A cell reselection method and a communication device

Abstract

This application discloses a cell reselection method and communication device. In the cell reselection process, the terminal device can obtain the SDT (Signal Deployment Technology) capability information of the serving cell and the SDT capability information of neighboring cells, and perform cell reselection based on the SDT capability information of the serving cell, the SDT capability information of the neighboring cells, and the signal quality of the serving cell. Since the terminal device considers the SDT capability information of the serving cell during the cell reselection process, it is beneficial for the terminal device to select a more suitable target cell for reselection based on the SDT capability information of the serving cell. This, in turn, helps to save power consumption of the terminal device while ensuring that the SDT process of the terminal device is not affected.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application relates to the field of communications, and more particularly to a cell reselection method and a communication device. Background Technology

[0002] Prior to Release 16 (R16) of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), inactive terminal devices were not supported for data transmission. Furthermore, inactive terminal devices needed to enter a connected state before data transmission could occur. Since most, or even all, of the terminal device's modules were active once it entered the connected state, even small amounts of data transmission could lead to unnecessary power consumption and signaling overhead.

[0003] To address this, 3GPP Release 17 defined the Small Data Transmission (SDT) mechanism. This mechanism allows terminal devices to complete data transmission in an inactive state without entering the connected state when only a small amount of uplink data needs to be sent. Since fewer functional modules are activated when transmitting data in the inactive state compared to the connected state, and the terminal device can quickly return to the idle state after completing data transmission in the inactive state, the SDT mechanism can save power consumption and signaling overhead. Therefore, the SDT mechanism has become a hot research topic in the current communications field.

[0004] However, current standards stipulate that terminal devices undergoing cell reselection during SDT (Single Cell Deselection) must return to the idle state. Firstly, the terminal device's transition from an inactive state to the idle state affects the SDT process. Secondly, if the terminal device reselects to a cell that does not support SDT, it will also affect the SDT process. Therefore, the current reselection mechanism requires further discussion. Summary of the Invention

[0005] This application provides a cell reselection method and a communication device for saving power consumption of terminal equipment while ensuring that the SDT process of the terminal equipment is not affected.

[0006] Firstly, this application provides a cell reselection method applied to a terminal device that supports SDT (Signal Distribution Technology) in an inactive state. In this method, the terminal device can receive small packet transmission SDT capability information from a serving cell and obtain SDT capability information from neighboring cells of the serving cell. The SDT capability information of the serving cell indicates whether the serving cell supports SDT execution by the terminal device in an inactive state, and the SDT capability information of the neighboring cells indicates at least one first neighboring cell, which is a neighboring cell of the serving cell that supports SDT execution by the terminal device in an inactive state. Then, when the SDT capability information of the serving cell indicates that the serving cell supports SDT execution by the terminal device in an inactive state, the terminal device can determine a candidate cell list based on the signal quality of the serving cell and the SDT capability information of the neighboring cells. Furthermore, the terminal device determines the target cell for reselection based on the candidate cell list, where the target cell is a cell in the candidate cell list.

[0007] In this application, the terminal device can obtain the SDT (Signal Deployment Technology) capability information of the serving cell and the SDT capability information of neighboring cells, and perform cell reselection based on the SDT capability information of the serving cell, the SDT capability information of neighboring cells, and the signal quality of the serving cell. Since the terminal device considers the SDT capability information of the serving cell during the cell reselection process, it is beneficial for the terminal device to select a more suitable target cell for reselection based on the SDT capability information of the serving cell. This, in turn, helps to save power consumption of the terminal device while ensuring that the SDT process of the terminal device is not affected.

[0008] In one possible implementation, the candidate cell list includes a first candidate cell list. The terminal device determines the candidate cell list based on the signal quality of the serving cell and the SDT capability information of the neighboring cells, including:

[0009] When the signal quality of the serving cell is less than or equal to a preset first threshold, the terminal device determines a first candidate cell list, which includes at least one first neighbor cell and / or at least one second neighbor cell; wherein the second neighbor cell is a neighbor cell of the serving cell that does not support the terminal device performing SDT in the inactive state.

[0010] In one possible implementation, the terminal device determines the target cell for reselection based on the candidate cell list, including:

[0011] When the first candidate cell list contains at least one of the first neighboring cells, the terminal device determines a first cell based on the at least one first neighboring cell, and the first cell is a cell among the at least one first neighboring cells; or, when the first candidate cell list does not contain a first neighboring cell, the terminal device determines a second cell based on the at least one second neighboring cell, and the second cell is a cell among the at least one second neighboring cell.

[0012] In this embodiment, if the signal quality of the serving cell is less than or equal to a first threshold, and a first neighboring cell exists, the terminal device will preferentially select the target cell for reselection from the first neighboring cell; if no first neighboring cell exists, the terminal device will perform a reselection evaluation based on traditional reselection evaluation rules.

[0013] Since the serving cell where the terminal device is located supports SDT but the signal quality of the serving cell is not good enough (i.e., the signal quality of the serving cell is less than or equal to the first threshold), the terminal device can prioritize selecting the target cell for reselection from the first neighboring cell. In other words, when selecting a cell with better signal quality, the terminal device can prioritize determining the first neighboring cell as the target cell for reselection. Therefore, this is beneficial for the terminal device to still be able to perform SDT after reselecting to the first neighboring cell.

[0014] In one possible implementation, the candidate cell list includes a second candidate cell list. The terminal device determines the candidate cell list based on the signal quality of the serving cell and the SDT capability information of the neighboring cells, including:

[0015] When the signal quality of the serving cell is greater than the first threshold and the terminal device is not in the SDT process, the terminal device determines a second candidate cell list, which includes only the at least one first neighboring cell.

[0016] In this embodiment, since the serving cell where the terminal device is located supports SDT and the signal quality of the serving cell is good enough (i.e., the signal quality of the serving cell is greater than the first threshold), if the terminal device is not in SDT service, it can select a more suitable first neighboring cell (e.g., a first neighboring cell with signal quality greater than the first threshold). Because the terminal device is not in the SDT process, it will not affect the terminal device's execution of SDT. Furthermore, since the terminal device only selects the target cell for reselection within the first neighboring cell, it can be guaranteed that the terminal device can still execute SDT after reselecting to the first neighboring cell.

[0017] In one possible implementation, the method further includes: when the signal quality of the serving cell is greater than a first threshold and the terminal device is in the SDT process, the terminal device suspends the reselection evaluation process.

[0018] For example, if the signal quality of the serving cell is greater than threshold 2, the terminal device suspends the reselection evaluation; or, if the signal quality of the serving cell is less than or equal to threshold 2, the terminal device preferentially determines the target cell for reselection from the first neighboring cells.

[0019] Because the terminal device can prioritize selecting the target cell for reselection from the first neighboring cell—meaning that during the selection process of a cell with better signal quality, the terminal device can prioritize determining the first neighboring cell as the target cell for reselection—it is advantageous for the terminal device to still be able to perform SDT (Self-Selective Technology) after reselecting to the first neighboring cell.

[0020] In one possible implementation, before the terminal device determines the candidate cell list based on the signal quality of the serving cell and the SDT capability information of the neighboring cells, the method further includes:

[0021] The terminal device determines whether to initiate frequency point measurement based on the signal quality of the serving cell and a second threshold. The second threshold is greater than the starting threshold for co-frequency neighboring cells and is also greater than the starting threshold for non-co-frequency neighboring cells.

[0022] For example, the terminal device determines whether to initiate high-priority frequency point measurement based on the signal quality of the serving cell and a second threshold.

[0023] In one possible implementation, the terminal device determines whether to initiate frequency point measurement based on the signal quality of the serving cell and a second threshold, including:

[0024] When the signal quality of the serving cell is greater than the second threshold, the terminal device suppresses the initiation of frequency point measurement. For example, when the signal quality of the serving cell is greater than the second threshold, the terminal device suppresses the initiation of high-priority frequency point measurement.

[0025] or,

[0026] When the signal quality of the serving cell is less than or equal to the second threshold, the terminal device initiates frequency point measurement. For example, when the signal quality of the serving cell is less than or equal to the second threshold, the terminal device initiates high-priority frequency point measurement.

[0027] In this embodiment, before initiating frequency point measurement (e.g., before initiating high-priority frequency point measurement), the terminal device can consider whether the serving cell supports SDT. When the serving cell supports SDT, the terminal device will also determine whether to initiate frequency point measurement (e.g., initiate high-priority frequency point measurement) based on the signal quality of the serving cell, rather than unconditionally initiating high-priority frequency point measurement. Therefore, it is beneficial for the terminal device to suppress frequency point measurement under certain conditions of the serving cell's signal quality, thereby delaying or suppressing cell reselection and helping the terminal device stay in the serving cell, avoiding the impact of cell reselection on the terminal device's SDT execution.

[0028] In one possible implementation, the terminal device can obtain the SDT capability information of neighboring cells of the serving cell using any of the following methods:

[0029] In one approach, the terminal device receives a system broadcast message from the serving cell, which includes SDT capability information of neighboring cells.

[0030] In this embodiment, the terminal device can obtain the SDT capability information of neighboring cells by parsing the system broadcast message of the serving cell, and then determine the neighboring cells that can support SDT (i.e., the first neighboring cell). Compared with the conventional technology in which the terminal device obtains information indicating whether a neighboring cell supports SDT through the SIB of the neighboring cell, the solution in this embodiment is beneficial to saving the signaling overhead caused by the terminal device receiving messages from the neighboring cell, and to improving the efficiency of the terminal device in obtaining the SDT capability information of the neighboring cell.

[0031] Optionally, the system broadcast message includes a System Information Block (SIB), in which the small packet transmission SDT capability information of the neighboring cell is located.

[0032] For example, in a 5G communication system, the serving cell is a 5G NR cell. The system information block (SIB) includes at least one of system information block SIB3, system information block SIB4, or system information block SIB5.

[0033] SIB3 is used to carry SDT capability information of co-frequency neighboring cells, SIB4 is used to carry SDT capability information of inter-frequency neighboring cells, and SIB5 is used to carry SDT capability information of inter-system neighboring cells.

[0034] For example, in an LTE system, the serving cell is an LTE cell. The system information block (SIB) includes at least one of system information block SIB4, system information block SIB5, or system information block SIB24.

[0035] SIB4 is used to carry SDT capability information of co-frequency neighboring cells, SIB5 is used to carry SDT capability information of inter-frequency neighboring cells, and SIB24 is used to carry SDT capability information of inter-system neighboring cells.

[0036] In another approach, the terminal device moves to a neighboring cell and obtains the neighboring cell's SDT capability information from the neighboring cell's system broadcast message.

[0037] Optionally, the system broadcast message includes a system information block (SIB1), in which the small packet transmission SDT capability information of the neighboring cell is located. The terminal device obtains the neighboring cell's SDT capability information from the neighboring cell's SIB1.

[0038] In one possible implementation, the SDT capability information of the neighboring cell includes a cell identifier, which is used to indicate at least one cell that supports the terminal device in performing SDT in the inactive state.

[0039] Optionally, the cell identifier can be the physical cell identifier of the first neighboring cell.

[0040] In one possible implementation, the SDT capability information of the neighboring cell also includes the duration of the reselection evaluation timer of the first neighboring cell, wherein the duration of the reselection evaluation timer of the first neighboring cell is less than the duration of the frequency-level reselection evaluation timer of the frequency point where the first neighboring cell is located.

[0041] In this embodiment, because the duration of the reselection evaluation timer for the newly added first neighboring cell is shorter than the duration of the frequency-level reselection evaluation timer for the frequency point where the first neighboring cell is located, the reselection evaluation timer for the first neighboring cell is more prone to timeout compared to the frequency-level reselection evaluation timer in the traditional technology. This is beneficial for the terminal device to prioritize the first neighboring cell as the target cell for reselection.

[0042] Secondly, this application provides a cell reselection method. In this method, a terminal device receives small packet transmission SDT capability information from neighboring cells via a system broadcast message of the serving cell. Then, the terminal device performs cell reselection based on the neighboring cell's SDT capability information. The neighboring cell's SDT capability information is used to indicate a first neighboring cell, which is a neighboring cell that supports SDT execution in the inactive state.

[0043] In this embodiment, the terminal device can obtain the SDT capability information of neighboring cells by parsing the system broadcast message of the serving cell, and then determine the neighboring cells that can support SDT (i.e., the first neighboring cell). Compared with the conventional technology in which the terminal device obtains information indicating whether a neighboring cell supports SDT through the SIB of the neighboring cell, the solution of this embodiment is beneficial to saving the signaling overhead caused by the terminal device receiving messages from the neighboring cell, and to improving the efficiency of the terminal device in obtaining the SDT capability information of the neighboring cell.

[0044] In one possible implementation, the terminal device performs cell reselection based on the SDT capability information of neighboring cells, including:

[0045] The terminal device performs cell reselection based on the SDT capability information of neighboring cells and the SDT capability information of the serving cell.

[0046] In one possible implementation, the system broadcast message includes a System Information Block (SIB), and the Small Packet Transmission Technology (SDT) capability information of the neighboring cell is located in the SIB.

[0047] In one possible implementation, in a 5G communication system, the serving cell is a 5G NR cell. The System Information Block (SIB) includes at least one of System Information Block (SIB3), System Information Block (SIB4), or System Information Block (SIB5). Specifically, SIB3 carries SDT (Signal Deployment Technology) capability information for co-frequency neighboring cells, SIB4 carries SDT capability information for inter-frequency neighboring cells, and SIB5 carries SDT capability information for inter-system neighboring cells.

[0048] In one possible implementation, in the LTE system, the serving cell is an LTE cell. The System Information Block (SIB) includes at least one of System Information Block (SIB4), System Information Block (SIB5), or System Information Block (SIB24). Specifically, SIB4 carries SDT (Support Data Transmission) capability information for co-frequency neighboring cells, SIB5 carries SDT capability information for inter-frequency neighboring cells, and SIB24 carries SDT capability information for inter-system neighboring cells.

[0049] In one possible implementation, the SDT information of the neighboring cell includes the cell identifier of at least one first neighboring cell.

[0050] Optionally, the cell identifier of the first neighboring cell can be the physical cell identifier of the first neighboring cell.

[0051] In one possible implementation, the SDT information of the neighboring cell further includes the duration of the reselection evaluation timer of the first neighboring cell, wherein the duration of the reselection evaluation timer of the first neighboring cell is less than the duration of the frequency-level reselection evaluation timer of the frequency point where the first neighboring cell is located.

