Key configuration method and device, terminal and network side equipment

Abstract

The invention discloses a secret key configuration method and device, a terminal and network side equipment, and belongs to the technical field of communication, and the secret key configuration method comprises the steps that first network side equipment sends first cell configuration or target information of a candidate cell to the terminal, the first cell configuration comprises M next hop link counters NCCs, and the target information comprises M NCCs; the target information comprises M NCCs and a candidate cell group associated with the M NCCs; wherein the M NCCs are used for determining that the terminal carries out switching among continuous central units (CUs) and is accessed to the candidate cell or a secret key used by any candidate cell in the candidate cell group, and M is a positive integer.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application belongs to the field of communication technology, and specifically relates to a key configuration method, device, terminal and network side equipment. Background Art

[0002] With the development of communication technology, L1 / L2-triggered mobility (LTM) between central units (CU) (Inter-CU) is supported in communication systems. Inter-CU switching involves changes in the Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) entity of network-side equipment, so a key change is required. Before executing the next switching, the key of the target cell or candidate target cell needs to be reconfigured, and a new Next Hop Chaining Counter (NCC) is provided for the terminal. At present, a new NCC is usually sent in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) reconfiguration message. Since the RRC reconfiguration takes a long time, a new switching may occur in the terminal during the RRC reconfiguration, resulting in the terminal being unable to communicate normally with the target cell after receiving the RRC reconfiguration message. Therefore, the prior art has the problem of poor communication reliability caused by continuous switching between CUs. Summary of the invention

[0003] The embodiments of the present application provide a key configuration method, apparatus, terminal, and network-side device, which can solve the problem of poor communication reliability caused by continuous switching between CUs.

[0004] In a first aspect, a key configuration method is provided, comprising:

[0005] The first network side device sends a first cell configuration or target information of a candidate cell to the terminal, where the first cell configuration includes M next hop link counters NCC, and the target information includes M NCCs and a candidate cell group associated with the M NCCs;

[0006] The M NCCs are used to determine the key used by the terminal to perform continuous switching between central units CU and access the candidate cell or any candidate cell in the candidate cell group, and M is a positive integer.

[0007] In a second aspect, a key configuration method is provided, comprising:

[0008] The terminal receives a first cell configuration or target information of a candidate cell from a first network side device, where the first cell configuration includes M next hop link counters NCC, and the target information includes M NCCs and candidate cell groups associated with the M NCCs, where M is a positive integer;

[0009] The terminal determines, according to the M NCCs, a key used for switching to the candidate cell or any candidate cell in the candidate cell group.

[0010] In a third aspect, a key configuration method is provided, including:

[0011] The second network side device performs a first operation, wherein the first operation includes any one of the following:

[0012] Sending a first cell configuration or target information of a candidate cell to a first network side device, where the first cell configuration includes M next hop link counters NCC, and the target information includes M NCCs and a candidate cell group associated with the M NCCs;

[0013] Sending M first information to the first network side device, where the M first information is associated with the third network side device, and each of the first information includes a next hop link NH and NCC;

[0014] Among them, M is a positive integer, the third network side device is a candidate access network device, and the M NCCs are used to determine the key used by the terminal to perform continuous central unit CU switching and access to the candidate cell or any candidate cell in the candidate cell group.

[0015] In a fourth aspect, a key configuration method is provided, comprising:

[0016] The third network side device receives M first information from the second network side device, where the first information includes a next hop link NH and a next hop link counter NCC;

[0017] The third network side device sends a first cell configuration or target information of a candidate cell to the second network side device, where the first cell configuration includes M NCCs, and the target information includes M NCCs and a candidate cell group associated with the M NCCs;

[0018] The M NCCs are used to determine the key used by the terminal to perform continuous switching between central units CU and access the candidate cell or any candidate cell in the candidate cell group, and M is a positive integer.

[0019] In a fifth aspect, a key configuration device is provided, comprising:

[0020] A first sending module, configured to send a first cell configuration or target information of a candidate cell to a terminal, wherein the first cell configuration includes M next hop link counters NCC, and the target information includes M NCCs and a candidate cell group associated with the M NCCs;

[0021] The M NCCs are used to determine the key used by the terminal to perform continuous central unit (CU) switching and access the candidate cell or the candidate cell group, and M is a positive integer.

