).

[0362] For a user equipment in the registration management registered (RM-Registered) state and in the RRC idle state, when user equipment data arrives at the UPF, the UPF triggers the SMF and the AMF to initiate CN paging. The AMF sends the paging information to the RAN. The paging information includes information such as the PLMN ID to be paged, the tracking area code (TAC), the Cell ID, the identifier of the user equipment (e.g., the 5G S-temporary mobile subscriber identity (5G-S-TMSI) of the user equipment), and the RAN node ID. After receiving the CN paging, the RAN initiates RAN paging and continues to page the user equipment through the Uu interface in the corresponding cell. The Uu interface paging information includes the user equipment identifier (5G-S-TMSI). After receiving the paging message, the user equipment in the RRC-idle state may initiate an RRC establishment process to respond to the paging.

[0363] For a user equipment in the RM-Registered state and in the RRC inactive state, when user equipment data arrives at the UPF, CN paging is not required. The UPF sends the data to the RAN, and the RAN triggers RAN paging to page the user equipment through the Uu interface. The Uu interface paging information includes information such as the user equipment identifier (5G-S-TMSI, I-RNTI). After receiving the paging information, the user equipment in the RRC-inactive state sends a radio resource control resume request message to respond to the paging in the cell where it is paged.

[0364] The embodiments of the present application can be applicable to the paging of the above-mentioned user equipment in the RM-Registered state and in the RRC-idle state, and also applicable to the paging of the user equipment in the RM-Registered state and in the RRC-inactive state.

[0365] In addition, for the convenience of understanding the embodiments of the present application, the following points are explained.

[0366] First, in the present application, "for indicating" may include for directly indicating and for indirectly indicating. When describing for indicating A, it may include that the indication information directly indicates A or indirectly indicates A, and does not mean that A must be included in the indication information.

[0367] The information used for indication can be referred to as the information to be indicated. In the specific implementation process, there are many ways to indicate the information to be indicated. For example, the information to be indicated can be directly indicated, such as the information to be indicated itself or the index of the information to be indicated, etc. It is also possible to indirectly indicate the information to be indicated by indicating other information, where there is an association relationship between the other information and the information to be indicated. It is also possible to only indicate a part of the information to be indicated, while the other parts of the information to be indicated are known or pre-agreed. For example, it is also possible to achieve the indication of specific information by relying on the arrangement order of each piece of information pre-agreed (such as protocol regulations), thereby reducing the indication overhead to a certain extent. At the same time, it is also possible to identify the common part of each piece of information and indicate it uniformly to reduce the indication overhead caused by indicating the same information separately. When it is necessary to indicate multiple pieces of information of the same type, it may occur that the indication methods of different pieces of information are different. In the specific implementation process, the required indication method can be selected according to specific needs. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the selected indication method. In this way, the indication methods involved in the embodiments of the present application should be understood to cover various methods that can enable the party to be indicated to obtain the information to be indicated.

[0368] The information to be indicated can be sent as a whole, or can be divided into multiple sub-informations and sent separately. Moreover, the sending periods and / or sending times of these sub-informations can be the same or different. The specific sending method is not limited in the present application. Among them, the sending periods and / or sending times of these sub-informations can be predefined, for example, predefined according to the protocol, or can be configured by the transmitting device by sending configuration information to the receiving device. Among them, the configuration information can, for example but not limited to, include one or at least a combination of two of radio resource control signaling, MAC layer signaling, and physical layer signaling. Among them, the radio resource control signaling, for example, includes RRC signaling; the MAC layer signaling, for example, includes MAC control element (CE); the physical layer signaling, for example, includes downlink control information (DCI).

[0369] Second, in the embodiments shown below, the first, second, and various numerical numbers are only for the convenience of description and are not used to limit the scope of the embodiments of the present application. For example, to distinguish different preset correspondence relationships, etc.

[0370] Third, in the embodiments shown below, "preset" can include being indicated by network device signaling or predefined, for example, defined by the protocol. Among them, "predefined" can be achieved by pre-saving corresponding codes, tables, or other ways that can be used to indicate relevant information in the device (for example, including user equipment and network equipment). The present application does not limit its specific implementation method.

[0371] Fourth, the "saving" involved in the embodiments of the present application may refer to saving in one or more memories. The one or more memories may be separately provided or integrated in an encoder, a decoder, a processor, or a communication device. The one or more memories may also have a part separately provided and a part integrated in an encoder, a decoder, a processor, or a communication device. The type of the memory may be any form of storage medium, which is not limited in the present application.

[0372] Fifth, the "protocol" involved in the embodiments of the present application may refer to a standard protocol in the communication field. For example, it may include the LTE protocol, the NR protocol, and related protocols applied to future communication systems, which are not limited in the present application.

[0373] In the existing paging mechanism for the user equipment in the RM-Registered and RRC-idle state, after receiving a paging message, the user equipment will respond to the paging message and access the corresponding cell, and then the user equipment transitions to the RRC-connected state. After that, the user equipment no longer listens for or receives paging information from other cells, but only receives paging information in the accessed cell. In the shared-RAN scenario, different network cells can be configured under a shared-RAN. When the user equipment accesses a cell of a certain network under it and transitions from the RRC-idle state to the RRC-connected state, if another network triggers the shared-RAN to page the user equipment in other corresponding cells, the user equipment will not listen for and receive the paging from the other network, and thus the other network will never get a paging response. On the other hand, from the perspective of the user equipment, when the user equipment is registered with multiple networks, it needs to listen for paging from multiple networks before accessing a certain network, consuming a large amount of energy. From the perspective of the network, when different networks want to page the user equipment, they need to perform paging separately, consuming a large amount of energy.

[0374] To solve the above problems existing in the paging of the user equipment in the shared-RAN scenario, the embodiments of the present application provide a paging method to ensure normal paging in the shared-RAN scenario.

[0375] The paging method provided by the embodiments of the present application will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0376] The method provided by the embodiments of the present application can be applied to different communication systems. For example, Figure 1 or Figure 2The communication system shown in []. The communication system may include at least one network device and at least one user equipment. The embodiments shown below do not particularly limit the specific structure of the execution subject of the method provided by the embodiments of the present application. As long as it can communicate according to the method provided by the embodiments of the present application by running a program recorded with the code of the method provided by the embodiments of the present application. For example, the execution subject of the method provided by the embodiments of the present application may be a user equipment or a network device, or a functional module or chip in the user equipment or network device that can call and execute the program.

[0377] Hereinafter, without loss of generality, the paging method provided by the embodiments of the present application will be described in detail by taking the interaction between a network device and a user equipment as an example.

[0378] Figure 8 It is a schematic flowchart of a paging method provided by the embodiments of the present application. In this process, the execution subject includes a second user plane function network element, a second core network device, an access device, and a user equipment. Among them, in order to distinguish from the user equipment, the above-mentioned second user plane function network element, second core network device, and access device can be collectively referred to as network devices.

[0379] The access device in the embodiments of the present application may be the above-mentioned shared-RAN, or other access devices that can support access to multiple networks. The present application does not limit the specific form of the access device.

[0380] The core network device in the embodiments of the present application may be Figure 1 the access and mobility management function (AMF) shown in [], or other core network devices that can implement the role of AMF in the embodiments of the present application. The present application does not limit this.

[0381] The second user plane function network element in the embodiments of the present application may be Figure 1 the UPF shown in [], or other devices that can implement the role of UPF in the embodiments of the present application. The present application does not limit this.

[0382] In the embodiments of the present application, a user equipment accessing the network or a cell in the network can be understood as the user equipment accessing the network or a cell in the network through an access device.

[0383] In this embodiment, the user equipment is already in the RRC-connected state of the first network and in the RRC-idle state of the second network. The user equipment needs to access a certain cell in the second network under the access device. At a certain moment, data of the second network arrives at the second user plane function network element, and the second user plane function network element triggers the second core network device to perform paging.

[0384] The paging method includes the following steps.

[0385] S810, the second core network device sends a first paging message to the access device. The access device receives the first paging message from the second core network device.

[0386] When the first paging message is used for paging the user equipment in the second network, the first paging message includes at least one of the following information: the second identifier of the user equipment, the identifier of the second network, or the identifier of the second cell. The second identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the user equipment in the second network, the identifier of the second network is used to indicate the second network that the user equipment needs to access, and the identifier of the second cell is used to indicate the cell in the second network for the user equipment to access.

[0387] Further, the second identifier of the user equipment included in the above first paging message may be included in the second identifier list of the user equipment. For example, there may be multiple identifiers of the user equipment in the second network. The first paging message may send the multiple second identifiers of the user equipment as the second identifier list of the user equipment to indicate that the second network pages the user equipment.

[0388] Further, the identifier of the second network included in the above first paging message may be included in the identifier list of the second network. For example, there may be multiple identifiers of the second network. The first paging message may send the multiple identifiers of the second network as the identifier list of the second network to the user equipment to indicate that there is also a second network paging the user equipment.

[0389] Further, there may be multiple cells in the second network that can provide access for the user equipment, that is, there may be multiple identifiers of the second cell included in the first message. The first message may send the multiple identifiers of the second cell as the identifier list of the second cell to the user equipment to indicate that there are also multiple cells in the second network that can provide access for the user equipment.

[0390] A possible implementation is that when the second network is a Standalone Non-Public Network (SNPN), the identifier list of the second network includes an NID list and a PLMN ID list, or includes a PLMN ID list. For example, the PLMN ID is used to identify the SNPN network. Among them, the NIDs and PLMN IDs included in the NID list and the PLMN ID list are used to indicate the SNPNs for the user equipment to access. For example, the NID list included in the first paging message includes NIDs of a first NID, a second NID, and a third NID, and the PLMN ID list includes PLMN IDs of a first PLMN ID, a second PLMN ID, and a third PLMN ID. Moreover, the first PLMN ID and the first NID are used to identify a first SNPN, the second PLMN ID and the second NID are used to identify a second SNPN, and the third PLMN ID and the third NID are used to identify a third NPN. This means that the above user equipment can access one or more of the first SNPN, the second SNPN, and the third NPN standalone non-public networks. In this implementation, the first network that the user equipment has accessed can be a PNI-NPN or a PLMN or another SNPN.

[0391] Another possible implementation is that when the second network is a Public Land Mobile Network Integrated Non-Public Network (PNI-NPN), the identifier list of the second network includes a Closed Access Group (CAG) ID list and a PLMN ID list, or includes a PLMN ID list. For example, the PLMN ID is used to identify the PNI-NPN network. Among them, the CAG IDs and PLMN IDs included in the CAG ID list and the PLMN ID list are used to indicate the PNI-NPNs for the user equipment to access. For example, the CAG ID list included in the first paging message includes CAG IDs of a first CAG ID, a CAG ID #2, and a third CAG ID, and the PLMN ID list includes PLMN IDs of a first PLMN ID, a second PLMN ID, and a third PLMN ID. Moreover, the first PLMN ID and the first CAG ID are used to identify a first PNI-NPN, the second PLMN ID and the second CAG ID are used to identify a second PNI-NPN, and the third PLMN ID and the third CAG ID are used to identify a third PNI-NPN. This means that the above user equipment can access one or more of the first PNI-NPN, the second PNI-NPN, and the third PNI-NPN public land mobile network integrated non-public networks. In this implementation, the first network that the user equipment has accessed can be an SNPN or a PLMN or another PNI-NPN.

[0392] Another possible implementation. When the second network is a PLMN, the identification list of the second network is the PLMN ID list, where the PLMN IDs included in the PLMN ID list are used to indicate the PLMNs to which the user equipment can access. For example, the PLMN ID list included in the first paging message includes PLMN IDs of the first PLMN ID, the second PLMN ID, and the third PLMN ID, and the first PLMN ID is used to identify the first PLMN, the second PLMN ID is used to identify the second PLMN, and the third PLMN ID is used to identify the third PLMN, which means that the above user equipment can access one or more of the first PLMN, the second PLMN, and the third PLMN. In this implementation, the first network to which the user equipment has accessed can be an SNPN or a PNI-NPN or another PLMN.

[0393] Further, the second identification list of the user equipment included in the first paging message can notify the access device that the paging object is the above user equipment. For example, the first paging message includes at least one of the user equipment's identification such as the 5G-S-TMSI, the 5G globally unique temporary identity (5G-GUTI), or the international mobile subscriber identification number (IMSI) of the user equipment in the second network.

[0394] Further, the identification list of the second cell included in the first paging message enables the access device to notify the user equipment which cells in the second network it can access. Further, the above first paging message further includes a second cell identification list (cell ID list), an access network device identification list (RAN Node ID list), and a second tracking area code list (TAC list). Among them, the second cell identification included in the second cell identification list is used to indicate the cells in the second network to which the user equipment can access, the access network device identification included in the access network device identification list is used to indicate the access network devices through which the user equipment can access the cells, and the second TAC included in the second tracking area code list is used to indicate the tracking area (TA) to which the cells to which the user equipment can access belong.

[0395] Optionally, the above first paging message may further include a second cause value, which is used to indicate the reason for the second network to page the user equipment. That is, when the first paging message includes the second cause value, the user equipment can know the reason for the second network to initiate paging based on this second cause value. The second cause value can assist the user equipment to quickly locate the reason for the paging message to be initiated and distinguish the paging scenario, so that the user equipment can quickly make appropriate strategies and actions next.

