Terminal paging method, device and system under multi-layer satellite network

Abstract

The invention provides a terminal paging method, device and system under a multi-layer satellite network, and relates to the field of wireless access networks. The terminal paging method comprises the following steps: receiving a first paging message sent by a ground core network corresponding to a terminal; sending a second paging message to the terminal according to the first paging message; receiving terminal information sent by the terminal; based on the terminal information and the ephemeris information of the low-earth-orbit satellites, selecting a target low-earth-orbit satellite; and sending the third paging message to the target low earth orbit satellite to instruct the target low earth orbit satellite to send a fourth paging message to the terminal.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to the field of wireless access networks, and in particular to a terminal paging method, device and system in a multi-layer satellite network. Background Art

[0002] Compared with ground networks, satellite networks have significant advantages in supporting emergency communications and ubiquitous connectivity. Satellite systems built using the advantages of satellites in different orbital planes have become an important means of achieving global communication coverage. High-orbit satellites have a large coverage area, but high latency; low-orbit satellites have low latency, but face problems such as frequent switching and severe Doppler shift.

[0003] Most of the terminal paging solutions in the related art are designed only for fixed terrestrial networks, and a few are designed for single-layer satellite networks. However, terminal paging solutions only for fixed terrestrial networks or single-layer satellite networks are not suitable for terminal paging solutions in multi-layer satellite networks. Summary of the invention

[0004] A technical problem to be solved by the present disclosure is to provide a terminal paging method, device and system in a multi-layer satellite network, which can realize terminal paging in a multi-layer satellite network without performing location area planning and management.

[0005] According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a terminal paging method in a multi-layer satellite network is proposed, which is executed by a high-orbit satellite, including: receiving a first paging message sent by a ground core network corresponding to the terminal; sending a second paging message to the terminal based on the first paging message; receiving terminal information sent by the terminal; selecting a target low-orbit satellite based on the terminal information and low-orbit satellite ephemeris information; and sending a third paging message to the target low-orbit satellite to instruct the target low-orbit satellite to send a fourth paging message to the terminal.

[0006] In some embodiments, the terminal information includes the terminal identification and terminal location information. Based on the terminal information and the low-orbit satellite ephemeris information, selecting the target low-orbit satellite includes: based on the terminal location information and the low-orbit satellite ephemeris information, selecting the low-orbit satellite closest to the terminal as the target low-orbit satellite.

[0007] In some embodiments, the terminal information also includes terminal type and terminal capabilities. Based on the terminal information and low-orbit satellite ephemeris information, selecting a target low-orbit satellite also includes: based on the terminal position information and low-orbit satellite ephemeris information, selecting a low-orbit satellite that is closest to the terminal and is adapted to the terminal type and terminal capabilities as the target low-orbit satellite.

[0008] In some embodiments, the terminal information includes the terminal identification and terminal location information. Based on the terminal information and the low-orbit satellite ephemeris information, selecting the target low-orbit satellite includes: based on the terminal location information and the low-orbit satellite ephemeris information, selecting the low-orbit satellite with the longest remaining visible time with the terminal as the target low-orbit satellite.

[0009] In some embodiments, the terminal information also includes terminal type and terminal capabilities. Based on the terminal information and the low-orbit satellite ephemeris information, selecting the target low-orbit satellite also includes: based on the terminal position information and the low-orbit satellite ephemeris information, selecting the low-orbit satellite with the longest remaining visible time with the terminal and that is adapted to the terminal type and terminal capabilities as the target low-orbit satellite.

[0010] In some embodiments, the first paging message includes an identifier of the terminal, an identifier of a high-orbit satellite, first expected sending time information, and first expected sending frequency information, wherein the first expected sending time information is used to indicate the time when the high-orbit satellite sends the second paging message; and the first expected sending frequency information is used to indicate the frequency and bandwidth of the high-orbit satellite to send the second paging message.

[0011] In some embodiments, the high-orbit satellite includes at least one centralized unit and at least one paging module, one centralized unit corresponds to one paging module, the first paging message also includes a centralized unit identifier, and sending a second paging message to the terminal according to the first paging message includes: the centralized unit that receives the first paging message sends a fifth paging message to the corresponding paging module, wherein the fifth paging message includes the terminal identifier, the high-orbit satellite identifier, the first expected sending time information, the first expected sending frequency information, the centralized unit identifier and the paging module identifier; and the paging module that receives the fifth paging message sends the second paging message to the terminal on the corresponding wireless resource according to the first expected sending time information and the first expected sending frequency information.

[0012] In some embodiments, the third paging message includes: an identifier of the target low-orbit satellite, second expected sending time information, and second expected sending frequency information, wherein the second expected sending time information is used to indicate the time when the target low-orbit satellite sends the fourth paging message; and the second expected sending frequency information is used to indicate the frequency and bandwidth of the target low-orbit satellite to send the fourth paging message.

[0013] In some embodiments, the high-orbit satellite includes at least one centralized unit, and the third paging message further includes a centralized unit identifier.

[0014] In some embodiments, when the terminal information fed back by the terminal is not received, the second paging message is repeatedly sent to the terminal; and when the number of times the second paging message is repeatedly sent to the terminal reaches a threshold and the terminal information fed back by the terminal is still not received, a paging failure message is fed back to the ground core network.

[0015] According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a terminal paging method under a multi-layer satellite network is also proposed, which is executed by the terminal, including: receiving a second paging message sent by a high-orbit satellite, wherein the high-orbit satellite sends the second paging message after receiving the first paging message sent by the ground core network corresponding to the terminal; sending terminal information to the high-orbit satellite, so that the high-orbit satellite selects a target low-orbit satellite based on the terminal information and the low-orbit satellite ephemeris information, and sends a third paging message to the target low-orbit satellite; receiving a fourth paging message sent by the target low-orbit satellite; and when it is found that the paging target of the fourth paging message is the terminal, establishing a connection through the target low-orbit satellite, the high-orbit satellite and the ground core network.