[0022] In a sixth aspect, a key configuration device is provided, comprising:

[0023] A first receiving module is configured to receive a first cell configuration or target information of a candidate cell from a first network side device, wherein the first cell configuration includes M next hop link counters NCC, where M is a positive integer;

[0024] The first determining module is configured to determine a key used for switching to the candidate cell according to the M NCCs.

[0025] In a seventh aspect, a key configuration device is provided, comprising:

[0026] The second sending module is configured to perform a first operation, wherein the first operation includes any one of the following:

[0027] Sending a first cell configuration or target information of a candidate cell to a first network side device, where the first cell configuration includes M next hop link counters NCC, and the target information includes M NCCs and a candidate cell group associated with the M NCCs;

[0028] Sending M first information to the first network side device, where the M first information is associated with the third network side device, and each of the first information includes a next hop link NH and NCC;

[0029] Among them, M is a positive integer, the third network side device is a candidate access network device, and the M NCCs are used to determine the key used by the terminal to perform continuous central unit CU switching and access to the candidate cell or any candidate cell in the candidate cell group.

[0030] In an eighth aspect, a key configuration device is provided, including:

[0031] A second receiving module, configured to receive M first information from a second network side device, wherein the first information includes a next hop link NH and a next hop link counter NCC;

[0032] A third sending module, configured to send a first cell configuration or target information of a candidate cell to the second network side device, where the first cell configuration includes M NCCs, and the target information includes M NCCs and a candidate cell group associated with the M NCCs;

[0033] The M NCCs are used to determine the key used by the terminal to perform continuous switching between central units CU and access the candidate cell or any candidate cell in the candidate cell group, and M is a positive integer.

[0034] In a ninth aspect, a terminal is provided, comprising a processor and a memory, wherein the memory stores programs or instructions that can be run on the processor, and when the programs or instructions are executed by the processor, the steps of the method described in the second aspect are implemented.

[0035] In a tenth aspect, a terminal is provided, comprising a processor and a communication interface, wherein the communication interface is used to receive a first cell configuration or target information of a candidate cell from a first network side device, the first cell configuration comprising M next hop link counters NCC, the target information comprising M NCCs and candidate cell groups associated with the M NCCs, where M is a positive integer;

[0036] The processor is configured to determine, according to the M NCCs, a key used for switching to the candidate cell or any candidate cell in the candidate cell group.

[0037] In the eleventh aspect, a network side device is provided, which includes a processor and a memory, wherein the memory stores programs or instructions that can be run on the processor, and when the program or instructions are executed by the processor, the steps of the method described in the first aspect are implemented, or the method described in the third aspect is implemented, or the method described in the fourth aspect is implemented.

[0038] In a twelfth aspect, a network side device is provided, including a processor and a communication interface, wherein:

[0039] When the network side device is a first network side device, the communication interface is used to send a first cell configuration or target information of a candidate cell to the terminal, the first cell configuration includes M next hop link counters NCC, and the target information includes M NCCs and a candidate cell group associated with the M NCCs; wherein the M NCCs are used to determine the key used by the terminal to perform continuous central unit CU switching and access to the candidate cell or the candidate cell group, and M is a positive integer;

[0040] When the network side device is a second network side device, the communication interface is used to perform a first operation; the first operation includes any one of the following:

[0041] Sending a first cell configuration or target information of a candidate cell to a first network side device, where the first cell configuration includes M next hop link counters NCC, and the target information includes M NCCs and a candidate cell group associated with the M NCCs;

[0042] Sending M first information to the first network side device, where the M first information is associated with the third network side device, and each of the first information includes a next hop link NH and NCC;

[0043] Wherein, M is a positive integer, the third network side device is a candidate access network device, and the M NCCs are used to determine the key used by the terminal to perform continuous central unit CU switching and access to the candidate cell or any candidate cell in the candidate cell group;

[0044] When the network side device is a third network side device, the communication interface is used to receive M first information from the second network side device, the first information including a next hop link NH and a next hop link counter NCC; send the first cell configuration or target information of the candidate cell to the second network side device, the first cell configuration including M NCCs, the target information including M NCCs and a candidate cell group associated with the M NCCs; wherein the M NCCs are used to determine the key used by the terminal to perform continuous central unit CU switching and access the candidate cell or any candidate cell in the candidate cell group, and M is a positive integer.