[0396] Optionally, the above first paging message may further include a second timer, which is used to identify that the user equipment needs to access the cell in the second network within the second timer. That is, when the first paging message includes the second timer, the user equipment can know the time when the second network expects the user equipment to respond to the paging based on this second timer. The second timer provides a time threshold reference value for the network and the terminal side to access the network. For example, if the terminal device is receiving services from other networks when it receives the paging message, the terminal device can continue to receive services from other networks within the time threshold and then access the paging network when approaching the time threshold to ensure the continuity of user services.

[0397] The above second cause value includes the following possible forms:

[0398] In a possible implementation, the second network is an SNPN, the first network is a PNI-NPN or a PLMN or another SNPN, then the second cause value may be an SNPN character, indicating that the paging is initiated due to SNPN services.

[0399] In another possible implementation, the second network is a PNI-NPN, the first network is an SNPN or a PLMN or another PNI-NPN, then the second cause value may be a PNI-NPN character, indicating that the paging is initiated due to PNI-NPN services.

[0400] In yet another possible implementation, the second network is a PLMN, the first network is an SNPN or a PNI-NPN or another PLMN, then the second cause value may be a PLMN character, indicating that the paging is initiated due to PLMN services.

[0401] Another possible implementation is that the second network is an SNPN, the first network is a PNI-NPN or a PLMN or another SNPN. Then the second cause value can be characters such as PNI-NPN to SNPN, PLMN to SNPN, or SNPN to SNPN, indicating that the user equipment was previously attached to a PNI-NPN or a PLMN or another SNPN network, and then the user equipment moved, from the PNI-NPN or the PLMN or another SNPN network to the SNPN network, and the paging for the user equipment is initiated due to the services of the PNI-NPN or the PLMN or another SNPN network.

[0402] Another possible implementation is that the second network is a PNI-NPN or a PLMN or another SNPN, and the first network is an SNPN. Then the second cause value can be characters such as SNPN to PNI-NPN, SNPN to PLMN, or SNPN to SNPN, indicating that the user equipment was previously attached to the SNPN network, and then the user equipment moved, from the SNPN network to the PNI-NPN or the PLMN or another SNPN network, and the paging for the user equipment is initiated due to the services of the SNPN network.

[0403] Another possible implementation is that the second network is an SNPN, the first network is a PNI-NPN or a PLMN or another SNPN. Then the second cause value can be characters such as PNI-NPN to SNPN, PLMN to SNPN, or SNPN to SNPN, indicating that the user equipment was previously attached to a PNI-NPN or a PLMN network, established PDU session resources of the SNPN network through the PNI-NPN or the PLMN network, and then the user equipment moved, from the PNI-NPN or the PLMN or another SNPN network to the SNPN network, and the SNPN network initiates paging for the user equipment in this network due to the services of this network.

[0404] Another possible implementation is that the second network is PNI-NPN or PLMN, and the first network is SNPN. Then the second cause value can be the characters of SNPN to PNI-NPN (SNPN to PNI-NPN), SNPN to PLMN (SNPN to PLMN), or SNPN to SNPN (SNPN to SNPN), indicating that the user equipment was previously connected to the SNPN network, established PDU session resources of the PNI-NPN or PLMN network through the SNPN network, and then the user equipment moved, moving from the SNPN network to the PNI-NPN or PLMN or another SNPN network. The PNI-NPN or PLMN or another SNPN network initiates paging for the user equipment due to the services of this network in this network.

[0405] The above several possible situations only illustrate the possible manifestations of the second cause value in the form of examples, and do not constitute any limitation to the protection scope of this application. Other possible manifestations of the second cause value in this application will not be elaborated here.

[0406] Furthermore, the reason for the second core network device to send the first paging message to the access device can be that the second user plane function network element receives data of the user equipment, that is Figure 8 The method flow shown also includes S811, where the second user plane function network element receives the first data, and the first data is the data that the second network needs to send to the user equipment.

[0407] Further, in the embodiment of this application, the above user equipment is in the RRC-connected state in a certain cell of the first network. After the access device receives the above first paging message, it determines that the user equipment to be paged by the second network is already connected to the cell in the first network configured in the access device, that is Figure 8 The method flow shown also includes S820, where the access device sends a first message to the user equipment. The user equipment receives the first message from the access device.

[0408] In one possible implementation, the above first message is a radio resource control reconfiguration (RRC reconfiguration) message.

[0409] In another possible implementation, the above first message is a radio resource control setup (RRC setup) message.

[0410] In another possible implementation, the above first message is a paging message.

[0411] In the embodiments of the present application, there is no limitation on the specific form of the first paging message. It may be any existing signaling used by the second core network device to page the user equipment, or any newly added signaling for paging the user equipment between the user equipment and the second core network device, or any existing signaling between the second core network device and the access device.

[0412] When the first message is used to indicate that the user equipment is paged by the second network, the first message includes at least one of the following parameters: the second identifier of the user equipment, the identifier of the second network, or the identifier of the second cell. Among them, the second identifier of the user equipment, the identifier of the second network, and the identifier of the second cell are similar to the second identifier of the user equipment, the identifier of the second network, and the identifier of the second cell that may be included in the first paging message, and will not be elaborated here.

[0413] Optionally, the first message further includes a second cause value.

[0414] Optionally, the first message further includes a second duration.

[0415] Optionally, the first message further includes a second access network device identifier list and a second tracking area code list.

[0416] In this embodiment, the user equipment has accessed the first network, and the user equipment receives the first message from the access device through a signaling radio bearer (SRB) in the first network. Alternatively, the user equipment receives the first message from the access device through paging information in the first network, and the first message is used to indicate that the user equipment is paged by the second network. For example, the user equipment receives the first message from the access device through an RRC message in the first network.

[0417] S860, the user equipment accesses the second network through the access device. For example, the user equipment selects a third cell in the second network and accesses the second network by accessing the third cell in the second network.

[0418] Optionally, Figure 8 The shown method flow may further include S821, where the user equipment determines the third cell in the second network it accesses.

[0419] The information included in the first message may identify multiple different cells in the second network. The user equipment may select a third cell in the second network to access from multiple different cells. Alternatively, the user equipment only learns of the paging in the second network based on the first message, does not select the cell corresponding to the cell identifier provided in the first message for access, but selects a third cell not identified in the first message for access, and determines the network identifier, cell identifier, access network device identifier, or tracking area code corresponding to the third cell. In the embodiments of the present application, there is no limitation on the strategy for how the user equipment decides to access the above-mentioned third cell. It may randomly select the above-mentioned third cell from the cells that can be accessed, or may select the access to a suitable cell based on a preset strategy.

[0420] Specifically, after the user equipment accesses the second network and determines to access a third cell in the second network, the executed process includes the following two possibilities:

[0421] Possibility 1:

[0422] A possible implementation manner is that the user equipment selects a third cell in the second network to initiate a random access process. S860 may specifically include S822: The user equipment randomly accesses the third cell through an access device. After the user equipment accesses the third cell, it configures resources for transmitting data in the third cell.

[0423] Optionally, in Possibility 1, the radio resource control establishment complete (RRC setup complete) signaling in the random access process of the user equipment needs to include the identification of the NPN network selected by the user equipment and report it to the access device. For example, for SNPN, it needs to include the selected PLMN ID and NID. For PNI-NPN, it needs to include the selected PLMN ID and CAG ID. After the user equipment completes random access, the access device needs to notify the core network device of the network information selected by the user equipment. For example, the access device reports the network selected by the user equipment to the core network device through the initial UE message signaling. The initial UE message signaling includes the identification of the NPN network selected by the user and reports it to the access device. For example, for SNPN, it needs to include the selected PLMN ID and NID. For PNI-NPN, it needs to include the selected PLMN ID and CAG ID.

[0424] Possibility 2:

[0425] In another possible implementation, the user equipment notifies the access device of the information of the third cell in the second network selected for access, and the access device can assist the user equipment in accessing the third cell. For example:

[0426] The user equipment sends a first response message to the access device, and this first response message can be regarded as a response to the above-mentioned first message. The first response message includes the information of the third cell, and the third cell is the cell in the second network determined by the user equipment to access. S860 may specifically include S823, where the user equipment sends a first response message to the access device. The access device receives the first response message from the user equipment. Among them, for the NPN network, the first response message includes the identifier of the NPN network. For example, for SNPN, it is necessary to include the selected PLMN ID and NID, and for PNI-NPN, it is necessary to include the selected PLMN ID and CAG ID.

[0427] In one possible implementation, the above-mentioned first response message is a radio resource control reconfiguration complete (RRC reconfiguration complete) message.

[0428] In another possible implementation, the above-mentioned first response message is a radio resource control setup complete (RRC setup complete) message.

[0429] In another possible implementation, the above-mentioned first response message is an uplink information transfer message.

[0430] In another possible implementation, the above-mentioned first response message is a radio resource control setup request (RRC setup request) message.

[0431] In another possible implementation, the above-mentioned first response message is a message 1 (MSG1) message of the random access process.

[0432] In another possible implementation, the above-mentioned first response message is a medium access control (MAC) layer signaling, such as including a MAC control element (CE).

[0433] In another possible implementation, the first response message is a physical layer signaling, such as uplink control information (UCI).

[0434] Optionally, when the first message is an RRC reconfiguration message, the first response message may be an RRC reconfiguration complete message; optionally, when the first message is an RRC setup message, the first response message may be an RRC setup complete message.

[0435] In the embodiments of the present application, the specific form of the first response message is not limited, and it may be any existing signaling used for transmitting the information of the third cell between the user equipment and the access device, or any newly added signaling for transmitting the information of the third cell between the user equipment and the access device, or any existing signaling between the user equipment and the access device.

[0436] In the case shown in Possibility 2, to complete the paging process, Figure 8 the paging method shown further includes the following steps:

[0437] S830, the access device sends the information of the third cell to the second core network device. The second core network device receives the information of the third cell from the access device.

[0438] The information of the third cell is used to notify the second core network device that the user equipment to be paged has been paged. The information of the third cell includes the cell identifier of the third cell, the network identifier corresponding to the third cell, the access network device identifier, or the tracking area code.

[0439] In a possible implementation, the information of the third cell may be included in an initial UE message, and the initial UE message is used to notify the second core network device that the user equipment to be paged has been paged. Among them, for the NPN network, the identifier of the NPN network is included in the initial UE message.

[0440] In the embodiments of the present application, the manner of transmitting the information of the third cell between the second core network device and the access device is not limited, and it may be to multiplex existing signaling, add the information of the third cell to the existing signaling, or newly add signaling for transmitting the information of the third cell between the second core network device and the access device.

[0441] After the second core network device learns that the paging of the user equipment is successful, the second user plane function network element in the first network needs to configure session resources for the user equipment, that is Figure 8 The method flow shown in Figure 8 further includes S840, where the access device and the second user plane function network element configure resources for the user equipment.

[0442] Specifically, after the access device and the first user plane function network element configure session resources for the user equipment, the user equipment and the access device configure the resources and / or parameters required for the user equipment to select and access the third cell through the signaling radio bearer in the cell to which the user equipment has accessed.

[0443] That is Figure 8 The method flow shown in Figure 8 further includes S850, where the access device sends a second message to the user equipment through the first network. The user equipment receives the second message sent by the access device. The second message includes at least one of the following parameters: a first parameter for supporting the user equipment to randomly access the third cell, a second parameter indicating the resources of the third cell, a fourth parameter indicating the context information of the user equipment in the second network, or a fifth parameter indicating the security and integrity protection information of the user equipment in the second network.

[0444] Optionally, the second message may further include a third parameter indicating the resources of the first network configured via the cell in the first network and a first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate that the resources of the first network configured via the cell in the first network carry the data of the second network.

[0445] When the second message includes the third parameter and the first indication information, the access device may send down the third parameter without receiving the above-mentioned third cell.

[0446] The third cell selected by the user equipment to access may be the cell corresponding to the identifier of the second cell sent by the access device through the first message, or may be a cell other than the cell corresponding to the identifier of the second cell selected by the user equipment to access.

[0447] In a possible implementation, the third cell is a cell in the SNPN, and the information of the third cell includes Cell ID, NID, PLMN ID, or TAC.

[0448] In another possible implementation, the third cell is a cell in the PNI-NPN, and the information of the third cell includes CellID, CAG ID, PLMN ID, or TAC.

[0449] Another possible implementation manner is that the third cell is a cell in a PLMN, and the information of the third cell includes CellID, PLMN ID, or TAC.

[0450] Optionally, when the second message includes a first parameter for supporting the user equipment to randomly access the third cell, the user equipment may randomly access the third cell based on the first parameter in the second message, without listening to and parsing the relevant system information of the third cell and then randomly accessing after obtaining the first parameter for supporting the user equipment to randomly access the third cell. For example, the first parameter may include preamble information, and the user equipment may randomly access the third cell non-competitively based on the preamble. That is, in this case, for the user equipment to perform subsequent data transmission in the third cell, it is also necessary to configure the resources in the third cell via the third cell. The specific configuration method may refer to the current protocol for configuring the transmission resources of the user equipment after random access, and this application will not elaborate further.

[0451] Optionally, when the second message includes a second parameter indicating the resources of the third cell, the user equipment may know the resources in the third cell that need to be occupied when performing data transmission in the third cell based on the second parameter, without the third cell configuring the resources required for data transmission after the user equipment randomly accesses the third cell.