[0016] According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a terminal paging device under a multi-layer satellite network is also proposed, including: a first receiving module, configured to receive a first paging message sent by a ground core network corresponding to the terminal, and receive terminal information sent by the terminal; a first sending module, configured to send a second paging message to the terminal according to the first paging message, and send a third paging message to the target low-orbit satellite to instruct the target low-orbit satellite to send a fourth paging message to the terminal; and a selection module, configured to select the target low-orbit satellite based on the terminal information and the low-orbit satellite ephemeris information.

[0017] According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a terminal paging device in a multi-layer satellite network is also proposed, including: a memory; and a processor coupled to the memory, the processor being configured to execute the terminal paging method in a multi-layer satellite network as described above based on instructions stored in the memory.

[0018] According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a terminal paging device under a multi-layer satellite network is also proposed, including: a second receiving module, configured to receive a second paging message sent by a high-orbit satellite, wherein the high-orbit satellite sends a second paging message after receiving the first paging message sent by the ground core network corresponding to the terminal, and receives a fourth paging message sent by the target low-orbit satellite; a second sending module, configured to send terminal information to the high-orbit satellite, so that the high-orbit satellite selects the target low-orbit satellite based on the terminal information and the low-orbit satellite ephemeris information, and sends a third paging message to the target low-orbit satellite; and a connection establishment module, configured to establish a connection through the target low-orbit satellite, the high-orbit satellite and the ground core network when it is queried that the paging target of the fourth paging message is the terminal.

[0019] According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a terminal paging device in a multi-layer satellite network is also proposed, including: a memory; and a processor coupled to the memory, the processor being configured to execute the terminal paging method in a multi-layer satellite network as described above based on instructions stored in the memory.

[0020] According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a terminal paging system under a multi-layer satellite network is also proposed, comprising: a high-orbit satellite including the above-mentioned terminal paging device under the multi-layer satellite network; a terminal including the above-mentioned terminal paging device under the multi-layer satellite network; and a low-orbit satellite, configured to receive a third paging message sent by the high-orbit satellite and send a fourth paging message to the terminal.

[0021] According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a computer-readable storage medium is also provided, on which computer program instructions are stored, and when the instructions are executed by a processor, the terminal paging method in the multi-layer satellite network as described above is implemented.

[0022] According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a computer program product is also proposed, including a computer program or an instruction, and when the computer program or the instruction is executed by a processor, the terminal paging method in the multi-layer satellite network is implemented.

[0023] Compared with the related art, the embodiment of the present disclosure utilizes geostationary high-orbit satellites to send paging messages, obtain terminal information, and select target low-orbit satellites when performing terminal paging. Terminal paging can be achieved without location area planning and management. In addition, since the coverage range of high-orbit satellites is large and fixed, the success rate of the terminal receiving paging messages is improved.

[0024] Other features and advantages of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following detailed description of exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure with reference to the accompanying drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0025] The accompanying drawings, which constitute a part of the specification, illustrate embodiments of the present disclosure and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the present disclosure.

[0026] The present disclosure may be more clearly understood from the following detailed description with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0027] Figure 1 It is a flowchart of some embodiments of the terminal paging method in a multi-layer satellite network disclosed in the present invention;

[0028] Figure 2 Schematic diagram of some embodiments of a multi-layer satellite network based on a CU-DU separation architecture disclosed in the present invention;

[0029] Figure 3 Schematic diagram of the flow chart of other embodiments of the terminal paging method in a multi-layer satellite network disclosed in the present invention;

[0030] Figure 4 Schematic diagram of the flow chart of other embodiments of the terminal paging method in a multi-layer satellite network disclosed in the present invention;

[0031] Figure 5Schematic diagram of the flow chart of other embodiments of the terminal paging method in a multi-layer satellite network disclosed in the present invention;

[0032] Figure 6 It is a schematic diagram of the structure of some embodiments of the terminal paging device in the multi-layer satellite network of the present disclosure;

[0033] Figure 7 It is a schematic diagram of the structure of some other embodiments of the terminal paging device in the multi-layer satellite network disclosed in the present invention;

[0034] Figure 8 It is a schematic diagram of the structure of some other embodiments of the terminal paging device in the multi-layer satellite network disclosed in the present invention;

[0035] Fig. 9 It is a schematic diagram of the structure of some other embodiments of the terminal paging device in the multi-layer satellite network disclosed in the present invention;

[0036] Fig.10 It is a schematic diagram of the structure of some embodiments of the terminal paging system in the multi-layer satellite network of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0037] Various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that the relative arrangement of components and steps, numerical expressions and numerical values ​​set forth in these embodiments do not limit the scope of the present disclosure unless otherwise specifically stated.

[0038] At the same time, it should be understood that for the convenience of description, the sizes of the various parts shown in the drawings are not drawn according to the actual proportional relationship.

[0039] The following description of at least one exemplary embodiment is merely illustrative in nature and is in no way intended to limit the present disclosure, its application, or uses.

[0040] Technologies, methods, and equipment known to ordinary technicians in the relevant art may not be discussed in detail, but where appropriate, the technologies, methods, and equipment should be considered as part of the specification.

[0041] In all examples shown and discussed herein, any specific values ​​should be interpreted as merely exemplary and not as limiting. Therefore, other examples of the exemplary embodiments may have different values.

[0042] It should be noted that like reference numerals and letters refer to similar items in the following figures, and therefore, once an item is defined in one figure, it need not be further discussed in subsequent figures.

[0043] In order to make the objectives, technical solutions and advantages of the present disclosure more clearly understood, the present disclosure is further described in detail below in combination with specific embodiments and with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0044] There is a difference in orbital altitude between high-orbit satellites and low-orbit satellites. A high-orbit satellite is a satellite that flies at an altitude greater than 20,000 kilometers. For example, a high-orbit satellite is a satellite in an orbit about 36,000 kilometers from the earth. This orbit is also called a geosynchronous orbit or a geostationary orbit. A low-orbit satellite is generally a few hundred kilometers to two thousand kilometers away from the earth's surface.

