Method for transmitting system information, base station, terminal and system

Abstract

The invention relates to the field of communication, in particular to a method for transmitting system information, a base station, a terminal and a system. In the method for transmitting system information, a terminal sends an uplink signal, the uplink signal is used for triggering a base station to send first system information, and the first system information is used for the terminal to reside in a cell; correspondingly, the base station receives an uplink signal sent by the terminal; the base station sends first system information in a beam where the terminal is located; correspondingly, the terminal receives first system information sent by the base station on the beam where the terminal is located. Through the scheme provided by the invention, the system information can be sent as required, so that the power consumption of the base station is reduced, and the system overhead is reduced.

Description

[0001] This application is a divisional application. The application number of the original application is 201510718080.9, the application number of the divisional application is 201911134920.1, and the original application date is October 29, 2015. The entire contents of the original application are incorporated into this application by reference. Technical Field

[0002] The present invention relates to communication technology, and in particular to a method for transmitting system information, a base station, a terminal and a system. Background Art

[0003] With the rapid development of packet services and smart terminals, the demand for spectrum for high-speed, large-data-volume services is increasing. Low-frequency bands usually refer to spectrum below 3 GHz, centimeter-wave bands usually refer to spectrum in the range of 3 GHz to 30 GHz, and millimeter-wave bands usually refer to spectrum in the range of 30 GHz to 300 GHz. Traditional cellular communications generally use frequency bands around 2 GHz or lower. In traditional cellular communications, public signals of cells such as system information are generally transmitted in an omnidirectional manner, resulting in high power consumption of base stations. Summary of the invention

[0004] The embodiment of the present invention provides a method for transmitting system information, a base station, a terminal and a system, so as to solve the problem of large power consumption when a base station sends system information in cellular communication.

[0005] On the one hand, an embodiment of the present invention provides a method for transmitting system information. The method includes: a terminal sends an uplink signal, the uplink signal is used to trigger a base station to send first system information, and the first system information is used for the terminal to reside in a cell; correspondingly, the base station receives the uplink signal sent by the terminal; the base station sends the first system information in the beam where the terminal is located; correspondingly, the terminal receives the first system information sent by the base station in the beam where the terminal is located.

[0006] In one possible design, before receiving the uplink signal sent by the terminal, the base station also sends a downlink signal in the cell through at least one beam, and the downlink signal includes a downlink discovery reference signal DRS, which is used by the terminal to discover the cell; correspondingly, before sending the uplink signal, the terminal also receives the downlink signal sent by the base station in the cell through at least one beam. The terminal can thus determine whether there is cell coverage at the current location based on the downlink DRS, and can obtain information about the beam where the terminal is currently located.

[0007] In a possible design, before sending an uplink signal, the terminal also pre-judges whether a cell is suitable for staying according to the downlink DRS. Thus, the terminal can send an uplink signal to a base station with a high possibility of staying in a targeted manner.

[0008] In one possible design, the terminal sends an uplink signal to the base station according to the configuration information of the uplink signal; correspondingly, the base station receives the uplink signal sent by the terminal according to the configuration information of the uplink signal. The configuration information of the uplink signal may be preset or included in the downlink signal sent by the base station. When the configuration information of the uplink signal is preset, the downlink signaling overhead of the base station may be saved; when the configuration information of the uplink signal is sent by the base station, the terminal may send the uplink signal more flexibly.

[0009] In one possible design, after the terminal receives the first system information sent by the base station in the beam where the terminal is located, the terminal also sends the radio resource control RRC connection establishment process to the base station according to the first system information; the base station also sends the second system information in the beam where the terminal is located during or after the RRC connection establishment process, and the second system information is used for the terminal to communicate in the cell; correspondingly, the terminal receives the second system information sent by the base station in the beam where the terminal is located during or after the RRC connection establishment process. Therefore, the base station only needs to send the second system information to the terminal in the RRC connected state, saving system overhead.

[0010] In a possible design, the base station sends the second system information in the beam where the terminal is located after sending the RRC connection establishment message, or the base station sends the second system information in the beam where the terminal is located after receiving the RRC connection establishment message sent by the terminal; correspondingly, the terminal receives the second system information sent by the base station after sending the RRC connection establishment message, or the terminal receives the second system information sent by the base station after receiving the RRC connection establishment completion message sent by the terminal. Therefore, the base station can send the second system information to the terminal at an appropriate time according to actual conditions.

[0011] In one possible design, the first system information includes at least one of configuration information of a broadcast channel, operator information, and tracking area information. Furthermore, the first system information may also include configuration information of a paging channel, which is used by the terminal to calculate a paging window. For example, the terminal may calculate a paging window according to the configuration information of the paging channel, and receive a paging message within the paging window. Thus, when the base station sends system information in a beam mode, the terminal will not miss a paging message.

[0012] On the other hand, an embodiment of the present invention provides another method for transmitting system information. The method includes: a terminal sends an uplink signal, the uplink signal is used to trigger a base station to send first system information and second system information; correspondingly, the base station receives the uplink signal sent by the terminal; the base station sends the first system information and the second system information in the beam where the terminal is located; correspondingly, the terminal receives the first system information and the second system information sent by the base station in the beam where the terminal is located. Thus, the terminal can quickly establish a communication service in the cell after receiving the first system information and the second system information.

[0013] In another aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a base station having the function of implementing the base station behavior in the above method. The function can be implemented by hardware, or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above functions.