[0052] In this embodiment, because the duration of the reselection evaluation timer for the newly added first neighboring cell is shorter than the duration of the frequency-level reselection evaluation timer for the frequency point where the first neighboring cell is located, the reselection evaluation timer for the first neighboring cell is more prone to timeout compared to the frequency-level reselection evaluation timer in the traditional technology. This is beneficial for the terminal device to prioritize the first neighboring cell as the target cell for reselection.

[0053] Thirdly, this application provides a communication device, which is a terminal device that supports SDT (Signal Distribution Technology) in an inactive state. The terminal device includes a transceiver module and a processing module. The transceiver module is configured to receive small packet transmission SDT capability information from a serving cell, and to obtain SDT capability information from neighboring cells of the serving cell. The SDT capability information of the serving cell indicates whether the serving cell supports SDT execution by the terminal device in an inactive state, and the SDT capability information of the neighboring cells indicates at least one first neighboring cell, which is a neighboring cell of the serving cell that supports SDT execution by the terminal device in an inactive state. The processing module is configured to, when the SDT capability information of the serving cell indicates that the serving cell supports SDT execution by the terminal device in an inactive state, determine a candidate cell list based on the signal quality of the serving cell and the SDT capability information of the neighboring cells. The candidate cell list includes at least one neighboring cell. The processing module is further configured to determine a target cell for reselection based on the candidate cell list. The target cell is a cell in the candidate cell list.

[0054] In one possible implementation, the candidate cell list includes a first candidate cell list. Specifically, the processing module determines the first candidate cell list when the signal quality of the serving cell is less than or equal to a preset first threshold. The first candidate cell list includes at least one first neighboring cell and / or at least one second neighboring cell, where the second neighboring cell is a neighboring cell of the serving cell that does not support the terminal device performing SDT in an inactive state.

[0055] In one possible implementation, the processing module is specifically used for:

[0056] When the first candidate cell list contains at least one first neighboring cell, a first cell is determined based on the at least one first neighboring cell, and the first cell is a cell among the at least one first neighboring cell; or, when the first candidate cell list does not contain a first neighboring cell, a second cell is determined based on the at least one second neighboring cell, and the second cell is a cell among the at least one second neighboring cell.

[0057] In one possible implementation, the candidate cell list includes a second candidate cell list. Specifically, the processing module determines the second candidate cell list when the signal quality of the serving cell is greater than a first threshold and the terminal device is not in the SDT process. The second candidate cell list includes only the at least one first neighboring cell.

[0058] In one possible implementation, the processing module is further configured to pause the reselection evaluation process when the signal quality of the serving cell is greater than a first threshold and during the SDT process.

[0059] In one possible implementation, the processing module is further configured to determine whether to initiate frequency point measurement based on the signal quality of the serving cell and a second threshold, the second threshold being greater than the initiation threshold for co-frequency neighboring cells and greater than the initiation threshold for non-co-frequency neighboring cells.

[0060] In one possible implementation, the processing module is specifically used for:

[0061] Frequency measurement is suppressed when the signal quality of the serving cell is greater than the second threshold; or frequency measurement is initiated when the signal quality of the serving cell is less than or equal to the second threshold.

[0062] In one possible implementation, the transceiver module is specifically configured to receive system broadcast messages from the serving cell, which include SDT capability information of neighboring cells.

[0063] In one possible implementation, the system broadcast message includes a System Information Block (SIB) containing small packet transmission SDT (Small Packet Transmission Technology) capability information for the neighboring cell.

[0064] In one possible implementation, the system information block (SIB) includes at least one of system information block SIB3, system information block SIB4, or system information block SIB5; wherein, SIB3 is used to carry SDT capability information of co-frequency neighboring cells, SIB4 is used to carry SDT capability information of inter-frequency neighboring cells, and SIB5 is used to carry SDT capability information of inter-system neighboring cells.

[0065] In one possible implementation, the system information block (SIB) includes at least one of system information block SIB4, system information block SIB5, or system information block SIB24; wherein, SIB4 is used to carry SDT capability information of co-frequency neighboring cells, SIB5 is used to carry SDT capability information of inter-frequency neighboring cells, and SIB24 is used to carry SDT capability information of inter-system neighboring cells.

[0066] In one possible implementation, the SDT capability information of the neighboring cell includes a cell identifier, which is used to indicate at least one cell that supports the terminal device in performing SDT in the inactive state.

[0067] In one possible implementation, the SDT capability information of the neighboring cell also includes the duration of the reselection evaluation timer of the first neighboring cell, wherein the duration of the reselection evaluation timer of the first neighboring cell is less than the duration of the frequency-level reselection evaluation timer of the frequency point where the first neighboring cell is located.

[0068] It should be noted that the specific implementation methods and beneficial effects of this aspect are similar to some of the implementation methods in the first aspect above. For details, please refer to the specific implementation methods and beneficial effects of the first aspect, which will not be repeated here.

[0069] Fourthly, this application provides a terminal device including a transceiver module and a processing module. The transceiver module is used to receive small packet transmission SDT capability information from neighboring cells via a system broadcast message of the serving cell. This SDT capability information of the neighboring cells is used to indicate a first neighboring cell, which is a neighboring cell that supports SDT execution in the inactive state. The processing module is used to perform cell reselection based on the SDT capability information of the neighboring cells.

[0070] In one possible implementation, the processing module is specifically used to perform cell reselection based on the SDT capability information of the neighboring cell and the SDT capability information of the serving cell.

[0071] In one possible implementation, the system broadcast message includes a System Information Block (SIB) containing small packet transmission SDT (Small Packet Transmission Technology) capability information for the neighboring cell.

[0072] In one possible implementation, the system information block (SIB) includes at least one of system information block SIB3, system information block SIB4, or system information block SIB5; wherein, SIB3 is used to carry SDT capability information of co-frequency neighboring cells, SIB4 is used to carry SDT capability information of inter-frequency neighboring cells, and SIB5 is used to carry SDT capability information of inter-system neighboring cells.

[0073] In one possible implementation, the system information block (SIB) includes at least one of system information block SIB4, system information block SIB5, or system information block SIB24; wherein, SIB4 is used to carry SDT capability information of co-frequency neighboring cells, SIB5 is used to carry SDT capability information of inter-frequency neighboring cells, and SIB24 is used to carry SDT capability information of inter-system neighboring cells.

[0074] In one possible implementation, the SDT information of the neighboring cell includes at least one cell identifier of the first neighboring cell.

[0075] In one possible implementation, the SDT information of the neighboring cell also includes the duration of the reselection evaluation timer of the first neighboring cell, wherein the duration of the reselection evaluation timer of the first neighboring cell is less than the duration of the frequency-level reselection evaluation timer of the frequency point where the first neighboring cell is located.

[0076] It should be noted that the specific implementation methods and beneficial effects of this aspect are similar to some of the implementation methods in the second aspect above. For details, please refer to the specific implementation methods and beneficial effects of the second aspect, which will not be repeated here.

[0077] Fifthly, this application provides a communication device, which can be a terminal device as described in the foregoing embodiments, or a chip within a terminal device. The communication device may include a processing module and a transceiver module. When the communication device is a terminal device, the processing module may be a processor, and the transceiver module may be a transceiver; the terminal device may also include a storage module, which may be a memory; the storage module is used to store instructions, and the processing module executes the instructions stored in the storage module to cause the terminal device to perform the methods described in any of the foregoing embodiments. When the communication device is a chip within a terminal device, the processing module may be a processor, and the transceiver module may be an input / output interface, pin, or circuit, etc.; the processing module executes the instructions stored in the storage module to cause the terminal device to perform the methods described in any of the foregoing embodiments. The storage module may be an on-chip storage module (e.g., a register, cache, etc.), or an external storage module within the terminal device (e.g., a read-only memory, random access memory, etc.).

[0078] Sixthly, this application provides a communication device, which may be an integrated circuit chip. The integrated circuit chip includes a processor. The processor is coupled to a memory for storing programs or instructions, which, when executed by the processor, cause the communication device to perform the methods described in any of the embodiments of the foregoing aspects.

[0079] In a seventh aspect, this application provides a computer program product containing instructions that, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the methods described in any of the embodiments in the foregoing aspects.

[0080] Eighthly, this application provides a computer-readable storage medium including instructions that, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform the methods described in any of the preceding embodiments.

[0081] As can be seen from the above technical solutions, the embodiments of this application have the following advantages:

[0082] In this application, the terminal device can obtain the SDT (Signal Deployment Technology) capability information of the serving cell and the SDT capability information of neighboring cells, and perform cell reselection based on the SDT capability information of the serving cell, the SDT capability information of neighboring cells, and the signal quality of the serving cell. Since the terminal device considers the SDT capability information of the serving cell during the cell reselection process, it is beneficial for the terminal device to select a more suitable target cell for reselection based on the SDT capability information of the serving cell. This, in turn, helps to save power consumption of the terminal device while ensuring that the SDT process of the terminal device is not affected. Attached Figure Description

[0083] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of this application, the accompanying drawings used in the description of the embodiments will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the accompanying drawings described below are only some embodiments of this application.

[0084] Figure 1A A system architecture diagram applicable to the cell reselection method of this application;

[0085] Figure 1B A schematic diagram of the cell reselection process;

[0086] Figure 2 This is a flowchart of the cell reselection method in this application;

[0087] Figure 3A This is an example diagram of the cell measurement phase in the cell reselection method of this application;

[0088] Figure 3B This is another example diagram of the cell measurement phase in the cell reselection method of this application;

[0089] Figure 4A This is an example diagram of the reselection evaluation stage in the cell reselection method of this application;

[0090] Figure 4B This is another example diagram of the reselection evaluation stage in the cell reselection method of this application;

[0091] Figure 4C This is another example diagram of the reselection evaluation stage in the cell reselection method of this application;

[0092] Figure 5 This is another flowchart of the cell reselection method in this application;

[0093] Figure 6A This is an example diagram of the SDT capability information of neighboring cells in this application;

[0094] Figure 6B This is another example diagram of the SDT capability information of neighboring cells in this application;

[0095] Figure 6C This is another example diagram of the SDT capability information of neighboring cells in this application;

[0096] Figure 6D This is another example diagram of the SDT capability information of neighboring cells in this application;

[0097] Figure 6E This is another example diagram of the SDT capability information of neighboring cells in this application;

[0098] Figure 6F This is another example diagram of the SDT capability information of neighboring cells in this application;

[0099] Figure 6G This is another example diagram of the SDT capability information of neighboring cells in this application;

[0100] Figure 7 This is a schematic diagram of one embodiment of the communication device in this application;

[0101] Figure 8 This is a schematic diagram of another embodiment of the communication device in this application. Detailed Implementation

[0102] The technical solutions in the embodiments of this application will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only some embodiments of this application, and not all embodiments.

[0103] The terms “first,” “second,” “third,” “fourth,” etc. (if present) in the specification, claims, and accompanying drawings of this application are used to distinguish similar objects and are not necessarily used to describe a particular order or sequence. It should be understood that such terms are interchangeable where appropriate so that the embodiments described herein can be implemented in orders other than those illustrated or described herein. Furthermore, the terms “comprising” and “having,” and any variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion; for example, a process, method, system, product, or apparatus that comprises a series of steps or units is not necessarily limited to those steps or units explicitly listed, but may include other steps or units not explicitly listed or inherent to such processes, methods, products, or apparatus.

[0104] It should be understood that the term "and / or" in this article is merely a description of the relationship between related objects, indicating that three relationships can exist. For example, A and / or B can represent: A existing alone, A and B existing simultaneously, or B existing alone. Additionally, the character " / " in this article generally indicates that the preceding and following related objects have an "or" relationship.

[0105] To facilitate understanding, the system architecture and application scenarios of the cell reselection method proposed in this application will be introduced below:

[0106] The cell reselection method proposed in this application can be applied to long-term evolution (LTE) systems, 5th generation mobile networks (5G) new radio (NR) systems, 6th generation mobile communication technology (6G) systems, and subsequent evolution standards; this application does not limit its application to these applications. Figure 1A As shown, the communication system includes at least terminal equipment and access network equipment.

[0107] Terminal equipment includes devices that provide voice and / or data connectivity to users. For example, it may include handheld devices with wireless connectivity or processing devices connected to a wireless modem. Terminal equipment can communicate with the core network (e.g., 5G core network (5GC)) via a radio access network (RAN) and can exchange voice and / or data with the RAN. Terminal equipment may also be referred to as a terminal, user equipment (UE), wireless terminal equipment, mobile terminal (MT) equipment, subscriber unit, subscriber station, mobile station (MS), mobile station, remote station, access point (AP), remote terminal equipment, access terminal equipment, user terminal equipment, user agent, or user device, etc. Furthermore, the terminal device can be a mobile phone, tablet computer, computer with wireless transceiver capabilities, virtual reality (VR) device, augmented reality (AR) device, extended reality (XR) service terminal, cloud gaming (CG) service terminal, wireless terminal in industrial control, wireless terminal in self-driving, wireless terminal in remote medical surgery, wireless terminal in smart grid, wireless terminal in transportation safety, wireless terminal in smart city, wireless terminal in smart home, etc. It should be understood that the embodiments of this application do not limit the specific technology or device form used in the terminal device. The terminal device in this application can be any of the above-mentioned devices or chips, and is not specifically limited here. Whether as a device or a chip, the terminal device can be manufactured, sold, or used as an independent product. In this embodiment and subsequent embodiments, a terminal device is used as an example for description.

[0108] Access network equipment can be any device with radio transceiver capabilities, responsible for air interface-related functions such as radio link maintenance, radio resource management, and some mobility management functions. Furthermore, access network equipment can also be configured with a baseband unit (BBU) for baseband signal processing. For example, access network equipment can be the radio access network (RAN) currently providing services to terminal devices. Common examples of access network equipment include: Node B (NB), evolved Node B (eNB), next-generation Node B (gNB) in 5G new radio (NR) systems, nodes in 6G systems (e.g., xNodeB), transmission reception points (TRPs), radio network controllers (RNCs), base station controllers (BSCs), base transceiver stations (BTSs), and home base stations (e.g., home evolved Node Bs or home Node Bs (HNBs)). Furthermore, in network architectures such as cloud radio access network (CloudRAN) or open radio access network (ORAN), access network equipment can be devices that include centralized units (CUs) (also known as control units) and / or distributed units (DUs). In this case, the RAN equipment, including CUs and DUs, separates the protocol layers of the gNB in ​​the NR system. Some protocol layer functions are centrally controlled by the CU, while the remaining partial or complete protocol layer functions are distributed in the DU, which is centrally controlled by the CU. It should be understood that the access network equipment in this embodiment can be any of the above-mentioned devices or chips within those devices; specific limitations are not specified here. Whether as a device or a chip, the access network equipment can be manufactured, sold, or used as an independent product. In this embodiment and subsequent embodiments, the access network equipment is used as an example for description.