[0045] In order to fully combine the advantages and characteristics of high-orbit and low-orbit satellites, we can refer to the architecture of separate deployment of CU (Centralized Unit) and DU (Distributed Unit) in the ground 5G network, deploy CU on high-orbit satellites and DU on low-orbit satellites. This deployment method has the following advantages: (1) It reduces the requirements for satellite payload capacity, provides network capability openness, and reduces operation and maintenance costs; (2) The high-orbit satellite CU has a large coverage area. In most cases, it only needs to perform switching between low-orbit satellite DUs under the same high-orbit satellite CU, reducing signaling overhead and transmission delay, and ensuring the continuity of user services; (3) Each low-orbit satellite DU can realize virtualized MIMO, thereby improving transmission capacity and reliability; (4) The high-orbit satellite CU can realize centralized load management, uniformly dispatch the resources of each low-orbit satellite DU, and obtain pooling gain.

[0046] In the traditional terrestrial network based on CU-DU separation architecture, when the terminal is in idle state and the network side has data transmission requirements, the network will send a paging message on the cell corresponding to the terminal's registered location area. However, in the multi-layer satellite network architecture based on CU-DU separation architecture, the DU deployed on the low-orbit satellite will move at high speed with the low-orbit satellite, causing the terminal's location area to change rapidly, so the traditional location area-based paging method is no longer applicable.

[0047] The present disclosure provides a terminal paging method in a multi-layer satellite network, which can realize terminal paging without location area planning and management, and improve the success rate of the terminal receiving paging messages. The scheme of the present disclosure will be introduced below by taking a specific embodiment as an example.

[0048] Figure 1 It is a flowchart of some embodiments of the terminal paging method in a multi-layer satellite network of the present disclosure, which is executed by a high-orbit satellite and includes steps S11-S15.

[0049] In step S11, a first paging message sent by a terrestrial core network corresponding to the receiving terminal.

[0050] In some embodiments, due to the large coverage of high-orbit satellites, the terminal is often only served by one high-orbit satellite and will not leave the service range of the high-orbit satellite. Therefore, when the terminal is in an idle state and there is a demand for data transmission on the network side, the ground core network AMF (Access and Mobility Management Function) queries the location of the terminal in the last connection state, and queries the high-orbit satellite corresponding to the location based on the high-orbit satellite ephemeris information and uses it as the target high-orbit satellite. The ground core network AMF generates a first paging message and sends the first paging message to the target high-orbit satellite.

[0051] In some embodiments, the first paging message includes an identifier of the terminal, an identifier of a high-orbit satellite, first expected sending time information, and first expected sending frequency information, wherein the first expected sending time information is used to indicate the time when the high-orbit satellite sends the second paging message, and the first expected sending frequency information is used to indicate the frequency and bandwidth of the high-orbit satellite to send the second paging message.

[0052] The high-orbit satellite can identify whether it is the target high-orbit satellite based on the identifier of the high-orbit satellite in the first paging message, that is, whether the first paging message is a message sent to itself.

[0053] The high-orbit satellite can determine to which terminal the second paging message needs to be sent according to the identifier of the terminal in the first paging message.

[0054] In some embodiments, the terminal is, for example, a UE (User Equipment), which is a device with wireless transceiver function, and can communicate with one or more CN (core network) via an access network device in a (R)AN ((radio) access network). The user equipment can be a mobile phone, a tablet computer (Pad), a computer with wireless transceiver function, a VR (virtual reality) terminal device, an AR (augmented reality) terminal device, a wireless terminal in industrial control, a wireless terminal in self-driving, a wireless terminal in remote medical, a wireless terminal in smart grid, a wireless terminal in transportation safety, a wireless terminal in smart city, a wireless terminal in smart home, etc.

[0055] In step S12, a second paging message is sent to the terminal according to the first paging message.

[0056] For example, the high-orbit satellite sends a second paging message to the terminal on the corresponding wireless resources according to the first expected sending time information and the first expected sending frequency information.

[0057] In some embodiments, the second paging message includes an identifier of the terminal and an identifier of the high-orbit satellite, etc.

[0058] In step S13, terminal information sent by the terminal is received.

[0059] In some embodiments, after receiving the second paging message, the terminal identifies whether it is a paging message for the terminal according to the terminal identifier, and if so, reports the terminal related information to the high-orbit satellite. The terminal information includes, for example, the terminal identifier and the terminal location information.

[0060] In some embodiments, the terminal may also report the terminal type and terminal capabilities. Different low-orbit satellites may have differences in the terminal types and terminal capabilities they support. For example, some low-orbit satellites can only support narrowband devices but not broadband devices. Therefore, the terminal reports the terminal type and terminal capabilities to the high-orbit satellite so that the high-orbit satellite can select the target low-orbit satellite.

[0061] In step S14, a target low-orbit satellite is selected based on the terminal information and the low-orbit satellite ephemeris information.

[0062] In some embodiments, the high-orbit satellite may select a target low-orbit satellite based on distance. For example, based on the terminal location information and the low-orbit satellite ephemeris information, the low-orbit satellite closest to the terminal is selected as the target low-orbit satellite.

[0063] For another example, based on the terminal location information and low-orbit satellite ephemeris information, a low-orbit satellite that is closest to the terminal and is adapted to the terminal type and terminal capability is selected as the target low-orbit satellite.

[0064] In some embodiments, the high-orbit satellite may select a target low-orbit satellite based on the visible time. For example, based on the terminal position information and the low-orbit satellite ephemeris information, the low-orbit satellite with the longest remaining visible time with the terminal is selected as the target low-orbit satellite.

[0065] For another example, based on the terminal location information and low-orbit satellite ephemeris information, a low-orbit satellite with the longest remaining visible time with the terminal and adapted to the terminal type and terminal capability is selected as the target low-orbit satellite.

[0066] The remaining visible time is the remaining time that the low-orbit satellite is observed by the high-orbit satellite during communication between the low-orbit satellite and the high-orbit satellite, or the remaining time that the low-orbit satellite maintains connection with the high-orbit satellite.