[0014] In one possible design, the structure of the base station includes a processor and a transmitter, and the processor is configured to support the base station to perform corresponding functions in the above method. The transmitter is used to support communication between the base station and the terminal, and send information or instructions involved in the above method to the terminal. The base station may also include a memory, which is coupled to the processor and stores program instructions and data necessary for the base station.

[0015] In another aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a terminal having a function of implementing the terminal behavior in the above method design. The function can be implemented by hardware, or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above functions. The module can be software and / or hardware.

[0016] In one possible design, the structure of the terminal includes a receiver and a processor, and the receiver is configured to support the terminal to receive the first system information and / or the second system information sent by the above-mentioned base station. The processor controls the terminal to predict whether the cell is suitable for staying according to the downlink DRS received by the receiver; or to initiate an RRC connection establishment process according to the first system information received by the receiver, or to calculate a paging window.

[0017] On the other hand, an embodiment of the present invention provides a communication system, which includes the base station and terminal described in the above aspects.

[0018] On the other hand, an embodiment of the present invention provides a computer storage medium for storing computer software instructions used for the above-mentioned base station, which includes a program designed for executing the above-mentioned aspects.

[0019] On the other hand, an embodiment of the present invention provides a computer storage medium for storing computer software instructions for the above-mentioned terminal, which includes a program designed for executing the above-mentioned aspects.

[0020] Compared with the prior art, the solution provided by the present invention can send system information on demand, thereby reducing the power consumption of the base station and reducing the system overhead. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0021] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention, the following briefly introduces the drawings required for use in describing the embodiments of the present invention. The drawings described below are some embodiments of the present invention. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can also be obtained based on these drawings without creative work.

[0022] Figure 1 A possible system network diagram for implementing the present invention;

[0023] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of a process of transmitting system information provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0024] Figure 3a A communication schematic diagram for transmitting first system information provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0025] Figure 3b A schematic diagram of a base station sending first system information provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0026] Figure 4 A communication schematic diagram for transmitting second system information provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0027] Figure 5 A communication schematic diagram of a paging method provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0028] Figure 6 A communication schematic diagram of another transmission system information provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0029] Figure 7 A schematic diagram of a base station structure provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0030] Figure 8 A schematic diagram of a terminal structure provided by an embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0031] In order to make the purpose, technical solution and advantages of the embodiments of the present invention clearer, the technical solution in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below in conjunction with the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention. Obviously, the described embodiments are part of the embodiments of the present invention, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without creative work are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0032] The network architecture and business scenarios described in the embodiments of the present invention are intended to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention, and do not constitute a limitation on the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present invention. A person of ordinary skill in the art can appreciate that with the evolution of the network architecture and the emergence of new business scenarios, the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present invention are equally applicable to similar technical problems.

[0033] like Figure 1 As shown, the base station sends a signal to the terminal in the cell in a beamforming manner. In the embodiment of the present invention, the beamforming manner may be a beam switching manner, which is generally implemented using an analog or radio frequency circuit; or it may be an adaptive beam manner, which is generally implemented using a digital circuit. In addition, the beam may be a beam in a horizontal plane or a beam in a vertical plane. The technical solution described in the embodiment of the present invention may be applicable to a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, or other wireless communication systems using various wireless access technologies, such as systems using code division multiple access, frequency division multiple access, time division multiple access, orthogonal frequency division multiple access, single carrier frequency division multiple access and other access technologies. In addition, it may also be applicable to subsequent evolution systems using the LTE system, such as the fifth generation (5G) system.

[0034] The base station involved in the embodiment of the present invention is a device deployed in a wireless access network to provide wireless communication functions for terminals. In systems using different wireless access technologies, the name of the base station may be different. For example, in an LTE system, it may be an evolved NodeB (eNB or eNodeB for short), in a third generation (3G) system, it may be a NodeB, and in a second generation (2G) system, it may be a base transceiver station (BTS for short). It should be understood that the base station in the embodiment of the present invention includes both base stations in existing communication systems and base stations in communication systems that may appear in the future, and the embodiment of the present invention is not limited.

[0035] The terminal involved in the embodiments of the present invention may be a wireless terminal, which may be a device that provides voice or data connectivity to a user, a handheld device with a wireless connection function, or other processing devices connected to a wireless modem. The wireless terminal may communicate with one or more core networks via a wireless access network (e.g., a Radio Access Network, RAN for short). The wireless terminal may be a mobile terminal, such as a mobile phone (or a "cellular" phone) and a computer with a mobile terminal. For example, the wireless terminal may be a portable, pocket-sized, handheld, computer-built-in or vehicle-mounted mobile device that exchanges voice or data with a wireless access network. For example, the wireless terminal may be a Personal Communication Service (PCS) phone, a cordless phone, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phone, a Wireless Local Loop (WLL) station, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA for short), and the like. A wireless terminal may also be referred to as a system, a subscriber unit (Subscr iber Unit), a subscriber station (Subscr iber Stat ion), a mobile station (Mobile Stat ion), a mobile station (Mobile), a remote station (Remote Stat ion), an access point (Access Point, referred to as AP), a remote terminal (Remote Termina l), an access terminal (Access Termina l), a user terminal (User Terminal), a user agent (User Agent), a user device (User Device), or a user equipment (User Equipment, referred to as UE).