[0109] Optionally, the communication system may also include core network equipment. This core network equipment refers to equipment in the core network (CN) that provides service support to terminal equipment. Currently, some common examples of core network equipment include: access and mobility management function (AMF) entities, session management function (SMF) entities, user plane function (UPF) entities, etc., which will not be listed here. Among them, the AMF entity can be responsible for the access management and mobility management of terminal equipment; the SMF entity can be responsible for session management, such as user session establishment; the UPF entity can be a user plane functional entity, mainly responsible for connecting to external networks. It should be noted that in this application, entities can also be referred to as network elements or functional entities. For example, an AMF entity can also be called an AMF network element or an AMF functional entity; similarly, an SMF entity can also be called an SMF network element or an SMF functional entity, etc.

[0110] Specifically, the cell reselection method proposed in this application can be applied to cell reselection scenarios. For example, in scenarios where terminal devices supporting SDT perform cell reselection.

[0111] To facilitate understanding, the main process of cell reselection by terminal devices in traditional technologies will be introduced below.

[0112] When a terminal device in a disconnected state (including idle and inactive states) camps on a cell, it triggers a cell reselection process. For example... Figure 1B As shown, the cell reselection process is mainly divided into the following three stages: initiating neighbor cell measurement, reselection assessment, and executing cell reselection.

[0113] The cell measurement phase is where the terminal device measures the serving cell and / or neighboring cells. Generally, the terminal device evaluates whether to initiate neighboring cell measurement based on the signal quality of the serving cell and the cell reselection priority. For example, for high-priority frequencies, the terminal device unconditionally measures the high-priority frequency without considering the signal quality of the serving cell. For example, for equal / low-priority frequencies, the terminal device only initiates measurement when the signal quality of the serving cell is below a certain threshold. For instance, the terminal device initiates co-frequency measurement only when the serving cell signal quality is less than or equal to the co-frequency measurement initiation threshold configured on the network side; it does not initiate co-frequency measurement when the serving cell signal quality is greater than the same threshold. Similarly, the terminal device initiates inter-frequency or inter-system measurement only when the serving cell signal quality is less than or equal to the inter-frequency or inter-system measurement initiation threshold configured on the network side; it does not initiate such measurements when the serving cell signal quality is greater.

[0114] Furthermore, the cell reselection evaluation phase refers to the stage where the terminal device determines the target cell for reselection from multiple measured cells according to cell reselection criteria. For example, for high-priority neighboring cells, if the signal quality of the neighboring cell is greater than the high-priority reselection threshold within the duration of the high-priority frequency-level reselection evaluation timer T1, then when the timer expires, the high-priority neighboring cell is determined as the target cell for reselection. For example, for equal-priority neighboring cells, the terminal device performs reselection evaluation according to cell reselection criteria (e.g., the R criterion). For example, the terminal device calculates the R value (also known as the cell signal quality level) of each neighboring cell based on the reference signal receiving power (RSRP) measurement, reference signal receiving quality (RSRQ) measurement, and signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) measurement of the serving cell and candidate neighboring cells (e.g., neighboring cells that meet cell selection criteria (e.g., the S criterion)). Then, the terminal device selects the optimal neighboring cell as the target cell for reselection according to the R value ranking rules. For example, for a low-priority neighbor cell, if the signal quality of the serving cell is less than the threshold configured on the network side and the signal quality of the neighbor cell is greater than the low-priority reselection threshold within the duration of the frequency-level reselection evaluation timer T2 of the low-priority cell, then when the timer expires, the low-priority neighbor cell is determined as the target cell for reselection; otherwise, the target cell for reselection is not determined.

[0115] Furthermore, the cell reselection phase is the process by which the terminal device attempts to camp on the target cell after performing cell measurements and determining the target cell during the reselection evaluation phase. For example, before camping on the target cell, the terminal device reads the target cell's system messages and determines whether the target cell meets the camping conditions based on those messages. If the target cell meets the camping conditions, the terminal device camps on that target cell. At this point, the terminal device completes the cell reselection process.

[0116] In the aforementioned cell reselection process, the terminal device does not consider information such as its own SDT capabilities, the serving cell's SDT capabilities, the terminal device's SDT status, and the neighboring cells' SDT capabilities. Therefore, the current reselection mechanism may reduce the probability of the terminal device performing SDT, thereby causing additional power consumption overhead for the terminal device.

[0117] In response, this application provides a cell reselection method that performs cell reselection without affecting the SDT process of the terminal device, thereby saving power consumption of the terminal device.

[0118] The following will combine Figure 2 The main process of the cell reselection method of this application is introduced. In this method, the terminal device supports performing SDT in the inactive state. The terminal device mainly performs the following steps:

[0119] Step 201: The terminal device receives the SDT capability information of the serving cell.

[0120] The serving cell's SDT capability information indicates whether the serving cell supports SDT execution in the inactive state. Specifically, when a terminal device supports SDT, the serving cell's SDT capability information indicates whether the serving cell supports terminal devices located in that serving cell performing SDT in the inactive state. Alternatively, it can be understood as indicating whether the serving cell has the capability to support terminal devices within the serving cell performing SDT in the inactive state.

[0121] For example, if the SDT capability information of the serving cell indicates that the serving cell supports SDT execution in the inactive state, then the serving cell is a serving cell that supports the terminal device to execute SDT in the inactive state (hereinafter referred to as a serving cell that supports SDT, or a serving cell that has SDT capability), that is, the serving cell supports SDT or the serving cell has SDT capability.

[0122] Specifically, the terminal device can obtain the SDT (Service Deployment Technology) capability information of the serving cell through the serving cell's system broadcast message. For example, the serving cell's system broadcast message includes the serving cell's system information block (SIB), and the SDT capability information is located within the serving cell's SIB. For instance, in a 5G NR system, the serving cell is a 5G cell, and the SDT capability information is located in the serving cell's SIB1.

[0123] Optionally, the terminal device can obtain its own SDT capability information, which indicates whether the terminal device supports executing SDT in an inactive state. In other words, the terminal device's SDT capability information indicates whether it has the ability to execute SDT in an inactive state.

[0124] For example, a terminal device can read its SDT (Software-Defined Technology) capability information from its internal storage medium. This SDT capability information may be pre-configured by the manufacturer. For instance, the terminal device may be configured with SDT capability information at the factory. When the terminal device reads this information from its internal storage medium, it can determine whether it supports SDT.

[0125] For example, a terminal device can obtain its SDT (Software-Defined Device) capability information through manual configuration. For instance, the terminal device can receive manually configured SDT capability information through an external interface (e.g., an interface connecting to external memory, or an interface connecting to input / output devices). When the terminal device reads the aforementioned SDT capability information from the external interface, it can determine whether it supports SDT.

[0126] Step 202: The terminal device obtains the SDT capability information of the neighboring cells of the serving cell.

[0127] The SDT capability information of the neighboring cell is used to indicate at least one first neighboring cell.

[0128] The first neighboring cell is the neighboring cell that supports the execution of SDT by the terminal device in the inactive state. That is, if the terminal device located in the first neighboring cell supports SDT, the terminal device in the inactive state can execute SDT in the first neighboring cell. In addition, the first neighboring cell can be a cell with the same frequency as the serving cell, a cell with a different frequency than the serving cell, or a cell with a different system than the serving cell; the specifics are not limited here.

[0129] The SDT capability information of the neighboring cell includes the cell identifier of at least one cell, with different cell identifiers indicating different first neighboring cells. For example, if the SDT capability information of the neighboring cell includes the cell identifier of one cell, then there is only one cell near the serving cell that is a first neighboring cell, meaning only one cell near the serving cell supports SDT. If the SDT capability information of the neighboring cell includes the cell identifiers of multiple cells, then there are multiple cells near the serving cell that are also first neighboring cells, meaning multiple cells near the serving cell support SDT. Optionally, when the terminal device does not receive the SDT capability information of the neighboring cell, or when the SDT capability information of the neighboring cell does not contain a cell identifier, there is no first neighboring cell near the serving cell, meaning there are no cells near the serving cell that support SDT.

[0130] Furthermore, corresponding to the first neighboring cell is the second neighboring cell, which is a neighboring cell that does not support the execution of SDT by the terminal device in the inactive state. That is, even if a terminal device located in this second neighboring cell supports SDT, the inactive terminal device cannot execute SDT in the second neighboring cell. Generally, there may be at least one second neighboring cell near the serving cell, or there may be no second neighboring cell. In addition, the second neighboring cell can be a cell on the same frequency as the serving cell, a cell on a different frequency than the serving cell, or a cell on a different system than the serving cell; the specifics are not limited here.

[0131] For a detailed explanation of the SDT capability information for neighboring cells, please refer to the following text. Figure 5 The corresponding implementation examples are not described in detail here.

[0132] Specifically, the terminal device can acquire SDT capability information of neighboring cells using any of the following implementation methods.

[0133] In one possible implementation, the terminal device receives a system broadcast message from the serving cell, which includes SDT capability information of neighboring cells.

[0134] For example, in a 5G communication system, the serving cell is a 5G NR cell. The system information block (SIB) includes at least one of system information block SIB3, system information block SIB4, or system information block SIB5. Specifically, SIB3 carries SDT capability information of co-frequency neighboring cells, SIB4 carries SDT capability information of inter-frequency neighboring cells, and SIB5 carries SDT capability information of inter-system neighboring cells. The terminal device can obtain the neighboring cell's SDT capability information from the received SIB3, SIB4, or SIB5.

[0135] For example, in an LTE system, the serving cell is an LTE cell. The system information block (SIB) includes at least one of system information block SIB4, system information block SIB5, or system information block SIB24. Specifically, SIB4 carries SDT capability information of co-frequency neighboring cells, SIB5 carries SDT capability information of inter-frequency neighboring cells, and SIB24 carries SDT capability information of inter-system neighboring cells. The terminal device can obtain the SDT capability information of neighboring cells from the received SIB4, SIB5, or SIB24.

[0136] For an explanation of how terminal devices obtain neighboring cell SDT capability information from the system broadcast message of the serving cell, please refer to the following text. Figure 5 The relevant descriptions in the corresponding embodiments will not be repeated here.

[0137] In another possible implementation, the terminal device moves to a neighboring cell and receives a system broadcast message from the neighboring cell, thereby obtaining the SDT capability information of the neighboring cell from the system broadcast message.

[0138] For example, when the terminal device is stationed in a neighboring cell, it can receive the system information block SIB1 of that neighboring cell, and then the terminal device can obtain the SDT capability information of the neighboring cell from the SIB1 of the neighboring cell.

[0139] It should be understood that in this embodiment, since the SIB1 of a neighboring cell only provides SDT capability information for that neighboring cell, it may not be able to provide SDT capability information for other neighboring cells. Therefore, the terminal device may need to camp on multiple neighboring cells to obtain SDT capability information for multiple neighboring cells. For example, when the terminal device camps on cell 1, it only obtains the SDT capability information of cell 1 by receiving SIB1. If the terminal device also needs the SDT capability information of cell 2 near cell 1, then the terminal device needs to camp on cell 2 so that it can receive the SIB1 of cell 2 and thus obtain the SDT capability information of cell 2 from the SIB1 of cell 2.

[0140] Step 203: The terminal device determines the candidate cell list based on the signal quality of the serving cell and the SDT capability information of neighboring cells.

[0141] Specifically, when the SDT capability information of the serving cell indicates that the serving cell supports the terminal device performing SDT in the inactive state, the terminal device determines a candidate cell list based on the signal quality of the serving cell and the SDT capability information of the neighboring cells. When the SDT capability information of the serving cell indicates that the serving cell does not support the terminal device performing SDT in the inactive state, the terminal device determines a candidate cell list based on traditional rules.

[0142] The candidate cell list includes at least one neighboring cell. The candidate cell list may contain only the first neighboring cell, only the second neighboring cell, or both. It should be understood that before generating the candidate cell list, the terminal device can measure frequency points. If a cell on a certain frequency point meets the conditions, the terminal device will identify the aforementioned neighboring cell as a candidate cell and write its cell identifier into the candidate cell list.

[0143] Optionally, the terminal device determines a candidate cell list based on a first threshold, the signal quality of the serving cell, and the SDT capability information of neighboring cells. The candidate cell list determined by the terminal device can differ depending on the implementation method. These will be described in detail below:

[0144] In one possible implementation, when the signal quality of the serving cell is less than or equal to a preset first threshold, the candidate cell list determined by the terminal device is a first candidate cell list. The first candidate cell list includes at least one first neighboring cell and / or at least one second neighboring cell. That is, when the signal quality of the serving cell is less than or equal to the preset first threshold, the terminal device considers all cells whose signal quality meets the condition as candidate cells. In this case, the first candidate cell list may contain only first neighboring cells, only second neighboring cells, or both.

[0145] In another possible implementation, when the signal quality of the serving cell is greater than a first threshold, the terminal device determines a candidate cell list based on the terminal device's SDT status, the first threshold, the signal quality of the serving cell, and the SDT capability information of neighboring cells. The terminal device's SDT status includes whether the terminal device is in the SDT process or not.

[0146] In one example of this implementation, when the signal quality of the serving cell is greater than a first threshold and the terminal device is not in the SDT process, the candidate cell list determined by the terminal device is a second candidate cell list. This second candidate cell list includes only at least one first neighboring cell. That is, when the signal quality of the serving cell is greater than a preset first threshold, the terminal device only considers the first neighboring cell as a candidate cell; in this case, the second candidate cell list contains only the first neighboring cell.

[0147] In one example of this implementation, when the signal quality of the serving cell is greater than a first threshold and the terminal device is in the SDT process, the reselection evaluation process is paused.

[0148] In practical applications, the terminal device may adopt any of the aforementioned implementation methods; please refer to the following text for details. Figure 4A or Figure 4B The relevant descriptions in the corresponding embodiments.

[0149] Step 204: The terminal device determines the target cell for reselection based on the candidate cell list.

[0150] The target cell is a cell in the candidate cell list. The target cell determined by the terminal device will vary depending on the implementation of the candidate cell list. These will be described in detail below:

[0151] In one possible implementation, when the candidate cell list determined by the terminal device is the first candidate cell list, the terminal device preferentially selects the target cell for reselection from the first neighboring cells.

[0152] For example, if the first candidate cell list contains at least one first neighboring cell, the terminal device determines the first cell based on the at least one first neighboring cell, and the first cell is a cell among the at least one first neighboring cell. That is, when the first candidate cell list contains at least one first neighboring cell, the terminal device determines the first cell as the target cell for reselection from the at least one first neighboring cell in the first candidate cell list. For example, the first cell may be the cell with the best signal quality in the first candidate cell list. Or, for example, the first cell may be the cell with the highest priority in the first candidate cell list.