[0067] By selecting the target low-orbit satellite, information transmission between the terminal, low-orbit satellite, high-orbit satellite and the ground core network can be achieved.

[0068] In step S15, a third paging message is sent to the target low-orbit satellite to instruct the target low-orbit satellite to send a fourth paging message to the terminal.

[0069] In some embodiments, the third paging message includes: an identifier of the target low-orbit satellite, second expected sending time information, and second expected sending frequency information, wherein the second expected sending time information is used to indicate the time when the target low-orbit satellite sends the fourth paging message; and the second expected sending frequency information is used to indicate the frequency and bandwidth of the target low-orbit satellite to send the fourth paging message.

[0070] The target low-orbit satellite can identify whether the third paging message is a message sent to itself according to the identifier in the third paging message.

[0071] After receiving the third paging message, the target low-orbit satellite broadcasts a fourth paging message to the terminal on the corresponding wireless resource according to the second expected transmission time information and the second expected transmission frequency information. The fourth paging message includes, for example, the terminal identifier, the low-orbit satellite identifier, and the high-orbit satellite identifier.

[0072] If the terminal finds out that the fourth paging message is a message sent to itself according to the terminal identifier, the terminal initiates the data / signaling transmission process. For example, the terminal establishes a connection with the ground core network through the terminal, the low-orbit satellite, and the high-orbit satellite on the configured resources.

[0073] In the above embodiment, when performing terminal paging, a geostationary high-orbit satellite is used to broadcast paging messages, obtain terminal information, and select a target low-orbit satellite. Terminal paging can be achieved without location area planning and management. In addition, since the high-orbit satellite has a large and fixed coverage area, the success rate of the terminal receiving the paging message is improved.

[0074] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the high-orbit satellite includes at least one centralized unit and at least one paging module, and one centralized unit corresponds to one paging module. Generally, one base station is set on a satellite, but in theory, one satellite can deploy multiple base stations, which depends on the design, size, power supply and communication load capacity of the satellite. Figure 2 This embodiment is applied to a multi-layer satellite network based on a CU-DU separation architecture. Figure 2The schematic diagram of some embodiments of the multi-layer satellite network based on the CU-DU separation architecture of the present disclosure, wherein the CU 11 and the paging module 12 are deployed on the high-orbit satellite 1, and the DU 21 is deployed on the low-orbit satellite 2. The DU 21 deployed on the low-orbit satellite 2 communicates with the CU 11 on the high-orbit satellite 1 through an intersatellite link on the one hand, and communicates with the ground terminal 3 through a Uu interface on the other hand. The CU 11 and the paging module 12 communicate through an internal interface, and the paging module 12 communicates with the ground terminal through the Uu interface.

[0075] In some embodiments, the CU 11 and the paging module 12 may also be integrated into one device.

[0076] Figure 3 1 is a flow chart of some other embodiments of the terminal paging method in a multi-layer satellite network disclosed in the present invention, and the embodiment includes steps S31-S37.

[0077] In step S31, the CU on the high-orbit satellite receives a first paging message sent by the ground core network corresponding to the terminal. The first paging message includes the terminal ID (Identifier), paging reason, high-orbit satellite ID, high-orbit satellite CU ID, first expected sending time information and first expected sending frequency information, etc.

[0078] In step S32, the CU sends a fifth paging message to the corresponding paging module through the internal interface, wherein the fifth paging message includes the terminal ID, the identifier of the high-orbit satellite, the first expected transmission time information, the first expected transmission frequency information, the CU identifier and the paging module ID, etc. The fifth paging message may also carry a paging reason.

[0079] In step S33, the paging module broadcasts a second paging message to the terminal on the corresponding wireless resources according to the first expected sending time information and the first expected sending frequency information carried by the fifth paging message. The second paging message includes the terminal ID, paging reason, high-orbit satellite ID, high-orbit satellite paging module ID, etc.

[0080] In step S34, the paging module receives the terminal related information sent by the terminal, and the terminal related information includes the terminal ID, terminal type, terminal capability, terminal location information, etc.

[0081] In step S35, the paging module forwards the terminal related information to the high-orbit satellite CU through the internal interface.

[0082] In some embodiments, when the high-orbit satellite does not receive the terminal information fed back by the terminal, it repeatedly sends a second paging message to the terminal; and when the number of times the second paging message is repeatedly sent to the terminal reaches a threshold and the terminal information fed back by the terminal is still not received, it feeds back a paging failure message to the ground core network.

[0083] For example, if the CU of the high-orbit satellite does not receive terminal information feedback within the preset time window, it is considered that the paging has failed, and the CU re-executes the above step S32. If no terminal information feedback is received after repeating the preset number of times, it is considered that the terminal is not within the range of the target high-orbit satellite. The CU feeds back a paging failure message (including the reason for the paging failure) to the ground core network AMF to terminate the paging. The subsequent paging plan is determined by the ground core network AMF.

[0084] In step S36, the high-orbit satellite CU selects a target low-orbit satellite for the terminal based on the terminal-related information and the low-orbit satellite ephemeris information.

[0085] For example, target LEO satellites are selected based on distance or visibility time.

[0086] In step S37, the high-orbit satellite CU sends a third paging message to the target low-orbit satellite DU to instruct the target low-orbit satellite DU to send a fourth paging message to the terminal. The third paging message includes the low-orbit satellite DU ID, the high-orbit satellite ID, the high-orbit satellite CU ID, the second expected transmission time information, and the second expected transmission frequency information. The target low-orbit satellite DU broadcasts the fourth paging message to the terminal on the corresponding wireless resource according to the expected transmission time information and the expected transmission frequency information carried in the paging message. The fourth paging message includes the terminal ID, the low-orbit satellite ID, the low-orbit satellite DU ID, etc.