[0036] The technical solution provided by the embodiment of the present invention can be applied to the scenario where a low-frequency cell in a cellular communication system works as an independent cell. Compared with the traditional omnidirectional transmission method to send system information, the solution provided by the embodiment of the present invention sends system information in the cell through a beam, which can greatly reduce the system overhead. The technical solution provided by the embodiment of the present invention can also be applied to the scenario where a high-frequency cell in a cellular communication system works as an independent cell. If the omnidirectional transmission method is still used to send system information in the high-frequency cell, not only will the power consumption of the base station be large, but the transmission range will also be very limited. The solution provided by the embodiment of the present invention can reduce the system overhead while ensuring the cell coverage and capacity. It can be understood that the technical solution provided by the embodiment of the present invention can also be applied to the scenario where a high-frequency cell and a low-frequency cell are jointly networked in a cellular communication.

[0037] The embodiments of the present invention will be further described in detail below based on the common aspects involved in the embodiments of the present invention described above.

[0038] An embodiment of the present invention provides a method for transmitting system information, and a base station, a terminal and a system based on the method. The terminal sends an uplink signal, and the uplink signal is used to trigger the base station to send the first system information, and the first system information is used for the terminal to reside in the cell; after receiving the uplink signal, the base station sends the first system information in the beam where the terminal is located; correspondingly, the terminal receives the first system information sent by the base station in the beam where the terminal is located. After receiving the first system information, the terminal can also initiate a radio resource control (Radio Resource Control, referred to as RRC) connection establishment process to the base station according to the first system information; the base station also sends the second system information in the beam where the terminal is located during the RRC connection establishment process or after the RRC connection establishment process, and the second system information is used for the terminal to communicate in the cell; correspondingly, the terminal receives the second system information sent by the base station in the beam where the terminal is located. It should be noted that when the terminal is a terminal in the RRC idle state, the base station only needs to send the first system information in the beam where the terminal is located; when the terminal is a terminal in the RRC connected state, the base station only needs to send the second system information in the beam where the terminal is located.

[0039] For the sake of clarity, the above-mentioned first system information and second system information are explained below by taking the LTE system as an example. In the LTE system, the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) makes a series of provisions on system information through the TS36.331 protocol. The scheme of the embodiment of the present invention divides the existing system information into first system information and second system information. It can be understood that new communication systems in the future may introduce new system information or integrate or reclassify existing system information, and new system information or reclassified system information may also be added to the first system information or second system information described in the embodiment of the present invention according to their uses. The first system information or second system information described in the embodiment of the present invention is not limited to the existing system information listed below. The first system information and the second system information are explained below respectively.

[0040] The first system information is used for the terminal to reside in the cell. In an example, the first system information includes at least one of the configuration information of the broadcast channel (Broadcast Channel, referred to as BCH), the operator information, and the tracking area information. Among them, the configuration information of the broadcast channel includes at least one of the following information: downlink bandwidth information, system frame number (System Frame Number, referred to as SFN), and physical hybrid automatic retransmission indication channel (Phys ica l Hybrid Automatic Retransmission Request Inter d icat ion Channel, referred to as PHICH) configuration information. The operator information can be a public land mobile network (Public Land Mobile Network, referred to as PLMN) list information. The tracking area information can be a tracking area code (Tracking Area Code, referred to as TAC).

[0041] In one example, the first system information also includes at least one of the information included in the system information blocks (System Information Block, SIB for short) 1 to SIB5, wherein SIB1 includes information for evaluating whether to allow the terminal to access the cell and scheduling information of other system information; SIB2 includes public wireless resource configuration information applicable to all terminals; SIB3 includes public information applicable to at least one of intra-frequency cell reselection, inter-frequency cell reselection, and inter-system cell reselection; SIB4 includes information of cells requiring specific reselection parameters and cell blacklist information, i.e., list information of cells that are not allowed to reside and access; SIB5 includes inter-frequency cell reselection information, such as frequency information of other Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Networks (Evolved Universal Terrestrial Access Network, E-UTRAN for short) and information related to inter-frequency neighboring cells. For example, the first system information also includes at least one of the following information:

[0042] a. Configuration information for cell selection, including at least one of the following information: a minimum reference signal received power (RSRP) level required for cell selection, and a minimum RSRP level offset required for cell selection;

[0043] b. Configuration information for cell reselection, including at least one of the following information: reselection threshold, cell reselection priority, configuration information for intra-frequency cell reselection, and configuration information for inter-frequency cell reselection; wherein, the configuration information for intra-frequency cell reselection includes at least one of the following information: minimum RSRP level required for cell reselection, antenna port 1 existence indication, and neighboring cell configuration information, wherein the neighboring cell configuration information includes: physical cell identifier, inter-cell offset, and reselection time timer; the configuration information for inter-frequency cell reselection includes at least one of the following information: configuration information of a carrier frequency list, downlink carrier frequency, minimum RSRP level offset required for cell selection or cell reselection, reselection time timer, reselection threshold lower value, allowed measurement bandwidth, antenna port 1 existence indication, and neighboring cell configuration information, wherein the neighboring cell configuration information includes: physical cell identifier and inter-cell offset;

[0044] c. System configuration information, including at least one of the following information: time division duplex configuration, system value tag, access category prohibition information (such as cell prohibition indication), frequency or frequency band indication information, broadcast control channel (BCCH) configuration information, cell identity (CI);

[0045] d. random access configuration information, including at least one of the following information: configuration information of a physical random access channel (PRACH for short), and common configuration information of a random access channel (RACH for short); wherein the configuration information of the physical random access channel includes at least one of the following information: a root sequence index, a configuration index of the physical random access channel, and the common configuration information of the random access channel includes preamble information;

[0046] e. Paging channel (PCH) configuration information, including at least one of the following information: paging record list, system information change, UE identity (UE Identity, such as S-TMSI (System Architecture Evolution Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identity) or IMSI (International Mobile Subscriber Identity), core network-domain (such as circuit domain or packet domain) information;

[0047] f. Configuration information of physical channels: public configuration information of physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), public configuration information of physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), public configuration information of physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), public configuration information of uplink power control (UPC), and uplink cyclic prefix length.