[0153] For example, if the first candidate cell list does not contain a first neighboring cell, the terminal device determines a second cell based on at least one second neighboring cell. That is, when the first candidate cell list does not contain a first neighboring cell but only contains second neighboring cells, the terminal device determines the second cell as the target cell for reselection from at least one second neighboring cell in the first candidate cell list. For example, the second cell may be the cell with the best signal quality in the first candidate cell list. Or, for example, the second cell may be the cell with the highest priority in the first candidate cell list.

[0154] In another possible implementation, when the candidate cell list determined by the terminal device is the second candidate cell list, since the second candidate cell list only contains the first neighboring cell, the terminal device selects the target cell for reselection only from the first neighboring cell.

[0155] In this embodiment, during the cell reselection evaluation phase, the terminal device can obtain the SDT (Signal Deployment Technology) capability information of the serving cell and the neighboring cells, and perform cell reselection based on the SDT capability information of the serving cell, the neighboring cells, and the signal quality of the serving cell. Since the terminal device considers the SDT capability information of the serving cell during cell reselection, it is beneficial for the terminal device to select a more suitable target cell for reselection based on the SDT capability information of the serving cell. This, in turn, helps to save power consumption of the terminal device while ensuring that the SDT process of the terminal device is not affected.

[0156] Optionally, in addition to performing reselection evaluation based on the SDT capability information of the serving cell, the terminal device can also perform cell measurement based on the SDT capability information of the serving cell.

[0157] During the cell measurement phase, when the serving cell's SDT capability information indicates that the serving cell supports SDT execution in the inactive state, the terminal device determines whether to initiate frequency point measurement based on the serving cell's signal quality and a second threshold. This second threshold is greater than the initiation threshold for co-frequency neighboring cells, and also greater than the initiation threshold for non-co-frequency neighboring cells. For a detailed explanation of the second threshold, please refer to the following text. Figure 3A Step 303 in the corresponding embodiment.

[0158] Specifically, when the serving cell's SDT capability information indicates that the serving cell supports performing SDT in the inactive state, the terminal device determines whether to start measuring neighboring cells of high-priority frequency points based on the serving cell's signal quality and a second threshold.

[0159] For example, when the signal quality of the serving cell is greater than the second threshold, the terminal device suppresses the initiation of frequency point measurement. For instance, when the signal quality of the serving cell is greater than the second threshold, the terminal device suppresses the initiation of measurement of neighboring cells with high-priority frequencies. This can also be understood as the terminal device not initiating measurement of neighboring cells with high-priority frequencies when the signal quality of the serving cell is greater than the second threshold.

[0160] For example, when the signal quality of the serving cell is less than or equal to the second threshold, the terminal device initiates frequency point measurement. For instance, when the signal quality of the serving cell is less than or equal to the second threshold, the terminal device performs cell measurement based on conventional measurement rules. See below for details. Figure 3A or Figure 3B The corresponding implementation examples are not described in detail here.

[0161] The following will combine Figure 3A The process of cell measurement by the terminal device based on the serving cell's SDT capability information is described. Specifically, during the cell measurement phase, the terminal device will perform the following steps:

[0162] Step 301: The terminal device determines whether the serving cell supports SDT.

[0163] Specifically, the terminal device can determine whether the serving cell supports SDT based on the serving cell's SDT capability information, that is, whether the serving cell supports the terminal device performing SDT in an inactive state. Optionally, the terminal device can determine whether it supports SDT based on its own SDT capability information, that is, whether it supports performing SDT in an inactive state. In this embodiment, the example of a terminal device supporting SDT is provided.

[0164] When the SDT capability information of the serving cell indicates that the serving cell does not support SDT, the terminal device executes step 302; when the SDT capability information of the serving cell indicates that the serving cell supports SDT, the terminal device executes step 303.

[0165] Step 302: The terminal device performs cell measurement based on traditional measurement rules.

[0166] For example, for high-priority frequency points, the terminal device unconditionally measures the high-priority frequency points.

[0167] For example, for frequency points of equal / low priority, the terminal device only initiates measurement when the signal quality of the serving cell is below a certain threshold. For instance, the terminal device initiates same-frequency measurement only when the serving cell signal quality is less than or equal to the same-frequency measurement initiation threshold configured on the network side; it does not initiate same-frequency measurement when the serving cell signal quality is greater than the same-frequency measurement initiation threshold configured on the network side. As another example, the terminal device initiates inter-frequency or inter-system measurement only when the serving cell signal quality is less than or equal to the inter-frequency or inter-system measurement initiation threshold configured on the network side; it does not initiate inter-frequency or inter-system measurement when the serving cell signal quality is greater than the inter-frequency or inter-system measurement initiation threshold configured on the network side.

[0168] Step 303: The terminal device determines whether the signal quality of the serving cell is greater than the second threshold.

[0169] The signal quality of the serving cell can be represented by the value of at least one of RSRP, RSRQ, SINR, or S value.

[0170] The second threshold is a newly defined threshold in this application for triggering suppression of high-priority frequency point measurements by terminal equipment. Since the second threshold is used to measure the signal quality of the serving cell, it can be represented by the value of at least one of RSRP, RSRQ, SINR, or S-value.

[0171] Optionally, the second threshold is greater than the test threshold for co-frequency neighboring cells, and also greater than the test threshold for non-co-frequency neighboring cells. Non-co-frequency neighboring cells include inter-frequency neighboring cells and / or inter-system neighboring cells. For example, the second threshold is greater than the test threshold for co-frequency neighboring cells, and also greater than the test threshold for non-co-frequency low-priority neighboring cells.

[0172] When the terminal device determines that the signal quality of the serving cell is greater than the second threshold, the terminal device executes step 304; when the terminal device determines that the signal quality of the serving cell is less than or equal to the second threshold, the terminal device executes step 302.

[0173] Step 304: The terminal device does not start measuring the neighboring cells of high-priority frequency points.

[0174] In this step, when the terminal device determines that the signal quality of the serving cell is greater than the second threshold, the terminal device will not trigger the start of measurement of neighboring cells of high-priority frequency points.

[0175] In this embodiment, when both the serving cell and the terminal device support SDT, if the signal quality of the serving cell is greater than a second threshold, the terminal device will not initiate measurements of high-priority frequencies. In other words, when both the serving cell and the terminal device support SDT, if the signal quality of the serving cell is sufficiently good, the terminal device will suppress measurements of high-priority frequencies. Since the second threshold is greater than the threshold for starting measurements of co-frequency neighboring cells and also greater than the threshold for starting measurements of non-co-frequency neighboring cells, when the signal quality of the serving cell meets the requirement of not measuring high-priority frequencies, the terminal device will not measure low-priority co-frequency or non-co-frequency neighboring cells. Therefore, this helps to keep the terminal device within the serving cell, thereby avoiding the terminal device being affected by cell reselection in performing SDT, and preventing the terminal device from reselecting to a cell that does not support SDT.

[0176] It should be noted that, such as Figure 3B As shown, when the terminal device considers the mobility of the terminal device, the aforementioned step 303 can be replaced by step 303a.

[0177] Step 303a: The terminal device determines whether the signal quality of the serving cell is greater than the second threshold, and whether the moving speed of the terminal device is less than a preset value.

[0178] When the signal quality of the serving cell is greater than the second threshold and the moving speed of the terminal device is less than the preset value, the terminal device executes step 304; when the signal quality of the serving cell is less than or equal to the second threshold, or the moving speed of the terminal device is greater than or equal to the preset value, the terminal device executes step 302.

[0179] about Figure 3B The other steps shown are the same as those described above. Figure 3AThe corresponding steps are similar; please refer to the previous text for details. Figure 3A The relevant details will not be elaborated here.

[0180] The following is combined Figure 4A The process of cell reselection evaluation by the terminal device based on the serving cell's SDT capability information is described. Specifically, during the cell reselection evaluation phase, the terminal device will perform the following steps:

[0181] Step 401: The terminal device determines whether the serving cell supports SDT.

[0182] When the SDT capability information of the serving cell indicates that the serving cell does not support SDT, or when the terminal device does not support SDT, the terminal device executes step 402.

[0183] When the SDT capability information of the serving cell indicates that the serving cell supports SDT, the terminal device performs a reselection evaluation based on the terminal device's SDT status and the signal quality of the serving cell. The terminal device's SDT status includes whether the terminal device is in the process of SDT or not. Being in the process of SDT can be understood as the terminal device being in an inactive state and performing small packet data transmission. Being not in the process of SDT can be understood as the terminal device not currently performing small packet data transmission.

[0184] Optionally, when the SDT capability information of the serving cell indicates that the serving cell supports SDT, and the terminal device supports SDT, the terminal device executes step 403.

[0185] Step 402: The terminal device performs a reselection evaluation based on the traditional reselection evaluation rules.

[0186] Step 403: The terminal device determines whether it is in the SDT process.

[0187] In one possible implementation 1, when the terminal device is not in the SDT process, the terminal device performs a reselection evaluation based on the signal quality of the first neighboring cell and the signal quality of the serving cell.

[0188] Optionally, the terminal device performs a reselection evaluation based on the signal quality of the serving cell, threshold 1, and the signal quality of the first neighboring cell. Threshold 1 is a newly defined threshold in this application. Optionally, threshold 1 can be... Figure 2 One implementation of the first threshold in the corresponding embodiment. The threshold 1 can be represented by the value of at least one of RSRP, RSRQ, SINR, or S value. Optionally, the threshold 1 is greater than the first threshold. Specifically, the terminal device will execute step 404, and then the terminal device will execute step 405 or step 406 based on the result of executing step 404.

[0189] In another possible implementation 2, when the terminal device is in the SDT process, the terminal device performs a reselection evaluation based on the signal quality of the serving cell.

[0190] Optionally, the terminal device performs a reselection evaluation based on the signal quality of the serving cell and threshold 2. Threshold 2 is a newly defined threshold in this application. Optionally, threshold 1 can be... Figure 2 Another implementation of the first threshold in the corresponding embodiment. The threshold 2 can be represented by the value of at least one of RSRP, RSRQ, SINR, or S value. Optionally, the threshold 2 is greater than the first threshold. Specifically, the terminal device will execute step 407, and then the terminal device will execute step 408 or step 406 based on the result of executing step 407.

[0191] Optionally, in this embodiment, the values ​​of threshold 1 and threshold 2 may be the same or different.

[0192] Step 404: The terminal device determines whether the signal quality of the serving cell is greater than threshold 1.

[0193] In this step, when the terminal device determines that the signal quality of the serving cell is greater than threshold 1, the terminal device executes step 405; when the terminal device determines that the signal quality of the serving cell is less than or equal to threshold 1, the terminal device executes step 406.

[0194] Step 405: The terminal device suppresses reselection to the second neighboring cell.

[0195] Specifically, the terminal device will only determine the target cell for reselection from the first neighboring cell, and will not determine the target cell for reselection from the second neighboring cell.

[0196] For example, if the signal quality of the serving cell is greater than threshold 1, and a first neighboring cell exists, the terminal device selects the target cell for reselection only from the first neighboring cell; if no first neighboring cell exists, the terminal device is unsure if the second neighboring cell is the target cell for reselection. Optionally, the signal quality of the target cell for reselection is greater than or equal to threshold 1.

[0197] For example, if the terminal device has obtained measurement results for 6 neighboring cells, where neighboring cells A, B, and C are the first neighboring cells, and neighboring cells D, E, and F are the second neighboring cells, then, if the signal quality of the serving cell is greater than threshold 1, the terminal device will select one of neighboring cells A, B, and C as the target neighboring cell for reselection. Optionally, the target neighboring cell for reselection can be the neighboring cell with the best signal quality among neighboring cells A, B, and C.

[0198] It should be noted that when the terminal device does not detect a suitable first neighboring cell, it will not determine the second neighboring cell as the target cell for reselection; that is, the terminal device will not determine a cell that does not support SDT as the target cell for reselection. In this case, the terminal device will continue to measure nearby neighboring cells. When the first neighboring cell is measured again, the terminal device will continue to execute the reselection evaluation process. For example, the terminal device will further determine whether the currently measured first neighboring cell can be identified as the target cell for reselection.

[0199] For example, if the terminal device has obtained the signal quality of the second neighboring cell from the measurements of the six neighboring cells, then if the signal quality of the serving cell is greater than the threshold 1, the terminal device will not select the target cell from the second neighboring cell, and will continue to measure nearby cells. When the terminal device measures the first neighboring cell again, it will continue to reselect the target cell from the first neighboring cell.

[0200] In this example, since the serving cell where the terminal device is located supports SDT and the signal quality of the serving cell is good enough (i.e., the signal quality of the serving cell is greater than threshold 1), if the terminal device is not in SDT service, it can select a more suitable first neighboring cell (e.g., a first neighboring cell with signal quality greater than threshold 1). Because the terminal device is not in the SDT process, it will not affect the terminal device's execution of SDT. Furthermore, since the terminal device only selects the target cell for reselection within the first neighboring cell, it can be guaranteed that the terminal device can still execute SDT after reselecting the first neighboring cell.

[0201] Step 406: The terminal device prioritizes reselecting to the first neighboring cell.

[0202] Specifically, the terminal device will prioritize determining the target cell for reselection from the first neighboring cell. If the terminal device does not detect the first neighboring cell, it can determine the target cell for reselection from the second neighboring cell.

[0203] For example, if the signal quality of the serving cell is less than or equal to a first threshold (e.g., threshold 1 in step 404, or threshold 2 in step 407), and a first neighboring cell exists, the terminal device preferentially selects the target cell for reselection from the first neighboring cell; if the first neighboring cell does not exist, the terminal device performs a reselection evaluation based on traditional reselection evaluation rules. Optionally, the signal quality of the target cell for reselection based on traditional reselection evaluation rules is greater than or equal to the first threshold.

[0204] Specifically, the process by which the terminal device prioritizes selecting the target cell for reselection from the first neighboring cell can be implemented in several ways:

[0205] In one possible implementation, such as Figure 4CAs shown, the terminal device sorts the measured neighboring cells (including the first and second neighboring cells) according to a sorting rule to obtain a sorted list. Optionally, the sorting rule can be based on the signal quality of each neighboring cell from high to low.