[0087] The terminal receives the fourth paging message and checks whether the fourth paging message is for the terminal. If yes, the data / signaling transmission process is initiated, and the terminal subsequently transmits data / signaling on the configured resources through the connection relationship of the terminal-low-orbit satellite DU-high-orbit satellite CU-ground UPF / AMF; if no, the paging is discarded and the terminal continues to stay in the idle state.

[0088] Due to the high-speed movement of low-orbit satellites, the cell coverage of DUs deployed on low-orbit satellites will move rapidly, and the location area where the terminal is located needs to be frequently updated, resulting in frequent satellite-ground interactions, large signaling overhead and other problems. In this embodiment, when terminal paging is performed, a geostationary high-orbit satellite is used to broadcast paging messages, obtain terminal information, and select a target low-orbit satellite, so that terminal paging can be achieved without location area planning and management. In addition, in addition to deploying CUs, high-orbit satellites also deploy paging modules. The paging module is used to communicate with the terminal, send paging messages to the terminal, and obtain terminal information. In this way, the advantages of large and fixed coverage of high-orbit satellites can be fully utilized to improve the success rate of terminals receiving paging messages.

[0089] Figure 41 is a flow chart of some other embodiments of the terminal paging method in a multi-layer satellite network disclosed in the present invention, and the embodiment includes steps S41-S44.

[0090] In step S41, a second paging message sent by the high-orbit satellite is received, wherein the high-orbit satellite sends the second paging message after receiving the first paging message sent by the ground core network corresponding to the terminal.

[0091] In some embodiments, the first paging message includes terminal ID, paging reason, high-orbit satellite ID, high-orbit satellite CU ID, first expected sending time information, and expected sending frequency information, etc.

[0092] The second paging message includes the terminal ID, paging reason, high-orbit satellite ID, high-orbit satellite paging module ID, etc. If the paging module of the high-orbit satellite and the CU are integrated, the second paging message includes the terminal ID, paging reason, and high-orbit satellite ID.

[0093] In step S42, the terminal information is sent to the high-orbit satellite, so that the high-orbit satellite selects a target low-orbit satellite based on the terminal information and the low-orbit satellite ephemeris information, and sends a third paging message to the target low-orbit satellite.

[0094] In some embodiments, the terminal information includes terminal ID and terminal location information.

[0095] For another example, the terminal information also includes terminal type and terminal capability.

[0096] A high-orbit satellite can select a target low-orbit satellite based on distance or visibility time.

[0097] In some embodiments, after receiving the second paging message, the terminal determines whether the second paging message is for the terminal, and if so, sends the terminal information to the high-orbit satellite. If not, the terminal discards the paging and continues to stay in the idle state.

[0098] In some embodiments, the third paging message includes a low-orbit satellite DU ID, a high-orbit satellite ID, a high-orbit satellite CUID, second expected sending time information, second expected sending frequency information, etc.

[0099] In step S43, a fourth paging message sent by the target low-orbit satellite is received.

[0100] In some embodiments, the fourth paging message includes a terminal ID, a low-orbit satellite ID, a low-orbit satellite DU ID, etc.

[0101] In step S44, when it is found that the paging target of the fourth paging message is the terminal, a connection is established through the target low-orbit satellite, high-orbit satellite and the ground core network.

[0102] In some embodiments, after receiving the fourth paging message, the terminal checks whether the fourth paging message is paging the terminal. If so, the data / signaling transmission process is initiated, and the terminal subsequently transmits data / signaling on the configured resources through the connection relationship of terminal-low-orbit satellite DU-high-orbit satellite CU-ground UPF / AMF; if not, the paging is discarded and the terminal continues to stay in the idle state.

[0103] In the above embodiment, since the advantage of the large and fixed coverage of high-orbit satellites is fully utilized, the terminal can improve the success rate of receiving paging messages.

[0104] Figure 5 1 is a flow chart of other embodiments of the terminal paging method in a multi-layer satellite network disclosed in the present invention, including steps S51-S510.

[0105] In step S51, the ground core network AMF / UPF (User Plane Function) selects a target high-orbit satellite.

[0106] For example, the location of the terminal in the last connection state, and query the high-orbit satellite corresponding to the location according to the high-orbit satellite ephemeris information and use it as the target high-orbit satellite.

[0107] In step S52, the ground core network AMF / UPF generates a paging message and sends the paging message to the target high-orbit satellite CU, so as to instruct the target high-orbit satellite to broadcast the paging message to the terminal.

[0108] In step S53, after the target high-orbit CU receives the paging message from the core network AMF, it sends it to the paging module deployed on the high-orbit satellite through the internal interface of the high-orbit satellite.

[0109] In step S54, the high-orbit satellite paging module broadcasts the paging message to the terminal on the corresponding wireless resources according to the expected transmission time information and the expected transmission frequency information carried in the paging message.

[0110] In step S55, the terminal receives the paging message and reports the terminal related information to the target high-orbit satellite paging module.

[0111] In step S56, the target high-orbit satellite paging module forwards the terminal information to the target high-orbit satellite CU through the high-orbit satellite internal interface.

[0112] If the target high-orbit CU does not receive terminal information feedback within the preset time window, it is considered that the paging has failed, and the above steps S53-S56 are repeated. If no terminal information feedback is received after repeating the preset number of times, it is considered that the terminal is not within the range of the target high-orbit satellite, and the target high-orbit CU feeds back a paging failure message to the core network AMF to terminate the paging.

[0113] In step S57, the target high-orbit satellite CU selects a target low-orbit satellite for the terminal based on the low-orbit satellite ephemeris information and the received terminal information.

[0114] In step S58, the target high-orbit satellite CU sends a paging message to the target low-orbit satellite DU.

[0115] In step S59, the target low-orbit satellite DU broadcasts a paging message to the terminal on the corresponding wireless resources according to the expected transmission time information and the expected transmission frequency information carried in the paging message.

[0116] In step S510, the terminal transmits data / signaling through DU, CU and terrestrial AMF / UPF.

[0117] Figure 6 It is a schematic diagram of the structure of some embodiments of the terminal paging device in a multi-layer satellite network of the present disclosure. The terminal paging device is located in a high-orbit satellite and includes a first receiving module 610, a first sending module 620 and a selection module 630.