[0048] In one example, when the first system information only includes part of the information listed in "a to f" above, the priority of the information listed in "a to f" is sorted from a to f, and the first system information preferentially includes the information with the highest priority. Of course, the priority of this information can also be sorted in other ways, and the embodiment of the present invention does not limit the priority order of the information listed in "a to f".

[0049] The second system information is used for the terminal to communicate in the cell. The second system information includes all system information except the first system information, such as information in SIB6 to SIB19. Among them, SIB6~8 are information related to inter-system cell reselection; SIB9 contains the name information of the home base station; SIB10 contains the main notification information of the Earthquake and Tsunami Warning System (ETWS); SIB11 contains the secondary notification information of ETWS; SIB12 contains the notification information of the Commercial Mobile Alert System (CMAS); SIB13 contains the Multimedia Broadcast Multicast System (MBMS); SIB14 contains the Extended Access Barr ing (EAB) parameters; SIB15 contains the MBMS service area identifier (SAI) and / or the neighboring cell carrier frequency; SIB16 contains the Global Positioning System (GPS) time and the collaborative universal time; SIB17 contains the E-UTRAN and Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) time. SIB18 indicates that E-UTRAN supports the terminal process information of device to device (D2D) communication; SIB19 contains the resource configuration information related to E-UTRAN supporting D2D discovery.

[0050] It should be noted that when all or part of the information listed in "a to f" above is not included in the first system information, they are included in the second system information.

[0051] For the sake of clarity, the names of various information involved in the first system information and the second system information are described below in their abbreviated form:

[0052]

[0053] In traditional cellular communications, base stations generally use omnidirectional transmission to send all system information within the cell range, which consumes a lot of power for the base station. Through the solution provided by the embodiment of the present invention, system information can be sent on demand: the base station only needs to send the first system information within the beam range of the terminal in the RRC idle state, and send the second system information within the beam range of the terminal in the RRC connected state. This solution of sending system information on demand greatly reduces the overhead, especially when multiple terminals in the RRC idle state or RRC connected state are in different beams and the base station needs to send system information in the different beams.

[0054] The following is combined with Figure 2 , the solution provided by the embodiments of the present invention is described.

[0055] In part 201, the terminal sends an uplink signal, and the uplink signal is used to trigger the base station to send the first system information, and the first system information is used for the terminal to stay in the cell. The uplink signal can be an uplink discovery reference signal (Discovery Reference Signal, referred to as DRS), a sounding reference signal (Sounding Reference Signal, referred to as SRS), a random access preamble (random access preamble), or a preset signal specifically used to trigger the base station to send the first system information.

[0056] In one example, before sending an uplink signal, the terminal also receives a downlink signal sent by the base station in the cell through at least one beam, and the downlink signal includes a downlink DRS, which is used by the terminal to discover the cell. The terminal can thus determine whether there is cell coverage at the current location based on the downlink DRS, and can obtain information about the beam where the terminal is currently located.

[0057] In one example, before the terminal sends an uplink signal, it also pre-judges the cell suitable for residence based on the downlink DRS. For example, the terminal makes a pre-judgement based on the reference signal strength indication (RSSI) of the downlink DRS or the reference signal received power (RSRP) of the downlink DRS. The terminal can thus send an uplink signal to a base station with a high possibility of residence in a targeted manner.

[0058] In one example, the terminal sends an uplink signal according to the configuration information of the uplink signal. The configuration information of the uplink signal may be preset, thereby saving the downlink signaling overhead of the base station; or, the configuration information of the uplink signal may also be included in the downlink signal sent by the base station, so that the terminal can send the uplink signal more flexibly; or, the configuration information of the uplink signal may also be obtained by other means, which is not limited in the embodiments of the present invention.

[0059] In part 202, the base station receives an uplink signal sent by the terminal, where the uplink signal is used to trigger the base station to send first system information, and the first system information is used for the terminal to reside in the cell.

[0060] In one example, before receiving an uplink signal sent by a terminal, the base station also sends a downlink signal in the cell through at least one beam, where the downlink signal includes a downlink DRS, and the downlink DRS is used by the terminal to discover the cell.

[0061] In one example, the base station receives an uplink signal sent by the terminal according to configuration information of the uplink signal.

[0062] In Section 202, contents similar or corresponding to those in Section 201 can be referred to the detailed description in Section 201 and will not be repeated here.

[0063] In part 203, the base station sends the first system information in the beam where the terminal is located. For example, the base station can send the first system information to the beam where the terminal is located immediately after receiving the uplink signal sent by the terminal, so that the terminal can obtain the first system information quickly; or the base station can also send the first system information to the beam where the terminal is located according to a preset time period. In this way, the signaling overhead of the base station sending the first system information to multiple terminals within the same beam range can be reduced.

[0064] In part 204, the terminal receives first system information sent by the base station in the beam where the terminal is located.

[0065] In one example, after receiving the first system information sent by the base station in the beam where the terminal is located, the terminal also initiates an RRC connection establishment process to the base station according to the first system information. For example, the terminal can initiate the RRC connection establishment process by random access.