[0452] Optionally, when the second message includes a third parameter indicating the resources of the first network configured via the cells in the first network, the user equipment may know the resources in the first network that need to be occupied for transmitting data in the second network based on the third parameter, without accessing the second network and without configuring the resources required for data transmission in the second network. For example, in a private network scenario of stand-alone networking, when transmitting the PDU session data of the SNPN network (the second network) through the PLMN network (the first network) via the N3IWF, the PDU session resources of the UE in the SNPN network are carried in the PDU session of the PLMN network. That is, it is necessary to configure the corresponding DRB resources in the cell (the first cell) of the PLMN network to transmit the PDU session data of the SNPN network (the second network). Vice versa, when transmitting the PDU session data of the PLMN network (the second network) through the SNPN network (the first network) via the N3IWF, the PDU session resources of the UE in the PLMN network are carried in the PDU session of the SNPN network. That is, it is necessary to configure the corresponding DRB resources in the cell (the first cell) of the SNPN network to transmit the PDU session data of the PLMN network (the second network).

[0453] Optionally, when a fourth parameter indicating context information of the user equipment in the second network is included in the second message, the user equipment can obtain the context information in the second network based on the fourth parameter, without having to obtain the context information of the user equipment in the second network from the third cell after randomly accessing the third cell.

[0454] Optionally, when a fifth parameter indicating security and integrity protection information of the user equipment in the second network is included in the second message, the user equipment can obtain the security and integrity protection information in the second network based on the fifth parameter, without having to obtain the security and integrity protection information of the user equipment in the second network from the third cell after randomly accessing the third cell.

[0455] The fourth parameter and the fifth parameter can be configured by the second network. For example, they can be configured by the third cell, and the third cell transmits the configuration parameters to the first network, and the first network then transmits them to the user equipment via the first cell; or they can be directly configured by the first network. For example, they can be configured by the first cell, and the first cell sends the existing user context parameters and the parameters of the security and integrity protection information to the user equipment, that is, the second network multiplexes the context parameters of the user in the first network and the parameters of the security and integrity protection information.

[0456] The first parameter includes parameters such as RACH, PRACH, and preamble indicating random access to the third cell in the second network.

[0457] The second parameter includes resources such as SRB and DRB in the third cell.

[0458] The third parameter includes resources such as SRB and DRB in the first network.

[0459] In the paging method provided by the embodiments of the present application, when the second parameter is included in the second message, it means that when the user equipment that has accessed the cell in the first network is paged by the second network, the resources of the third cell can be configured via the cell in the first network, or after the user equipment randomly accesses the third cell, the resources of the second cell can be configured via the third cell.

[0460] The parameters that can be included in the above second message are only examples and do not constitute any limitation to the protection scope of the present application. For example, the second message can also include other relevant information of the user equipment in the second network, which will not be exemplified one by one here.

[0461] In a possible implementation manner, the access device provides the information required for the user equipment to access the cell through the first message, or notifies, through the first message, the resources in the first network that can be used to transmit data of the second network. For example:

[0462] The first message includes at least one of the following parameters:

[0463] a sixth parameter for supporting the user equipment to randomly access a second cell, a seventh parameter indicating the resources of the second cell, an eighth parameter indicating the resources of the first network, a ninth parameter indicating the context information of the user equipment in the second network, or a tenth parameter indicating the security and integrity protection information of the user equipment in the second network

[0464] Wherein, when the eighth parameter is included in the first message, the first message further includes first indication information for indicating that the resources of the first network configured via the cell in the first network carry the services of the second network.

[0465] Optionally, when the sixth parameter for supporting the user equipment to randomly access the second cell is included in the first message, the user equipment may perform random access to the cell in the second network based on the sixth parameter in the first message. There may be multiple second cells provided by the access device for the user equipment to access, that is, the sixth parameters required for accessing multiple second cells may be included in the first message respectively. In this case, for the user equipment to perform subsequent data transmission in the second cell, it is also necessary to configure the resources in the second cell via the second cell. The specific configuration method may refer to the configuration of the transmission resources of the user equipment after random access in the current protocol, which will not be elaborated in this application.

[0466] For example, the first message includes a sixth parameter #1 for supporting the user equipment to randomly access the second cell #1, a sixth parameter #2 for supporting the user equipment to randomly access the second cell #2, and a sixth parameter #3 for supporting the user equipment to randomly access the second cell #3. The user equipment may select to access the second cell #1, the second cell #2, or the second cell #3 based on the first message. After the user equipment selects to access the second cell #1, it may configure resources via the second cell #1 so that the user equipment can perform data transmission in the second cell #1. In the embodiments of the present application, "#1", "#2", and "#3" are only used to distinguish different objects, and are similar to the functions of "first", "second", and "third", and do not constitute any limitation to the protection scope of the present application.

[0467] Optionally, when the seventh parameter indicating the resources of the second cell is included in the first message, the user equipment may know the resources in the second cell that need to be occupied when performing data transmission in the second cell based on the seventh parameter, without the need to configure the resources required for data transmission by the second cell after randomly accessing the second cell.

[0468] There may be multiple second cells provided by the access device for the user equipment to access, that is, the seventh parameters corresponding to multiple second cells may be included in the first message respectively.

[0469] Optionally, when the first message includes an eighth parameter indicating the resources of the first network configured via the cell in the first network, the user equipment can, based on the eighth parameter, know the resources in the first network that the data in transmission needs to occupy, without accessing the second network and without configuring the resources required for data transmission in the second network.

[0470] Optionally, when the first message includes a ninth parameter indicating the context information of the user equipment in the second network, the user equipment can, based on the ninth parameter, know the context information in the second network, without having to obtain the context information of the user equipment in the second network from the second cell after randomly accessing the second cell.

[0471] Optionally, when the first message includes a tenth parameter indicating the security and integrity protection information of the user equipment in the second network, the user equipment can, based on the fifth parameter, know the security and integrity protection information in the second network, without having to obtain the security and integrity protection information of the user equipment in the second network from the second cell after randomly accessing the second cell.

[0472] The sixth parameter includes parameters such as RACH, PRACH, and Preamble that indicate random access to the second cell in the second network.

[0473] The seventh parameter includes resources such as SRB and DRB in the second cell.

[0474] The eighth parameter includes resources such as SRB and DRB in the first network.

[0475] In the paging method provided by the embodiments of the present application, the first message may include either the seventh parameter or the eighth parameter, indicating that when a user equipment that has accessed a cell in the first network is paged by a second cell in the second network, the resources of the second cell can be configured via the cell in the first network, or, after the user equipment randomly accesses the second cell, the resources of the second cell can be configured via the second cell.

[0476] In a possible implementation, the above resources may be carried on shared-RAN, PLMN-UPF, DN, N3IWF, NPN-UPF, DN. In this case, an internet protocol security (IPsec) tunnel needs to be established, and the PDU session resources of the second network are carried in the cell in the first network of the access device.

[0477] Another possible implementation is that the above session resources can be carried on: shared-RAN, NPN-UPF, DN. In this case, it can be dual radio. The PDU session resources of the second network, such as the DRB resources of the second network, are configured in the cell of the second network of the access device.

[0478] The user equipment in this application can be a user equipment connected to the access device, a user equipment in the dual radio state, or a user equipment with multiple SIM cards. For a user equipment in the dual radio state, the user equipment can have two Uu interfaces, and a set of resources such as SRB and DRB can be configured on each Uu interface. That is, the user equipment can be configured with two sets of resources such as SRB and DRB. The Uu interface between the user equipment and the first network is the first Uu interface, and the Uu interface between the user equipment and the second network is the second Uu interface. The method of this application can solve the problem that the first Uu interface assists the second Uu interface in paging the user equipment and assisting the second Uu interface in configuring relevant SRB and DRB parameters. For a user equipment with multiple SIM cards, the user identifier of the user equipment in the first network can be the identifier of the first SIM card, and the user identifier of the user equipment in the second network can be the identifier of the second SIM card. That is, in this application, the problem that the second SIM card assists in paging the first SIM card and assisting the first SIM card in configuring relevant parameters can be solved. For example, when the first SIM card and the second SIM card in the user equipment share the antenna device.

[0479] In the embodiment of this application, the user equipment can first access the cell in the first network device. In this way, the access device can send a first message to the user equipment through the signaling radio bearer of the cell in the first network in the first network.

[0480] Specifically, Figure 8 The shown embodiment does not limit how the user equipment accesses the cell in the first network. For example, it can be any one of the following possibilities:

[0481] 1) Before receiving the above first paging message, the access device receives a second paging message sent by the first core network device, and the user equipment responds to the second paging message and changes to the RRC-connected state in the first network;

[0482] 2) The access device receives the above first paging message and the second paging message at the same time. The access device first pages the user equipment in the cell in the first network according to the known paging strategy, and the user equipment responds to the second paging message and changes to the RRC-connected state in the first network; This situation will be described below in combination with Figure 9 illustrate this situation.

[0483] 3) The access device receives the above-mentioned first paging message and second paging message simultaneously. The access device pages the user equipment in the cell of the first network and the cell of the second network simultaneously. The user equipment first responds to the second paging message and transitions to the RRC-connected state in the first network. The following will be combined with Figure 9 and Figure 10 to illustrate this situation.

[0484] 4) The access device receives the above-mentioned first paging message and second paging message simultaneously. The access device, according to its own paging strategy, first pages the user equipment in the cell of the second network. If the user equipment is not paged, then it pages the user equipment in the cell of the first network. After the user equipment responds to the second paging message and transitions to the RRC-connected state in the first network, it then assists the user equipment to respond to the paging of the second network via the laundry network.

[0485] 5) The above-mentioned first paging message can be used for paging the user equipment in the first network and the second network. The user equipment chooses to access the first network first. The following will be combined with Figure 9 and Figure 10 to illustrate this situation.

[0486] Figure 8 In the method flow shown, when the user equipment is in the RRC-connected state in a certain cell of the first network and then responds to the paging of the second network with the assistance of the cell in the first network that has been accessed, it can enable the user equipment to respond to the paging of different networks.

[0487] Furthermore, the user equipment can detect the paging message only in the third cell it chooses to access. For the user equipment, it can save the power consumption of the user equipment.

[0488] Figure 8 In the method flow shown, by enabling the network accessed by the user equipment to assist another network in paging the user equipment, the performance of the user equipment being paged by multiple networks through a shared-RAN is improved.

[0489] In addition, for a user equipment in a dual-radio state, the user equipment has two Uu interfaces. Resources such as SRB and DRB can be configured separately at each Uu interface, that is, the user equipment can be configured with two sets of resources such as SRB and DRB. The Uu interface between the user equipment and the first network is the first Uu interface, and the Uu interface between the user equipment and the second network is the second Uu interface. The embodiment of the present application provides a paging method. By enabling the first Uu interface to assist the second Uu interface in paging the user equipment and / or assisting the second Uu interface in configuring relevant SRB and DRB parameters, the user equipment can respond to the paging of different networks in the scenario of being in a dual-radio state.

[0490] For a user equipment with multiple SIM cards, the first identifier of the user equipment in the first network may be the identifier of the first SIM card, and the second identifier of the user equipment in the second network may be the identifier of the second SIM card. An embodiment of the present application provides a paging method to assist in paging the second SIM card through the first SIM card and / or assist the second SIM card in configuring relevant parameters, so that a user equipment with multiple SIM cards can respond to different paging for different SIM cards.

[0491] The following combines Figure 9 Briefly illustrate how to implement the user equipment to respond to paging from different networks when the access device receives different paging messages and, based on the identifiers of the user equipment included in different paging messages, knows that the objects paged by different paging messages are the same user equipment.

[0492] Figure 9 It is a schematic flowchart of another paging method provided by an embodiment of the present application. In this process, the execution entities include a first user plane function network element, a first core network device, a second user plane function network element, a second core network device, an access device, and a user equipment. Among them, in order to distinguish from the user equipment, the above-mentioned first user plane function network element, first core network device, and access device can be collectively referred to as network devices, and the above-mentioned second user plane function network element, second core network device, and access device can also be collectively referred to as network devices.

[0493] The user equipment is in the RRC-idle state in both of the two networks supported by the access device for access. Data from the first network arrives at the first user plane function network element and data from the second network arrives at the second user plane function network element. Specifically, the first user plane function network element and the second user plane function network element respectively trigger the first core network device and the second core network device to perform paging. After the user equipment first receives the paging from the first network, it accesses the first network and enters the RRC-connected state.

[0494] The paging method includes the following steps.

[0495] S910, the second core network device sends a first paging message to the access device. The access device receives the first paging message from the second core network device.

[0496] The first paging message includes at least one of the following information: the second identifier of the user equipment, the identifier of the second network, or the identifier of the second cell. The second identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the user equipment in the second network, the identifier of the second network is used to indicate the second network that the user equipment needs to access, and the identifier of the second cell is used to indicate the cell in the second network for the user equipment to access;

[0497] Specifically, the second identifier of the user equipment, the identifier of the second network, or the identifier of the second cell is similar to the second identifier of the user equipment, the identifier of the second network, or the identifier of the second cell included in the above-mentioned first paging message, which will not be elaborated here.

[0498] Furthermore, the above-mentioned first paging message may further include a Radio Access Network Node ID list and a second Tracking Area Code list. Among them, the Radio Access Network Node ID list and the second Tracking Area Code list are similar to the above-mentioned Radio Access Network Node ID list and the second Tracking Area Code list, which will not be elaborated here.

[0499] Optionally, the above-mentioned first paging message may further include the above-mentioned second cause value;

[0500] Optionally, the above-mentioned first paging message may further include the above-mentioned second duration.

[0501] S920, the first core network device sends a second paging message to the access device. The access device receives the second paging message from the first core network device.

[0502] The second paging message includes at least one of the following information: a first identifier list of the user equipment, an identifier list of the first network, or an identifier of the first cell, where the first identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the user equipment in the first network, the identifier of the first network is used to indicate the first network that the user equipment needs to access, and the identifier of the first cell is used to indicate the cell in the first network for the user equipment to access.

