Information transmission method, communication device, communication system and computer storage medium

Abstract

The present application provides an information transmission method, a communication device, a computer storage medium, and a communication system. The method is used in a communication network including a first network device and a second network device, wherein the first network device supports one or more first slices, and the second network device supports one or more second slices. The one or more first slices correspond to at least one first switching trigger threshold, and the one or more second slices correspond to at least one second switching trigger threshold. The first network device requests the second network device to adjust the switching threshold of the slice granularity, thereby achieving more accurate switching threshold adjustment, helping to improve the accuracy of the second network device's decision on terminal switching and balancing the load between adjacent network devices.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the field of communications, and in particular to an information transmission method, a communication device, a communication system, and a computer storage medium. Background Art

[0002] To achieve load balancing between base stations, a base station can request a neighboring station to change its cell handover trigger change threshold through the mobility parameter change process. At the same time, the base station can also change the handover trigger threshold for each cell under its control and notify the neighboring station during the mobility parameter change process. For example, if a base station finds that a neighboring station is idle, it sends a mobility change request message to request the neighboring station to raise the handover trigger threshold, allowing more terminals to stay in the neighboring cell rather than handover to the base station, thus achieving load balancing between adjacent base stations.

[0003] However, the existing mobility parameters are based on cell granularity. Therefore, the cell handover trigger threshold adjusted through the above mobility parameter change process is aimed at the handover of the terminal between neighboring cells. For communication networks with multiple segmented services, the adjustment result is not accurate enough, affecting the accuracy of the base station's handover decision. Summary of the Invention

[0004] The embodiments of the present application provide an information transmission method, a communication device, a communication system, and a computer storage medium, which can improve the accuracy of adjusting a switching trigger threshold.

[0005] In a first aspect, the present application provides an information transmission method for a communication network including a first network device and a second network device, wherein the first network device supports one or more first slices, the second network device supports one or more second slices, the one or more first slices correspond to at least one first handover trigger threshold, and the one or more second slices correspond to at least one second handover trigger threshold, the method comprising:

[0006] The first network device sends a first message to the second network device, wherein the first message includes an identifier of at least one second slice and a recommended change value of a second switching trigger threshold corresponding to at least one second slice, and / or the request message includes an identifier of at least one first slice and a change value of a first switching trigger threshold corresponding to at least one first slice; the first network device receives a response message to the first message from the second network device, wherein the response message includes an identifier of at least one first slice and / or an identifier of at least one second slice; wherein the first switching trigger threshold is used by the first network device to determine a terminal to switch to using the first slice; and the second switching trigger threshold is used by the second network device to determine a terminal to switch to using the second slice.

[0007] In a second aspect, the present application provides an information transmission method for a communication network including a first network device and a second network device, wherein the first network device supports one or more first slices, the second network device supports one or more second slices, the one or more first slices correspond to at least one first handover trigger threshold, and the one or more second slices correspond to at least one second handover trigger threshold, the method comprising:

[0008] The second network device receives a first message from the first network device, where the first message includes an identifier of at least one second slice and a recommended change value of a second switching trigger threshold corresponding to at least one second slice, and / or the request message includes an identifier of at least one first slice and a change value of a first switching trigger threshold corresponding to at least one first slice; the second network device sends a response message to the first message to the first network device, where the response message includes an identifier of at least one first slice and / or an identifier of at least one second slice; wherein the first switching trigger threshold is used by the first network device to determine a terminal to switch to using the first slice; and the second switching trigger threshold is used by the second network device to determine a terminal to switch to using the second slice.

[0009] By adopting the information transmission method provided in the present application, the first network device requests the second network device to adjust the switching threshold of the slice granularity, thereby achieving more accurate switching threshold adjustment, helping to improve the accuracy of the second network device's decision on terminal switching and balance the load between adjacent network devices. In addition, the switching threshold of the slice granularity and the cell switching threshold can be used in conjunction to further improve the accuracy of the second network device's switching decision.

[0010] In a possible implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect, when the first message includes the identifier of the first slice, the request message also includes the identifier of the cell to which the first slice belongs; and / or, when the first message includes the identifier of the second slice, the first message also includes the identifier of the cell to which the second slice belongs.

[0011] In a possible implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect, the response message further includes at least one change value of the first handover trigger threshold and / or at least one change value of the second handover trigger threshold. Optionally, the response message further includes at least one change range of the second handover trigger threshold. The response message may be a mobility change failure message.

[0012] In a possible implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect, each first slice corresponds to one or more first switching trigger thresholds; and / or, each second slice corresponds to one or more second switching trigger thresholds. That is, each slice corresponds to a switching threshold. In this embodiment, the method of the first aspect further includes: the first network device sends a switching request message to the second network device, and the switching request message includes an identifier of the first slice corresponding to the first switching trigger threshold based on which the terminal is switched from the cell of the first network device to the cell of the second network device. Correspondingly, the second network device receives the switching request message from the first network device. By receiving the switching request message, the second network device can know which switching threshold the switching decision made by the first network device is derived from, and then the second network device can specifically initiate an adjustment request for the switching threshold to the first network device.

[0013] In a possible implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect, the first network device supports two or more first slices, and the two or more first slices respectively belong to at least one first slice group, and each first slice group corresponds to a first switching trigger threshold.

[0014] In a possible implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect, the second network device supports two or more second slices, and the two or more second slices respectively belong to at least one second slice group, and each second slice group corresponds to a second switching trigger threshold.

[0015] Since a terminal will use the resources of multiple slices at the same time, multiple combinations of slice thresholds can be applied to terminals using different slice resource combinations in a cell; and the second network device can determine the first switching trigger threshold based on the switching decision of the first network device based on the identifier of the first slice used by the terminal, without changing the existing switching request process, saving signaling overhead.

[0016] In a possible implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect, the first message also indicates the priority of at least one of the first slices.

[0017] In a possible implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect, the first message further indicates the priority of at least one of the second slices.

[0018] Optionally, the first message includes a priority identifier of the first slice or the second slice; or, the first slice or the second slice indicated by the first message is sorted in order of priority.

[0019] By obtaining the priority information of the above-mentioned first slice, the second network device can determine that the switching decision made by the first network device is based on the switching threshold corresponding to the first slice with the highest priority. The first network device does not need to carry additional indication information in the switching request message. While improving the accuracy of the mobile parameter adjustment, there is no need to change the existing switching request process.

[0020] In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect or the second aspect, the first message further includes a moving speed of the terminal to which the first handover triggering threshold applies.

[0021] In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect or the second aspect, the first message further includes a moving speed of the terminal to which the second handover triggering threshold applies.

[0022] The mobility change request message includes the speed information of the terminal, taking into account the impact of the terminal's moving speed on the switching timing, so that the network side can accurately control the terminals of different speeds to trigger switching at the appropriate time, and the second network device can determine the first switching trigger threshold based on the switching decision of the first network device according to the speed information of the terminal, without changing the existing switching request process, saving signaling overhead.

[0023] In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device having the function of implementing the behavior of the first network device in the information transmission method shown in the first aspect or the behavior of the second network device in the information transmission method shown in the second aspect. The function can be implemented by hardware or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more units or means corresponding to the above functions.

[0024] In one possible design, the apparatus includes a processor configured to support the apparatus in performing the corresponding functions of the core network node in the time synchronization method described above. The apparatus may also include a memory, which may be coupled to the processor and stores program instructions and data necessary for the apparatus. Optionally, the apparatus also includes a transceiver configured to support communication between the apparatus and a network device, such as a terminal, an access network device, or a core network node thereof. The transceiver may be an independent receiver, an independent transmitter, or a transceiver with integrated transceiver functions.

[0025] In one possible implementation, the communication apparatus may be a network device, or a component that can be used for a network device, such as a chip or a chip system or a circuit.

[0026] The network device may be a base station or a component of a base station, such as a centralized unit (CU) or a distributed unit (DU).

[0027] In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication system, comprising a first network device for executing the method described in the first aspect, and a second network device for executing the method described in the second aspect.

[0028] In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium, wherein the computer-readable storage medium stores instructions. When the instructions are executed on a computer, the computer executes the time synchronization method described in any one of the above aspects.

[0029] In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer program product comprising instructions, which, when executed on a computer, enables the computer to execute the time synchronization method described in any one of the above aspects. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0030] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application, the following briefly introduces the drawings required for use in the description of the embodiments. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present application. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without any creative work.