[0118] The first receiving module 610 is configured to receive a first paging message sent by a terrestrial core network corresponding to the terminal, and receive terminal information sent by the terminal.

[0119] In some embodiments, the first paging message includes an identifier of the terminal, an identifier of a high-orbit satellite, first expected sending time information, and first expected sending frequency information, wherein the first expected sending time information is used to indicate the time when the high-orbit satellite sends the second paging message; and the first expected sending frequency information is used to indicate the frequency and bandwidth of the high-orbit satellite to send the second paging message.

[0120] In some embodiments, the terminal information includes terminal identification and terminal location information.

[0121] In other embodiments, the terminal information also includes terminal type and terminal capability.

[0122] The first sending module 620 is configured to send a second paging message to the terminal according to the first paging message, and send a third paging message to the target low-orbit satellite to instruct the target low-orbit satellite to send a fourth paging message to the terminal.

[0123] In some embodiments, the first sending module 620 is also configured to repeatedly send a second paging message to the terminal when the terminal information fed back by the terminal is not received; and to feed back a paging failure message to the ground core network when the number of times the second paging message is repeatedly sent to the terminal reaches a threshold and the terminal information fed back by the terminal is still not received.

[0124] In some embodiments, the third paging message includes: an identifier of the target low-orbit satellite, second expected sending time information, and second expected sending frequency information, wherein the second expected sending time information is used to indicate the time when the target low-orbit satellite sends the fourth paging message; and the second expected sending frequency information is used to indicate the frequency and bandwidth of the target low-orbit satellite to send the fourth paging message.

[0125] In some embodiments, the high-orbit satellite includes at least one centralized unit, and the third paging message further includes a centralized unit identifier.

[0126] The selection module 630 is configured to select a target low-orbit satellite based on the terminal information and the low-orbit satellite ephemeris information.

[0127] In some embodiments, the selection module 630 is configured to select the low-orbit satellite closest to the terminal as the target low-orbit satellite based on the terminal position information and the low-orbit satellite ephemeris information.

[0128] For another example, the selection module 630 is configured to select a low-orbit satellite that is closest to the terminal and is adapted to the terminal type and terminal capability as a target low-orbit satellite based on the terminal location information and the low-orbit satellite ephemeris information.

[0129] In some embodiments, the selection module 630 is configured to select a low-orbit satellite with the longest remaining visible time with the terminal as a target low-orbit satellite based on the terminal position information and the low-orbit satellite ephemeris information.

[0130] For another example, the selection module 630 is configured to select a low-orbit satellite with the longest remaining visible time with the terminal and adapted to the terminal type and terminal capability as a target low-orbit satellite based on the terminal location information and low-orbit satellite ephemeris information.

[0131] In some embodiments, the high-orbit satellite includes at least one centralized unit and at least one paging module, one centralized unit corresponds to one paging module, and the first paging message also includes a centralized unit identifier. The first receiving module 610, the first sending module 620 and the selection module 630 in the above embodiments can be implemented by the centralized unit and the paging module.

[0132] In the above embodiments, terminal paging can be implemented without location area planning and management, and the advantages of large and fixed coverage of high-orbit satellites are fully utilized to improve the success rate of the terminal receiving paging messages.

[0133] Figure 7The schematic diagram of the structure of some embodiments of the terminal paging device under the multi-layer satellite network of the present disclosure is shown. The terminal paging device 700 is located in a high-orbit satellite and includes a memory 710 and a processor 720. The memory 710 can be a disk, a flash memory or any other non-volatile storage medium. The memory is used to store the instructions in the above embodiments. The processor 720 is coupled to the memory 710 and can be implemented as one or more integrated circuits, such as a microprocessor or a microcontroller. The processor 720 is used to execute the instructions stored in the memory.

[0134] In some embodiments, the processor 720 is coupled to the memory 710 via a BUS 730. The terminal paging device 700 can also be connected to an external storage device 750 via a storage interface 740 to call external data, and can also be connected to a network or another computer system (not shown) via a network interface 760. No further detailed description will be given here.

[0135] Figure 8 It is a schematic diagram of the structure of some other embodiments of the terminal paging device in the multi-layer satellite network of the present disclosure. The terminal paging device is located in the terminal and includes a second receiving module 810, a second sending module 820 and a connection establishing module 830.

[0136] The second receiving module 810 is configured to receive a second paging message sent by a high-orbit satellite, wherein the high-orbit satellite sends a second paging message after receiving the first paging message sent by the ground core network corresponding to the terminal, and receives a fourth paging message sent by the target low-orbit satellite.

[0137] In some embodiments, the first paging message includes an identifier of the terminal, an identifier of a high-orbit satellite, first expected sending time information, and first expected sending frequency information, wherein the first expected sending time information is used to indicate the time when the high-orbit satellite sends the second paging message; and the first expected sending frequency information is used to indicate the frequency and bandwidth of the high-orbit satellite to send the second paging message.

[0138] In some embodiments, the second paging message includes a terminal ID, a paging reason, a high-orbit satellite ID, a high-orbit satellite paging module ID, and the like.

[0139] The fourth paging message includes the terminal ID, the low-orbit satellite ID, the low-orbit satellite DU ID, and the like.

[0140] The second sending module 820 is configured to send the terminal information to the high-orbit satellite, so that the high-orbit satellite selects a target low-orbit satellite based on the terminal information and the low-orbit satellite ephemeris information, and sends a third paging message to the target low-orbit satellite.

[0141] In some embodiments, the terminal information includes terminal identification and terminal location information.

[0142] In some embodiments, the terminal information also includes terminal type and terminal capability.

[0143] The connection establishing module 830 is configured to establish a connection through the target low-orbit satellite, high-orbit satellite and the ground core network when it is found that the paging target of the fourth paging message is the terminal.