[0503] Furthermore, the first identifier of the user equipment included in the above-mentioned second paging message may be included in the first identifier list of the user equipment. For example, if there are multiple identifiers of the user equipment in the first network, the second paging message may send the multiple first identifiers of the user equipment as the first identifier list of the user equipment to the user equipment, indicating that the first network is paging the user equipment.

[0504] Furthermore, the identifier of the first network included in the above-mentioned second paging message may be included in the identifier list of the first network. For example, there may be multiple identifiers of the first network, and the second paging message may send the multiple identifiers of the first network as the identifier list of the first network to the user equipment, indicating that the first network is paging the user equipment.

[0505] Furthermore, there can be multiple cells in the first network that can provide access for user equipment. That is, there can be multiple identifiers of the first cell included in the first message. The first message can send the identifiers of the multiple first cells as a list of identifiers of the first cell to the user equipment, indicating that there are multiple cells in the first network that can provide access for the user equipment.

[0506] A possible implementation is that when the first network is a Standalone Non-Public Network (SNPN), the list of identifiers of the first network includes an NID list and a PLMN ID list, or includes a PLMN ID list. For example, the PLMN ID is used to identify the SNPN network. Among them, the NID and PLMN ID included in the NID list and the PLMN ID list are used to indicate the SNPN for the user equipment to access. For example, the NID list included in the second paging message includes NIDs of the first NID, the second NID, and the third NID, and the PLMN ID list includes PLMN IDs of the first PLMN ID, the second PLMN ID, and the third PLMN ID. And the first PLMN ID and the first NID are used to identify the first SNPN, the second PLMN ID and the second NID are used to identify the second SNPN, and the third PLMN ID and the third NID are used to identify the third NPN. This means that the above user equipment can access one or more Standalone Non-Public Networks among the first SNPN, the second SNPN, and the third NPN.

[0507] Another possible implementation is that when the first network is a Public Land Mobile Network Integrated with Non-Public Network (PNI-NPN), the list of identifiers of the first network includes a CAG ID list and a PLMN ID list, or includes a PLMN ID list. For example, the PLMN ID is used to identify the SNPN network. Among them, the CAG ID and PLMN ID included in the CAG ID list and the PLMN ID list are used to indicate the PNI-NPN for the user equipment to access. For example, the CAG ID list included in the second paging message includes CAG IDs of the first CAG ID, the second CAG ID, and the third CAG ID, and the PLMN ID list includes PLMN IDs of the first PLMN ID, the second PLMN ID, and the third PLMN ID. And the first PLMN ID and the first CAG ID are used to identify the first PNI-NPN, the second PLMN ID and the second CAG ID are used to identify the second PNI-NPN, and the third PLMN ID and the third CAG ID are used to identify the third PNI-NPN. This means that the above user equipment can access one or more Public Land Mobile Network Integrated with Non-Public Networks among the first PNI-NPN, the second PNI-NPN, and the third PNI-NPN.

[0508] Another possible implementation. When the first network is a PLMN, the identification list of the first network is the PLMN ID list, where the PLMN IDs included in the PLMN ID list are used to indicate the PLMNs for the user equipment to access. For example, the PLMN ID list included in the second paging message includes PLMN IDs of the first PLMN ID, the second PLMN ID, and the third PLMN ID, and the first PLMN ID is used to identify the first PLMN, the second PLMN ID is used to identify the first PLMN, and the third PLMN ID is used to identify the third PLMN. This means that the above user equipment can access one or more of the first PLMN, the second PLMN, and the third PLMN.

[0509] Furthermore, the first identification list of the user equipment included in the second paging message can notify the access device that the paging object is the above user equipment. For example, the second paging message includes at least one of the identifications of the user equipment such as the 5G-S-TMSI, 5G-GUTI, or IMSI of the user equipment in the first network.

[0510] Furthermore, the identification list of the first cell included in the second paging message enables the access device to notify the user equipment which cells in the first network the user equipment can access. Further, the second paging message further includes at least one of the following: the first cell identification list (cell ID list), the access network device identification list (RAN Node ID list), or the first tracking area code list (TAC list). Among them, the first cell identifications included in the first cell identification list are used to indicate the cells in the first network for the user equipment to access, the access network device identifications included in the access network device identification list are used to indicate the access network devices through which the user equipment can access the cells, and the first TACs included in the first tracking area code list are used to indicate the TAs to which the cells for the user equipment to access belong.

[0511] Optionally, the second paging message may further include a first cause value (cause), which is used to indicate the reason for the first network to page the user equipment. That is, when the second paging message includes the first cause value, the user equipment can know the reason for the first network to initiate paging based on the first cause value. The first cause value can assist the user equipment to quickly locate the reason for the paging message to be initiated and distinguish the paging scenario, so that the user equipment can quickly make appropriate strategies and actions next.

[0512] Optionally, the above second paging message may further include a first duration, which is used to identify that the user equipment needs to access the cell in the above first network within the first duration. That is to say, when the second paging message includes the first duration, the user equipment can know the time when the first network expects the user equipment to respond to the paging based on the first duration. The first duration provides a time threshold reference value for the network and the terminal side to access the network. For example, if the terminal device is receiving services from other networks when it receives the paging message, the terminal device can continue to receive services from other networks within the time threshold and then access the paging network when approaching the time threshold to ensure the continuity of user services.

[0513] The above second cause value includes the following possible forms:

[0514] In a possible implementation, the second network is an SNPN, and the first network is a PNI-NPN or a PLMN or another SNPN. Then the first cause value may be a PNI-NPN or a PLMN character, indicating that the paging is initiated due to PNI-NPN or PLMN services.

[0515] In another possible implementation, the second network is a PNI-NPN, and the first network is an SNPN or a PLMN or another PNI-NPN. Then the first cause value may be an SNPN or a PLMN character, indicating that the paging is initiated due to SNPN or PLMN services.

[0516] In yet another possible implementation, the second network is a PLMN, and the first network is an SNPN or a PNI-NPN or another PLMN. Then the first cause value may be an SNPN or a PNI-NPN character, indicating that the paging is initiated due to SNPN or PNI-NPN services.

[0517] In yet another possible implementation, the second network is an SNPN, and the first network is a PNI-NPN or a PLMN or another SNPN. Then the first cause value may be an SNPN to PNI-NPN or an SNPN to PLMN or an SNPN to SNPN character, indicating that the user equipment was previously connected to the SNPN network, and then the user equipment moved, moving from the SNPN network to a PNI-NPN or a PLMN or another SNPN network, and the paging is initiated for the user equipment due to the services of the SNPN network.

[0518] Another possible implementation is that the second network is PNI-NPN or PLMN or another SNPN, and the first network is SNPN. Then the first cause value can be characters of PNI-NPN to SNPN, PLMN to SNPN, or SNPN to SNPN, indicating that the user equipment was previously connected to the PNI-NPN or PLMN or another SNPN network, and then the user equipment moved, moving from the PNI-NPN or PLMN or another SNPN network to the SNPN network. The PNI-NPN or PLMN or another SNPN network initiates a paging for the user equipment due to the services of the PNI-NPN or PLMN or another SNPN network.

[0519] Another possible implementation is that the second network is SNPN, and the first network is PNI-NPN or PLMN or another SNPN. Then the first cause value can be characters of SNPN to PNI-NPN or SNPN to PLMN, indicating that the user equipment was previously connected to the SNPN network, and established PDU session resources of the PNI-NPN or PLMN or another SNPN network through the SNPN network. Then the user equipment moved, moving from the SNPN network to the PNI-NPN or PLMN network. The PNI-NPN or PLMN or another SNPN network initiates a paging for the user equipment in this network due to the services of this network.

[0520] Another possible implementation is that the second network is PNI-NPN or PLMN, and the first network is SNPN. Then the first cause value can be characters of PNI-NPN to SNPN, PLMN to SNPN, or SNPN to SNPN, indicating that the user equipment was previously connected to the PNI-NPN or PLMN network, and established PDU session resources of the SNPN network through the PNI-NPN or PLMN network. Then the user equipment moved, moving from the PNI-NPN or PLMN network to the SNPN network. The SNPN network initiates a paging for the user equipment in this network due to the services of this network.

[0521] The above several possible cases only illustrate the possible forms of the first cause value in the form of examples, and do not constitute any limitation to the protection scope of this application. Other possible forms of the first cause value in this application will not be elaborated here.

[0522] The first identifier of the user equipment and the second identifier of the user equipment described above may be different. However, in this embodiment, the access device can determine that they both identify the same user equipment based on the first identifier of the user equipment and the second identifier of the user equipment.

[0523] In a possible implementation, the access device receives the first identifier of the user equipment and the second identifier of the user equipment from the user equipment, that is Figure 9 The method flow shown further includes S931, where the user equipment sends the first identifier of the user equipment and the second identifier of the user equipment to the access device. The access device receives the first identifier of the user equipment and the second identifier of the user equipment from the user equipment.

[0524] In another possible implementation, the access device receives the first identifier of the user equipment and the second identifier of the user equipment from the first core network device, that is Figure 9 The method flow shown further includes S932, where the first core network device sends the first identifier of the user equipment and the second identifier of the user equipment to the access device. The access device receives the first identifier of the user equipment and the second identifier of the user equipment from the first core network device.

[0525] In another possible implementation, the access device receives the first identifier of the user equipment and the second identifier of the user equipment from the second core network device, that is Figure 9 The method flow shown further includes S933, where the second core network device sends the first identifier of the user equipment and the second identifier of the user equipment to the access device. The access device receives the first identifier of the user equipment and the second identifier of the user equipment from the second core network device.

[0526] Wherein, the first identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the user identifier of the user equipment in the first network, and the second identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the user identifier of the user equipment in the second network.

[0527] The above S931, S932 or S933 may occur before S910 and S920, S931, S932 or S933 may also occur after S910 and S920, or occur simultaneously. In this embodiment, the order of occurrence of S931, S932, S933, S910 and S920 is not restricted.

[0528] The first core network device sends the second paging message to the access device because the second user plane function network element receives data of the user equipment, that is Figure 9 The method flow shown further includes S911, where the second user plane function network element receives the first data.

[0529] Similarly, the reason for the second core network device to send the first paging message to the access device may be that the first user plane function network element receives data of the user equipment, that is Figure 9 The method flow shown in Figure 9 further includes S921, where the first user plane function network element receives second data.

[0530] When the first network and the second network share a core network, for example, when the first core network device and the second core network device are the same device, the above-mentioned first paging message and second paging message are paging messages sent by the same core network device, and can be collectively referred to as the first paging message. This first paging message is used for the first network and the second network to page the user equipment. The first paging message includes at least one of the second identifier of the user equipment, the identifier of the second network, or the identifier of the second cell, and at least one of the first identifier of the user equipment, the identifier of the first network, or the identifier of the first cell.

[0531] Optionally, in this case, the first paging message may further include a first cause value and / or a second cause value;

[0532] Optionally, in this case, the second paging message may further include a first duration and / or a second duration.

[0533] The above-mentioned first core network device and second core network device are the same core network device, and the above-mentioned first user plane function network element and second user plane function network element are the same user plane function network element, that is, this user plane function network element receives the above-mentioned first data and second data at the same time, and the first data and second data belong to different networks.

[0534] Further, after receiving the above-mentioned first paging message and second paging message, the access device decides to page the user equipment in the cell in the first network and the cell in the second network respectively; or, page the user equipment in the cell in the first network or the second network. That is Figure 9 The method flow shown in Figure 9 further includes S930, where the access device determines a paging strategy.

[0535] In a possible implementation, the access device determines to page the user equipment in the cells in the first network and the second network that the access device supports access according to the information included in the received first paging message and second paging message; or, in another possible implementation, the access device only pages the user equipment in the cell in the first network or the cell in the second network according to the information included in the received first paging message and second paging message, and if the user equipment cannot be paged, then pages the user equipment in the cell in the other network. Among them, the access device determines the cell paging priority according to the duration included in the first paging message and the second paging message, and the one with the shorter duration is paged first.

[0536] Optionally, the paging policy of the access device can be determined by the access device according to the operator's policy, or the first core network device and / or the second core network device can assist the access device in making a decision. For example, when the first core network device and / or the second core network device sends a paging message, the paging message includes indication information to inform the access device whether to page the user equipment only in the cells of the first network or the cells of the second network, or whether it can page the user equipment in the cells of the first network and the cells of the second network. Alternatively, the paging message includes the paging priorities of different networks.

[0537] When the access device pages the user equipment simultaneously in the cells of the first network and the cells of the second network, the user equipment receives the paging from the cell of the second network, or when the access device pages the user equipment simultaneously in the cells of the first network and the cells of the second network, the user equipment first receives the paging from the cell of the first network, or the access device pages the user equipment only in the cells of the first network and the user equipment receives the paging from the cell of the first network, or the access device pages the user equipment only in the cells of the second network and the user equipment receives the paging from the cell of the second network. That is Figure 9 The method flow shown further includes S940, where the user equipment receives the fourth and / or fifth paging messages from the access device. The access device sends the fourth and / or fifth paging messages to the user equipment.

[0538] Optionally, when the first network and the second network share a core network, for example, when the first core network device and the second core network device are the same device, the above-mentioned fourth paging message and fifth paging message can be a single paging message. For example, the fourth paging message and the fifth paging message are the first message sent by the access device to the user equipment, and this first message instructs the user equipment to access the first network and the second network. The first message includes at least one of the second identifier of the user equipment, the identifier of the second network, or the identifier of the second cell, and also includes at least one of the first identifier of the user equipment, the identifier of the first network, or the identifier of the first cell.