[0206] For example, if the terminal device sorts the measured neighboring cells according to the sorting rules, the sorting list can be as shown in Table 1-1:

[0207] Table 1-1

[0208] Each neighboring area is arranged in the order determined by the sorting rules. Neighboring neighborhood signs 1 Second Neighborhood 1 2 Second Neighborhood 2 3 First Neighborhood 1 4 Second Neighborhood 4 5 First Neighborhood 3 6 Second Neighborhood 3 7 First Neighborhood 2

[0209] Then, the terminal device will sequentially determine whether each neighboring cell is the first neighboring cell according to the aforementioned sorting. When the terminal device determines that the currently judged neighboring cell is the first neighboring cell, it determines that the first neighboring cell is the target cell for reselection. If the terminal device cannot find the first neighboring cell after traversing the entire sorting list, it will reselect the target cell based on the traditional reselection evaluation rules. For example, the terminal device first obtains the first sorted cell (i.e., the second neighboring cell 1 ranked 1) and determines whether the first sorted cell is the first neighboring cell. When the terminal device determines that the first sorted cell is not the first neighboring cell, it will obtain the second sorted cell (i.e., the second neighboring cell 2 ranked 2) and determine whether the second sorted cell is the first neighboring cell. When the terminal device determines that the second sorted cell is not the first neighboring cell, it will obtain the third sorted cell (i.e., the first neighboring cell 1 ranked 3) and determine whether the third sorted cell is the first neighboring cell. Since the third sorted cell is the first neighboring cell, the terminal device determines the third sorted cell as the target cell for reselection.

[0210] In another possible implementation, the terminal device sorts the measured neighboring cells (including the first and second neighboring cells) according to a sorting rule, obtaining a sorted list of the first neighboring cells and a sorted list of the second neighboring cells. Optionally, the sorting rule can be based on the signal quality of each neighboring cell from high to low.

[0211] For example, if the terminal device sorts the first neighboring area and the second neighboring area separately according to the sorting rules, the sorting list of each first neighboring area can be as shown in Table 2-1, and the sorting list of each second neighboring area can be as shown in Table 2-2:

[0212] Table 2-1

[0213]

[0214] Table 2-2

[0215]

[0216] Then, the terminal device first selects the target cell for reselection from the sorting list of the first neighboring cells. For example, the terminal device selects the neighboring cell ranked 1 in the sorting list of the first neighboring cells as the target cell for reselection. If the terminal device finds a target cell for reselection in the sorting list of the first neighboring cells, the terminal device will enter the reselection execution phase. If the terminal device does not find a target cell for reselection in the sorting list of the first neighboring cells, the terminal device will select a target cell for reselection from the sorting list of the second neighboring cells. If the terminal device finds a target cell for reselection in the sorting list of the second neighboring cells, the terminal device will enter the reselection execution phase; if the terminal device does not find a target cell for reselection in the sorting list of the second neighboring cells, the terminal device will reselect a target cell based on the traditional reselection evaluation rules.

[0217] It should be understood that in practical applications, terminal devices can use any of the aforementioned implementation methods to implement the process of prioritizing the selection of the target cell for reselection from the first neighboring cell; no specific limitation is made here.

[0218] In this example, since the serving cell where the terminal device is located supports SDT but its signal quality is not sufficiently good (i.e., the signal quality of the serving cell is less than or equal to the first threshold), if the terminal device is not in an SDT service, it can select a cell with better signal quality as the target cell for reselection (e.g., selecting the first neighboring cell with signal quality greater than the first threshold as the target cell). Because the terminal device is not in an SDT process, it will not affect the terminal device's execution of SDT. Furthermore, since the terminal device prioritizes selecting the target cell from the first neighboring cell, it can prioritize determining the first neighboring cell as the target cell for reselection during the process of selecting a cell with better signal quality. Therefore, this is beneficial for the terminal device to still be able to execute SDT after reselecting to the first neighboring cell.

[0219] It should be noted that in any of the embodiments in Implementation 1, the terminal device can determine whether a certain neighboring cell is the first neighboring cell through the system broadcast cell.

[0220] In one possible implementation A, the terminal device determines whether one or more neighboring cells are the first neighboring cells through the system broadcast message of the serving cell.

[0221] Optionally, the system broadcast message of the serving cell includes the system information block (SIB) of the serving cell.

[0222] In one possible implementation, in a 5G communication system, the serving cell is a 5G NR cell. In this case, the system broadcast message includes at least one of System Information Block (SIB3), System Information Block (SIB4), or System Information Block (SIB5). Specifically, SIB3 carries information about a first neighboring cell on the same frequency, SIB4 carries information about a first neighboring cell on a different frequency, and SIB5 carries information about a first neighboring cell on a different system.

[0223] In another possible implementation, in the LTE system, the serving cell is an LTE cell. In this case, the system broadcast message includes at least one of System Information Block (SIB4), System Information Block (SIB5), or System Information Block (SIB24). Specifically, SIB4 carries information about the first neighboring cell on the same frequency, SIB5 carries information about the first neighboring cell on a different frequency, and SIB24 carries information about the first neighboring cell on a different system.

[0224] Optionally, the information of the first neighboring cell includes the cell identifier of the first neighboring cell.

[0225] Optionally, the information of the first neighboring cell may also include the duration of the reselection evaluation timer of the first neighboring cell, wherein the duration of the reselection evaluation timer of the first neighboring cell is less than the duration of the frequency-level reselection evaluation timer of the frequency point where the first neighboring cell is located.

[0226] Please refer to the following text for details. Figure 5 Corresponding implementation examples.

[0227] In another possible implementation B, the terminal device determines whether the neighboring cell is the first neighboring cell through the system broadcast message of the neighboring cell.

[0228] Optionally, the terminal device can obtain the SDT capability information of a neighboring cell through a system broadcast message from the neighboring cell. For example, the terminal device obtains the SDT capability information of a neighboring cell through SIB1. When the SDT capability information of a neighboring cell indicates that the neighboring cell supports SDT execution in the inactive state, the terminal device determines that the neighboring cell as the first neighboring cell based on the SDT capability information of that neighboring cell.

[0229] Step 407: The terminal device determines whether the signal quality of the serving cell is greater than threshold 2.

[0230] In this step, when the terminal device determines that the signal quality of the serving cell is greater than the threshold 2, the terminal device executes step 408; when the terminal device determines that the signal quality of the serving cell is less than or equal to the threshold 2, the terminal device executes step 406.

[0231] Step 408: The terminal device pauses the reselection evaluation process.

[0232] If the signal quality of the serving cell is greater than the threshold 2, the terminal device will suspend the reselection evaluation process.

[0233] It should be noted that after the terminal device suspends the reselection evaluation process, if the signal quality of the serving cell changes and the signal quality of the serving cell detected by the terminal device is greater than the threshold 2, the terminal device will restart the reselection evaluation process and trigger step 406.

[0234] In this example, since the serving cell where the terminal device is located supports SDT, the terminal device is in SDT service, and the signal quality of the serving cell is good enough (i.e., the signal quality of the serving cell is greater than threshold 2), the terminal device can pause the cell reselection evaluation process to avoid affecting the terminal device's SDT execution due to cell reselection. This helps avoid affecting the execution of SDT due to the terminal device transitioning from an inactive state to an idle state during cell reselection.

[0235] In this embodiment, when both the serving cell and the terminal device support SDT, if the terminal device is not in the SDT process, it performs a reselection evaluation based on the signal quality of the first neighboring cell and the signal quality of the serving cell; if the terminal device is in the SDT process, it performs a reselection evaluation based on the signal quality of the serving cell. Since the terminal device considers the first neighboring cell during the reselection evaluation, it is beneficial for the terminal device to reselect to the first neighboring cell. This, in turn, allows the terminal device to perform SDT in the target cell after the cell reselection process. This not only improves the utilization rate of the terminal device's SDT function but also helps the terminal device achieve optimal power consumption during small packet transmission.

[0236] It should be noted that, such as Figure 4B As shown, the terminal device may also consider its mobility (e.g., its mobility rate) during the reselection evaluation process. When the terminal device considers its mobility rate during the reselection evaluation process, step 404 can be replaced by step 404a; step 407 can be replaced by step 407a.

[0237] Step 404a: The terminal device determines whether the signal quality of the serving cell is greater than threshold 1, and whether the moving speed of the terminal device is less than a preset value.

[0238] When the terminal device determines that the signal quality of the serving cell is greater than threshold 1 and the moving speed of the terminal device is less than a preset value, the terminal device executes step 405; when the terminal device determines that the signal quality of the serving cell is less than or equal to threshold 1, or the moving speed of the terminal device is greater than or equal to a preset value, the terminal device executes step 406.

[0239] For example, if the signal quality of the serving cell is greater than threshold 1 and the mobile speed of the terminal device is less than a preset value, if the first neighboring cell exists, the terminal device will select the target cell for reselection only from the first neighboring cell. If the first neighboring cell does not exist, the terminal device will not determine that the second neighboring cell is the target cell for reselection. The second neighboring cell is a neighboring cell that does not support SDT in the inactive state.

[0240] For example, if the signal quality of the serving cell is less than or equal to threshold 1 and the mobile speed of the terminal device is less than a preset value, if the first neighboring cell exists, the terminal device will preferentially select the target cell for reselection from the first neighboring cell; if the first neighboring cell does not exist, the terminal device will perform a reselection evaluation based on traditional reselection evaluation rules.

[0241] Step 407a: The terminal device determines whether the signal quality of the serving cell is greater than threshold 2, and whether the moving speed of the terminal device is less than a preset value.

[0242] When the terminal device determines that the signal quality of the serving cell is greater than threshold 2 and the moving speed of the terminal device is less than a preset value, the terminal device executes step 408; when the terminal device determines that the signal quality of the serving cell is less than or equal to threshold 2, or the moving speed of the terminal device is greater than or equal to a preset value, the terminal device executes step 402.

[0243] For example, if the signal quality of the serving cell is greater than threshold 2 and the moving speed of the terminal device is less than a preset value, the terminal device will suspend the reselection evaluation process.

[0244] For example, if the signal quality of the serving cell is less than or equal to threshold 2 and the mobile speed of the terminal device is less than a preset value, the terminal device performs a reselection evaluation based on traditional reselection evaluation rules.

[0245] about Figure 4B The other steps shown are the same as those described above. Figure 4A The corresponding steps are similar; please refer to the previous text for details. Figure 4A The relevant details will not be elaborated here.

[0246] like Figure 5 The image shows another embodiment of the cell reselection method proposed in this application. In this method, the terminal device mainly performs the following steps:

[0247] Step 501: The terminal device obtains the small packet transmission SDT capability information of the neighboring cell through the system broadcast message of the serving cell.

[0248] The SDT capability information of this neighboring cell is used to indicate the first neighboring cell, which is a neighboring cell that supports SDT execution in the inactive state. For an explanation of the first neighboring cell, please refer to the relevant description above; it will not be repeated here.

[0249] Optionally, neighboring cells include co-frequency neighboring cells, inter-frequency neighboring cells, and inter-system neighboring cells. Co-frequency neighboring cells are cells located on the same frequency as the serving cell. Inter-frequency neighboring cells are cells located on different frequencies than the serving cell. Inter-system neighboring cells are cells using a different network standard than the serving cell. For example, when the serving cell is an NR cell, the neighboring cell can be an LTE cell; when the serving cell is an LTE cell, the neighboring cell can be an NR cell; when the serving cell is a 6G cell, the neighboring cell can be an NR cell; and when the serving cell is a 6G cell, the neighboring cell can be an LTE cell. In practical applications, there are other examples of neighboring cells using different networks than the serving cell, which will not be listed here.

[0250] Optionally, the SDT capability information of the neighboring cell includes at least one of the following: SDT capability information of co-frequency neighboring cells, SDT capability information of inter-frequency neighboring cells, and SDT capability information of inter-system neighboring cells. Specifically, the SDT capability information of co-frequency neighboring cells is used to indicate the first neighboring cell that is co-frequency with the serving cell; the SDT capability information of inter-frequency neighboring cells is used to indicate the first neighboring cell that is inter-frequency with the serving cell; and the SDT capability information of inter-system neighboring cells is used to indicate the first neighboring cell that is inter-system with the serving cell.

[0251] Optionally, the system broadcast message of the serving cell includes the serving cell's System Information Block (SIB), and the SDT capability information of the neighboring cell is located in the serving cell's SIB. Therefore, the terminal device can obtain the SDT capability information of the neighboring cell by parsing the serving cell's SIB, and thus determine the neighboring cell that supports SDT (i.e., the first neighboring cell). Compared with the conventional approach where the terminal device obtains information indicating whether a neighboring cell supports SDT through the neighboring cell's SIB, this embodiment saves signaling overhead caused by the terminal device receiving messages from the neighboring cell and improves the efficiency of the terminal device in obtaining the neighboring cell's SDT capability information.

[0252] It should be noted that in different communication systems, the SDT capability information of neighboring cells may be located in different SIBs. These will be described separately below:

[0253] In one possible implementation, in a 5G communication system, the serving cell is a 5G NR cell. In this case, the SDT capability information of neighboring cells is located in at least one of System Information Block (SIB3), System Information Block (SIB4), and System Information Block (SIB5). Specifically, SIB3 carries the SDT capability information of co-frequency neighboring cells, SIB4 carries the SDT capability information of inter-frequency neighboring cells, and SIB5 carries the SDT capability information of inter-system neighboring cells.

[0254] For example, a new field is added to SIB3 to represent the SDT capability information of co-frequency neighboring cells. For instance, such as... Figure 6A As shown, the newly added field "intraFreSdtSupportCellList" in SIB3 represents the SDT capability information of co-frequency neighboring cells.

[0255] For example, a new field is added to SIB4 to represent the SDT capability information of inter-frequency neighboring cells. For instance, such as... Figure 6B As shown, a new field "interFreSdtSupportCellList" has been added to SIB4 to represent the SDT capability information of inter-frequency neighbor cells. Among them, the field "interFreqCarrierFreqList" represents the carrier frequency list of different frequencies from the serving cell. When a frequency in the carrier frequency list corresponds to an "interFreSdtSupportCellList", it means that there is a first neighbor cell of the inter-frequency range for that frequency.

[0256] For example, a new field is added to SIB5 to represent the SDT capability information of neighboring cells in different systems. For instance, such as... Figure 6C As shown, a new field “eutra-FreSdtSupportCellList” has been added to SIB5 to represent the SDT capability information of LTE neighbor cells. Among them, the field “carrierFreqListEUTRA” represents the carrier frequency list of the LTE system. When a frequency point in this carrier frequency list corresponds to a “eutra-FreSdtSupportCellList”, it means that the frequency point has the first neighbor cell of the LTE system.