[0031] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system 100 provided by this application;

[0032] Figure 2 This is a flowchart of an information transmission method provided by this application;

[0033] Figure 3This is a flowchart of an information transmission method provided by this application;

[0034] Figure 4 This is a flowchart of an information transmission method provided by this application;

[0035] Figure 5 is a structural diagram of a communication device 500 provided in this application;

[0036] Figure 6 is a structural diagram of a communication device 600 provided in this application;

[0037] Figure 7 This is a schematic structural diagram of a base station 700 provided in this application;

[0038] Figure 8 It is a structural diagram of a terminal 800 provided in this application.

[0039] Specific implementation method

[0040] Please refer to Figure 1 , which is a schematic diagram of a communication network provided in an embodiment of the present application.

[0041] like Figure 1 As shown, the communication network 100 includes network device 1 and network device 2. Network device 1 and network device 2 can communicate directly with each other, for example, by having a direct communication interface, or they can communicate indirectly through other network devices. Each network device manages one or more cells, and each cell can include one or more terminals within its coverage area. The terminals access the network device through the cell and obtain communication services. Figure 1 In the figure, network device 1 manages cell 1, and terminal 1 is located in cell 1; network device 2 manages cell 2, and terminal 2 is located in cell 2 for illustration.

[0042] The communication network in this application may be a wireless access network, for example, a long term evolution (LTE) wireless communication system, or a fifth generation (5G) mobile communication system such as a new radio (NR) system, or other next generation (NG) communication systems or new communication systems, etc., which are not limited in this application.

[0043] In this application, a terminal refers to various types of devices that can provide voice and / or data connectivity to users, such as a handheld device with wireless connection capabilities, or a processing device connected to a wireless modem. The terminal can communicate with the core network via an access network, such as a radio access network (RAN), and exchange voice and / or data with the RAN. The terminal may also be referred to as a terminal device, user equipment (UE), mobile station (mobilestation), mobile station (mobile), remote station (remote station), access point (AP), remote terminal device (remote terminal), access terminal device (access terminal), user terminal device (user terminal), or user equipment (user device), etc. For example, it may include a mobile phone (or "cellular" phone), a computer with a mobile terminal device, a portable, pocket-sized, handheld, computer-built-in or vehicle-mounted mobile device, a smart wearable device, a drone device, etc. In the embodiments of the present application, the chip used in the above-mentioned device may also be referred to as a terminal.

[0044] The network device described in this application can be a device in a wireless network, such as an access network device, which can be used to connect a terminal to an access network such as a RAN. The network device 110 can be a base station defined by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), for example, a base station device in an LTE system, i.e., an evolved NodeB (eNB / eNodeB); it can also be an access network side device in an NR system, including a gNB, a transmission reception point (TRP), or a CU or DU, where the CU can also be called a control unit (CU). The protocol layer of the base station is split using a CU-DU structure, with some of the functions of the protocol layer being centrally controlled by the CU, and the remaining part or all of the functions of the protocol layer being distributed in the DU, which is centrally controlled by the CU. In addition, when the eNB is connected to the 5G core network (CN), the LTE eNB can also be called an eLTE eNB. Specifically, the eLTE eNB is an LTE base station device evolved on the basis of the LTE eNB, which can be directly connected to the 5G CN. The eLTE eNB also belongs to the base station device in NR. The network device can also be an access point (AP) or an access controller (AC), or other network devices that have the ability to communicate with terminals and core networks, such as relay devices, vehicle-mounted devices, smart wearable devices, etc. The embodiments of this application do not limit the type of network device.

[0045] Take network device 1 as base station 1 and network device 2 as base station 2 as an example. Figure 1 The communication network shown is described. Figure 1 In this example, base station 1 and base station 2 are neighboring stations. Base station 1 and base station 2 have a direct communication interface, through which they can exchange information, for example, by sending information about their resource usage. Cell handovers may occur during the movement of terminal 1 or terminal 2, for example, when terminal 1 switches from cell 1 to cell 2, or vice versa. Base station 1 and base station 2 can be connected to the same core network or to different core networks, with communication between the core networks possible.

[0046] The handover of a terminal is controlled by the network device it is currently connected to (referred to as the "source station"). The handover process includes the following: the source station can instruct the terminal to perform cell measurements and determine whether to switch the cell where the terminal resides based on the measurement report reported by the terminal. If the switch is determined to be necessary, the target network device to be switched (referred to as the "target station") sends a handover request message. If the target station allows the terminal to access, it sends a handover confirmation message to the source station. Among them, one of the judgment criteria for the source station to determine whether to switch the cell where the terminal resides is the cell handover trigger threshold. If the signal quality of the neighboring cell reported by the terminal reaches or exceeds the cell handover trigger threshold, the source station determines that the terminal can switch to the neighboring cell.

[0047] Frequent terminal switching may cause load imbalance between base stations. For example, when multiple terminals accessing cell 2 detect that the signal quality of cell 1 is better than that of cell 2, and exceeds the switching trigger threshold of cell 2, base station 2 will decide to let these terminals switch from cell 2 to cell 1, causing the load of base station 1 to be too high. In order to solve this problem, the mobility parameter change process is used to negotiate the cell switching trigger threshold between base stations, including requesting the neighboring station to increase or decrease the cell switching trigger threshold of the neighboring station; or directly changing the cell switching trigger threshold of the station, notifying the neighboring station of the changed result, and letting the neighboring station decide whether to change the cell switching trigger threshold of the neighboring station. In this application, the "switching trigger threshold" may also be referred to as the "switching threshold". The switching trigger threshold may be related to the cell signal quality.

[0048] Taking base station 1 initiating this process to base station 2 as an example, base station 1 can send a mobility change request message to base station 2. This request message can include the identification information of the cell whose handover threshold has been adjusted under base station 1, and the identification information of the cell for which base station 2 is requested to adjust the handover threshold. Furthermore, the request message can also include one or more of the following: the change value of base station 1's handover threshold, the change value of the handover threshold recommended for base station 2 to adjust, and the reason value for recommending base station 2 to adjust the handover threshold. If base station 2 accepts base station 1's mobility change request, it can send a mobility change acknowledgement message; if it does not accept, base station 2 can send a mobility change failure message to base station 1. This failure message can include the reason value for not accepting the above-mentioned mobility change request and the range of changes to the handover threshold that base station 2 can achieve.

[0049] In order to provide more flexible communication services and meet the needs of different services, end-to-end network slicing can be used to virtualize multiple logical subnets (or slices) that support different services and are isolated from each other on the same physical facilities such as base station and / or core network elements. Different slices are identified and distinguished by single network slice selection assistance information (S-NSSAI). Each S-NSSAI may include the following information: slice / service type (SST), which points to the characteristics and service type of the slice; Slice Differentiator (SD), which is used to distinguish different slice instances that meet the same SST. A base station can support multiple slices, and each cell under the base station can support one or more of the multiple slices. That is, the slices supported by different cells under a base station may be exactly the same, not exactly the same, or completely different.

[0050] The terminal can use the slices supported by the cell or access slices to obtain the services provided by the slices. The terminal can use one or more slices at the same time. When the terminal switches from one cell to another, the slices can remain the same or different. Figure 1 In the example, base station 1 supports slices A and B, and cell 1 supports slice A; base station 2 supports slices A, B, and C, and cell 2 supports slices A and C. Terminal 1 uses slice A. If terminal 1 switches from cell 1 to cell 2, it can switch to slice A in cell 2. If the terminal needs to obtain services in slice C, it can also switch to slice C. Each slice can have a corresponding handover trigger threshold (hereinafter referred to as the handover threshold).

[0051] Taking the network device as a base station as an example, the switching threshold for slices under a base station can have two granularities: one is the switching threshold for site-level (for example, base station-level) slices. Specifically, the same type of slices (with the same slice identifier) ​​in each cell of the same base station corresponds to the same switching threshold; the other is the switching threshold for cell-level slices. Specifically, a slice in a specific cell of the base station corresponds to a switching threshold. If the slice is also supported by another cell of the base station, the slice can correspond to another switching threshold in the other cell.

[0052] The terminal can switch between the same or different slices supported by different base stations. Adjacent base stations can request each other to adjust the handover threshold based on the slice granularity to balance the load between base stations.

[0053] The devices in the following embodiments of the present application may be located in different devices according to the functions they implement.

[0054] The resources described in the embodiments of the present application may also be referred to as transmission resources, including one or more of time domain resources, frequency domain resources, and code channel resources, which may be used to carry data or signaling during uplink or downlink communication.

[0055] It should be understood that the term "and / or" as used herein simply describes an association between related objects, indicating that three possible relationships exist. For example, "A and / or B" can represent: A exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, or B exists alone. Furthermore, the character " / " as used herein indicates that the related objects are in an "or" relationship.