[0539] Optionally, the first message further includes a first cause value and / or a second cause value.

[0540] Optionally, the first message further includes a first duration and / or a second duration.

[0541] Optionally, the fourth paging message and the fifth paging message are two paging messages. For example, if the fourth paging message is that the access device learns that a cell in the second network paging the user equipment based on the received second paging message, the access device sends the fourth paging message to the user equipment. At this time, the fourth paging message is similar to the above-mentioned first message; if the fifth paging message is that the access device learns that a cell in the first network paging the user equipment based on the received first paging message, the access device sends the fifth paging message to the user equipment. To distinguish it, the fifth paging message can be called the third message, which is used to instruct the user equipment to access the first network.

[0542] In a possible implementation, the paging message received by the user equipment is the fourth paging message sent by the access device based on the above-mentioned first paging message. The information included in the fourth paging message is similar to that included in the first paging message, which will not be elaborated here.

[0543] In another possible implementation, the paging message received by the user equipment is the fifth paging message sent by the access device based on the above-mentioned second paging message. The information in the fifth paging message is similar to that included in the second paging message, which will not be elaborated here.

[0544] Further, the user equipment responds to the above-mentioned paging message and accesses the corresponding network.

[0545] For ease of description, in the following Figure 9 illustrated embodiments, the example of the user equipment determining to access the first network is used for description. In this case, it can be combined with Figure 8 illustrated embodiments, that is, after the user equipment accesses the first network, it can also be combined with

[0546] Figure 8 illustrated method flow to respond to the paging of the second network via the first network.

[0547] Specifically, after the user equipment determines to access the fourth cell in the above-mentioned first network, it sends the information of the fourth cell to the access device. That is, Figure 9 the illustrated method flow also includes S950. The user equipment sends a second response message to the access device, and the access device receives the second response message from the user equipment. The second response message includes the information of the fourth cell. Among them, for the NPN network, the second response message includes the identifier of the NPN network. For example, for SNPN, it is necessary to include the selected PLMN ID and NID, and for PNI-NPN, it is necessary to include the selected PLMN ID and CAG ID.

[0548] In a possible implementation, the above-mentioned second response message is an RRC setup complete message.

[0549] Another possible implementation is that the second response message is an RRC reconfiguration complete message.

[0550] Another possible implementation is that the second response message is an uplink information transfer message.

[0551] Another possible implementation is that the second response message is an RRC setup request message.

[0552] Another possible implementation is that the second response message is a random access procedure MSG1 message.

[0553] Another possible implementation is that the second response message is a MAC layer signaling, for example, a MAC CE.

[0554] Another possible implementation is that the second response message is a physical layer signaling, for example, a UCI.

[0555] Optionally, when the third message is an RRC reconfiguration message, the second response message may be an RRC reconfiguration complete message; optionally, when the third message is an RRC setup message, the second response message may be an RRC setup complete message.

[0556] Furthermore, Figure 9 The paging method shown further includes the following steps:

[0557] S960, the access device sends information of a fourth cell to the second core network device. The second core network device receives the information of the fourth cell from the access device.

[0558] The information of the fourth cell is used to notify the second core network device that the user equipment to be paged has been paged. The information of the fourth cell includes the cell identifier of the fourth cell as described above, and the network identifier, access network device identifier, or tracking area code corresponding to the fourth cell.

[0559] In a possible implementation, the information of the fourth cell may be included in an initial user message, and the initial user message is used to notify the second core network device that the user equipment to be paged has been paged.

[0560] In the embodiments of the present application, there is no limitation on the manner of transmitting the information of the fourth cell between the second core network device and the access device. It may be to multiplex the existing signaling and add the information of the fourth cell to the existing signaling, or a new signaling for transmitting the information of the fourth cell may be added between the second core network device and the access device.

[0561] After the second core network device learns that the paging of the user equipment is successful, it configures the bearer resources for the user equipment to access the fourth cell according to the existing standard process, which will not be elaborated here.

[0562] Further, after the user equipment is in the RRC-connected state in the first network, the method for handling the paging of the second network can refer to Figure 8 the method flow shown. The access device uses the established SRB of the first network to help the second network continue paging through the RRC message and pre-configure the SRB, DRB, and PDU session resources for the user equipment, which will not be described in detail here.

[0563] Figure 9 the method flow shown. Considering that the access device can determine that different paging messages page the same user equipment when receiving different paging messages. In some possible cases, after the access device receives different paging messages, it cannot determine that the different paging messages page the same user equipment. The following combines Figure 10 to elaborate in detail the situation where the access device does not determine or cannot determine that different paging messages page the same user equipment when receiving different paging messages.

[0564] Figure 10 is a schematic flowchart of another paging method provided by the embodiments of the present application. In this process, the execution entities include the first user plane function network element, the first core network device, the second user plane function network element, the second core network device, the access device, and the user equipment. Among them, in order to distinguish from the user equipment, the above-mentioned first user plane function network element, the first core network device, and the access device can be collectively referred to as network devices, and the above-mentioned second user plane function network element, the second core network device, and the access device can also be collectively referred to as network devices.

[0565] The user equipment is in the RRC-idle state in both of the two networks supported by the access device for access. Data of the first network arrives at the first user plane function network element and data of the second network arrives at the second user plane function network element. Specifically, the first user plane function network element and the second user plane function network element respectively trigger the first core network device and the second core network device to perform paging. The access device cannot recognize that the two paging messages from different networks are paging the same user equipment. After receiving the paging messages from the first network and the second network, the user equipment first accesses the first network and enters the RRC-connected state, and then notifies the access device of the paging information of the second network for the user equipment, and the cell in the first network that is accessed first assists the user equipment to access the second network.

[0566] The paging method includes the following steps.

[0567] S1010, the second core network device sends a first paging message to the access device. The access device receives the first paging message from the second core network device.

[0568] The first paging message is similar to the first paging message in Figure 9 S910, and will not be elaborated here.

[0569] S1020, the first core network device sends a second paging message to the access device. The access device receives the second paging message from the first core network device.

[0570] The second paging message is similar to the second paging message in Figure 9 S920, and will not be elaborated here.

[0571] The first identifier of the user equipment and the second identifier of the user equipment may be different, but in this embodiment, the access device does not know that the first identifier of the user equipment and the second identifier of the user equipment both identify the same user equipment.

[0572] The reason for the first core network device to send the second paging message to the access device may be that the second user plane function network element receives data of the user equipment, that is, Figure 10 S1011 is further included in the method flow shown, and the second user plane function network element receives the first data.

[0573] Similarly, the reason for the second core network device to send the first paging message to the access device may be that the first user plane function network element receives data of the user equipment, that is, Figure 10 S1021 is further included in the method flow shown, and the first user plane function network element receives the second data.

[0574] When the first network and the second network share a core network, the above-mentioned first paging message and second paging message are paging messages sent by the same core network device, and can be collectively referred to as the first paging message.

[0575] Furthermore, after the access device receives the above-mentioned first paging message and second paging message, it needs to page the user equipment, that is Figure 10 The method flow shown also includes S1030: The access device sends a fourth paging message to the user equipment. The user equipment receives the fourth paging message from the access device. S1040: The access device sends a fifth paging message to the user equipment. The user equipment receives the fifth paging message from the access device. Among them, the fourth paging message is similar to Figure 9 the fourth paging message shown in Figure 9 the fifth paging message shown in, and the fifth paging message is similar to

[0576] When the first network and the second network share a core network, the above-mentioned fourth paging message and fifth paging message are paging messages sent by the same core network device, and can be collectively referred to as the first message.

[0577] Specifically, if the access device cannot know in advance that the user equipment to be paged by the first paging message and the second paging message is the same user equipment, the access device will page the user equipment simultaneously in the cells of the first network and the cells of the second network.

[0578] For example, the identifier of the user equipment included in the above-mentioned first paging message is the first 5G-S-TMSI, and the identifier of the user equipment included in the second paging message is the second 5G-S-TMSI. The access device sends a fourth paging message in the cell of the second network to page the user equipment with the identifier of the first 5G-S-TMSI; and sends a fifth paging message in the cell of the first network to page the user equipment with the identifier of the second 5G-S-TMSI.

[0579] Furthermore, when the access device pages the user equipment simultaneously in the cells of the first network and the cells of the second network, the user equipment can respectively receive the paging from the cells of the first network and the cells of the second network (it can be understood that the user equipment supports dual radio or the user equipment can access different networks through different SIM cards), and the user equipment receives the fourth paging message and the fifth paging message.

[0580] Furthermore, the user equipment responds to the above-mentioned fourth paging message or fifth paging message and accesses the corresponding cell.

[0581] In a possible implementation manner, the user equipment receives the above-mentioned fourth paging message and fifth paging message and determines to respond to the fourth paging message first.

[0582] In another possible implementation, the user equipment receives the above-mentioned fourth paging message and fifth paging message, and determines to respond to the fifth paging message first.

[0583] Optionally, after the user equipment responds to the fifth paging message and is in the RRC-connected state in the first network, the method for handling paging in the second network can refer to Figure 8 the method flow shown.

[0584] The above-mentioned user equipment may be provided with multiple SIMs. For example, it includes a first SIM card and a second SIM card.

[0585] Among them, the first identifier of the above-mentioned user equipment may be the identifier of the first SIM card of the user equipment in the second network, and the second identifier of the user equipment may be the identifier of the second SIM card of the user equipment in the first network; or, the first identifier of the user equipment may be the identifier of the second SIM card of the user equipment in the second network, and the second identifier of the user equipment may be the identifier of the first SIM card of the user equipment in the first network; or, the first identifier of the user equipment may be the identifier of the first SIM card of the user equipment in the second network, and the second identifier of the user equipment may be the identifier of the first SIM card of the user equipment in the first network; or, the first identifier of the user equipment may be the identifier of the second SIM card of the user equipment in the second network, and the second identifier of the user equipment may be the identifier of the second SIM card of the user equipment in the first network.

[0586] In the case where a user equipment has multiple SIM cards, the user equipment may be connected to the first network through the first SIM card and connected to the second network through the second SIM card. In this case, the first network and the second network may be the same. For example, after the first SIM card is already in the connected state, the first SIM card assists the second SIM card to respond to the paging of the network.

[0587] Specifically, the first network pages the first SIM card of the user equipment through the second paging message shown in S1020, and the second network pages the second SIM card of the user equipment through the first paging message shown in S1010.

[0588] The access device notifies the user equipment that the first network is paging the first SIM card of the user equipment through the fourth paging message shown in S1030, and the access device notifies the user equipment that the second network is paging the second SIM card of the user equipment through the fifth paging message shown in S1040.

[0589] A possible implementation is:

[0590] The user equipment responds to the above-mentioned fifth paging message, so that the user equipment connects to the first network through the first SIM card. That is Figure 10 The method flow shown further includes S1050: The user equipment responds to the fifth paging message.

[0591] After the user equipment connects to the first network through the first SIM card, the first SIM can assist the second SIM to connect to the second network through the first network, including the following possibilities:

[0592] Possibility 1: The second SIM card of the user equipment randomly accesses the third cell of the second network. That is Figure 10 The method flow shown further includes S1060: The user equipment initiates random access.

[0593] Possibility 2: The user equipment sends a first response message to the access device, informing the access device that the user equipment is connected to the first network through the first SIM card. The access device sends a second message to the user equipment through the first network. In the second message, the first network sends the first parameter, the second parameter, the third parameter, the fourth parameter, or the fifth parameter of the second SIM of the user equipment in the second network to the user equipment through the first SIM card of the user equipment. The user equipment transmits the corresponding parameters to the second SIM card, and the second SIM configures resources according to the corresponding parameters.

[0594] Specifically, the second message is similar to the above-mentioned second message and will not be elaborated here. That is Figure 10 The method flow shown further includes S1070: The user equipment sends a first response message to the access device, S1080: The access device sends a second message to the user equipment through the first network. The user equipment receives the second message from the access device through the first network.

[0595] Possibility 3: The above-mentioned fifth paging message includes the sixth parameter, the seventh parameter, the eighth parameter, the ninth parameter, or the tenth parameter of the second SIM of the user equipment in the second network.

[0596] Specifically, the corresponding parameters included in the fifth paging message are similar to those included in the first message shown in Figure 8 Case 3 and will not be elaborated here.

[0597] It should be understood that in the embodiments of the present application, the first network can be any one of PLMN, PNI-NPN, or SNPN, and the second network can be any one of PLMN, PNI-NPN, or SNPN. In addition, in a multi-SIM scenario, the first network and the second network can be the same PLMN, PNI-NPN, or SNPN network. For example, the first network and the second network are the same PLMN network paging different SIM cards of the same terminal device.

[0598] The following is a detailed description of the signaling interaction between the CU and the DU when the access device includes the CU and the DU. Figure 11 It is a schematic flowchart of a communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application. In this process, the execution entities include the CU and the DU. Figure 11 The communication method includes the following steps.

[0599] This communication method includes the following steps.

[0600] S1110, the DU sends a first signaling to the CU. The CU receives the first signaling from the DU.

[0601] The first signaling is used to indicate the networks that the DU can support access to.

[0602] In a possible implementation, if the networks that the DU can support access to include PLMNs, the first signaling includes the identifiers of the PLMNs. For example, if the networks that the DU can support access to include the first PLMN to the third PLMN, the first signaling includes the identifier of the first PLMN, the identifier of the second PLMN, and the identifier of the third PLMN. If the identifiers of the first PLMN, the second PLMN, and the third PLMN are PLMN ID#1 to PLMN ID#3 respectively, the first signaling includes PLMN ID#1 to PLMN ID#3.