[0257] In another possible implementation, in the LTE system, the serving cell is an LTE cell. In this case, the SDT capability information of neighboring cells is located in at least one of System Information Block (SIB4), System Information Block (SIB5), and System Information Block (SIB24). Specifically, SIB4 carries the SDT capability information of co-frequency neighboring cells, SIB5 carries the SDT capability information of inter-frequency neighboring cells, and SIB24 carries the SDT capability information of inter-system neighboring cells.

[0258] For example, a new field is added to SIB4 to represent the SDT capability information of co-frequency neighboring cells. For instance, such as... Figure 6D As shown, the newly added field "intraFreSdtSupportCellList" in SIB4 represents the SDT capability information of co-frequency neighboring cells.

[0259] For example, a new field is added to SIB5 to represent the SDT capability information of inter-frequency neighboring cells. For instance, such as... Figure 6EAs shown, a new field "interFreSdtSupportCellList" has been added to SIB5 to represent the SDT capability information of inter-frequency neighbor cells. Among them, the field "interFreqCarrierFreqList" represents the carrier frequency list of different frequencies from the serving cell. When a frequency in this carrier frequency list corresponds to an "interFreSdtSupportCellList", it means that there is a first neighbor cell of different frequencies for that frequency.

[0260] For example, a new field is added to SIB24 to represent SDT capability information for neighboring cells in different systems. For instance, such as... Figure 6F As shown, a new field “nr-FreSdtSupportCellList” has been added to SIB24 to represent the SDT capability information of NR neighbor cells. Among them, the field “carrierFreqListNR” represents the carrier frequency list of the NR system. When a frequency point in the carrier frequency list corresponds to an “nr-FreSdtSupportCellList”, it means that there is a first neighbor cell of the NR system at that frequency point.

[0261] In practical applications, the terminal device may receive SDT capability information of the neighboring cell as described in any of the aforementioned implementation methods, and no specific limitation is made here.

[0262] Furthermore, the SDT information of the neighboring cells in any of the foregoing embodiments includes the cell identifier of at least one first neighboring cell. For example, the cell identifier of the first neighboring cell may be the physical cell identifier (PCI) of the first neighboring cell. For example, the SDT information of the neighboring cells includes a list of PCIs consisting of the physical cell identifiers of at least one first neighboring cell.

[0263] For example, in SIB3 of a 5G NR system, the cell identifier of the aforementioned at least one first neighboring cell is the cell identifier of at least one first neighboring cell with the same frequency; in SIB4 of a 5G NR system, the cell identifier of the aforementioned at least one first neighboring cell is the cell identifier of at least one first neighboring cell with a different frequency; and in SIB5 of a 5G NR system, the cell identifier of the aforementioned at least one first neighboring cell is the cell identifier of at least one first neighboring cell with a different system.

[0264] For example, in SIB4 of the LTE system, the cell identifier of the aforementioned at least one first neighboring cell is the cell identifier of at least one first neighboring cell with the same frequency; in SIB5 of the LTE system, the cell identifier of the aforementioned at least one first neighboring cell is the cell identifier of at least one first neighboring cell with a different frequency; and in SIB24 of the LTE system, the cell identifier of the aforementioned at least one first neighboring cell is the cell identifier of at least one first neighboring cell with a different system.

[0265] It should be understood that the SDT information of a neighboring cell indicates whether a neighboring cell is the first neighboring cell by whether it carries the cell identifier of that neighboring cell. For example, if the SDT information of a neighboring cell contains the cell identifier of neighboring cell A, the terminal device can determine that neighboring cell A is the first neighboring cell based on the cell identifier of neighboring cell A. If the SDT information of a neighboring cell does not contain the cell identifier of neighboring cell B, the terminal device can determine that neighboring cell B is the second neighboring cell, which is a neighboring cell that does not support SDT execution in the inactive state. For an explanation of the second neighboring cell, please refer to the relevant description above; it will not be repeated here.

[0266] Optionally, the SDT information of the neighboring cells in any of the foregoing embodiments further includes the duration of the reselection evaluation timer for the first neighboring cell, which is the duration of the cell-level reselection evaluation timer. Within the duration of the reselection evaluation timer for the first neighboring cell, if the signal quality of the first neighboring cell meets the reselection evaluation conditions (e.g., the signal quality of the first neighboring cell is consistently greater than a certain threshold), then when the reselection evaluation timer for the first neighboring cell times out, the terminal device determines the first neighboring cell as the target cell for reselection. The duration of the reselection evaluation timer for the first neighboring cell is shorter than the duration of the frequency-level reselection evaluation timer for the frequency point where the first neighboring cell is located. Therefore, the reselection evaluation timer for the first neighboring cell is more likely to time out than the frequency-level reselection evaluation timer in conventional technologies, which is beneficial for the terminal device to prioritize the first neighboring cell as the target cell for reselection.

[0267] In one possible implementation, a first neighboring cell corresponds to the duration of a cell-level reselection evaluation timer.

[0268] For example, such as Figure 6G As shown, "physCellId" represents the physical cell identifier of the first neighboring cell, and "t-ReselectionNR" represents the duration of the reselection evaluation timer for the first neighboring cell identified as "physCellId".

[0269] In another possible implementation, multiple first neighboring cells correspond to the duration of one cell-level reselection evaluation timer. For example, multiple first neighboring cells on the same frequency point correspond to the duration of one cell-level reselection evaluation timer.

[0270] For example, such as Figure 6G As shown, "physCellIdList" represents the physical cell identifier of the first neighboring cell, and "t-ReselectionNR" represents the duration of the reselection evaluation timer for the first neighboring cell of any cell in the aforementioned cell list.

[0271] Step 502: The terminal device performs cell reselection based on the SDT capability information of the neighboring cell.

[0272] In one possible implementation, the terminal device determines which neighboring cells are first neighboring cells based on the SDT capability information of the neighboring cells. Then, during the reselection evaluation phase, the terminal device can select a target cell for reselection from the aforementioned first neighboring cells. Therefore, this improves the terminal device's ability to reselect to neighboring cells that support SDT, thereby helping to avoid the terminal device's inability to perform small packet data transmission due to the target cell not supporting SDT.

[0273] In another possible implementation, the terminal device performs cell reselection based on the SDT capability information of neighboring cells and the SDT capability information of the serving cell.

[0274] Specifically, the terminal device can perform reselection evaluation based on the SDT capability information of neighboring cells and the SDT capability information of the serving cell.

[0275] In one possible example, the serving cell's SDT capability information indicates that the serving cell supports SDT in the inactive state, and the terminal device supports SDT in the inactive state. When the terminal device is not in the SDT process, the terminal device performs a reselection evaluation based on the signal quality of the first neighboring cell and the signal quality of the serving cell.

[0276] For example, if the signal quality of the serving cell is greater than the second threshold, and the terminal device determines that a first neighboring cell exists based on the SDT capability information of the neighboring cell, then the terminal device will only select the target cell for reselection from the first neighboring cell. If the terminal device determines that the first neighboring cell does not exist based on the SDT capability information of the neighboring cell, then the terminal device will not determine that the second neighboring cell is the target cell for reselection.

[0277] For example, if the signal quality of the serving cell is less than or equal to the second threshold, and the terminal device determines that the first neighboring cell exists based on the SDT capability information of the neighboring cell, the terminal device will preferentially select the target cell for reselection from the first neighboring cell. If the terminal device determines that the first neighboring cell does not exist based on the SDT capability information of the neighboring cell, the terminal device will perform a reselection evaluation based on the traditional reselection evaluation rules.

[0278] For example, if the signal quality of the serving cell is greater than the second threshold and the mobile speed of the terminal device is less than a preset value, if the terminal device determines that the first neighboring cell exists based on the SDT capability information of the neighboring cell, the terminal device will select the target cell for reselection only from the first neighboring cell. If the terminal device determines that the first neighboring cell does not exist based on the SDT capability information of the neighboring cell, the terminal device will not determine that the second neighboring cell is the target cell for reselection.

[0279] For example, if the signal quality of the serving cell is less than or equal to a second threshold, or if the mobile speed of the terminal device is greater than or equal to a preset value, if the terminal device determines that a first neighboring cell exists based on the SDT capability information of the neighboring cell, the terminal device will preferentially select the target cell for reselection from the first neighboring cell. If the terminal device determines that a first neighboring cell does not exist based on the SDT capability information of the neighboring cell, the terminal device will perform a reselection evaluation based on the traditional reselection evaluation rules.

[0280] Please refer to the preceding text for details. Figure 4A or Figure 4B The relevant descriptions in the corresponding embodiments will not be repeated here.

[0281] In this embodiment, since the terminal device can obtain the SDT capability information of neighboring cells, it is beneficial for the terminal device to select one of the first neighboring cells as the target cell during the cell reselection process. This helps ensure that the terminal device supporting SDT can still transmit small packets after reselecting to the target cell. Furthermore, since the terminal device can obtain the SDT capability information of neighboring cells through the system broadcast message of the serving cell to determine the first neighboring cell, rather than obtaining information indicating whether the neighboring cell supports SDT from the neighboring cell's system broadcast message, it helps to save signaling overhead caused by the terminal device interacting with neighboring cells and improves the efficiency of the terminal device in obtaining the SDT capability information of neighboring cells.

[0282] like Figure 7 The diagram shown is a structural schematic of a communication device 70 provided in this embodiment. It should be understood that the aforementioned... Figure 2 , Figure 3A , Figure 3B , Figure 4A , Figure 4B , Figure 4C or Figure 5 The terminal device in the corresponding method embodiment can be based on this embodiment. Figure 7 The structure of the communication device 70 shown is illustrated. When the communication device 70 is used as a terminal device, the terminal device supports SDT execution in the inactive state.

[0283] The communication device 70 includes at least one processor 701, at least one memory 702, and at least one transceiver 703. The processor 701, memory 702, and transceiver 703 are connected together. Optionally, the communication device 70 may further include an input device 705, an output device 706, and one or more antennas 704. The antennas 704 are connected to the transceiver 703, and the input device 705 and output device 706 are connected to the processor 701.

[0284] In this embodiment, the memory 702 is mainly used to store software programs and data. The memory 702 can exist independently and be connected to the processor 701. Optionally, the memory 702 can be integrated with the processor 701, for example, integrated within one or more chips. The memory 702 can store program code that executes the technical solutions of this application embodiment, and its execution is controlled by the processor 701. The various types of computer program code being executed can also be considered as drivers for the processor 701. It should be understood that in this embodiment… Figure 7 Only one memory and one processor are shown; however, in practical applications, the communication device 70 may have multiple processors or multiple memories, which is not limited here. Furthermore, the memory 702 may also be referred to as a storage medium or storage device, etc. The memory 702 may be a storage element located on the same chip as the processor (i.e., an on-chip storage element), or it may be a separate storage element; this embodiment of the application does not limit this.

[0285] In this embodiment, transceiver 703 can be used to support the reception or transmission of radio frequency signals between communication device 70 and access network equipment. Transceiver 703 can be connected to antenna 704. Transceiver 703 includes transmitter Tx and receiver Rx. Specifically, one or more antennas 704 can receive radio frequency signals. The receiver Rx of transceiver 703 is used to receive the radio frequency signals from antennas 704, convert the radio frequency signals into digital baseband signals or digital intermediate frequency signals, and provide the digital baseband signals or digital intermediate frequency signals to processor 701 so that processor 701 can perform further processing on the digital baseband signals or digital intermediate frequency signals, such as demodulation and decoding. In addition, the transmitter Tx in transceiver 703 is also used to receive modulated digital baseband signals or digital intermediate frequency signals from processor 701, convert the modulated digital baseband signals or digital intermediate frequency signals into radio frequency signals, and transmit the radio frequency signals through one or more antennas 704. Specifically, the receiver Rx can selectively perform one or more stages of downmixing and analog-to-digital conversion on the radio frequency signal to obtain a digital baseband signal or a digital intermediate frequency (IF) signal. The order of the downmixing and IF conversion processes is adjustable. The transmitter Tx can selectively perform one or more stages of upmixing and digital-to-analog conversion on the modulated digital baseband signal or digital IF signal to obtain a radio frequency signal. The order of the upmixing and IF conversion processes is also adjustable. The digital baseband signal and the digital IF signal can be collectively referred to as digital signals.

[0286] It should be understood that the aforementioned transceiver 703 can also be referred to as a transceiver unit, transceiver, transceiver device, etc. Optionally, the device in the transceiver unit used to implement the receiving function can be regarded as the receiving unit, and the device in the transceiver unit used to implement the transmitting function can be regarded as the transmitting unit. That is, the transceiver unit includes a receiving unit and a transmitting unit. The receiving unit can also be referred to as a receiver, input port, receiving circuit, etc., and the transmitting unit can be referred to as a transmitter, transmitter, or transmitting circuit, etc.

[0287] The processor 701 can be a baseband processor or a central processing unit (CPU). The baseband processor and the CPU can be integrated together or separate. The processor 701 can be used to implement various functions for the terminal device, such as processing communication protocols and communication data, or controlling the entire terminal device, executing software programs, and processing data from software programs; or assisting in completing computational processing tasks, such as graphics processing or audio processing; or the processor 701 can be used to implement one or more of the above functions.

[0288] Furthermore, the output device 706 communicates with the processor 701 and can display information in various ways, which are not limited here.

[0289] Specifically, when the communication device 70 performs Figure 2 In the method described in the corresponding embodiment, the transceiver 703 in the communication device 70 is configured to receive small packet transmission SDT capability information of the serving cell and to obtain SDT capability information of neighboring cells of the serving cell. The SDT capability information of the serving cell is used to indicate whether the serving cell supports the terminal device to perform SDT in an inactive state. The SDT capability information of the neighboring cells is used to indicate at least one first neighboring cell, which is a neighboring cell of the serving cell that supports the terminal device to perform SDT in an inactive state. The processor 701 is configured to determine a candidate cell list based on the signal quality of the serving cell and the SDT capability information of the neighboring cells when the SDT capability information of the serving cell indicates that the serving cell supports the terminal device to perform SDT in an inactive state. The candidate cell list includes at least one neighboring cell. The processor 701 is also configured to determine a target cell for reselection based on the candidate cell list. The target cell is a cell in the candidate cell list. In this embodiment, the communication device 70 is able to obtain the SDT capability information of the serving cell and perform cell reselection based on the SDT capability information of the serving cell. Since the communication device 70 considers the SDT capability information of the serving cell during the cell reselection process, it is beneficial for the communication device 70 to select a more suitable target cell for reselection based on the SDT capability information of the serving cell. This, in turn, helps to save the power consumption of the communication device 70 while ensuring that the SDT process of the communication device 70 is not affected.