[0056] It should be understood that in the embodiments of the present application, "B corresponding to A" means that B is associated with A and B can be determined based on A. However, it should also be understood that determining B based on A does not mean determining B based solely on A, but B can also be determined based on A and / or other information.

[0057] The term "plurality" used in the embodiments of the present application refers to two or more.

[0058] The first, second, etc. descriptions appearing in the embodiments of this application are only for illustration and distinction of the description objects. There is no order, nor does it indicate any special limitation on the number of devices in the embodiments of this application, and cannot constitute any limitation on the embodiments of this application.

[0059] The "connection" appearing in the embodiments of the present application refers to various connection methods such as direct connection or indirect connection to achieve communication between devices, and the embodiments of the present application do not impose any limitations on this.

[0060] Unless otherwise specified, the "transmission" (transmit / transmission) appearing in the embodiments of the present application refers to bidirectional transmission, including the actions of sending and / or receiving. Specifically, the "transmission" in the embodiments of the present application includes the sending of information, the receiving of information, or the sending of information and the receiving of data. In other words, the information transmission here includes uplink and / or downlink information transmission. Data information may include data, channels or signals, uplink information transmission includes uplink data, uplink channels or uplink signal transmission, and downlink information transmission includes downlink data, downlink channels or downlink signal transmission.

[0061] The term "service" in the embodiments of the present application refers to a communication service obtained by a terminal from the network, including control plane services and / or data plane services, such as voice services and data traffic services. The sending or receiving of a service includes the sending or receiving of data or signaling related to the service.

[0062] The “network” and “system” that appear in the embodiments of the present application express the same concept, and the communication system is the communication network.

[0063] Figure 2 This is a flow chart of an information transmission method provided by the present application. The information transmission method is used in a communication network including a first network device and a second network device, for example Figure 1 The communication network 100 shown in FIG. 1 , wherein the first network device supports one or more first slices, the second network device supports one or more second slices, the one or more first slices correspond to at least one first switching threshold, and the one or more second slices correspond to at least one second switching threshold.

[0064] The first switching threshold is used by the first network device to determine the terminal to switch to using the first slice; the second switching threshold is used by the second network device to determine the terminal to switch to using the second slice.

[0065] The first switching threshold and the second switching threshold described in this application are switching thresholds at the slice granularity. Specifically, the switching threshold at the slice granularity is the signal threshold value that the network device determines to reach when switching the terminal from the currently used slice to the slice supported by other network devices, or in other words, it refers to the signal threshold value that the terminal needs to reach when disconnecting from the currently accessed slice. The initial value of the threshold value can be an operation, administration and maintenance (OAM) device or other network management device configuration. It can be understood that the higher the switching threshold, the more likely the terminal is to continue to reside in the cell to which the currently used slice belongs and continue to use the slice; the lower the switching threshold, the easier it is for the terminal to switch to a slice supported by other network devices.

[0066] Optionally, in one embodiment, a type of slice supported by a network device corresponds to one or more switching thresholds. Specifically, if the switching threshold of site-level slicing is adopted, then a first slice / second slice supported by the first network device / second network device corresponds to a switching threshold; if the switching threshold of cell-level slicing is adopted, then the same first slice / second slice supported by multiple cells deployed under the first network device / second network device corresponds to multiple first switching thresholds / second slice thresholds.

[0067] Assume that the first network device is base station 1. Base station 1 supports four slices: slice A, slice B, slice C, and slice D. Slices A through D are identified by identifiers A and D, respectively. Three cells are deployed under base station 1: cell 1, cell 2, and cell 3. Each cell supports the following slices: cell 1 supports slice A and slice B; cell 2 supports slice A, slice B, and slice C; and cell 3 supports slices B, slice C, and slice D.

[0068] If the handover threshold of base station-level slices is followed, base station 1 has four handover thresholds for slices, including the handover thresholds for slices A, B, C, and D. If the handover threshold of cell-level slices is followed, base station 1 will have eight handover thresholds for slices, including the handover thresholds for slices A in cell 1, B in cell 1, A in cell 2, B in cell 2, C in cell 2, B in cell 3, C in cell 3, and D in cell 3.

[0069] Optionally, in one embodiment, a slice group under a network device corresponds to a switching threshold, and the slice group contains one or more slices. Specifically, the first network device supports two or more first slices, the two or more first slices respectively belong to at least one first slice group, and each first slice group corresponds to a first switching trigger threshold; and / or, the second network device supports two or more second slices, the two or more second slices respectively belong to at least one second slice group, and each second slice group corresponds to a second switching trigger threshold. In the present application, the switching threshold corresponding to a slice group can be referred to as a slice combination switching threshold.

[0070] Since a terminal will use the resources of multiple slices at the same time, multiple combinations of slice thresholds can be applied to terminals using different combinations of slice resources in a cell. Still taking the first network device (base station 1) supporting slice A-slice D, and deploying cells 1-cell 3 under base station 1 as an example, it is assumed that the slices supported by each cell are as follows: cell 1 supports slice A and slice B; cell 2 supports slice A, slice B, and slice C; cell 3 supports slice B and slice C. If the slice grouping method is adopted, the following slice combination switching thresholds can be used: the switching threshold corresponding to slice A is 5; the switching threshold corresponding to slice B is 6; the switching threshold corresponding to slice C is 7; the switching threshold corresponding to the combination of slice A and slice B is 10; the switching threshold corresponding to the combination of slice A and slice C is 8; the switching threshold corresponding to the combination of slice A, slice B and slice C is 12. It can be understood that the above-mentioned slice combination switching thresholds can be applied regardless of site-level slicing or cell-level slicing.

[0071] In this application, the slice supported by the first network device is referred to as the first slice, and the slice supported by the second network device is referred to as the second slice, but the type of the first slice or the second slice is not limited. That is, the first network device can support multiple first slices of different types, and the second network device can support multiple second slices of different types, and the type of the first slice and the type of the second slice can be the same or different. Taking the network device as a base station as an example, the slices supported by the base station are based on the granularity of the tracking area (TA), that is, if different cells of different base stations or different cells of the same base station belong to the same TA, then the slices supported by these cells are the same. If they belong to different TAs, then the network slices supported by these cells can be the same or different. Each type of slice has fixed identification information that has been copied in a public land mobile network (PLMN), such as S-NSSAI. That is, the identification information of the same type of slices supported by different base stations is the same. For example, the first slice supported by the first network device includes slice A, slice B and slice C, and the second slice supported by the second network device includes slice A, slice B and slice D. Slice A uses identifier 1, slice B uses identifier 2, slice C uses identifier 3, and slice D uses identifier 4.

[0072] The method comprises:

[0073] S201: The first network device sends a first message to the second network device, wherein the first message includes an identifier of at least one second slice and a recommended change value of a second switching threshold corresponding to at least one second slice, and / or the request message includes an identifier of at least one first slice and a change value of a first switching threshold corresponding to at least one first slice.

[0074] Correspondingly, the second network device receives the first message.

[0075] It is understood that the first network device or the second network device can be an access network device such as a base station. The first network device and the second network device can be of the same or different standards. For example, the first network device and the second network device can both be gNBs; or the first network device can be a gNB and the second network device can be an eNB. The first network device and the second network device are adjacent network devices and each manages one or more cells, each of which can support one or more slices. Optionally, the first network device can be a CU and the second network device can be a DU managed by the CU.

[0076] The first message may be used to request the second network device to change the handover threshold corresponding to the second slice, for example, a mobility change request message. Accordingly, the second network device may determine whether to change the handover threshold corresponding to the second slice based on the content of the first message.

[0077] Optionally, in one embodiment, the first network device may obtain resource usage of the second slice from the resource information interaction process with the second network device, thereby determining whether to recommend the second network device to adjust the second switching threshold.

[0078] Optionally, in one embodiment, the decision to recommend the second network device to adjust the second handover threshold is made by other network devices, such as OAM. The OAM may send an indication of the decision to the first network device, thereby triggering the first network device to send the first message to the second network device.

[0079] Optionally, the change value of the first handover threshold is an offset value (offset) of the cell handover threshold of the first cell corresponding to the first handover threshold. For example, assuming that the handover threshold of slice A supported by the first network device is the cell handover threshold of the cell to which slice A belongs minus 10, the offset value 10 can be carried as the change value in the first message; or, the change value is the adjusted first handover threshold. For example, if the first handover threshold corresponding to slice A is 8 before adjustment and 2 after adjustment, the adjusted handover threshold 2 can be carried as the change value in the first message; or, the change value is the change difference of the first handover threshold. For example, if the first handover threshold corresponding to slice A is 8 before adjustment and 2 after adjustment, which is 6 less than before adjustment, the reduced difference 6 can be carried as the change value in the first message. Generally, if an offset value or a change difference is used as the change value, the value range is within the interval [-20, 20].