[0603] In another possible implementation, if the networks that the DU can support access to include PNI-NPNs, the first signaling includes the identifiers of the PNI-NPNs. For example, if the networks that the DU can support access to include the first PNI-NPN to the third PNI-NPN, the first signaling includes the identifier of the first PNI-NPN, the identifier of the second PNI-NPN, and the identifier of the third PNI-NPN. If the identifiers of the first PNI-NPN, the second PNI-NPN, and the third PNI-NPN are PLMN ID#1, CAG ID#1 to PLMN ID#3, CAG ID#3 respectively, the first signaling includes PLMN ID#1, CAG ID#1 to PLMN ID#3, CAG ID#3.

[0604] In yet another possible implementation, if the networks that the DU can support access to include SNPNs, the first signaling includes the identifiers of the SNPNs. For example, if the networks that the DU can support access to include the first SNPN to the third NPN, the first signaling includes the identifier of the first SNPN, the identifier of the second SNPN, and the identifier of the third SNPN. If the identifiers of the first SNPN, the second SNPN, and the third SNPN are PLMN ID#1, NID#1 to PLMN ID#3, NID#3 respectively, the first signaling includes PLMN ID#1, NID#1 to PLMN ID#3, NID#3.

[0605] Optionally, the first signaling is an F1 interface establishment request (F1setup request) signaling;

[0606] Specifically, the DU may include information on the NPN supported by the DU in the F1 interface establishment signaling. For NG-RAN, the CU may include information on the NPN supported by the CU in the F1 interface establishment response signaling. When the information on the NPN includes a CAG ID, if the CAG ID(s) included in the NPN supported by the CU is / are different from the CAG ID(s) included in the NPN supported by the DU, the DU shall take this difference into account and may broadcast the CAG Id(s) supported by both the CU and the DU when broadcasting system information. When the information on the NPN includes an NID, if the NID(s) included in the NPN supported by the CU is / are different from the NID(s) included in the NPN supported by the DU, the DU shall take this difference into account and may broadcast the NID(s) supported by both the CU and the DU when broadcasting system information.

[0607] Optionally, the first signaling is a DU configuration update request signaling, which is used to indicate an update to the network that the DU can support for access. In this implementation, the CU has received the above-mentioned F1 interface establishment request signaling before receiving the DU configuration update request signaling, and has learned about the network that the DU can support for access. The CU updates the learned network that the DU can support for access upon receiving the DU configuration update request signaling.

[0608] Specifically, if the information on the NPN supported by the DU is included in the DU configuration update request signaling, the CU may store the information on the NPN supported by the DU and replace the previously provided information on the NPN supported by the DU with the information on the NPN included in the DU configuration update request signaling. If the information on the NPN supported by the CU is included in the DU configuration update request confirmation signaling, the DU may store the NPN supported by the CU and overwrite the information on the NPN supported by the CU maintained by the DU. Accordingly, the DU may also update the corresponding system information. If the information on the NPN supported by the CU is included in the CU configuration update request signaling, the DU may store the information on the NPN supported by the CU and replace the previously received information on the NPN supported by the CU with the information on the NPN included in the CU configuration update request signaling. If the information on the NPN supported by the DU is included in the CU configuration update request confirmation signaling, the CU may store the information on the NPN supported by the DU and replace the previously received information on the NPN supported by the DU with the information on the NPN included in the CU configuration update request confirmation signaling.

[0609] For example, the DU sends a request to establish an F1 interface to the CU, notifying the DU that the networks that the DU can support for access include a first network, a second network, and a third network; after a period of time, the DU determines that the networks that the DU can support for access include the first network, the second network, and a fourth network, that is, the DU sends a DU configuration update request signaling to the CU, notifying the CU that the networks that the DU can support for access include the first network, the second network, and the fourth network, or the DU configuration update request signaling notifies the CU that the DU cannot support access to the third network and adds support for access to the fourth network.

[0610] Optionally, the first signaling includes a DU serving cell message, and the DU serving cell message includes a cell identifier and a network identifier of the network that the cell supports for access. For example, it includes the above-mentioned PLMN ID, NID, and Cell ID. Among them, the DU serving cell message can also be referred to as DU serving cell information.

[0611] For example, the network identifier in the first signaling can be included in the cell information list supported by the DU, and the specific manifestation form includes the form shown in Table 1:

[0612] Table 1

[0613]

[0614]

[0615] The text description in the semantics description column in this application does not necessarily need to be reflected in the protocol. The semantics description provided in this application is only added for the convenience of understanding the information element.

[0616] The specific manifestation form of the NPN suppoted list in Table 1 includes the form shown in Table 2:

[0617] Table 2

[0618] Cell Name (IE / group name) Description (semantics description) NPN Support Item IEs Supported NPN >CAG ID List (CAG ID list) CAG ID List >>CAG ID (CAG ID) CAG ID >Network ID List (NID list) NID List >>Network ID (NID) NID

[0619] S1120, the CU sends a second signaling to the DU. The DU receives the second signaling from the CU.

[0620] A possible implementation manner is that the second signaling is used to indicate the networks that the CU and the DU can jointly support for access.

[0621] For example, if the CU learns that the networks the DU can support after receiving the above first signaling include the first PLMN corresponding to the first PLMN ID, and the first SNPN corresponding to the first PLMN ID, the first NID, and the first Cell ID; and the networks the CU can support include the first SNPN corresponding to the first PLMN ID, the first NID, and the first Cell ID, then the second signaling includes the identification of the first SNPN, the first PLMN ID, the first NID, and the first Cell ID, indicating that the network that the CU and the DU can jointly support is the first SNPN.

[0622] In another possible implementation, the second signaling is used to indicate the networks that the CU can support.

[0623] For example, if the networks the CU can support include a PLMN, the second signaling includes the identification of the PLMN. If the networks the CU can support include a PNI-NPN, the second signaling includes the identification of the PNI-NPN. If the networks the CU can support include an SNPN, the second signaling includes the identification of the SNPN.

[0624] For example, the specific representation form of the NPN network information that the CU can support in the second signaling includes the form shown in Table 3:

[0625] Table 3

[0626]

[0627] Alternatively, the specific representation form of the NPN network information that the CU can support includes the form shown in Table 4:

[0628] Table 4

[0629]

[0630] The specific representation form of the NPN suppoted List in Table 3 and Table 4 includes the form shown in Table 5:

[0631] Table 5

[0632] Cell Name (IE / group name) Description (semantics description) NPN Support Item IEs Supported NPN >CAG ID List (CAG ID list) CAG ID List >>CAG ID (CAG ID) CAG ID >Network ID List (NID list) NID List >>Network ID (NID) NID

[0633] In yet another possible implementation, the second signaling is used to indicate that the CU fails to respond to the above first signaling. For example, the CU and the DU do not jointly support the access network. For example, when the first signaling is an F1 interface establishment request, the second signaling can be an F1 interface establishment failure. In this case, the second signaling can include the reason for the failure.

[0634] For example, after receiving the above first signaling, the CU learns that the networks that the DU can support for access include the first PLMN corresponding to the first PLMN ID, and the first SNPN corresponding to the first PLMN ID, the first NID, and the first Cell ID; and the networks that the CU supports for access include the second SNPN corresponding to the second PLMN ID, the second NID, and the second Cell ID. Then the CU determines that there is no network that the CU and the DU commonly support for access, and the CU sends a second signaling to indicate that there is no network that the CU and the DU commonly support for access. The second signaling may include a failure cause, and the failure cause may be the first PLMN ID and the first NID, indicating that the CU does not support (notsupported) the first PLMN ID and the first NID.

[0635] In another possible implementation, the second signaling is used to send the CU's auxiliary configuration parameters for the DU, and the auxiliary configuration parameters are used to assist the DU in configuring the relevant parameters of the supported networks. For example, the CU sends a signaling to reduce the network access rate to the DU to assist the DU in configuring the UAC parameters of the network cells below it.

[0636] The fact that the second signaling is used to send the CU's auxiliary configuration parameters for the DU does not limit the CU from receiving the above first signaling. The CU can actively send the second signaling to assist the DU in configuring the relevant parameters of the supported networks.

[0637] For example, the specific manifestation form of the UAC auxiliary parameters sent in the second signaling includes the form shown in Table 6:

[0638] Table 6

[0639]

[0640]

[0641] The added NID, CAG ID, SNPN ID, or PNI-NPN ID, etc. in the above table can be at the same level as other parameters, such as the same level as UAC reduction indication, UAC action, access category, or access identity, or be included in the above parameters to further refine the restriction on the NPN network.

[0642] Another possible implementation. For the NPN network, the second signaling can be used to inform the DU interface that the establishment or configuration update has failed due to an error. The failure reasons can be that the provided CAG ID is not supported (CAG ID(s) not supported), the provided NID is not supported (NID(s) not supported), the provided SNPN is not supported (SNPN(s) not supported), the provided PNI-NPN is not supported (PNI-NPN(s) not supported), invalid CAG ID(s), invalid NID(s), invalid SNPN, invalid PNI-NPN, or CAG access only, etc. That is, it indicates that the CAG ID, NID, SNPN network, or PNI-NPN network provided by the DU is not supported by the CU, and there is no CAG or SNPN network jointly supported by the CU and the DU, resulting in the failure of interface establishment, the failure of DU configuration update, and the failure of CU configuration update. In addition, the said cause value also applies to the processes of NG interface, Xn interface establishment, and network node configuration update. The applicable interfaces are not specifically limited in this application. Furthermore, the said cause value also applies to the processes such as the failure of user equipment initial access, the failure of establishing user equipment context, the failure of modifying user equipment context, or the failure of user equipment handover on interfaces such as Uu interface, F1 interface, E1 interface, NG interface, Xn interface, etc. The applicable processes are also not specifically limited in this application. For example, during the user initial access process, the user equipment will report the network identifier of the selected access network to the DU through the RRC setup complete information in the random access process. The DU will then report the network identifier selected by the user to the CU, and the CU will then report the network identifier selected by the user to the core network device AMF. For example, the network identifier is NID, CAG ID, PLMN ID, SNPN ID, or PNI-NPN ID, etc. The AMF verifies whether to allow the access of the user equipment based on the user's subscription information stored locally. For example, the user's subscription information stored locally by the AMF can be the list information of CAG IDs allowed for user access in the mobility restriction, the list information of NIDs, whether the user equipment can only access 5CG through CAG cells (CAG access only), whether the user equipment can only access 5CG through NID cells (NID access only), etc.If the authentication is unsuccessful, the AMF will reject the user's access and notify the CU that the access of the user equipment has failed due to an error through error indication information on the NG interface. The notification message will include the reason for the error or failure, which can be the above cause values. Since the user access fails, the CU can further send a UE CONTEXT RELEASE COMMAND to the DU through the F1 interface to release the resources already configured for the user equipment at the DU, such as SRB and DRB resources. The UE CONTEXT RELEASE COMMAND can include the release reason, which can be the above cause values. The CU and the DU can further send an RRC release message to the user equipment to instruct the user equipment to release the configured radio interface resources. The RRC release message can include the release reason value, which can be the above cause values.

[0643] The specific manifestation forms of the cause values in the second signaling include the forms shown in Table 7:

[0644] Table 7

[0645]

[0646] It should be understood that the above "SNPN not supported" can also be replaced by "invalid NID", "invalid PLMN", "NID not served by the gNB-CU", "PLMN not served by the gNB-CU", or a combination of two or more of the above elements. "PNI-NPN not supported" can also be replaced by "invalid CAG ID", "invalid PLMN", "CAG not served by the gNB-CU", "PLMN not served by the gNB-CU", or a combination of two or more of the above elements. "Invalid NID" can also be replaced by "NID not served by the gNB-CU", "invalid PLMN", "PLMN not served by the gNB-CU", or a combination of two or more of the above elements. "Invalid CAG ID" can also be replaced by "CAG not served by the gNB-CU", "invalid PLMN", "PLMN not served by the gNB-CU", or a combination of two or more of the above elements.

[0647] Another possible implementation. For an NPN network, the second signaling includes an NPN network identifier, which is used by the CU to indicate to the DU the auxiliary configuration parameters of the NPN network. These auxiliary configuration parameters are used to assist the DU in configuring the relevant parameters of the supported NPN network. For example, the CU sends a Network access rate reduction signaling to the DU, and the signaling includes the NPN network identifier to assist the DU in configuring the UAC parameters of the NPN network cells under it. For example, the NPN network identifier can be a PLMNID, NID, CAG ID, PLMN ID and NID, PLMN ID and CAG ID, SNPN ID, PNI-NPN ID, etc. The NID, CAG ID, SNPN ID, or PNI-NPN ID, etc. can be added as parameters at the same level as the PLMN ID to the UAC assistance information to assist the DU in configuring the NPN network parameters, or the added NID, CAG ID, SNPN ID, or PNI-NPN ID, etc. can be at the same level as other parameters in the UAC assistance information, such as the same level as the UAC reduction indication, UAC action, access category, or access identity, etc., or be included in the above parameters to further refine the restrictions on the NPN network. For example, a new access category or access identity, etc. is defined based on the NID, CAG ID, SNPN ID, or PNI-NPN ID, etc.

[0648] Optionally, the second signaling is an F1 interface setup response signaling;

[0649] Optionally, the second signaling is a DU configuration update response signaling;

[0650] Optionally, the second signaling is a CU configuration update request signaling;

[0651] Optionally, the second signaling is an F1 interface setup failure signaling;

[0652] Optionally, the second signaling is a DU configuration update failure signaling;

[0653] Optionally, the second signaling is a Network access rate reduction signaling.