[0290] Optionally, the processor 701 is further configured to obtain SDT capability information of the terminal device, which is used to indicate whether the terminal device supports performing SDT in an inactive state.

[0291] Furthermore, when the communication device 70 performs Figure 3A or Figure 3B In the method described in the corresponding embodiment, the processor 701 in the communication device 70 is specifically configured to determine whether to initiate frequency point measurement based on the signal quality of the serving cell and a second threshold when the SDT capability information of the serving cell indicates that the serving cell supports SDT execution in the inactive state. For example, it determines whether to initiate measurement of neighboring cells with high priority frequencies based on the signal quality of the serving cell.

[0292] In one possible implementation, the processor 701 is specifically used for:

[0293] When the signal quality of the serving cell is greater than the second threshold, frequency point measurement is suppressed. For example, when the signal quality of the serving cell is greater than the second threshold, neighboring cells measuring high-priority frequencies are not initiated.

[0294] Alternatively, frequency point measurement can be initiated when the signal quality of the serving cell is less than or equal to the second threshold. For example, when the signal quality of the serving cell is less than or equal to the second threshold, cell measurement can be performed based on traditional measurement rules.

[0295] In one possible implementation, the processor 701 is specifically used for:

[0296] When the signal quality of the serving cell is greater than a second threshold and the moving speed of the terminal device is less than a preset value, frequency point measurement is suppressed. For example, when the signal quality of the serving cell is greater than the second threshold and the moving speed of the terminal device is less than a preset value, neighboring cells for measuring high-priority frequencies are not initiated.

[0297] Frequency point measurement is initiated when the signal quality of the serving cell is less than or equal to a second threshold, or when the mobile speed of the terminal device is greater than or equal to a preset value. For example, when the signal quality of the serving cell is less than or equal to the second threshold, or when the mobile speed of the terminal device is greater than or equal to a preset value, cell measurement is performed based on traditional measurement rules.

[0298] Furthermore, when the communication device 70 performs Figure 4A or Figure 4BIn the method corresponding to the embodiment, the processor 701 is specifically configured to: when the SDT capability information of the serving cell indicates that the serving cell supports SDT execution in an inactive state, perform a reselection evaluation based on the SDT status of the terminal device and / or the signal quality of the serving cell. The SDT status of the terminal device includes whether the terminal device is in the SDT process or not in the SDT process.

[0299] In one possible implementation, the candidate cell list includes a first candidate cell list. In this case, the processor 701 is specifically configured to determine the first candidate cell list when the signal quality of the serving cell is less than or equal to a preset first threshold. The first candidate cell list includes at least one first neighboring cell and / or at least one second neighboring cell, where the second neighboring cell is a neighboring cell of the serving cell that does not support the terminal device performing SDT in an inactive state.

[0300] In one possible implementation, the processor 701 is specifically used for:

[0301] When the second candidate cell list contains at least one of the first neighboring cells, a first cell is determined based on the at least one first neighboring cell, and the first cell is a cell among the at least one first neighboring cells; or, when the second candidate cell list does not contain a first neighboring cell, a second cell is determined based on the at least one second neighboring cell, and the second cell is a cell among the at least one second neighboring cell.

[0302] In one possible implementation, the candidate cell list includes a second candidate cell list. Specifically, the processor 701 determines the second candidate cell list when the signal quality of the serving cell is greater than a first threshold and the terminal device is not in the SDT process. The second candidate cell list includes only the at least one first neighboring cell.

[0303] In one possible implementation, the processor 701 is further configured to suspend the reselection evaluation process when the signal quality of the serving cell is greater than a first threshold and during the SDT process.

[0304] In one possible implementation, the processor 701 is specifically used for:

[0305] When the terminal device is not in the SDT process, a reselection evaluation is performed based on the signal quality of the first neighboring cell and the signal quality of the serving cell. The first neighboring cell is a neighboring cell that supports SDT in the inactive state. Alternatively, when the terminal device is in the SDT process, a reselection evaluation is performed based on the signal quality of the serving cell.

[0306] In one possible implementation, the processor 701 is specifically used for:

[0307] If the signal quality of the serving cell is greater than threshold 1, and the first neighboring cell exists, then the target cell for reselection is selected only from the first neighboring cell; if the first neighboring cell does not exist, then it is uncertain whether the second neighboring cell is the target cell for reselection, and this second neighboring cell does not support SDT execution in the inactive state; or,

[0308] If the signal quality of the serving cell is less than or equal to threshold 1, and the first neighboring cell exists, the target cell for reselection is selected from the first neighboring cell first. If the first neighboring cell does not exist, the reselection evaluation is performed based on the traditional reselection evaluation rules.

[0309] In one possible implementation, the processor 701 is specifically used for:

[0310] If the signal quality of the serving cell is greater than a threshold of 2, suspend the reselection evaluation; or...

[0311] If the signal quality of the serving cell is less than or equal to the threshold 2, and the first neighboring cell exists, the target cell for reselection is selected from the first neighboring cell first. If the first neighboring cell does not exist, the reselection evaluation is performed based on the traditional reselection evaluation rules.

[0312] In one possible implementation, the processor 701 is specifically used for:

[0313] If the signal quality of the serving cell is greater than threshold 1 and the mobility rate is less than a preset value, and if the first neighboring cell exists, then the target cell for reselection is selected only from the first neighboring cell; if the first neighboring cell does not exist, then it is uncertain whether the second neighboring cell is the target cell for reselection, and this second neighboring cell is a neighboring cell that does not support SDT execution in the inactive state; or,

[0314] If the signal quality of the serving cell is less than or equal to threshold 1, or the mobile speed is greater than or equal to a preset value, and if the first neighboring cell exists, the target cell for reselection is selected from the first neighboring cell first; if the first neighboring cell does not exist, the reselection evaluation is performed based on the traditional reselection evaluation rules.

[0315] In one possible implementation, the processor 701 is specifically used for:

[0316] If the signal quality of the serving cell is greater than threshold 2 and the mobile speed is less than a preset value, the reselection evaluation is suspended; or,

[0317] If the signal quality of the serving cell is less than or equal to threshold 2, or the mobile speed is greater than or equal to a preset value, and if the first neighboring cell exists, the target cell for reselection is selected from the first neighboring cell first. If the first neighboring cell does not exist, the reselection evaluation is performed based on the traditional reselection evaluation rules.

[0318] Furthermore, when the communication device 70 performs Figure 5 In the method described in the corresponding embodiment, the transceiver 703 in the communication device 70 is used to receive small packet transmission SDT capability information of neighboring cells through the system broadcast message of the serving cell. The SDT capability information of the neighboring cells is used to indicate a first neighboring cell, which is a neighboring cell that supports SDT execution in the inactive state. The processor 701 is used to perform cell reselection based on the SDT capability information of the neighboring cells.

[0319] In one possible implementation, the processor 701 is specifically configured to perform cell reselection based on the SDT capability information of the neighboring cell and the SDT capability information of the serving cell.

[0320] In one possible implementation, the system broadcast message includes a System Information Block (SIB) containing small packet transmission SDT (Small Packet Transmission Technology) capability information for the neighboring cell.

[0321] In one possible implementation, the system information block (SIB) includes at least one of system information block SIB3, system information block SIB4, or system information block SIB5; wherein, SIB3 is used to carry SDT capability information of co-frequency neighboring cells, SIB4 is used to carry SDT capability information of inter-frequency neighboring cells, and SIB5 is used to carry SDT capability information of inter-system neighboring cells.

[0322] In one possible implementation, the system information block (SIB) includes at least one of system information block SIB4, system information block SIB5, or system information block SIB24; wherein, SIB4 is used to carry SDT capability information of co-frequency neighboring cells, SIB5 is used to carry SDT capability information of inter-frequency neighboring cells, and SIB24 is used to carry SDT capability information of inter-system neighboring cells.

[0323] Optionally, the SDT information of the neighboring cell includes at least one cell identifier of the first neighboring cell.

[0324] Optionally, the SDT information of the neighboring cell may also include the duration of the reselection evaluation timer of the first neighboring cell, wherein the duration of the reselection evaluation timer of the first neighboring cell is less than the duration of the frequency-level reselection evaluation timer of the frequency point where the first neighboring cell is located.

[0325] It should be noted that the specific implementation method and beneficial effects of this embodiment can be referred to the terminal device method in the above embodiments, and will not be repeated here.

[0326] like Figure 8 As shown, this application also provides another communication device 80, which can be a terminal device or a chip in a terminal device. The communication device 80 includes a transceiver module 801 and a processing module 802.

[0327] Specifically, when communication device 80 executes Figure 2 In the method described in the corresponding embodiment, the transceiver module 801 in the communication device 80 is configured to receive small packet transmission SDT capability information of the serving cell, and to obtain SDT capability information of neighboring cells of the serving cell. The SDT capability information of the serving cell is used to indicate whether the serving cell supports the terminal device to perform SDT in an inactive state. The SDT capability information of the neighboring cells is used to indicate at least one first neighboring cell, which is a neighboring cell of the serving cell that supports the terminal device to perform SDT in an inactive state. The processing module 802 is configured to determine a candidate cell list based on the signal quality of the serving cell and the SDT capability information of the neighboring cells when the SDT capability information of the serving cell indicates that the serving cell supports the terminal device to perform SDT in an inactive state. The candidate cell list includes at least one neighboring cell. The processing module 802 is further configured to determine a target cell for reselection based on the candidate cell list. The target cell is a cell in the candidate cell list. In this embodiment, the communication device 80 is able to obtain the SDT capability information of the serving cell and perform cell reselection based on the SDT capability information of the serving cell. Since the communication device 80 considers the SDT capability information of the serving cell during the cell reselection process, it is beneficial for the communication device 80 to select a more suitable target cell for reselection based on the SDT capability information of the serving cell. This, in turn, helps to save the power consumption of the communication device 80 while ensuring that the SDT process of the communication device 80 is not affected.

[0328] Optionally, the processing module 802 is further configured to obtain the SDT capability information of the terminal device, which is used to indicate whether the terminal device supports performing SDT in an inactive state.

[0329] In addition, when the communication device 80 performs Figure 3A or Figure 3B In the corresponding embodiment, the processing module 802 in the communication device 80 is specifically used to determine whether to initiate frequency point measurement based on the signal quality of the serving cell and a second threshold when the SDT capability information of the serving cell indicates that the serving cell supports SDT execution in the inactive state. For example, it determines whether to initiate measurement of neighboring cells with high priority frequencies based on the signal quality of the serving cell.

[0330] In one possible implementation, the processing module 802 is specifically used for:

[0331] When the signal quality of the serving cell is greater than the second threshold, frequency point measurement is suppressed. For example, when the signal quality of the serving cell is greater than the second threshold, neighboring cells measuring high-priority frequencies are not initiated.

[0332] Alternatively, frequency point measurement can be initiated when the signal quality of the serving cell is less than or equal to the second threshold. For example, when the signal quality of the serving cell is less than or equal to the second threshold, cell measurement can be performed based on traditional measurement rules.

[0333] In one possible implementation, the processing module 802 is specifically used for:

[0334] When the signal quality of the serving cell is greater than a second threshold and the moving speed of the terminal device is less than a preset value, frequency point measurement is suppressed. For example, when the signal quality of the serving cell is greater than the second threshold and the moving speed of the terminal device is less than a preset value, neighboring cells for measuring high-priority frequencies are not initiated.

[0335] Frequency point measurement is initiated when the signal quality of the serving cell is less than or equal to a second threshold, or when the mobile speed of the terminal device is greater than or equal to a preset value. For example, when the signal quality of the serving cell is less than or equal to the second threshold, or when the mobile speed of the terminal device is greater than or equal to a preset value, cell measurement is performed based on traditional measurement rules.

[0336] In addition, when the communication device 80 performs Figure 4A or Figure 4B In the method corresponding to the embodiment, the processing module 802 is specifically used to: when the SDT capability information of the serving cell indicates that the serving cell supports SDT execution in the inactive state, perform a reselection evaluation based on the SDT status of the terminal device and / or the signal quality of the serving cell. The SDT status of the terminal device includes whether the terminal device is in the SDT process or not in the SDT process.

[0337] In one possible implementation, the candidate cell list includes a first candidate cell list. In this case, the processing module 802 is specifically configured to determine the first candidate cell list when the signal quality of the serving cell is less than or equal to a preset first threshold. The first candidate cell list includes at least one first neighboring cell and / or at least one second neighboring cell, where the second neighboring cell is a neighboring cell of the serving cell that does not support the terminal device performing SDT in an inactive state.

[0338] In one possible implementation, the processing module 802 is specifically used for:

[0339] When the second candidate cell list contains at least one of the first neighboring cells, a first cell is determined based on the at least one first neighboring cell, and the first cell is a cell among the at least one first neighboring cells; or, when the second candidate cell list does not contain a first neighboring cell, a second cell is determined based on the at least one second neighboring cell, and the second cell is a cell among the at least one second neighboring cell.

[0340] In one possible implementation, the candidate cell list includes a second candidate cell list. In this case, the processing module 802 is specifically configured to determine the second candidate cell list when the signal quality of the serving cell is greater than a first threshold and the terminal device is not in the SDT process. The second candidate cell list includes only the at least one first neighboring cell.

[0341] In one possible implementation, the processing module 802 is further configured to pause the reselection evaluation process when the signal quality of the serving cell is greater than a first threshold and during the SDT process.

[0342] In one possible implementation, the processing module 802 is specifically used for:

[0343] When the terminal device is not in the SDT process, a reselection evaluation is performed based on the signal quality of the first neighboring cell and the signal quality of the serving cell. The first neighboring cell is a neighboring cell that supports SDT in the inactive state. Alternatively, when the terminal device is in the SDT process, a reselection evaluation is performed based on the signal quality of the serving cell.

[0344] In one possible implementation, the processing module 802 is specifically used for:

[0345] If the signal quality of the serving cell is greater than threshold 1, and the first neighboring cell exists, then the target cell for reselection is selected only from the first neighboring cell; if the first neighboring cell does not exist, then it is uncertain whether the second neighboring cell is the target cell for reselection, and this second neighboring cell does not support SDT execution in the inactive state; or,

[0346] If the signal quality of the serving cell is less than or equal to threshold 1, and the first neighboring cell exists, the target cell for reselection is selected from the first neighboring cell first. If the first neighboring cell does not exist, the reselection evaluation is performed based on the traditional reselection evaluation rules.

[0347] In one possible implementation, the processing module 802 is specifically used for:

[0348] If the signal quality of the serving cell is greater than a threshold of 2, suspend the reselection evaluation; or...