[0080] Optionally, the switching threshold corresponding to the slice is pre-set or dynamically configured by the system. If the switching threshold for some slices is not specified, the cell-level switching threshold can be used by default.

[0081] Optionally, the identifier of the first slice or the second slice can be an identifier indicating a slice, such as NSSAI; or it can be an identifier or index of a slice group, and the slices in a slice group use the same group identifier or index.

[0082] If the first network device / the second network device uses the switching threshold of the site-level slice, the first message may only include the slice identifier but not the cell identifier; if the first network device / the second network device uses the switching threshold of the cell-level slice, the first message may include the slice identifier and the cell identifier. Optionally, the cell identifier may be a cell global identifier (CGI). Specifically, if the first network device or the second network device uses the switching threshold of the cell-level slice, when the first message includes the identifier of the first slice, the request message also includes the identifier of the cell to which the first slice belongs; when the first message includes the identifier of the second slice, the first message also includes the identifier of the cell to which the second slice belongs.

[0083] Optionally, in one embodiment, when the first message includes an identifier of at least one of the first slices and a change value of a first switching trigger threshold corresponding to at least one of the first slices, the first message further indicates the priority of at least one of the first slices. Specifically, the priority of the first slice may be explicitly indicated. For example, the first message includes priority information of at least one of the first slices. Alternatively, the priority of the first slice may be implicitly indicated, for example, the at least one first slice indicated by the first message is sorted in priority order. The priority information may be a priority identifier.

[0084] Still taking the example of the first network device (base station 1) supporting slices A to D, and cells 1 to 3 being deployed under base station 1, the slices supported by each cell are as follows: cell 1 supports slices A and B; cell 2 supports slices A, B, and C; and cell 3 supports slices B and C. Assuming that the priorities of slices A to D are identified from high to low as priority 1 (highest) to priority 4 (lowest), if base station 1 adjusts the switching thresholds corresponding to slices A, B, and C, the first message may include the identifiers of slices AC, the changed values ​​of the switching thresholds corresponding to slices AC, and the priority identifiers of slices AC; alternatively, the slices AC indicated in the first message are sorted from high to low or from low to high in priority.

[0085] Generally speaking, the higher the priority, the more important the service provided by the slice and the higher the transmission quality requirements. Therefore, the network device makes terminal switching decisions based on the highest priority switching threshold among all slices used by the terminal. For example, when the terminal uses slices A and B mentioned above, the switching decision is based on the switching threshold corresponding to slice A; when the terminal uses slices B and C, the switching decision is based on the switching threshold corresponding to slice B. It should be noted that there is no necessary relationship between the priority of the slice and the size of the switching threshold. For example, slice A has the highest priority, but the switching threshold corresponding to slice A can be smaller than the switching threshold corresponding to any one or more slices from slices B to slice D.

[0086] Optionally, in one embodiment, when the first message includes an identifier of at least one second slice and a recommended change value of a second switching trigger threshold corresponding to at least one second slice, the first message further indicates a priority of at least one second slice. A detailed description of the priority of the second slice can be found in the description of the priority of the first slice, and is not repeated here.

[0087] Optionally, in one embodiment, the priority corresponding to the first slice and / or the priority corresponding to the first slice can be indicated by a message other than the first message, for example, the first network device indicates the priority to the second network device through a message in the interface establishment process between the first network device and the second network device.

[0088] By obtaining the priority information of the above-mentioned first slice, the second network device can determine that the switching decision made by the first network device is based on the switching threshold corresponding to the first slice with the highest priority. The first network device does not need to carry additional indication information in the switching request message. While improving the accuracy of the mobile parameter adjustment, there is no need to change the existing switching request process.

[0089] Optionally, in one embodiment, the first message is further used to indicate the moving speed of the terminal to which the first switching threshold is applicable; and / or the moving speed of the terminal to which the second switching threshold is applicable.

[0090] Specifically, in this embodiment, the first handover threshold or the second handover threshold is used by the first network device or the second network device to determine handover of a terminal with a moving speed of v, where v> 0. That is, when the first network device or the second network device determines whether to handover the terminal from the currently accessed slice to a slice of another cell, it is necessary to additionally consider the current moving speed of the terminal.

[0091] The first network device may obtain the terminal's movement speed based on historical information reported by the terminal. The historical information includes the identifiers of one or more cells where the terminal resided and the duration of each stay in these cells. The first network device may also obtain the terminal's movement speed based on positioning technology, which is not limited in this application.

[0092] S202: The second network device sends a response message to the first message to the first network device, where the response message includes an identifier of at least one first slice and / or an identifier of at least one second slice.

[0093] Correspondingly, the first network device receives the response message.

[0094] Optionally, the response message is a mobility change response message.

[0095] Optionally, in one embodiment, the first network device may notify the second network device of the adjustment of part or all of the first switching thresholds via a first message. Specifically, the first message may only include the identifier of at least one first slice and the change value of the first switching threshold corresponding to the at least one first slice; accordingly, the response message includes the identifier of part or all of the first slices in the at least one first slice indicated by the first message, indicating that the second network device has successfully received part or all of the first slices in the first slice indicated by the first network device. It can be understood that the first slice indicated by the first message refers to the first slice whose corresponding first switching threshold is adjusted.

[0096] Optionally, in one embodiment, the first network device may request the second network device to adjust part or all of the second switching thresholds through a first message. Specifically, the first message includes an identifier of at least one second slice and a recommended change value of the second switching threshold corresponding to at least one second slice; accordingly, the response message includes the identifiers of part or all of the second slices in the at least one second slice indicated by the first message, indicating that the second network device agrees to adjust the second switching thresholds corresponding to part or all of the second slices indicated by the first message. It can be understood that the second slice indicated by the first message refers to the second slice corresponding to the second switching threshold that is recommended for the second network device to adjust.

[0097] Optionally, in one embodiment, the first network device may notify the second network device of the adjustment of the first switching threshold via a first message, and request the second network device to adjust part or all of the second switching threshold. Specifically, the first message includes the identifier of at least one second slice, and the recommended change value of the second switching threshold corresponding to the at least one second slice, as well as the identifier of at least one first slice, and the change value of the first switching threshold corresponding to the at least one first slice; accordingly, the response message includes the identifiers of part or all of the first slices in the at least one first slice indicated by the first message, and the identifiers of part or all of the second slices in the at least one second slice indicated by the first message.

[0098] Optionally, in one embodiment, the response message further includes at least one change value of the first handover threshold and / or at least one change value of the second handover threshold. Specifically, when the response message further includes at least one change value of the first handover threshold, it indicates that the second network device recommends that the first network device adjust the change value of the first handover threshold corresponding to some or all first slices. The some or all first slices are not limited to the first slices indicated by the first network device to the second network device via the first message, but may be some or all first slices among all first slices supported by the first network device. Furthermore, when the response message includes at least one change value of the second handover threshold, these second handover thresholds are not limited to the second handover thresholds corresponding to the second slices indicated by the first network device via the first message, but may be second network devices corresponding to any second slice supported by the second network device. That is, if the second network device agrees with the first network device's suggestion to adjust the second handover thresholds corresponding to some second slices, the second network device may notify the first network device of the adjustment results. Furthermore, the second network device may also adjust the second handover thresholds corresponding to second slices other than those recommended by the first network device and notify the first network device.

[0099] Optionally, in one embodiment, the second network device disagrees with the change in some or all of the second handover threshold values ​​recommended by the first network device, and the response message further includes a change range for the second handover trigger threshold recommended by the second network device. The change range refers to an adjustable range that the second network device can accept for the change in the second handover threshold value. In this embodiment, the response message may be a mobility change failure message.

[0100] Optionally, the first network device and the second network device have a direct communication interface, and the first message and the response message can be transmitted directly between the two. Optionally, the first message or the response message is forwarded via a core network, and the first network device and the second network device can be connected to the same or different core networks, which is not limited in this application.

[0101] By adopting the information transmission method provided in the present application, the first network device requests the second network device to adjust the switching threshold of the slice granularity, thereby achieving more accurate switching threshold adjustment, helping to improve the accuracy of the second network device's decision on terminal switching and balance the load between network devices. In addition, the switching threshold of the slice granularity and the cell switching threshold can be used in conjunction to further improve the accuracy of the second network device's switching decision.