[0654] Optionally, the second signaling is information about the networks that the CU can support access to, where the information about the networks that the CU can support access to includes the network identifiers of the networks that the CU can support access to. For example, it includes the above-mentioned PLMN ID, NID, and Cell ID.

[0655] Optionally, when the above first signaling is an F1setup request signaling, the second signaling is an F1setup response signaling; optionally, when the above first signaling is a DU configuration update signaling, the second signaling is a DU configuration update response signaling.

[0656] For an NPN network, the DU sends the first signaling to the CU, and the signaling includes a list of network identifiers of the NPN. The NPN network identifiers in the list of network identifiers of the NPN are used to indicate the NPN networks supported by the DU. For example, the NPN network identifier can be a PLMN ID, NID, CAG ID, PLMN ID and NID, PLMN ID and CAG ID, SNPN ID, PNI-NPN ID, etc.

[0657] Optionally, each CAG ID can correspond to a user-readable network name, and each NID can correspond to a user-readable network name. Through the user-readable network name, it is convenient for users to manually select an NPN network. The first signaling can also carry the user-readable network name corresponding to each CAG ID, or the user-readable network name corresponding to each NID, so as to display the name of the NPN network to the user on the terminal device, facilitating the user to manually select the corresponding NPN network.

[0658] The CU sends the second signaling to the DU, and the signaling includes a list of network identifiers of the NPN. The NPN network identifiers in the list of network identifiers of the NPN are used to indicate the NPN networks supported by the CU or the NPN networks jointly supported by the CU and the DU. The NPN network identifier can be the above-mentioned identifier.

[0659] Optionally, the second signaling can also include the user-readable network name corresponding to each CAG ID, or the user-readable network name corresponding to each NID, so as to display the name of the NPN network to the user on the terminal device, facilitating the user to manually select the corresponding NPN network.

[0660] Optionally, the information included in the above first signaling and second signaling also applies to the processes of NG interface, Xn interface establishment, and network node configuration update. The specific applicable interfaces are not specifically limited in this application. For example, it applies to interfaces such as Uu interface, F1 interface, E1 interface, NG interface, Xn interface, etc., corresponding to processes such as user equipment initial access, establishment of user equipment context, modification of user equipment context, or user equipment handover, etc. The specific applicable processes are also not specifically limited in this application.

[0661] Furthermore, the first signaling can not only be used to inform the CU of the NPN networks supported by the DU, but also be used to inform the CU of the NPN networks supported by the DUs adjacent to the DU. Similarly, the second signaling can not only inform the DU of the NPN networks supported by the CU or the RAN, but also be used to inform the DU of the NPN networks supported by the CUs adjacent to the CU or the RANs adjacent to the RAN. For example, the first CU or the first RAN informs the second CU of the NPN networks supported by itself or the CUs adjacent to it or the RANs adjacent to it through the Xn interface establishment request procedure (Xn setup request) or the update request procedure (NG-RAN node configuration update request). The NPN network can be identified by the PLMN ID, and / or the CAG ID and / or the user-readable network name corresponding to the CAG ID, or the PLMN ID, and / or the NID and / or the user-readable network name corresponding to the NID. The second CU informs the DU of the above information through the F1 interface establishment response signaling (F1 setup response). The DU informs the terminal device of the network identifiers of the NPNs supported by the DU, the DUs adjacent to the DU, or the RANs adjacent to the DU through broadcasting or RRC information, etc., so that the terminal device can perform automatic network selection and access, manual network selection and access, etc. For another example, during the user handover process, the target CU or the target RAN can inform the core network device AMF of the network identifiers of the NPNs supported by the target CU, the target RAN, the CUs adjacent to the target CU, or the RANs adjacent to the target RAN through the handover request acknowledgement procedure via the NG interface. The AMF then sends the above network identifiers to the source CU or the source RAN through the handover command procedure of the NG interface. The source CU sends the above network identifiers to the DU through the UE context modification procedure. The source DU or the source RAN then sends the above network identifiers to the terminal device through broadcasting or RRC reconfiguration signaling (RRC reconfiguration), so that the terminal device can perform automatic network selection and access, manual network selection and access, automatic handover and manual handover, etc.For another example, during the user handover process, the target CU or the target RAN can inform the source CU or the source RAN of the network identifiers of the NPNs supported by the target CU, the target RAN, the CUs adjacent to the target CU, or the RANs adjacent to the target RAN through the handover request acknowledge process via the Xn interface. The source CU sends the above network identifiers to the DU through the UE context modification request process. Then, the source DU or the source RAN sends the above network identifiers to the terminal device through broadcast or RRC reconfiguration signaling, so that the terminal device can perform automatic network selection and access, manual network selection and access, automatic handover and manual handover, etc. For another example, during the user handover process, the target DU can inform the source CU of the network identifiers of the NPNs supported by the target DU, the DUs adjacent to the target DU, or the RANs adjacent to the target DU through the UE context modification response process via the F1 interface. The source CU sends the above network identifiers to the source DU through the UE context modification request process. The source DU then sends the above network identifiers to the terminal device through broadcast or RRC reconfiguration signaling, so that the terminal device can perform automatic network selection and access, manual network selection and access, automatic handover and manual handover, etc.

[0662] Next, taking the example that the DU supports SNPNs (the first SNPN to the third NPN) and the CU supports SNPNs (the first SNPN, the second SNPN, and the fourth NPN), the networks supported by the DU and the CU are interacted with each other. Among them, the cell identifiers corresponding to the first SNPN to the fourth NPN are the first cell ID to the fourth cell ID respectively, and the network identifiers corresponding to the first SNPN to the fourth NPN are the first PLMN ID, the first NID to the fourth PLMN ID, and the fourth NID respectively.

[0663] Then, the above first signaling can include the content shown in Table 8:

[0664] Table 8

[0665] cell ID PLMN ID NID 1 1 1 2 2 2 3 3 3

[0666] Then, the above second signaling can include the content shown in Table 9:

[0667] Table 9

[0668] cell ID PLMN ID NID 1 1 1 2 2 2

[0669] Alternatively, the above second signaling may include the content shown in Table 10:

[0670] Table 10

[0671] cell ID PLMN ID NID 1 1 1 2 2 2 4 4 4

[0672] In the case where the access device includes a CU and a DU, the number of CUs may be multiple. For example, the access device includes one DU and two CUs. Then the above second signaling includes second signaling #1 and second signaling #2, which are sent by the first CU and the second CU to the DU respectively. The possible forms of second signaling #1 and second signaling #2 are similar to the above second signaling, and will not be elaborated here.

[0673] Furthermore, when the CU includes a control plane CU-CP and a user plane CU-UP, the signaling interaction between the CU-CP and the CU-UP is as Figure 12 shown. Figure 12 is a schematic flowchart of another communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application. The execution entities in this flowchart include the CU-CP and the CU-UP.

[0674] This communication method includes the following steps.

[0675] S1210, the CU-UP sends a third signaling to the CU-CP. The CU-CP receives the third signaling from the CU-UP.

[0676] The third signaling may be used to indicate the network that the CU-UP can support access to.

[0677] The specific manifestation form of the third signaling includes the form shown in Table 11:

[0678] Table 11

[0679] Information Name (IE / group name) Description (semantics description) Signaling Type (message type) Type of Information Transaction ID (transaction ID) Transaction Identification gNB-CU-UP ID (gNB-CU-UP ID) CU-UP ID Indicates a Particular CU-UP gNB-CU-UP Name (gNB-CU-UP name) CU-UP Name Indicates a Particular CU-UP Supported Core Network (CN support) Indicates the Type of Supported Core Network Supported PLMNs (supported PLMNs) Indicates the Supported Access PLMN >PLMN Identity (PLMN identity) PLMN Identity is Used to Identify the Network >Slice Support List (slice support list) Indicates the Supported Slice List >NR Cell Global Identity List (NR CGI support list) Cell Global Identity is Used to Identify the Cell >QoS Parameter Support List QoS-related parameters >NPN Support List NPN networks supported by each PLMN gNB-CU-UP Capacity Indicates the capacity of CU-UP

[0680] The specific manifestation form of the NPN suppoted list in Table 11 includes the form shown in Table 12:

[0681] Table 12

[0682]

[0683]

[0684] In a possible implementation, if the networks supported by the CU-UP include a PLMN, the third signaling includes the identifier of the PLMN. For example, if the networks supported by the CU-UP include a first PLMN to a third PLMN, and the identifiers of the first PLMN to the third PLMN are a first PLMN ID to a third PLMN ID respectively, the third signaling includes the first PLMN ID to the third PLMN ID.

[0685] In another possible implementation, if the networks supported by the CU-UP include a PNI-NPN, the third signaling includes the identifier of the PNI-NPN. For example, if the networks supported by the CU-UP include a first PNI-NPN to a third PNI-NPN, and the identifiers of the first PNI-NPN to the third PNI-NPN are a first PLMN ID, a first CAG ID, a first Cell ID to a third PLMN ID, a third CAG ID, and a third Cell ID respectively, the third sig...

Claims

1. A paging method, which is applicable to a user equipment, characterized in that, it includes: receiving, through a first network, a first message from an access device, where the first message is used to indicate that the user equipment is paged by the first network and a second network, wherein, the first network is an independent non-public network (SNPN), and the second network is a non-independent non-public network (PNI-NPN), or, the first network is a PNI-NPN, and the second network is an SNPN, the first message includes a first cause value and / or a second cause value, and / or, the first message includes a first duration and / or a second duration, the first cause value is used to indicate the reason for the first network to page the user equipment, the second cause value is used to indicate the reason for the second network to page the user equipment, the first duration is used to identify that the user equipment accesses the first network through the access device within the first duration, and the second duration is used to identify that the user equipment accesses the second network through the access device within the second duration; accessing the first network and / or the second network through the access device.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, the first message includes at least one of the following information: a second identifier of the user equipment, an identifier of the second network, or an identifier of a second cell, wherein, the second identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the user equipment in the second network, the identifier of the second network is used to indicate the second network that the user equipment needs to access, and the identifier of the second cell is used to indicate the cell in the second network for the user equipment to access through the access device.

3. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, the first message includes at least one of a second identifier of the user equipment, an identifier of the second network, or an identifier of a second cell, and at least one of the following information: a first identifier of the user equipment, an identifier of the first network, or an identifier of a first cell, wherein, the second identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the user equipment in the second network, the identifier of the second network is used to indicate the second network that the user equipment needs to access, the identifier of the second cell is used to indicate the cell in the second network for the user equipment to access through the access device, the first identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the user equipment in the first network, the identifier of the first network is used to indicate the first network that the user equipment needs to access, and the identifier of the first cell is used to indicate the cell in the first network for the user equipment to access through the access device.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1-3, characterized in that, the user equipment has accessed the first network, and the method further includes: receiving, through the first network, a first message from the access device includes: receiving, through a signaling radio bearer (SRB) in the first network, a first message from the access device, where the first message is used to indicate that the user equipment is paged by the second network; or, Receive a first message from an access device via paging information in a first network, where the first message is used to indicate that the user equipment is paged by the second network.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1-3, wherein, the method further includes: Sending a first response message to the access device, where the first response message includes information about a third cell, and the third cell is a cell in the second network determined by the user equipment to access; Receiving a second message sent by the access device via the first network, where the second message includes at least one of the following parameters: A first parameter for supporting the user equipment to randomly access the third cell, a second parameter indicating the resources of the third cell, a fourth parameter indicating the context information of the user equipment in the second network, or a fifth parameter indicating the security and integrity protection information of the user equipment in the second network.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1-3, wherein, the first message includes at least one of the following parameters: A sixth parameter for supporting the user equipment to randomly access a second cell, a seventh parameter indicating the resources of the second cell, an eighth parameter indicating the resources of the first network, a ninth parameter indicating the context information of the user equipment in the second network, or a tenth parameter indicating the security and integrity protection information of the user equipment in the second network, wherein, when the eighth parameter is included in the first message, the first message further includes first indication information, and the first indication information is used to indicate that the resources of the first network carry the data of the second network.

7. The method according to claim 4, wherein, before the user equipment accesses the first network via the access device, the method further includes: Receiving a third message sent by the access device via the first network, where the third message is used to indicate that the user equipment accesses the first network via the access device, the third message includes at least one of the following information: A first identifier of the user equipment, an identifier of the first network, or an identifier of a first cell, wherein, the first identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the user equipment in the first network, the identifier of the first network is used to indicate the first network that the user equipment needs to access, and the identifier of the first cell is used to indicate the cell in the first network for the user equipment to access via the access device.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein, the method further includes: Sending the first identifier of the user equipment and the second identifier of the user equipment to the access device, where the first identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the user equipment in the first network, and the second identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the user equipment in the second network.

9. A paging method, where the method is applicable to an access device, wherein, it includes: Receiving a first paging message from a second core network device, where the first paging message is used to page a user equipment by a first network and a second network; Sending a first message to the user equipment via a first network, where the first message is used to indicate that the user equipment is paged by the first network and the second network, wherein the first network is an independent non-public network (SNPN), and the second network is a non-independent non-public network (PNI-NPN), or the first network is a PNI-NPN, and the second network is an SNPN, the first paging message and the first message respectively include a first cause value and / or a second cause value, and / or the first message includes a first duration and / or a second duration. The first cause value is used to indicate the reason for the first network to page the user equipment, the second cause value is used to indicate the reason for the second network to page the user equipment, the first duration is used to identify that the user equipment accesses the first network through the access device within the first duration, and the second duration is used to identify that the user equipment accesses the second network through the access device within the second duration.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein, the first paging message and the first message respectively include at least one of the following information: a second identifier of the user equipment, an identifier of the second network, or an identifier of a second cell. The second identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the user equipment in the second network, the identifier of the second network is used to indicate the second network that the user equipment needs to access, and the identifier of the second cell is used to indicate the cell in the second network for the user equipment to access through the access device.