[0349] If the signal quality of the serving cell is less than or equal to the threshold 2, and the first neighboring cell exists, the target cell for reselection is selected from the first neighboring cell first. If the first neighboring cell does not exist, the reselection evaluation is performed based on the traditional reselection evaluation rules.

[0350] In one possible implementation, the processing module 802 is specifically used for:

[0351] If the signal quality of the serving cell is greater than threshold 1 and the mobility rate is less than a preset value, and if the first neighboring cell exists, then the target cell for reselection is selected only from the first neighboring cell; if the first neighboring cell does not exist, then it is uncertain whether the second neighboring cell is the target cell for reselection, and this second neighboring cell is a neighboring cell that does not support SDT execution in the inactive state; or,

[0352] If the signal quality of the serving cell is less than or equal to threshold 1, or the mobile speed is greater than or equal to a preset value, and if the first neighboring cell exists, the target cell for reselection is selected from the first neighboring cell first; if the first neighboring cell does not exist, the reselection evaluation is performed based on the traditional reselection evaluation rules.

[0353] In one possible implementation, the processing module 802 is specifically used for:

[0354] If the signal quality of the serving cell is greater than threshold 2 and the mobile speed is less than a preset value, the reselection evaluation is suspended; or,

[0355] If the signal quality of the serving cell is less than or equal to threshold 2, or the mobile speed is greater than or equal to a preset value, and if the first neighboring cell exists, the target cell for reselection is selected from the first neighboring cell first. If the first neighboring cell does not exist, the reselection evaluation is performed based on the traditional reselection evaluation rules.

[0356] In addition, when the communication device 80 performs Figure 5 In the method described in the corresponding embodiment, the transceiver module 801 in the communication device 80 is used to receive small packet transmission SDT capability information of neighboring cells through the system broadcast message of the serving cell. The SDT capability information of the neighboring cells is used to indicate a first neighboring cell, which is a neighboring cell that supports SDT execution in the inactive state. The processing module 802 is used to perform cell reselection based on the SDT capability information of the neighboring cells.

[0357] In one possible implementation, the processing module 802 is specifically used to perform cell reselection based on the SDT capability information of the neighboring cell and the SDT capability information of the serving cell.

[0358] In one possible implementation, the system broadcast message includes a System Information Block (SIB) containing small packet transmission SDT (Small Packet Transmission Technology) capability information for the neighboring cell.

[0359] In one possible implementation, the system information block (SIB) includes at least one of system information block SIB3, system information block SIB4, or system information block SIB5; wherein, SIB3 is used to carry SDT capability information of co-frequency neighboring cells, SIB4 is used to carry SDT capability information of inter-frequency neighboring cells, and SIB5 is used to carry SDT capability information of inter-system neighboring cells.

[0360] In one possible implementation, the system information block (SIB) includes at least one of system information block SIB4, system information block SIB5, or system information block SIB24; wherein, SIB4 is used to carry SDT capability information of co-frequency neighboring cells, SIB5 is used to carry SDT capability information of inter-frequency neighboring cells, and SIB24 is used to carry SDT capability information of inter-system neighboring cells.

[0361] Optionally, the SDT information of the neighboring cell includes at least one cell identifier of the first neighboring cell.

[0362] Optionally, the SDT information of the neighboring cell may also include the duration of the reselection evaluation timer of the first neighboring cell, wherein the duration of the reselection evaluation timer of the first neighboring cell is less than the duration of the frequency-level reselection evaluation timer of the frequency point where the first neighboring cell is located.

[0363] It should be noted that the specific implementation method and beneficial effects of this embodiment can be referred to the terminal device method in the above embodiments, and will not be repeated here.

[0364] In implementation, each step of the above method can be completed by integrated logic circuits in the processor hardware or by instructions in software. The steps of the method disclosed in the embodiments of this application can be directly implemented by a hardware processor, or by a combination of hardware and software modules in the processor. The software modules can reside in random access memory, flash memory, read-only memory, programmable read-only memory, electrically erasable programmable memory, registers, or other mature storage media in the art. This storage medium is located in memory, and the processor reads information from the memory and, in conjunction with its hardware, completes the steps of the above method. To avoid repetition, detailed descriptions are omitted here. It should also be understood that the terms "first," "second," "third," "fourth," and various numerical designations used herein are merely for descriptive convenience and are not intended to limit the scope of the embodiments of this application.

[0365] Furthermore, this application provides a computer program product comprising one or more computer instructions. When these computer program instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, all or part of the processes or functions described in the embodiments of this application are generated. For example, implementing the aforementioned... Figure 2 , Figure 3A , Figure 3B , Figure 4A , Figure 4B , Figure 4C or Figure 5Methods related to terminal devices in the process. 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. For example, the computer instructions can be transmitted from one website, computer, server, or data center to another via wired (e.g., coaxial cable, fiber optic, digital subscriber line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) means. The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that a computer can store or a data storage device such as a server or data center that integrates one or more available media. The available medium can be a magnetic medium (e.g., floppy disk, hard disk, magnetic tape), an optical medium (e.g., digital versatile disc (DVD)), or a semiconductor medium (e.g., solid-state disk (SSD)).

[0366] Furthermore, this application also provides a computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program that is executed by a processor to perform the aforementioned functions. Figure 2 , Figure 3A , Figure 3B , Figure 4A , Figure 4B , Figure 4C or Figure 5 Methods related to terminal devices in [the context of the text].

[0367] It should be understood that in the various embodiments of this application, the order of the above-mentioned processes does not imply the order of execution. The execution order of each process should be determined by its function and internal logic, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiments of this application.

[0368] Those skilled in the art will clearly understand that, for the sake of convenience and brevity, the specific working processes of the systems, devices, and units described above can be referred to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments, and will not be repeated here.

[0369] The above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of this application, and are not intended to limit them. Although this application has been described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, those skilled in the art should understand that modifications can still be made to the technical solutions described in the foregoing embodiments, or equivalent substitutions can be made to some of the technical features. Such modifications or substitutions do not cause the essence of the corresponding technical solutions to deviate from the spirit and scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of this application.

Claims

1. A cell reselection method, characterized in that, The method is applied to a terminal device, which supports SDT execution in an inactive state, and the method includes: The serving cell transmits small packets containing SDT capability information, which is used to indicate whether the serving cell supports the terminal device to perform SDT in an inactive state. Obtain SDT capability information of neighboring cells of the serving cell. The SDT capability information of the neighboring cells is used to indicate at least one first neighboring cell, which is a neighboring cell of the serving cell that supports the terminal device to perform SDT in the inactive state. When the SDT capability information of the serving cell indicates that the serving cell supports the terminal device to perform SDT in the inactive state, a candidate cell list is determined based on the signal quality of the serving cell and the SDT capability information of the neighboring cells. The candidate cell list includes at least one neighboring cell. When performing the step of determining the candidate cell list, the corresponding operation is performed according to the following conditions: When the signal quality of the serving cell is greater than a first threshold and the terminal device is not in the SDT process, a second candidate cell list is determined in the candidate cell list, and the second candidate cell list only includes the at least one first neighboring cell; When the signal quality of the serving cell is greater than the first threshold, and the terminal device is in the SDT process, the reselection evaluation process is paused; The target cell for reselection is determined based on the candidate cell list, wherein the target cell is a cell in the candidate cell list.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The candidate cell list includes a first candidate cell list; The step of determining the candidate cell list based on the signal quality of the serving cell and the SDT capability information of the neighboring cells includes: When the signal quality of the serving cell is less than or equal to a preset first threshold, a first candidate cell list is determined, the first candidate cell list including at least one first neighbor cell and / or at least one second neighbor cell; The second neighboring cell is a neighboring cell of the serving cell that does not support the terminal device performing SDT in the inactive state.

3. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that, The step of determining the target cell for reselection based on the candidate cell list includes: When the first candidate cell list contains at least one first neighbor cell, a first cell is determined based on the at least one first neighbor cell, and the first cell is a cell among the at least one first neighbor cell; or, When the first candidate cell list does not contain the first neighboring cell, a second cell is determined based on the at least one second neighboring cell, and the second cell is a cell among the at least one second neighboring cell.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that, Before determining the candidate cell list based on the signal quality of the serving cell and the SDT capability information of the neighboring cells, the method further includes: Whether to initiate frequency point measurement is determined based on the signal quality of the serving cell and a second threshold, wherein the second threshold is greater than the initiation threshold of co-frequency neighboring cells, and the second threshold is greater than the initiation threshold of non-co-frequency neighboring cells.

5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that, The step of determining whether to initiate frequency point measurement based on the signal quality of the serving cell and a second threshold includes: When the signal quality of the serving cell is greater than the second threshold, the frequency point measurement is suppressed. or, Frequency point measurement is initiated when the signal quality of the serving cell is less than or equal to the second threshold.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that, The step of obtaining the SDT capability information of the neighboring cells of the serving cell includes: Receive the system broadcast message from the serving cell, the system broadcast message including SDT capability information of neighboring cells.

7. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that, The system broadcast message includes a System Information Block (SIB), and the small packet transmission capability (SDT) information of the neighboring cell is located in the System Information Block (SIB).

8. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that, The system information block SIB includes at least one of system information block SIB3, system information block SIB4, or system information block SIB5; SIB3 is used to carry SDT capability information of co-frequency neighboring cells, SIB4 is used to carry SDT capability information of inter-frequency neighboring cells, and SIB5 is used to carry SDT capability information of inter-system neighboring cells.

9. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that, The system information block SIB includes at least one of system information block SIB4, system information block SIB5, or system information block SIB24. SIB4 is used to carry SDT capability information of co-frequency neighboring cells, SIB5 is used to carry SDT capability information of inter-frequency neighboring cells, and SIB24 is used to carry SDT capability information of inter-system neighboring cells.

10. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that, The SDT capability information of the neighboring cell includes a cell identifier, which is used to indicate at least one cell that supports the terminal device in performing SDT in the inactive state.

11. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that, The SDT capability information of the neighboring cell also includes the duration of the reselection evaluation timer of the first neighboring cell, wherein the duration of the reselection evaluation timer of the first neighboring cell is less than the duration of the frequency-level reselection evaluation timer of the frequency point where the first neighboring cell is located.

12. A communication device, characterized in that, The communication device is a terminal device, and the terminal device supports performing SDT in an inactive state, including: The transceiver module is used to receive small packet transmission SDT capability information of the serving cell, and to receive SDT capability information of neighboring cells of the serving cell. The SDT capability information of the serving cell is used to indicate whether the serving cell supports the terminal device to perform SDT in the inactive state. The SDT capability information of the neighboring cells is used to indicate at least one first neighboring cell, which is a neighboring cell of the serving cell that supports the terminal device to perform SDT in the inactive state. The processing module is configured to determine a candidate cell list based on the signal quality of the serving cell and the SDT capability information of the neighboring cells when the SDT capability information of the serving cell indicates that the serving cell supports the terminal device to perform SDT in an inactive state. The candidate cell list includes at least one neighboring cell. When the processing module performs the step of determining the candidate cell list, it specifically performs the corresponding operation based on the following conditions: When the signal quality of the serving cell is greater than a first threshold and the terminal device is not in the SDT process, a second candidate cell list is determined in the candidate cell list, and the second candidate cell list only includes the at least one first neighboring cell; When the signal quality of the serving cell is greater than the first threshold, and the terminal device is in the SDT process, the reselection evaluation process is paused; The processing module is further configured to determine the target cell for reselection based on the candidate cell list, wherein the target cell is a cell in the candidate cell list.

13. The communication device according to claim 12, characterized in that, The candidate cell list includes a first candidate cell list; The processing module is specifically used to determine a first candidate cell list when the signal quality of the serving cell is less than or equal to a preset first threshold. The first candidate cell list includes at least one first neighbor cell and / or at least one second neighbor cell, where the second neighbor cell is a neighbor cell of the serving cell that does not support the terminal device performing SDT in the inactive state.

14. The communication device according to claim 13, characterized in that, The processing module is specifically used for: When the first candidate cell list contains at least one first neighbor cell, a first cell is determined based on the at least one first neighbor cell, and the first cell is a cell among the at least one first neighbor cell; or, When the first candidate cell list does not contain the first neighboring cell, a second cell is determined based on the at least one second neighboring cell, and the second cell is a cell among the at least one second neighboring cell.

15. The communication device according to any one of claims 12 to 14, characterized in that, The processing module is further configured to determine whether to initiate frequency point measurement based on the signal quality of the serving cell and a second threshold, wherein the second threshold is greater than the start-up threshold of co-frequency neighboring cells and is also greater than the start-up threshold of non-co-frequency neighboring cells.

16. The communication device according to claim 15, characterized in that, The processing module is specifically used for: When the signal quality of the serving cell is greater than the second threshold, the frequency point measurement is suppressed. or, Frequency point measurement is initiated when the signal quality of the serving cell is less than or equal to the second threshold.

17. The communication device according to any one of claims 12 to 16, characterized in that, The transceiver module is specifically used to receive system broadcast messages from the serving cell, which include SDT capability information of neighboring cells.

18. The communication device according to claim 17, characterized in that, The system broadcast message includes a System Information Block (SIB), and the small packet transmission capability (SDT) information of the neighboring cell is located in the System Information Block (SIB).

19. The communication device according to claim 18, characterized in that, The system information block SIB includes at least one of system information block SIB3, system information block SIB4, or system information block SIB5; SIB3 is used to carry SDT capability information of co-frequency neighboring cells, SIB4 is used to carry SDT capability information of inter-frequency neighboring cells, and SIB5 is used to carry SDT capability information of inter-system neighboring cells.

20. The communication device according to claim 18, characterized in that, The system information block SIB includes at least one of system information block SIB4, system information block SIB5, or system information block SIB24. SIB4 is used to carry SDT capability information of co-frequency neighboring cells, SIB5 is used to carry SDT capability information of inter-frequency neighboring cells, and SIB24 is used to carry SDT capability information of inter-system neighboring cells.

21. The communication device according to any one of claims 12 to 20, characterized in that, The SDT capability information of the neighboring cell includes a cell identifier, which is used to indicate at least one cell that supports the terminal device in performing SDT in the inactive state.

22. The communication device according to any one of claims 12 to 21, characterized in that, The SDT capability information of the neighboring cell also includes the duration of the reselection evaluation timer of the first neighboring cell, wherein the duration of the reselection evaluation timer of the first neighboring cell is less than the duration of the frequency-level reselection evaluation timer of the frequency point where the first neighboring cell is located.

23. A communication device, characterized in that, Including processor and memory; The memory stores computer programs; The processor invokes the computer program to cause the communication device to perform the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 11.

24. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, The system stores instructions that, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 11.

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