[0102] The following Figure 3-Figure 4 The embodiment shown is in Figure 2 The information transmission method provided in this application is further explained and illustrated based on the illustrated embodiments, and the contents already explained are not repeated here.

[0103] exist Figure 3-Figure 4 In the illustrated embodiment, the first network device is gNB1, the second network device is gNB2, the terminal is UE, and gNB1 and gNB2 are neighboring stations. If the UE switches from the cell of gNB1 to the cell of gNB2, gNB1 is the source base station and gNB2 is the target base station. In the following, the slice supported by gNB1 is referred to as slice#1, and the switching threshold corresponding to slice#1 is referred to as threshold#1; the slice supported by gNB2 is referred to as slice#2, and the switching threshold corresponding to slice#2 is referred to as threshold#2. For the corresponding relationship between slice#1 and threshold#1, and the corresponding relationship between slice#2 and threshold#2, please refer to Figure 2 The relevant contents in the illustrated embodiment will not be described in detail here. Figure 3 In this embodiment, the switching thresholds of cell-level slices supported by gNB1 and gNB2 are taken as an example, that is, the same slice#1 supported by different cells of gNB1 corresponds to a threshold#1, and the same slice#2 supported by different cells of gNB2 corresponds to a threshold#2.

[0104] Figure 3 : is a flow chart of an information transmission method provided in an embodiment of the present application. The method includes:

[0105] S301: gNB1 determines that gNB2 adjusts threshold#2 corresponding to at least one slice#2.

[0106] Alternatively, S301 may be replaced by S301a-S301b, including:

[0107] S301a: OAM determines that gNB2 adjusts threshold#2 corresponding to at least one slice#2.

[0108] S301b: OAM sends the identifier of the at least one slice#2 to gNB1.

[0109] Through S301a-S301b, gNB1 can send a message containing relevant information of at least one slice#2 to gNB2 according to the instruction of OAM, triggering gNB2 to adjust the switching threshold process.

[0110] Optionally, before step S301, step S300 is also included: gNB1 obtains information of slice#2.

[0111] Specifically, gNB1 can obtain information about slice#2 during the process of interacting with gNB2 about resource usage, or it can obtain information about slice#2 from OAM, including the slice ID of slice#2, the cell ID to which slice#2 belongs, and other information, to decide whether to trigger gNB2 to modify threshold#2.

[0112] The method further comprises:

[0113] S302: gNB1 sends a mobility change request message to gNB2, requesting gNB2 to adjust the switching threshold of the at least one slice#2.

[0114] The mobile line request message may include: Figure 2 The specific information contained in the first message listed in the embodiment will not be repeated here.

[0115] S303: gNB2 sends a response message to gNB1 regarding the mobility request message.

[0116] The response message may be a mobility request response message or a mobility failure message. When a mobility request message is used as the response message, the response message may include information such as the identifier of slice#2 corresponding to threshold#2 that gNB1 agrees to adjust, and the change value of threshold#2 to be adjusted. When a mobility failure message is used as the response message, the response message may include the adjustment range of the change value of threshold#2 that gNB1 can accept. For a detailed description of the specific information included in the response message, please refer to Figure 2 The relevant contents in the illustrated embodiment will not be described in detail here.

[0117] S304: gNB1 sends a handover request message to gNB2, where the handover request message includes an identifier of slice#1 corresponding to threshold#1 based on which the terminal is handed over from the cell of gNB1 to the cell of gNB2.

[0118] The handover request message also includes identifiers of one or more slice#1s used by the UE.

[0119] Specifically, gNB1 sends a Handover Request message to gNB2, requesting that gNB2 accept gNB1's decision to hand over the UE. The Handover Request message includes the identifiers of one or more slices #1 on which gNB1 based its handover decision. Optionally, the Handover Request message may also include the handover thresholds corresponding to the one or more slices #1. For example, a UE uses gNB1's cell 1 as its serving cell and uses both slices A and B. gNB1 receives a measurement report from the UE, which indicates that the signal quality of cell 2 under gNB2 is higher by 9 than the signal quality of cell 1. This difference in signal quality exceeds the handover threshold of 8 corresponding to slice A under gNB1. gNB1 may then decide to handover the UE from cell 1 to cell 2. This handover decision is based on the handover threshold of slice A, and the Handover Request message includes the identifier of slice A. Optionally, the handover request also includes the handover threshold of 8 for slice A.

[0120] S305: gNB2 determines the switching threshold based on which gNB1 makes the switching decision according to the switching request message.

[0121] In specific network implementations, gNB1 can make handover decisions based on one or more handover thresholds. For example, if gNB1 makes a handover decision based on the handover threshold corresponding to slice A, but the handover request message includes the identifiers of slices A and B used by the UE before the handover, gNB2 cannot determine whether gNB1 initiated the handover based on the handover threshold corresponding to cell 1, slice A, or slice B. Therefore, through the handover request message, gNB2 can determine which handover threshold gNB1's handover decision originated from. If gNB2 consistently receives unreasonable handover requests triggered by a particular handover threshold, gNB2 can specifically request an adjustment to the particular handover threshold. In other words, gNB2 can initiate a mobility change procedure with gNB1, as described in steps S301-S303 above.

[0122] There is no difference in the execution order of S304-S305 and S301-S303. S304-S305 can be executed before or after any step in S301-S303, or can be executed simultaneously with any step in S301-S303. This application does not limit this.

[0123] Optionally, in another embodiment of the present application, the slice combination switching threshold used by gNB1 and / or gNB2 includes: multiple slice#1 supported by gNB1 belong to at least one slice group (group#1), and each group#1 corresponds to a threshold#1; and / or, multiple slice#2 supported by gNB2 belong to at least one slice group (group#2), and each group#2 corresponds to a threshold#2. Since each slice#1 or slice#2 belongs to a specific slice group. Therefore, the above-mentioned slice request message does not need to include the identifier of the slice#1 corresponding to the threshold#1 based on which the terminal switches from the cell of gNB1 to the cell of gNB2. gNB2 only needs to determine which switching threshold the switching decision made by gNB1 is based on based on the identifier of the slice used by the UE contained in the switching request message. For example, if the switching request message indicates that the UE uses a combination of slice A and slice B, gNB2 can determine that the switching threshold corresponding to the combination of slice A and slice B is used for the UE to switch from gNB1 to gNB2. For a detailed introduction to the slice combination switching threshold, please refer to Figure 2 The relevant contents in the illustrated embodiment are not described in detail.

[0124] Optionally, the method also includes S306: gNB1 sends information contained in the response message received from gNB2 to OAM.

[0125] Specifically, gNB1 may directly forward the response message to OAM, for example, by encapsulating the response message in a container and transparently transmitting it to OAM. gNB1 may also parse the response message and send the information contained therein to OAM. It is understood that regardless of whether gNB1 or OAM determines that gNB2 should adjust threshold#2, gNB1 may send the information contained in the response message to OAM.

[0126] By adopting the information transmission method provided in this application, the accuracy of the switching decision is improved by adjusting the switching threshold of the slice granularity, and the slice corresponding to the switching threshold based on the switching decision of the source base station is added to the switching request message, so that the target base station can adjust the switching threshold of these slices in a targeted manner.

[0127] Figure 4 This is a flow chart of an information transmission method provided by an embodiment of the present application. Figure 4 In the method shown, the first message is a mobility change request message including speed information of the terminal. The method includes:

[0128] S401: gNB1 obtains UE speed information.

[0129] gNB1 can obtain the speed information based on the historical information reported by the UE or positioning technology, which will not be elaborated here.

[0130] S402: gNB2 sends a mobility change request message to gNB2, where the mobility change request message includes the UE's speed information.

[0131] The mobile line request message also includes: Figure 2 The specific information contained in the first message listed in the embodiment may also include slice priority information, which will not be repeated here.

[0132] The UE speed information indicates the UE's moving speed. Optionally, in one embodiment, the UE's moving speed is graded. Specifically, UEs with moving speeds within a certain numerical range may be graded as a level. For example, UEs may be graded into N levels from fast to slow, with each level labeled level-n, where 1≤n≤N.

[0133] Optionally, the speed level of the UE is used to determine the switching threshold corresponding to the slice used by the UE, wherein the switching threshold corresponding to the slice can be the switching threshold of the base station-level slice or the switching threshold of the cell-level slice, and both the base station-level slice and the cell-level slice can adopt the slice combination switching threshold, which will not be described in detail here. In this embodiment, the change value of threshold#1 contained in the mobility change request message, or the recommended change value of threshold#2 corresponds to the speed level of the UE.