11. The method according to claim 9, wherein, the first paging message and the first message respectively include at least one of the second identifier of the user equipment, the identifier of the second network, or the identifier of the second cell, and at least one of the following information: a first identifier of the user equipment, an identifier of the first network, or an identifier of a first cell, wherein the second identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the user equipment in the second network, the identifier of the second network is used to indicate the second network that the user equipment needs to access, the identifier of the second cell is used to indicate the cell in the second network for the user equipment to access through the access device, the first identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the user equipment in the first network, the identifier of the first network is used to indicate the first network that the user equipment needs to access, and the identifier of the first cell is used to indicate the cell in the first network for the user equipment to access through the access device.

12. The method according to any one of claims 9-11, wherein, before sending the first message to the user equipment, the method further includes: establishing a connection with the user equipment; sending the first message to the user equipment via the first network includes: sending the first message to the user equipment via a signaling radio bearer (SRB) in the first network, where the first message is used to indicate that the user equipment is paged by the second network; or, Sending the first message to the user equipment through paging information in a first network, where the first message is used to indicate that the user equipment is paged by a second network.

13. The method according to any one of claims 9-11, characterized in that, the method further comprises: receiving a first response message sent by the user equipment, where the first response message includes information of a third cell, and the third cell is a cell in the second network determined by the user equipment to access; sending a second message to the user equipment through the first network, where the second message includes at least one of the following parameters: a first parameter for supporting the user equipment to randomly access the third cell, a second parameter indicating resources of the third cell, a fourth parameter indicating context information of the user equipment in the second network, or a fifth parameter indicating security and integrity protection information of the user equipment in the second network.

14. The method according to any one of claims 9-11, characterized in that, the first message includes at least one of the following parameters: a sixth parameter for supporting the user equipment to randomly access a second cell in the second network, a seventh parameter indicating resources of the second cell, a ninth parameter indicating context information of the user equipment in the second network, or a tenth parameter indicating security and integrity protection information of the user equipment in the second network.

15. A paging method, which is applicable to a second core network device, characterized in that, it includes: sending a first paging message to an access device, where the first paging message is used to page a user equipment by a first network and a second network, where the first network is an independent non-public network SNPN, and the second network is a non-independent non-public network PNI-NPN, or, the first network is PNI-NPN, and the second network is SNPN, the first paging message includes a first cause value and / or a second cause value, and / or, the first paging message includes a first duration and / or a second duration, the first cause value is used to indicate the reason for the first network to page the user equipment, the second cause value is used to indicate the reason for the second network to page the user equipment, the first duration is used to identify that the user equipment accesses the first network through the access device within the first duration, and the second duration is used to identify that the user equipment accesses the second network through the access device within the second duration.

16. The method according to claim 15, characterized in that, the first paging message includes at least one of a second identifier of the user equipment, an identifier of the second network, or an identifier of a second cell, and at least one of the following information: a first identifier of the user equipment, an identifier of the first network, or an identifier of a first cell Wherein, the second identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the user equipment in the second network, the identifier of the second network is used to indicate the second network that the user equipment needs to access, the identifier of the second cell is used to indicate the cell in the second network for the user equipment to access through the access device, the first identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the user equipment in the first network, the identifier of the first network is used to indicate the first network that the user equipment needs to access, and the identifier of the first cell is used to indicate the cell in the first network for the user equipment to access through the access device.

17. A paging device, characterized in that, it includes: a receiver, configured to receive, through a first network, a first message from an access device, where the first message is used to indicate that a user equipment is paged by the first network and the second network, wherein, the first network is an independent non-public network SNPN, and the second network is a non-independent non-public network PNI-NPN, or, the first network is PNI-NPN, and the second network is SNPN, the first message includes a first cause value and / or a second cause value, and / or, the first message includes a first duration and / or a second duration, the first cause value is used to indicate the reason for the first network to page the user equipment, the second cause value is used to indicate the reason for the second network to page the user equipment, the first duration is used to identify that the user equipment accesses the first network through the access device within the first duration, and the second duration is used to identify that the user equipment accesses the second network through the access device within the second duration; a processor, configured to access the first network and / or the second network through the access device.

18. The device according to claim 17, characterized in that, the first message includes at least one of the following information: the second identifier of the user equipment, the identifier of the second network or the identifier of the second cell, wherein, the second identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the user equipment in the second network, the identifier of the second network is used to indicate the second network that the user equipment needs to access, the identifier of the second cell is used to indicate the cell in the second network for the user equipment to access through the access device, the second identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the user equipment in the second network, the identifier of the second network is used to indicate the second network that the user equipment needs to access, and the identifier of the second cell is used to indicate the cell in the second network for the user equipment to access through the access device.

19. The device according to claim 17, characterized in that, the first message includes at least one of the second identifier of the user equipment, the identifier of the second network or the identifier of the second cell, and at least one of the following information: the first identifier of the user equipment, the identifier of the first network or the identifier of the first cell, Wherein, the first identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the user equipment in the first network, the identifier of the first network is used to indicate the first network to which the user equipment needs to be connected, and the identifier of the first cell is used to indicate the cell in the first network through which the user equipment accesses via the access device.

20. The apparatus according to any one of claims 17-19, wherein, the user equipment has accessed the first network; The receiver receives a first message from the access device through the first network, including: The receiver receives a first message from the access device through a signaling radio bearer SRB in the first network, and the first message is used to indicate that the user equipment is paged by the second network; or, the receiver receives a first message from the access device through paging information in the first network, and the first message is used to indicate that the user equipment is paged by the second network.

21. The apparatus according to any one of claims 17-19, wherein, the apparatus further includes: a transmitter, configured to send a first response message to the access device, where the first response message includes information about a third cell, and the third cell is a cell in the second network determined by the user equipment to access; The receiver is further configured to receive a second message sent by the access device through the first network, and the second message includes at least one of the following parameters: a first parameter for supporting the user equipment to randomly access the third cell, a second parameter indicating the resources of the third cell, a fourth parameter indicating the context information of the user equipment in the second network, or a fifth parameter indicating the security and integrity protection information of the user equipment in the second network.

22. The apparatus according to any one of claims 17-19, wherein, the first message includes at least one of the following parameters: a sixth parameter for supporting the user equipment to randomly access the second cell, a seventh parameter indicating the resources of the second cell, an eighth parameter indicating the resources of the first network, a ninth parameter indicating the context information of the user equipment in the second network, or a tenth parameter indicating the security and integrity protection information of the user equipment in the second network, wherein, when the eighth parameter is included in the first message, the first message further includes a first indication information, and the first indication information is used to indicate that the resources of the first network carry the data of the second network.

23. The apparatus according to claim 20, wherein, before the user equipment accesses the first network, the receiver is further configured to receive a third message sent by the access device through the first network, and the third message is used to indicate that the user equipment accesses the first network through the access device, the third message includes at least one of the following information: the first identifier of the user equipment, the identifier of the first network, or the identifier of the first cell, Wherein, the first identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the user equipment in the first network, the identifier of the first network is used to indicate the first network that the user equipment needs to access, and the identifier of the first cell is used to indicate the cell in the first network through which the user equipment accesses via the access device.

24. The apparatus according to claim 21, wherein, the transmitter is further configured to send the first identifier of the user equipment and the second identifier of the user equipment to the access device, where the first identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the user equipment in the first network, and the second identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the user equipment in the second network.

25. A paging apparatus, wherein, comprising: a receiver, configured to receive a first paging message from a second core network device, where the first paging message is used to page a user equipment in a first network and a second network; a transmitter, configured to send a first message to the user equipment via the first network, where the first message is used to indicate that the user equipment is paged by the first network and the second network, wherein, the first network is an independent non-public network SNPN, and the second network is a non-independent non-public network PNI-NPN, or, the first network is PNI-NPN, and the second network is SNPN, the first paging message and the first message respectively include a first cause value and / or a second cause value, and / or, the first message includes a first duration and / or a second duration, the first cause value is used to indicate the reason for the first network to page the user equipment, the second cause value is used to indicate the reason for the second network to page the user equipment, the first duration is used to identify that the user equipment accesses the first network via an access device within the first duration, and the second duration is used to identify that the user equipment accesses the second network via the access device within the second duration.

26. The apparatus according to claim 25, wherein, the first paging message and the first message respectively include at least one of the following information: the second identifier of the user equipment, the identifier of the second network, or the identifier of the second cell, where the second identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the user equipment in the second network, the identifier of the second network is used to indicate the second network that the user equipment needs to access, and the identifier of the second cell is used to indicate the cell in the second network through which the user equipment accesses via an access device.

27. The apparatus according to claim 25, wherein, the first paging message is at least used for the first network to page the user equipment, including: the first paging message is used to page the user equipment by the first network and the second network; when the first paging message is used to page the user equipment by the first network and the second network, the first paging message and the first message respectively include at least one of the second identifier of the user equipment, the identifier of the second network, or the identifier of the second cell, and at least one of the following information: The first identifier of the user equipment, the identifier of the first network, or the identifier of the first cell Wherein, the second identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the user equipment in the second network, the identifier of the second network is used to indicate the second network that the user equipment needs to access, the identifier of the second cell is used to indicate the cell in the second network through which the user equipment accesses via the access device, the first identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the user equipment in the first network, the identifier of the first network is used to indicate the first network that the user equipment needs to access, and the identifier of the first cell is used to indicate the cell in the first network through which the user equipment accesses via the access device.

28. The apparatus according to any one of claims 25-27 Characterized in that Before the transmitter sends the first message to the user equipment, the access device establishes a connection with the user equipment; The transmitter sending the first message to the user equipment via the first network includes: The transmitter sends the first message to the user equipment via a signaling radio bearer SRB in the first network, and the first message is used to indicate that the user equipment is paged by the second network.

29. The apparatus according to any one of claims 25-27 Characterized in that The receiver is further configured to receive a first response message sent by the user equipment, where the first response message includes information about a third cell, and the third cell is the cell in the second network determined by the user equipment to access; The transmitter is further configured to send a second message to the user equipment via the first network, and the second message includes at least one of the following parameters: A first parameter for supporting the user equipment to randomly access the third cell, a second parameter indicating the resources of the third cell, a fourth parameter indicating the context information of the user equipment in the second network, or a fifth parameter indicating the security and integrity protection information of the user equipment in the second network.

30. The apparatus according to any one of claims 25-27 Characterized in that The first message includes at least one of the following parameters: A sixth parameter for supporting the user equipment to randomly access the second cell in the second network, a seventh parameter indicating the resources of the second cell, a ninth parameter indicating the context information of the user equipment in the second network, or a tenth parameter indicating the security and integrity protection information of the user equipment in the second network.

31. A paging apparatus Characterized in that Comprising: A transmitter, configured to send a first paging message to an access device, where the first paging message is used to page a user equipment in a first network and a second network Wherein, the first network is an independent non-public network SNPN, and the second network is a non-independent non-public network PNI-NPN Or, the first network is PNI-NPN, and the second network is SNPN The first paging message includes a first cause value and / or a second cause value, and / or, the first paging message includes a first duration and / or a second duration. The first cause value is used to indicate the reason for which the first network pages the user equipment, and the second cause value is used to indicate the reason for which the second network pages the user equipment. The first duration is used to identify that the user equipment accesses the first network through the access device within the first duration, and the second duration is used to identify that the user equipment accesses the second network through the access device within the second duration.

32. The apparatus according to claim 31, wherein, the first paging message includes at least one of a second identifier of the user equipment, an identifier of the second network, or an identifier of a second cell, and at least one of the following information: a first identifier of the user equipment, an identifier of the first network, or an identifier of a first cell, wherein, the second identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the user equipment in the second network, the identifier of the second network is used to indicate the second network that the user equipment needs to access, the identifier of the second cell is used to indicate the cell in the second network through which the user equipment accesses via the access device, the first identifier of the user equipment is used to indicate the identifier of the user equipment in the first network, the identifier of the first network is used to indicate the first network that the user equipment needs to access, and the identifier of the first cell is used to indicate the cell in the first network through which the user equipment accesses via the access device.

33. A paging apparatus, wherein, comprises: a memory for storing a computer program; a processor for executing the computer program stored in the memory, so that the apparatus executes the paging method according to any one of claims 1-16.

34. A computer-readable storage medium, wherein, comprises a computer program, which when running on a computer, causes the computer to execute the method according to any one of claims 1-16.

35. A computer program product, wherein, contains instructions that when executed by a computer implement the method according to any one of claims 1-16.

36. A communication apparatus, wherein, comprises at least one processor; the at least one processor is used to execute the method according to any one of claims 1-16.

37. The communication apparatus according to claim 36, wherein, the communication apparatus is a chip or a chip system. The communication apparatus further includes a communication interface, and the communication interface is an input / output interface on the chip or the chip system. The at least one processor uses the communication interface to communicate with the outside, and the at least one processor calls and runs a computer program, so that the chip or the chip system executes the method according to any one of claims 1-16.

38. A communication system, wherein, The communication system includes an access device and a second core network device. The access device is configured to perform the paging method according to any one of claims 9 to 14, and the second core network device is configured to perform the paging method according to claim 15 or 16.

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