[0144] Fig. 9 The schematic diagram of the structure of some other embodiments of the terminal paging device under the multi-layer satellite network of the present disclosure is shown. The terminal paging device 900 is located in the terminal and includes a memory 910 and a processor 920. Among them: the memory 910 can be a disk, a flash memory or any other non-volatile storage medium. The memory is used to store the instructions in the above embodiments. The processor 920 is coupled to the memory 910 and can be implemented as one or more integrated circuits, such as a microprocessor or a microcontroller. The processor 920 is used to execute the instructions stored in the memory.

[0145] In some embodiments, the processor 920 is coupled to the memory 910 via a BUS 930. The terminal 900 can also be connected to an external storage device 950 via a storage interface 940 to call external data, and can also be connected to a network or another computer system (not shown) via a network interface 960. No further detailed description will be given here.

[0146] Fig.10 The structure diagram of some embodiments of the terminal paging system under the multi-layer satellite network of the present disclosure. The terminal paging system includes a high-orbit satellite 1, a low-orbit satellite 2 and a terminal 3, wherein the high-orbit satellite 1 and the terminal 3 have been described in detail in the above embodiments. The low-orbit satellite 2 is configured to receive a third paging message sent by the high-orbit satellite and send a fourth paging message to the terminal.

[0147] The third paging message includes: an identifier of the target low-orbit satellite, second expected sending time information and second expected sending frequency information, wherein the second expected sending time information is used to indicate the time when the target low-orbit satellite sends the fourth paging message; and the second expected sending frequency information is used to indicate the frequency and bandwidth of the target low-orbit satellite to send the fourth paging message.

[0148] The fourth paging message includes the terminal ID, the low-orbit satellite ID, and the low-orbit satellite DU ID.

[0149] The terminal paging system disclosed in the present invention is based on a multi-layer satellite network with a CU-DU separation architecture, and can implement terminal paging without performing location area planning and management, and improve the success rate of the terminal receiving the paging message.

[0150] In other embodiments, a computer-readable storage medium stores computer program instructions, which, when executed by a processor, implement the steps of the method in the above-mentioned embodiment. It should be understood by those skilled in the art that the embodiments of the present disclosure may be provided as methods, devices, or computer program products. Therefore, the present disclosure may take the form of a complete hardware embodiment, a complete software embodiment, or an embodiment combining software and hardware. Moreover, the present disclosure may take the form of a computer program product implemented on one or more computer-usable non-transient storage media (including but not limited to disk storage, CD-ROM, optical storage, etc.) containing computer-usable program code.

[0151] In some embodiments, a computer program product is protected, including a computer program or an instruction, which implements the above method when the computer program or instruction is executed by a processor. The computer program product includes a computer program carried on a computer-readable medium, and the computer program contains program code for executing the method shown in the flowchart. In such an embodiment, the computer program can be downloaded and installed from a network through a communication device, or installed from a storage device, or installed from a ROM. When the computer program is executed by the CPU, the above functions defined in the method of the embodiment of the present disclosure are executed.

[0152] The present disclosure is described with reference to flowcharts and / or block diagrams of methods, devices (systems) and computer program products according to embodiments of the present disclosure. It should be understood that each process and / or block in the flowchart and / or block diagram and the combination of processes and / or blocks in the flowchart and / or block diagram can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions can be provided to a processor of a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, an embedded processor or other programmable data processing device to produce a machine, so that the instructions executed by the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing device generate instructions for implementing the processes in the flowchart and / or block diagram. Figure 1 A process or multiple processes and / or boxes Figure 1 A device that provides the functions specified in a block or multiple blocks.

[0153] These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory capable of directing a computer or other programmable data processing device to operate in a specific manner, so that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture comprising an instruction device, which implements the process Figure 1 A process or multiple processes and / or boxes Figure 1 A function specified in one or more boxes.

[0154] These computer program instructions can also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing device so that a series of operating steps are executed on the computer or other programmable device to produce a computer-implemented process, thereby providing instructions for implementing the process. Figure 1 A process or multiple processes and / or boxes Figure 1 The steps for the functions specified in one or more boxes.

[0155] So far, the present disclosure has been described in detail. In order to avoid obscuring the concept of the present disclosure, some details known in the art are not described. Based on the above description, those skilled in the art can fully understand how to implement the technical solution disclosed here.

[0156] The method and apparatus of the present disclosure may be implemented in many ways. For example, the method and apparatus of the present disclosure may be implemented by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination of software, hardware, and firmware. The above order of steps for the method is for illustration only, and the steps of the method of the present disclosure are not limited to the order specifically described above, unless otherwise specifically stated. In addition, in some embodiments, the present disclosure may also be implemented as a program recorded in a recording medium, which includes machine-readable instructions for implementing the method according to the present disclosure. Therefore, the present disclosure also covers a recording medium storing a program for executing the method according to the present disclosure.

[0157] Although some specific embodiments of the present disclosure have been described in detail by way of example, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that the above examples are for illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. It should be understood by those skilled in the art that the above embodiments may be modified without departing from the scope and spirit of the present disclosure. The scope of the present disclosure is defined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A terminal paging method in a multi-layer satellite network, executed by a high-orbit satellite, comprising: A first paging message sent by a terrestrial core network corresponding to the receiving terminal; Sending a second paging message to the terminal according to the first paging message; receiving terminal information sent by the terminal; Selecting a target low-orbit satellite based on the terminal information and the low-orbit satellite ephemeris information; as well as A third paging message is sent to the target low-orbit satellite to instruct the target low-orbit satellite to send a fourth paging message to the terminal.

2. The terminal paging method according to claim 1, wherein: The terminal information includes an identifier and terminal location information of the terminal, and selecting a target low-orbit satellite based on the terminal information and low-orbit satellite ephemeris information includes: Based on the terminal location information and the low-orbit satellite ephemeris information, a low-orbit satellite closest to the terminal is selected as the target low-orbit satellite.