[0066] In one example, after the base station sends the first system information in the beam where the terminal is located, it also sends the second system information in the beam where the terminal is located during the RRC connection establishment process initiated by the terminal according to the first system information or after the RRC connection establishment process, and the second system information is used for the terminal to communicate in the cell. For example, the base station can send the second system information after receiving the RRC connection establishment message sent by the terminal, or the base station can also send the second system information after receiving the RRC connection establishment completion message sent by the terminal; or the base station can also send the second system information to the terminal through dedicated RRC signaling. Correspondingly, the terminal receives the second system information sent by the base station in the beam where the terminal is located during the RRC connection establishment process or after the RRC connection establishment process. For example, the terminal can receive the second system information sent by the base station after sending the RRC connection establishment message; or the terminal can also receive the second system information sent by the base station after receiving the RRC connection establishment completion message sent by the terminal; or the terminal can also receive the second system information sent by the base station through dedicated RRC signaling. Of course, the base station can also send the second system information in the beam where the terminal is located before the RRC connection establishment process, and this embodiment does not limit this. Therefore, the base station can send the second system information to the terminal at an appropriate time according to actual conditions.

[0067] In one example, the first system information includes at least one of configuration information of a broadcast channel, operator information, and tracking area information. Optionally, the first system information also includes configuration information of a paging channel, which is used by the terminal to calculate a paging window. The paging window refers to the time length of one subframe or multiple subframes used to monitor a paging message, and the multiple subframes may be continuous or discontinuous. Thus, when the base station sends system information in a beamforming manner, the terminal will not miss a paging message.

[0068] The embodiments of the present invention will be further described below in conjunction with more drawings.

[0069] Figure 3a A communication schematic diagram for transmitting first system information provided by an embodiment of the present invention.

[0070] In part 301, the base station sends a downlink signal in the cell through at least one beam, and the downlink signal includes a downlink DRS, which is used for the terminal to discover the cell. Optionally, the downlink DRS includes a downlink synchronization signal (synchronization igna l), and the downlink synchronization signal is used for the terminal to achieve downlink synchronization with the base station. Among them, the downlink synchronization signal can be a single synchronization signal, and can also include a downlink primary synchronization signal (Primary Synchronization Signa l, PSS for short) and a downlink secondary synchronization signal (Secondary Synchronization Signa l, SSS for short). Optionally, the downlink DRS also includes at least one of the following signals: a cell reference signal (Ce l l-specific Reference Signa l, CRS for short), and a channel state information reference signal (Channel State Information-Reference Signa l, CSI-RS for short).

[0071] In part 302, after receiving a downlink signal sent by a base station in a cell through at least one beam, the terminal predicts that the cell is suitable for staying. The terminal may predict that the cell is suitable for staying based on a downlink DRS, for example, the terminal predicts that the cell is suitable for staying based on a reference signal strength indicator of the downlink DRS or a reference signal received power of the downlink DRS.

[0072] In one example, the downlink signal also includes at least one of PLMN information, cell selection information, and cell reselection information. After the terminal obtains downlink synchronization with the base station according to the downlink DRS, it pre-judges that the cell is suitable for residence according to at least one of the PLMN information, cell selection information, and cell reselection information. It can be understood that the terminal may detect the beams of different base stations, thereby receiving downlink signals sent by different base stations. When the downlink signal includes at least one of the PLMN information, cell selection information, and cell reselection information, the terminal can make a preliminary judgment according to at least one of the PLMN information, cell selection information, and cell reselection information sent by different base stations, and then send an uplink DRS to the corresponding base station for the cell suitable for residence to trigger the corresponding base station to send the first system information, without sending an uplink DRS to all detected base stations and receiving the first system information sent by all base stations before making a judgment, thereby reducing delay and reducing overhead. For example, the terminal can send an uplink DRS according to the configuration information of the uplink DRS of a base station to trigger the base station to send the first system information to the terminal. Alternatively, multiple base stations use the same uplink DRS configuration information, and the uplink DRS sent by the terminal can trigger multiple base stations to send the first system information to the beam where the terminal is located; multiple base stations can collaborate to send the time-frequency domain resources of the first system information to the terminal, so that the terminal can receive the first system information from multiple base stations separately or simultaneously; the terminal can choose to reside in a cell provided by one of the multiple base stations based on the first system information, and can even reside in multiple cells at the same time, and the network can send paging messages to the terminal through one or more cells.

[0073] In part 303, the terminal sends an uplink DRS to the base station, and the uplink DRS is used to trigger the base station to send the first system information.

[0074] In one example, the uplink DRS is cell-specific or beam-specific and does not distinguish between different terminals, so different terminals can select the same uplink DRS and corresponding uplink resources to send to the base station.

[0075] In one example, the downlink signal sent by the base station also includes the configuration information of the uplink DRS. If the terminal is ready to reside in the cell, the terminal sends the uplink DRS to the base station according to the configuration information of the uplink DRS sent by the base station; or, the terminal may also send the uplink DRS to the base station according to the preset uplink DRS configuration information; or, the terminal may also generate a corresponding uplink DRS based on the downlink DRS and send it to the base station. It should be noted that if the terminal has received the first system information on the beam where it is located, the terminal may not send the uplink DRS.

[0076] In one example, the terminal also carries a beam identifier in the uplink DRS, and the beam identifier is used to identify the beam in which the terminal is located.