[0134] Taking the slice combination handover threshold for gNB1 using cell-level slicing as an example, the relationship between the UE's speed level and the handover threshold corresponding to the slice used by the UE is explained. Assuming gNB1 supports slices A through D, and that gNB1 deploys cells 1 through 3, the slices supported by each cell are as follows: Cell 1 supports slices A and B; Cell 2 supports slices A, B, and C; and Cell 3 supports slices B and C. UEs located in any of cells 1 through 3 are classified as level-1, level-2, or level-3 based on their speed. Depending on the UE's speed level and different slice combinations, the following handover thresholds may apply: Slice A has a handover threshold of 4; Slice A used by level-1 UEs has a handover threshold of 5; Slice A used by level-2 UEs has a handover threshold of 5; Slice B used by level-1 UEs has a handover threshold of 6; Slice A and Slice B used by level-3 UEs have a handover threshold of 10; Slice A and Slice C used by level-1 UEs have a handover threshold of 8; Slice A, Slice B, and Slice C used by level-1 UEs have a handover threshold of 12. If a handover threshold is not set for a slice or slice combination, the cell handover threshold is used by default, that is, the cell handover threshold of the cell to which the slice belongs is used.

[0135] Optionally, in one embodiment, UEs at the same speed and under the same base station or in the same cell may use the same handover threshold. Optionally, regardless of the slice used by the UE, UEs at the same mobile speed may use the same cell handover threshold. Optionally, UEs at the same speed and using the same slice may use the same handover threshold for that slice.

[0136] S403: gNB2 sends a response message to gNB1 regarding the mobility request message.

[0137] For a detailed description of the response message, please refer to the relevant contents of other embodiments of the present application, such as Figure 2-Figure 3 The embodiments shown are not described in detail here.

[0138] S401 and S402-S403 are executed in no particular order. S401 may be executed before or after S402 or S403, or concurrently with S402 or S403. This application does not limit this. S404: gNB1 sends a handover request message to gNB2. The handover request message includes identification information of one or more slices used by the UE to be handed over.

[0139] Optionally, the handover request message may include a UE speed class.

[0140] S405: gNB2 determines the switching threshold based on which gNB1 makes the switching decision according to the slice identification information and speed level contained in the switching request message.

[0141] There is no difference in the execution order of S404-S405 and S402-S403. S404-S405 can be executed before or after S402 or S403, or can be executed simultaneously with S402 or S403. This application does not limit this.

[0142] Optionally, in one embodiment, UEs using the same number of slices use the same handover threshold. gNB2 can determine which handover threshold to use for handover decisions based on gNB1 based on the number of slices. For example, UE1 using slices A and B and UE2 using slices B and C use the same handover threshold, and UE3 using slice A and UE4 using slice B use the same handover threshold.

[0143] By adopting the information transmission method provided by the present application, the speed information of the UE is included in the mobility change request message, taking into account the impact of the UE's moving speed on the switching timing, so that the network side can accurately control UEs of different speeds to trigger switching at the appropriate time. At the same time, there is no need for the source base station to carry additional indication information in the switching request message. The target base station can determine the switching threshold based on the switching decision made by the source base station according to the speed information, while improving the accuracy of the mobile parameter adjustment without changing the existing switching request process. The above describes in detail an example of the information transmission method provided by the present application. The following describes an example of a communication device that can be used to implement the above-mentioned information transmission method.

[0144] It is understandable that, in order to implement the above functions, the communication device includes hardware structures and / or software modules corresponding to the execution of each function. Those skilled in the art should easily realize that, in combination with the units and algorithm steps of each example described in the embodiments disclosed herein, the present application can be implemented in the form of hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is executed in a hardware or computer software driven hardware manner depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Professional and technical personnel can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered to be beyond the scope of this application.

[0145] The present application can divide the communication device into functional units according to the above method examples. For example, each function can be divided into various functional units, or two or more functions can be integrated into one processing unit. The above integrated units can be implemented in the form of hardware or software functional units. It should be noted that the division of units in this application is schematic and is only a logical functional division. In actual implementation, there may be other division methods.

[0146] Figure 5 The communication device 500 shown includes a sending unit 501 and a receiving unit 502 .

[0147] The communication device 500 may be a network device or a device such as a chip used for a network device.

[0148] In one implementation of the present application, the communication device 500 is used to support a network device to implement the function of the first network device in the information transmission method provided in an embodiment of the present application. The first network device and the second network device are located in the same communication network. The first network device supports one or more first slices, and the second network device supports one or more second slices. The one or more first slices correspond to at least one first switching trigger threshold, and the one or more second slices correspond to at least one second switching trigger threshold.

[0149] For example, the sending unit 501 can be used to send a first message to the second network device, wherein the first message includes an identifier of at least one second slice and a recommended change value of the second switching trigger threshold corresponding to at least one second slice, and / or the request message includes an identifier of at least one first slice and a change value of the first switching trigger threshold corresponding to at least one first slice; the receiving unit 502 is used to receive a response message to the first message from the second network device, wherein the response message includes an identifier of at least one first slice and / or an identifier of at least one second slice.

[0150] The communication device 500 may further include a processing unit 503 , configured to support the sending unit 501 in sending the first message, and to process a response message received by the receiving unit 502 .

[0151] Optionally, the sending unit 501 is also used to send a switching request message to the second network device, and the switching request message includes an identifier of a first slice corresponding to a first switching trigger threshold based on which the terminal is switched from the cell of the first network device to the cell of the second network device.

[0152] For a detailed description of the handover request message, please refer to the aforementioned method embodiment, for example Figure 2-Figure 4The relevant contents in the embodiments are not described in detail here.

[0153] In one implementation of the present application, the communication device 500 is used to support the network device to implement the function of the second network device in the information transmission method provided in the embodiment of the present application.

[0154] For example, the receiving unit 502 is used to receive a first message from the first network device, wherein the first message includes an identifier of at least one second slice and a recommended change value of a second switching trigger threshold corresponding to at least one second slice, and / or the request message includes an identifier of at least one first slice and a change value of a first switching trigger threshold corresponding to at least one first slice; the sending unit 501 is used to send a response message to the first message to the first network device, wherein the response message includes an identifier of at least one first slice and / or an identifier of at least one second slice; wherein the first switching trigger threshold is used by the first network device to determine the terminal to switch to use the first slice; and the second switching trigger threshold is used by the second network device to determine the terminal to switch to use the second slice.

[0155] The processing unit 503 may be configured to support the sending unit 501 in sending the response message, and to process the first message received by the receiving unit 502 .

[0156] Optionally, the receiving unit 502 is further configured to receive a handover request message from the first network device, the handover request message including an identifier of a first slice corresponding to a first handover trigger threshold based on which the terminal is handed over from the cell of the first network device to the cell of the second network device. The processing unit 503 is configured to obtain, based on the handover request message, a first handover threshold based on which the first network device makes a handover decision.

[0157] Optionally, when the first message includes the identifier of the first slice, the request message also includes the identifier of the cell to which the first slice belongs; and / or, when the first message includes the identifier of the second slice, the first message also includes the identifier of the cell to which the second slice belongs.

[0158] For a detailed description of the contents contained in the first message and the response message, please refer to the relevant contents of the aforementioned method embodiment and will not be repeated here.

[0159] Optionally, the first message further indicates a priority of at least one of the first slices and / or at least one of the second slices. The priority of the first slice and / or the second slice can be explicitly indicated or implicitly indicated by the first message.

[0160] Optionally, the first message further indicates a moving speed of the terminal to which the first handover triggering threshold is applicable, and / or a moving speed of the terminal to which the second handover triggering threshold is applicable.

[0161] Optionally, the response message further includes at least one change value of the first handover trigger threshold and / or at least one change value of the second handover trigger threshold. Optionally, when the second network device disagrees with the change value of the second handover trigger threshold suggested by the first network device, the response message includes a change range of the second handover trigger threshold.

[0162] For a detailed description of the information contained in the first message and the response message, please refer to the aforementioned method embodiment, for example Figure 2-Figure 4 The relevant contents in the embodiments are not described in detail here.

[0163] Optionally, each first slice corresponds to one or more first switching trigger thresholds.

[0164] Optionally, each second slice corresponds to one or more second switching trigger thresholds.

[0165] Specifically, if the first network device or the second network device supports base station-level slicing, each first slice / second slice corresponds to a handover trigger threshold. If the first network device or the second network device supports cell-level slicing, the same first slice / second slice supported by multiple cells may correspond to multiple handover trigger thresholds. For a more detailed description, please refer to the aforementioned method embodiment, for example Figure 2-Figure 4 The relevant contents in the embodiments are not described in detail here.