3. The terminal paging method according to claim 2, wherein: The terminal information further includes a terminal type and a terminal capability, and the selecting the target low-orbit satellite based on the terminal information and the low-orbit satellite ephemeris information further includes: Based on the terminal location information and the low-orbit satellite ephemeris information, a low-orbit satellite closest to the terminal and adapted to the terminal type and the terminal capability is selected as the target low-orbit satellite.

4. The terminal paging method according to claim 1, wherein: The terminal information includes an identifier and terminal location information of the terminal, and selecting a target low-orbit satellite based on the terminal information and low-orbit satellite ephemeris information includes: Based on the terminal position information and the low-orbit satellite ephemeris information, a low-orbit satellite with the longest remaining visible time with the terminal is selected as the target low-orbit satellite.

5. The terminal paging method according to claim 4, wherein: The terminal information further includes a terminal type and a terminal capability, and the selecting the target low-orbit satellite based on the terminal information and the low-orbit satellite ephemeris information further includes: Based on the terminal position information and the low-orbit satellite ephemeris information, a low-orbit satellite that has the longest remaining visible time with the terminal and is adapted to the terminal type and the terminal capability is selected as the target low-orbit satellite.

6. The terminal paging method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein: The first paging message includes the identifier of the terminal, the identifier of the high-orbit satellite, first expected transmission time information and first expected transmission frequency information, wherein: The first expected sending time information is used to indicate the time when the high-orbit satellite sends the second paging message; and The first expected sending frequency information is used to indicate the frequency and bandwidth of the high-orbit satellite for sending the second paging message.

7. The terminal paging method according to claim 6, wherein: The high-orbit satellite includes at least one centralized unit and at least one paging module, one centralized unit corresponds to one paging module, the first paging message also includes a centralized unit identifier, and sending a second paging message to the terminal according to the first paging message includes: The centralized unit receiving the first paging message sends a fifth paging message to the corresponding paging module, wherein the fifth paging message includes the identifier of the terminal, the identifier of the high-orbit satellite, the first expected sending time information, the first expected sending frequency information, the centralized unit identifier, and the paging module identifier; and The paging module receiving the fifth paging message sends the second paging message to the terminal on the corresponding wireless resources according to the first expected sending time information and the first expected sending frequency information.

8. The terminal paging method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein: The third paging message includes: the identifier of the target low-orbit satellite, the second expected transmission time information and the second expected transmission frequency information, wherein: The second expected sending time information is used to indicate the time when the target low-orbit satellite sends the fourth paging message; and The second expected sending frequency information is used to indicate the frequency and bandwidth of the target low-orbit satellite for sending the fourth paging message.

9. The terminal paging method according to claim 8, wherein: The high-orbit satellite includes at least one centralized unit, and the third paging message also includes a centralized unit identifier.

10. The terminal paging method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, further comprising: In a case where the terminal information fed back by the terminal is not received, repeatedly sending the second paging message to the terminal; as well as When the number of times the second paging message is repeatedly sent to the terminal reaches a threshold and the terminal information fed back by the terminal is still not received, a paging failure message is fed back to the terrestrial core network.

11. A terminal paging method in a multi-layer satellite network, executed by a terminal, comprising: Receiving a second paging message sent by a high-orbit satellite, wherein the high-orbit satellite sends the second paging message after receiving the first paging message sent by a ground core network corresponding to the terminal; Sending terminal information to the high-orbit satellite, so that the high-orbit satellite selects a target low-orbit satellite based on the terminal information and the low-orbit satellite ephemeris information, and sends a third paging message to the target low-orbit satellite; receiving a fourth paging message sent by the target low-orbit satellite; and When it is found that the paging target of the fourth paging message is the terminal, a connection is established through the target low-orbit satellite, the high-orbit satellite and the ground core network.

12. A terminal paging device in a multi-layer satellite network, comprising: A first receiving module is configured to receive a first paging message sent by a ground core network corresponding to the terminal, and receive terminal information sent by the terminal; a first sending module, configured to send a second paging message to the terminal according to the first paging message, and send a third paging message to the target low-orbit satellite, so as to instruct the target low-orbit satellite to send a fourth paging message to the terminal; as well as The selection module is configured to select a target low-orbit satellite based on the terminal information and the low-orbit satellite ephemeris information.

13. A terminal paging device in a multi-layer satellite network, comprising: Memory; as well as A processor coupled to the memory, the processor being configured to execute the terminal paging method in a multi-layer satellite network according to any one of claims 1 to 10 based on instructions stored in the memory.

14. A terminal paging device in a multi-layer satellite network, comprising: A second receiving module is configured to receive a second paging message sent by the high-orbit satellite, wherein the high-orbit satellite sends the second paging message after receiving the first paging message sent by the ground core network corresponding to the terminal, and receives a fourth paging message sent by the target low-orbit satellite; a second sending module configured to send terminal information to the high-orbit satellite, so that the high-orbit satellite selects a target low-orbit satellite based on the terminal information and the low-orbit satellite ephemeris information, and sends a third paging message to the target low-orbit satellite; and The connection establishment module is configured to establish a connection through the target low-orbit satellite, the high-orbit satellite and the ground core network when it is found that the paging target of the fourth paging message is the terminal.

15. A terminal paging device in a multi-layer satellite network, comprising: Memory; as well as A processor coupled to the memory, wherein the processor is configured to execute the terminal paging method in a multi-layer satellite network according to claim 11 based on instructions stored in the memory.

16. A terminal paging system in a multi-layer satellite network, comprising: A high-orbit satellite comprising the terminal paging device in the multi-layer satellite network according to claim 12 or 13; A terminal comprising the terminal paging device in a multi-layer satellite network as claimed in claim 14 or 15; as well as The low-orbit satellite is configured to receive the third paging message sent by the high-orbit satellite and send a fourth paging message to the terminal.

17. A computer-readable storage medium having computer program instructions stored thereon, which, when executed by a processor, implements the terminal paging method in a multi-layer satellite network as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 11.

18. A computer program product, comprising a computer program or an instruction, wherein when the computer program or the instruction is executed by a processor, the terminal paging method in a multi-layer satellite network as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 11 is implemented.

Images