[0077] In part 304, after receiving the uplink DRS sent by the terminal, the base station sends first system information in the beam where the terminal is located, and the first system information is used for the terminal to reside in the cell.

[0078] It can be understood that if the downlink signal sent by the base station includes at least one of PLMN information, cell selection information and cell reselection information, then for the three types of information, for the part included in the downlink signal, the part is not included in the first system information sent by the base station; for the part not included in the downlink signal, the part is included in the first system information sent by the base station. For example, if the downlink signal includes PLMN information but does not include cell selection information and cell reselection information, the first system information here includes cell selection information and cell reselection information; or, if the downlink signal includes PLMN information and cell selection information, the first system information here includes cell reselection information; or, if the downlink signal includes PLMN information, cell selection information and cell reselection information, the first system information does not include any of the three types of information.

[0079] In an example, the base station may determine the beam in which the terminal is located by one of the following methods:

[0080] The first method: If the uplink DRS contains a beam identifier, the base station determines the beam where the terminal is located based on the beam identifier;

[0081] The second method: The base station uses channel reciprocity to perform channel estimation on the uplink DRS sent by the terminal, thereby determining the beam in which the terminal is located in the downlink direction.

[0082] In one example, the base station sends the first system information through at least one beam within a preset time period and sends it a preset number of times. Figure 3b As shown, for a certain beam, within the preset time period t0~ts, before the preset sending timing ts, the base station may receive uplink DRS sent by multiple terminals (for example, terminal 1~terminal n). Then, after the base station determines that there is a terminal within the beam range and the terminal expects to stay, it sends the first system information once or multiple times within the beam range at the preset sending timing ts to avoid sending the first system information for each terminal that sends an uplink DRS, thereby reducing overhead.

[0083] In one example, when the base station receives an uplink DRS sent by a terminal within different beam ranges, the base station may send the first system information through the different beams at the same time or at different times, wherein the same sending timing means that the base station sends the first system information within different beam ranges at the same time; different sending timing means, for example, for beam 1 and beam 2, the base station sends the first system information within the range of beam 1 at sending timing 1, and sends the first system information within the range of beam 2 at sending timing 2, wherein the sending timing 1 and the sending timing 2 may be located at different symbol positions of the same or different subframes.

[0084] Correspondingly, the terminal receives the first system information sent by the base station in the beam where the terminal is located. If the terminal does not receive the first system information within a preset time period after sending the uplink DRS, the terminal resends the uplink DRS to the base station. Optionally, the terminal reselects the uplink DRS and the corresponding uplink resources before sending.

[0085] It should be noted that, after receiving the uplink DRS sent by the terminal, the base station may also immediately send the first system information to the terminal, for example, by sending the first system information to the terminal through dedicated RRC signaling.

[0086] In an embodiment of the present invention, for a terminal in an RRC idle state, the steps in parts 301 to 304 may be executed; for a terminal in an RRC connected state, the steps in parts 301 to 304 may not be executed, or only the corresponding steps in part 304 may be executed, that is, the base station sends the first system information in the beam where the terminal is located, and correspondingly, the terminal receives the first system information sent by the base station.

[0087] In one example, if the first system information changes, the base station sends the changed first system information in all beams within the cell, so that all terminals within the cell can receive the changed first system information. It can be understood that the first system information does not change very frequently, so the overhead is not large, thereby avoiding the overhead of the base station maintaining the information of the beam where the terminal is located.

[0088] Figure 4 A communication schematic diagram for transmitting second system information provided by an embodiment of the present invention.

[0089] The terminal initiates an RRC connection establishment process to the base station according to the first system information. Here, the terminal initiates the RRC connection establishment process by random access as an example. It should be noted that: Figure 4 The 405 and 407 parts are optional. You can select one of them to execute.

[0090] In section 401, the terminal sends a random access preamble to the base station.

[0091] In part 402, the base station sends a random access response message to the terminal.

[0092] In part 403, the terminal sends an RRC connection request message to the base station. Optionally, the terminal requests the base station to send the second system information to the beam where the terminal is located in the RRC connection request message.

[0093] In part 404, the base station sends an RRC connection establishment message to the terminal.

[0094] In part 405, the base station sends the second system information to the beam where the terminal is located. The specific implementation process of the base station sending the second system information is similar to the process of the base station sending the first system information in the beam where the terminal is located, and the detailed description in part 304 can be referred to, which will not be repeated here.

[0095] In part 406, the terminal sends an RRC connection establishment completion message to the base station. Optionally, the terminal requests the base station to send the second system information to the beam where the terminal is located in the RRC connection establishment completion message.

[0096] In part 407, the base station sends second system information to the beam where the terminal is located. Part 407 is similar to part 405, and the detailed description in part 405 can be referred to, which will not be repeated here.

[0097] It should be noted that the base station can send the second system information to the beam where the terminal is located based on the request of the terminal in the RRC connection request or the RRC connection establishment completion message, or it can directly send the second system information to the beam where the terminal is located, that is, regardless of whether the terminal requests it or not, the base station sends the second system information to the beam where the terminal is located.

[0098] In one example, the base station does not perform any of the steps in part 405 and part 407. Instead, the base station sends the second system information to the terminal through dedicated RRC signaling. For example, the base station carries the RRC signaling containing the second system information in the RRC connection establishment message, or the base station sends the RRC signaling containing the second system information to the terminal after receiving the RRC connection establishment completion message sent by the terminal.

[0099] In one example, if the second system information changes, since the base station knows the beam where the terminal in the RRC connected state is located, the changed second system information can be sent only to the beam where the terminal in the RRC connected state exists, thereby reducing overhead.