[0166] Optionally, the first network device supports two or more first slices, and the two or more first slices respectively belong to at least one first slice group, and each first slice group corresponds to one first switching trigger threshold.

[0167] Optionally, the second network device supports two or more second slices, and the two or more second slices respectively belong to at least one second slice group, and each second slice group corresponds to a second switching trigger threshold.

[0168] The detailed description of the slice grouping and the handover triggering threshold corresponding to the slice group can refer to the above method embodiment, for example Figure 2-Figure 4 The relevant contents in the embodiments are not described in detail here.

[0169] For a detailed description of the operations performed by the various functional units of the communication device 500, for example, reference may be made to the operations performed by the first network device in the embodiment of the information transmission method provided in this application, such as Figure 2-Figure 4Relevant content in the illustrated embodiment.

[0170] In another implementation of the present application, the above-mentioned sending unit 501 and receiving unit 502 can be combined into one transceiver unit. It can be understood that the transceiver unit can be composed of multiple transceiver units for communicating with different network devices, for example, including a transceiver unit for communicating with a terminal, a transceiver unit for communicating with other access network devices, and a transceiver unit for communicating with a core network device. These transceiver units can be provided separately or integrated into one unit, and this application does not specifically limit this. For example, the transceiver unit for communicating with the terminal can be implemented by a transceiver and an antenna, and the transceiver unit for communicating with other access network devices or core network devices can be implemented by different communication interfaces.

[0171] In another implementation of the present application, in terms of hardware implementation, the functions of the processing unit 503 can be performed by one or more processors, and the functions of the sending unit 501 and the receiving unit 502 can be performed by a transceiver (transmitter / receiver) and / or a communication interface, wherein the processing unit 503 can be embedded in or independent of the processor of the network device in the form of hardware, or can be stored in the memory of the network device in the form of software, so that the processor can call and execute the operations corresponding to the above functional units.

[0172] Figure 6 FIG2 shows a schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device 600 provided in the present application. The communication device 600 can be used to implement the information transmission method described in the above method embodiment. The communication device 600 can be a chip, a network device, etc.

[0173] The communication device 600 includes one or more processors 601, which can support the communication device 600 to implement the information transmission method described in the embodiment of the present application, such as executing Figure 2-Figure 4 In the embodiment shown, the method is performed by the first network device / the second network device; or performing, for example Figure 2-Figure 4 The method in the illustrated embodiment is executed by a terminal or UE.

[0174] The processor 601 may be a general-purpose processor or a dedicated processor. For example, the processor 601 may include a central processing unit (CPU) and / or a baseband processor. The baseband processor may be used to process communication data (e.g., the first message described above), and the CPU may be used to implement corresponding control and processing functions, execute software programs, and process data in the software programs.

[0175] Furthermore, the communication device 600 may further include a transceiver unit 604 for implementing signal input (reception) and output (transmission).

[0176] For example, the communication device 600 may be a chip, the transceiver unit 604 may be an input and / or output circuit of the chip, or the transceiver unit 604 may be an interface circuit of the chip, and the chip may be a component of a base station or other wireless communication device.

[0177] For another example, the communication device 600 may be a base station, or a part of a base station such as a CU or DU. The transceiver unit 604 may include a transceiver or a radio frequency chip. The transceiver unit 604 may also include a communication interface.

[0178] Optionally, the communication device 600 may further include an antenna 605 , which may be used to support the transceiver unit 604 to implement the transceiver function of the communication device 600 .

[0179] Optionally, the communication device 600 may include one or more memories 602 on which a program (which may also be an instruction or code) 603 is stored. The program 603 can be executed by the processor 601, so that the processor 601 performs the method described in the above method embodiment. Optionally, data may also be stored in the memory 602. Optionally, the processor 601 may also read data (e.g., predefined information) stored in the memory 602. The data may be stored at the same storage address as the program 603, or the data may be stored at a different storage address from the program 603.

[0180] The processor 601 and the memory 602 may be provided separately or integrated together, for example, integrated on a single board or a system on chip (SOC).

[0181] For detailed description of the operations performed by the communication device 600 in the above various possible designs, reference may be made to the behavior of the terminal or network device in the embodiment of the time synchronization method provided in this application, for example Figure 2-Figure 4 The relevant contents in the illustrated embodiment are not described in detail.

[0182] It should be understood that each step of the above method embodiment can be completed by hardware-based logic circuits or software-based instructions in the processor 601. The processor 601 can be a CPU, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), or other programmable logic devices, such as discrete gates, transistor logic devices, or discrete hardware components.

[0183] The present application also provides a computer program product that, when executed by processor 601, implements the information transmission method described in any method embodiment of the present application. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When the computer program instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, the process or function described in the embodiment of the present application is generated in whole or in part. The computer can be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable device. The computer instructions can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium. For example, the computer instructions can be transmitted from a website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center via a wired (e.g., coaxial cable, optical fiber, digital subscriber line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) method. The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that a computer can access or a data storage device such as a server or data center that includes one or more available media integrations.

[0184] The computer program product may be stored in the memory 602 , for example, a program 603 , which is converted into an executable target file that can be executed by the processor 601 after undergoing processes such as preprocessing, compilation, assembly, and linking.

[0185] The present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon, which, when executed by a computer, implements the information transmission method described in any method embodiment of the present application. The computer program can be a high-level language program or an executable target program.

[0186] The computer-readable storage medium is, for example, memory 602. Memory 602 may be a volatile memory or a non-volatile memory, or may include both volatile and non-volatile memory. The non-volatile memory may be a read-only memory (ROM), a programmable read-only memory (PROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), or a flash memory. The volatile memory may be a random access memory (RAM), which is used as an external cache. By way of example and not limitation, many forms of RAM are available, such as static RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory (DDR SDRAM), enhanced synchronous dynamic random access memory (ESDRAM), synchronous link dynamic random access memory (SLDRAM), and direct rambus RAM (DR RAM).

[0187] When the communication device 600 is a base station, Figure 7 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of a base station provided in an embodiment of the present application. Figure 7 As shown, the base station can be applied to Figure 1 In the illustrated system, the functions of the first network device or the second network device in the above-described method embodiment are performed. A base station 700 may include one or more DUs 701 and one or more CUs 702. The DU 701 may include at least one antenna 7011, at least one radio frequency unit 7012, at least one processor 7013, and at least one memory 707. The DU 701 is primarily used for transmitting and receiving radio frequency signals, converting radio frequency signals into baseband signals, and performing partial baseband processing. The CU 702 may include at least one processor 7022 and at least one memory 7021. The CU 702 and the DU 701 may communicate via an interface, wherein the control plane interface may be an Fs-C, such as F1-C, and the user plane interface may be an Fs-U, such as F1-U.

[0188] The CU 702 is primarily responsible for baseband processing and base station control. The DU 701 and CU 702 can be physically located together or separately, i.e., in a distributed base station. The CU 702 is the control center of the base station, also known as a processing unit, and is primarily responsible for performing baseband processing functions. For example, the CU 702 can be used to control the base station to execute the network device operation procedures described in the above method embodiments.

[0189] In addition, optionally, the base station 700 may include one or more radio frequency units (RUs), one or more DUs, and one or more CUs. The DU may include at least one processor 7013 and at least one memory 707, the RU may include at least one antenna 7011 and at least one radio frequency unit 7012, and the CU may include at least one processor 7022 and at least one memory 7021. The DU or CU may be composed of one or more boards, respectively.

[0190] Among them, DU and CU can execute together Figure 5 The processing unit 503 in the communication device 500 shown or Figure 6 Functions of the processor 601 in the communication device 600 shown; the RU can perform Figure 5 The transmitting unit 501 and the receiving unit 502 in the communication device 600 shown in FIG. Figure 6 The functions of the transceiver unit 605 in the communication device 600 are not described in detail.

[0191] When the communication device 600 is a terminal, Figure 8 The terminal 800 is applicable to Figure 1 In the system shown, the functions of the terminal in the above method embodiment are realized. For the convenience of explanation, Figure 8 Only the main components of the terminal are shown.

[0192] like Figure 8 As shown, the terminal 800 includes a processor, a memory, a control circuit, an antenna, and input and output devices.