[0100] When the first system information includes configuration information of the paging channel, the terminal may also calculate the paging window according to the configuration information of the paging channel, and receive the paging message sent by the base station within the paging window. Furthermore, the terminal may also determine the paging opportunity after receiving the paging message. Figure 5A schematic diagram of a paging method provided by an embodiment of the present invention.

[0101] In part 501, the terminal calculates the paging window according to the configuration information of the paging channel. In one example, the terminal calculates the paging window by determining the starting subframe and time length of the paging window. For example, the terminal calculates the paging frame and paging subframe where the estimated paging occasion (Paging Occasion, referred to as PO) is located according to the configuration information of the paging channel, uses the paging subframe as the starting subframe of the paging window for monitoring paging messages, and multiplies the number of beams of the cell by the total duration of the beam switching time as the time length of the paging window.

[0102] It should be noted that, if the first system information is unchanged, after receiving the first system information, the terminal only needs to calculate the paging window once according to the configuration information of the paging channel included in the first system information. If the terminal has calculated the paging window, part 501 may not be executed, and part 502 may be executed directly.

[0103] In part 502, the terminal receives a paging message within the paging window.

[0104] In part 503, the terminal uses the subframe where the paging message is located as the actual paging opportunity. In one example, the terminal calculates the subframe where the paging message is located according to the beam identifier of the beam where the terminal is located, and uses the subframe as the actual paging opportunity. After the terminal determines the actual paging opportunity, it only needs to monitor and receive the paging message in the subframe where the actual paging opportunity is located, so the time for the terminal to monitor the paging message can be reduced, thereby reducing the power consumption of the terminal.

[0105] It should be noted that, when the first system information has not changed, the terminal only needs to determine the actual paging opportunity once. If the terminal has already determined the actual paging opportunity, the terminal may not perform the above steps of determining the actual paging opportunity and the steps before determining the actual paging opportunity, and directly receive the paging message at the determined actual paging opportunity.

[0106] In the embodiment of the present invention, only part 501 and part 502 may be executed; or parts 501 to 503 may be executed.

[0107] In another method for transmitting system information provided by an embodiment of the present invention, a terminal sends an uplink signal, and the uplink signal is used to trigger a base station to send first system information and second system information; after receiving the uplink signal sent by the terminal, the base station sends the first system information and the second system information in the beam where the terminal is located; correspondingly, the terminal receives the first system information and the second system information sent by the base station in the beam where the terminal is located. In this embodiment, the same or similar contents as those in the previous embodiment can be referred to the detailed description in the previous embodiment, and will not be repeated here. Figure 6As shown, the following description is made by taking the uplink signal being an RRC connection establishment request as an example.

[0108] In part 601, the terminal sends an RRC connection establishment request. In one example, the RRC connection establishment request message includes request information for requesting the base station to send the first system information and the second system information; in another example, the RRC connection establishment request message is used to trigger the base station to send the first system information and the second system information.

[0109] In part 602, after receiving the RRC connection establishment request sent by the terminal, the base station sends the first system information and the second system information in the beam where the terminal is located. In one example, the base station sends the first system information and the second system information according to the request of the terminal; in another example, after receiving the RRC connection establishment request message, the base station sends the first system information and the second system information in the beam where the terminal is located. Correspondingly, the terminal receives the first system information and the second system information sent by the terminal. Thus, the terminal can quickly establish a communication service in the cell after receiving the first system information and the second system information.

[0110] The above mainly introduces the solution provided by the embodiment of the present invention from the perspective of the interaction between various network elements. It can be understood that in order to realize the above functions, each network element, such as a terminal, a base station, etc., includes a hardware structure and / or a software module corresponding to the execution of each function. It should be easy for those skilled in the art to realize that, in combination with the units and algorithm steps of each example described in the embodiments disclosed in this document, the present invention can be implemented in the form of hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is executed in the form of hardware or computer software driving hardware depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Professional and technical personnel can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered to exceed the scope of the present invention.

[0111] Figure 7 A possible structural diagram of a base station involved in the above embodiment is shown.

[0112] The base station includes a transmitter / receiver 701, and may also include a controller / processor 702, a memory 703 and a communication unit 704. The transmitter / receiver 701 is used to support the sending and receiving of information between the base station and the terminal described in the above embodiment, and to support radio communication between the terminal and other terminals. The controller / processor 702 performs various functions for communicating with the terminal. In the uplink, the uplink signal from the terminal is received via the antenna, modulated by the receiver 701, and further processed by the controller / processor 702 to recover the service data and signaling information sent by the terminal. In the downlink, the service data and signaling messages are processed by the controller / processor 702, and modulated by the transmitter 701 to generate a downlink signal, which is transmitted to the terminal via the antenna. The controller / processor 702 also performs Figures 2 to 6 The processing process of the base station and / or other processes used for the technology described in this application are involved in the processing process of the base station. The memory 703 is used to store program codes and data of the base station. The communication unit 704 is used to support the base station to communicate with other network entities.

[0113] Understandably, Figure 7 Only a simplified design of a base station is shown. In practical applications, the base station may include any number of transmitters, receivers, processors, controllers, memories, communication units, etc., and all base stations that can implement the present invention are within the protection scope of the present invention.

[0114] Figure 8 A simplified schematic diagram of a possible design structure of a terminal involved in the above embodiment is shown. The terminal includes a transmitter 801, a receiver 802, and may also include a controller / processor 803, a memory 804 and a modem processor 805.

[0115] The transmitter 801 adjusts (e.g., analog conversion, filtering, amplification, up-conversion, etc.) the output samples and generates an uplink signal, which is transmitted to the base station described in the above embodiment via the antenna. On the downlink, the antenna receives the downlink signal transmitted by the base station in the above embodiment. The receiver 802 adjusts (e.g., filters, amplifies, down-converts, and digitizes, etc.) the signal received from the antenna and provides input samples. In the modem processor 805, the encoder 806 receives the service data and signaling messages to be sent on the uplink, and processes the service data and signaling messages (e.g., formatting, encoding, and interleaving). The modulator 807 further processes (e.g., symbol mapping and modulation) the encoded service data and signaling messages and provides output samples. The demodulator 809 processes (e.g., demodulates) the input samples and provides symbol estimates. The decoder 808 processes (e.g., deinterleaves and decodes) the symbol estimates and provides decoded data and signaling messages sent to the terminal. The encoder 806, modulator 807, demodulator 809 and decoder 808 may be implemented by a combined modulation and demodulation processor 805. These units perform processing according to the radio access technology (eg, access technology of LTE and other evolved systems) adopted by the radio access network.

[0116] The controller / processor 803 controls and manages the actions of the terminal, and is used to execute the processing performed by the terminal in the above embodiments. For example, it is used to control the terminal to predict the suitability of the cell to stay in according to the downlink DRS and / or other processes of the technology described in the present invention. As an example, the controller / processor 803 is used to support the terminal to execute Figure 3a In process 302, Figure 5 The memory 804 is used to store program codes and data for the terminal.

[0117] The controller / processor used to perform the above-mentioned base station and terminal functions of the present invention can be a central processing unit (CPU), a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic devices, transistor logic devices, hardware components or any combination thereof. It can implement or execute various exemplary logic blocks, modules and circuits described in conjunction with the disclosure of the present invention. The processor can also be a combination that implements computing functions, such as a combination of one or more microprocessors, a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, and the like.

[0118] The steps of the method or algorithm described in conjunction with the disclosure of the present invention can be implemented in hardware or by executing software instructions by a processor. The software instructions can be composed of corresponding software modules, and the software modules can be stored in RAM memory, flash memory, ROM memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, register, hard disk, mobile hard disk, CD-ROM or any other form of storage medium known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor so that the processor can read information from the storage medium and write information to the storage medium. Of course, the storage medium can also be a component of the processor. The processor and the storage medium can be located in an ASIC. In addition, the ASIC can be located in a terminal. Of course, the processor and the storage medium can also be present in the terminal as discrete components.

[0119] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that in one or more of the above examples, the functions described in the present invention may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented using software, the functions may be stored in a computer-readable medium or transmitted as one or more instructions or codes on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media include computer storage media and communication media, wherein communication media include any media that facilitates the transmission of a computer program from one place to another. The storage medium may be any available medium that a general or special-purpose computer can access.

[0120] The specific implementation methods described above further illustrate the objectives, technical solutions and beneficial effects of the present invention in detail. It should be understood that the above description is only a specific implementation method of the present invention and is not intended to limit the scope of protection of the present invention. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions, improvements, etc. made on the basis of the technical solution of the present invention should be included in the scope of protection of the present invention.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that: The method comprises: receiving a downlink signal, wherein the downlink signal includes a synchronization signal and / or a reference signal; and Beam information is obtained according to the downlink signal.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The method further comprises: receiving first configuration information, and sending a random access preamble according to the first configuration information, where the random access preamble is used to trigger the network device to send first system information, where the first system information includes one or more of the following information: a reselection threshold, a cell reselection priority, configuration information for intra-frequency cell reselection, and configuration information for inter-frequency cell reselection; The first system information is received from the network device.

3. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that Receiving the first system information from the network device includes: The first system information is received from the network device on the beam.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that The method is executed by a terminal, or the method is executed by a component of a terminal.

5. A communication method, characterized in that: The method comprises: A downlink signal is sent, where the downlink signal includes a synchronization signal and / or a reference signal, wherein the downlink signal is used to indicate beam information.

6. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that The method further comprises: Sending first configuration information, where the first configuration information is used to configure a random access preamble; receiving the random access preamble from the terminal, wherein the random access preamble is used to trigger the sending of first system information, and the first system information includes one or more of the following information: a reselection threshold, a cell reselection priority, configuration information of intra-frequency cell reselection, and configuration information of inter-frequency cell reselection; and Send the first system information to the terminal.

7. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that The sending the first system information to the terminal includes: The first system information is sent to the terminal on the beam.

8. The method according to any one of claims 5 to 7, characterized in that The method is executed by a network device, or the method is executed by a component of a network device.

9. A communication device, characterized in that: include: A processor, wherein the processor is coupled to a memory, wherein the memory is used to store programs or instructions, and when the programs or instructions are executed by the processor, the device executes the method according to any one of claims 1 to 3.

10. A communication device, characterized in that: include: A processor, wherein the processor is coupled to a memory, wherein the memory is used to store programs or instructions, and when the programs or instructions are executed by the processor, the device executes the method according to any one of claims 5 to 7.

11. A computer readable medium having a computer program or instruction stored thereon, characterized in that: When the computer program or instruction is executed, the computer executes the method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, or the method according to any one of claims 5 to 7.

12. A communication system, characterized in that: The system comprises the apparatus according to claim 9 and the apparatus according to claim 10.

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