[0193] In this application, the antenna and control circuit with transceiver functions can be regarded as the transceiver unit 801 of the terminal 800, which is used to support the receiving function in the embodiment of the terminal implementation method, or to support the sending function in the embodiment of the terminal implementation method. The processor with processing function is regarded as the processing unit 802 of the terminal 800. Figure 8As shown, terminal 800 includes a transceiver unit 801 and a processing unit 802. The transceiver unit may also be referred to as a transceiver, transceiver, transceiver device, etc. Optionally, the device in transceiver unit 801 that implements the receiving function may be considered a receiving unit, and the device in transceiver unit 801 that implements the transmitting function may be considered a transmitting unit. That is, transceiver unit 801 includes a receiving unit and a transmitting unit. The receiving unit may also be referred to as a receiver, input port, receiving circuit, etc., and the transmitting unit may be referred to as a transmitter, transmitter, or transmitting circuit, etc.

[0194] The processor 802 may be configured to execute a program stored in the memory to control the transceiver unit 801 to receive and / or transmit signals, thereby completing the functions of the terminal in the above method embodiment. As an implementation, the functions of the transceiver unit 801 may be implemented using a transceiver circuit or a dedicated transceiver chip.

[0195] The present application also provides a communication system, comprising a first network device and a second network device, wherein the first network device can be used to perform Figure 2-Figure 4 In the embodiment shown, the first network device performs the operation, and the second network device can be used to perform Figure 2-Figure 4 The operations performed by the second network device in the illustrated embodiment. The communication system may further include a terminal.

[0196] Those skilled in the art can clearly understand that the descriptions of the various embodiments provided in the present application can refer to each other. For the convenience and conciseness of the description, for example, the functions of the various devices and equipment provided in the embodiments of the present application and the execution steps can refer to the relevant descriptions of the method embodiments of the present application. The various method embodiments and the various device embodiments can also refer to, be combined or quoted with each other.

[0197] In the several embodiments provided in this application, the disclosed systems, devices and methods can be implemented in other ways. For example, some features of the method embodiments described above can be ignored or not executed. The device embodiments described above are merely schematic, and the division of units is only a logical function division. There may be other division methods in actual implementation, and multiple units or components may be combined or integrated into another system. In addition, the coupling between the units or the coupling between the components may be direct coupling or indirect coupling, and the above coupling includes electrical, mechanical or other forms of connection.

[0198] It should be understood that in various embodiments of the present application, the size of the sequence number of each process does not mean the order of execution, and the order of execution of each process should be determined by its function and internal logic, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiment of the present application. In addition, in the embodiment of the present application, the terminal and / or network device can perform some or all of the steps in the embodiment of the present application, and these steps or operations are only examples. The embodiment of the present application can also perform other operations or variations of various operations. In addition, the various steps can be performed in the different orders presented in the embodiment of the present application, and it is possible that not all operations in the embodiment of the present application need to be performed.

Claims

1. An information transmission method, characterized in that: For a communication network including a first network device and a second network device, the first network device supports one or more first slices, the second network device supports one or more second slices, the one or more first slices correspond to at least one first handover trigger threshold, and the one or more second slices correspond to at least one second handover trigger threshold, the method comprising: The first network device sends a first message to the second network device, where the first message includes an identifier of at least one second slice and a suggested change value of a second handover trigger threshold corresponding to at least one second slice, and / or the first message includes an identifier of at least one first slice and a suggested change value of a first handover trigger threshold corresponding to at least one first slice; The first network device receives a response message to the first message from the second network device, where the response message includes an identifier of at least one first slice and / or an identifier of at least one second slice; Among them, the first switching trigger threshold is used by the first network device to determine the terminal to switch to use the first slice; the second switching trigger threshold is used by the second network device to determine the terminal to switch to use the second slice.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that When the first message includes the identifier of the first slice, the first message also includes the identifier of the cell to which the first slice belongs; and / or, When the first message includes the identifier of the second slice, the first message also includes the identifier of the cell to which the second slice belongs.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that Each first slice corresponds to one or more first switching trigger thresholds.

4. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that Each second slice corresponds to one or more second switching trigger thresholds.

5. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that The method further comprises: The first network device sends a switching request message to the second network device, where the switching request message includes an identifier of a first slice corresponding to a first switching trigger threshold based on which the terminal is switched from the cell of the first network device to the cell of the second network device.

6. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that The first network device supports two or more first slices, and the two or more first slices respectively belong to at least one first slice group, and each first slice group corresponds to one first switching trigger threshold.

7. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that The second network device supports two or more second slices, and the two or more second slices respectively belong to at least one second slice group, and each second slice group corresponds to a second switching trigger threshold.

8. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that The first message also indicates a priority of at least one of the first slices.

9. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that The first message also indicates a priority of at least one of the second slices.

10. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that The first message also includes the moving speed of the terminal to which the first handover triggering threshold is applicable.

11. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that The first message also includes the moving speed of the terminal to which the second handover triggering threshold is applicable.

12. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that The response message further includes at least one change value of the first handover triggering threshold and / or at least one change value of the second handover triggering threshold.

13. The method according to claim 12, characterized in that The response message also includes at least one change range of the second handover triggering threshold.

14. An information transmission method, characterized in that: For a communication network including a first network device and a second network device, the first network device supports one or more first slices, the second network device supports one or more second slices, the one or more first slices correspond to at least one first handover trigger threshold, and the one or more second slices correspond to at least one second handover trigger threshold, the method comprising: The second network device receives a first message from the first network device, where the first message includes an identifier of at least one second slice and a suggested change value of a second handover trigger threshold corresponding to at least one second slice, and / or the first message includes an identifier of at least one first slice and a suggested change value of a first handover trigger threshold corresponding to at least one first slice; The second network device sends a response message to the first message to the first network device, where the response message includes an identifier of at least one first slice and / or an identifier of at least one second slice; Among them, the first switching trigger threshold is used by the first network device to determine the terminal to switch to use the first slice; the second switching trigger threshold is used by the second network device to determine the terminal to switch to use the second slice.

15. The method according to claim 14, characterized in that When the first message includes the identifier of the first slice, the first message also includes the identifier of the cell to which the first slice belongs; and / or, When the first message includes the identifier of the second slice, the first message also includes the identifier of the cell to which the second slice belongs.

16. The method according to claim 14 or 15, characterized in that Each first slice corresponds to one or more first switching trigger thresholds.

17. The method according to claim 14 or 15, characterized in that Each second slice corresponds to one or more second switching trigger thresholds.

18. The method according to claim 14 or 15, characterized in that The method further comprises: The second network device receives a switching request message from the first network device, where the switching request message includes an identifier of a first slice corresponding to a first switching trigger threshold based on which the terminal is switched from the cell of the first network device to the cell of the second network device.

19. The method according to claim 14 or 15, characterized in that The first network device supports two or more first slices, and the two or more first slices respectively belong to at least one first slice group, and each first slice group corresponds to one first switching trigger threshold.

20. The method according to claim 14 or 15, characterized in that The second network device supports two or more second slices, and the two or more second slices respectively belong to at least one second slice group, and each second slice group corresponds to a second switching trigger threshold.

21. The method according to claim 14 or 15, characterized in that The first message also indicates a priority of at least one of the first slices.

22. The method according to claim 14 or 15, characterized in that The first message also indicates a priority of at least one of the second slices.

23. The method according to claim 14 or 15, characterized in that The first message further indicates the moving speed of the terminal to which the first handover triggering threshold is applicable.

24. The method according to claim 14 or 15, characterized in that The first message further indicates the moving speed of the terminal to which the second handover triggering threshold is applicable.

25. The method according to claim 14 or 15, characterized in that The response message further includes at least one change value of the first handover triggering threshold and / or at least one change value of the second handover triggering threshold.

26. The method according to claim 25, characterized in that The response message also includes at least one change range of the second handover triggering threshold.

27. A communication device, characterized in that: The method comprises a unit for executing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 13.

28. A communication device, characterized in that: The method comprises a unit for executing the method according to any one of claims 14 to 26.

29. A communication device, characterized in that: The device comprises at least one processor, wherein the processor is configured to execute instructions stored in a memory, so that the communication device executes the method according to any one of claims 1 to 13.

30. A communication device, characterized in that: The device comprises at least one processor, wherein the processor is configured to execute instructions stored in a memory, so that the communication device executes the method according to any one of claims 14 to 26.

31. A computer storage medium, characterized in that The computer-readable storage medium stores instructions, and when the instructions are executed on a computer, the computer is caused to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 26.

32. A computer program product comprising instructions, characterized in that When the instructions are executed on a computer, the computer is caused to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 26.

33. A communication system, characterized in that: The method comprises a first network device and a second network device, wherein the first network device is used to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 13, and the second network device is used to execute the method according to any one of claims 14 to 26.

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