[0045] In the thirteenth aspect, a readable storage medium is provided, on which a program or instruction is stored. When the program or instruction is executed by a processor, the steps of the method described in the first aspect are implemented, or the steps of the method described in the second aspect are implemented, or the steps of the method described in the third aspect are implemented, or the steps of the method described in the fourth aspect are implemented.

[0046] In the fourteenth aspect, a wireless communication system is provided, comprising: a terminal and a network side device, wherein the terminal can be used to execute the steps of the method described in the second aspect, and the network side device can be used to execute the steps of the method described in the first aspect, or implement the steps of the method described in the third aspect, or implement the steps of the method described in the fourth aspect.

[0047] In the fifteenth aspect, a chip is provided, comprising a processor and a communication interface, wherein the communication interface is coupled to the processor, and the processor is used to run a program or instructions to implement the method as described in the first aspect, or the method as described in the second aspect, or the steps of the method as described in the third aspect, or the steps of the method as described in the fourth aspect.

[0048] In the sixteenth aspect, a computer program / program product is provided, wherein the computer program / program product is stored in a storage medium, and the program / program product is executed by at least one processor to implement the method as described in the first aspect, or the method as described in the second aspect, or the steps of the method as described in the third aspect, or the steps of the method as described in the fourth aspect.

[0049] In the embodiment of the present application, the first cell configuration of the candidate cell is sent to the terminal through the first network side device, and the first cell configuration includes M next hop link counters NCC; wherein the M NCCs are used to determine the key used by the terminal to perform continuous central unit CU switching and access to the candidate cell, and M is a positive integer. In this way, the terminal can perform multiple continuous CU switching based on the first cell configuration of the network side device once, avoiding the switching delay caused by reconfiguration of the key, and ensuring normal communication with the target cell. Therefore, the embodiment of the present application reduces and improves the reliability of communication. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0050] Figure 1 is a block diagram of a wireless communication system to which the embodiments of the present application can be applied;

[0051] Figure 2 This is the architecture diagram of CU-DU;

[0052] Figure 3 It is a schematic diagram of the process of cell switching across CUs;

[0053] Figure 4 is an example diagram of the switch key chain derivation model;

[0054] Figure 5 It is a schematic diagram of the handover process between base stations;

[0055] Figure 6 is a flowchart of a switching preparation process for N2 switching;

[0056] Figure 7 is a flowchart of the switching process of N2 switching;

[0057] Figure 8 It is a flowchart of a key configuration method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0058] Fig. 9 It is a flowchart of another key configuration method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0059] Fig.10 It is a flowchart of another key configuration method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0060] Fig.11It is a flowchart of another key configuration method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0061] Fig.12 It is a structural diagram of a key configuration device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0062] Fig.13 It is a structural diagram of another key configuration device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0063] Fig.14 It is a structural diagram of another key configuration device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0064] Fig.15 It is a structural diagram of another key configuration device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0065] Fig.16 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0066] Fig.17 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a terminal provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0067] Fig.18 It is a structural diagram of a network side device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0068] Fig.19 It is a structural diagram of another network side device provided in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0069] The terms "first", "second", etc. in this application are used to distinguish similar objects, and are not used to describe a specific order or sequence. It should be understood that the terms used in this way are interchangeable where appropriate, so that the embodiments of the present application can be implemented in an order other than those illustrated or described herein, and the objects distinguished by "first" and "second" are generally of one type, and the number of objects is not limited, for example, the first object can be one or more. In addition, "or" in this application represents at least one of the connected objects. For example, "A or B" covers three schemes, namely, Scheme 1: including A but not including B; Scheme 2: including B but not including A; Scheme 3: including both A and B. The character " / " generally indicates that the objects associated with each other are in an "or" relationship.

[0070] The term "indication" in this application can be a direct indication (or explicit indication) or an indirect indication (or implicit indication). A direct indication can be understood as the sender explicitly informing the receiver of specific information, operations to be performed, or request results in the sent indication; an indirect indication can be understood as the receiver determining the corresponding information according to the indication sent by the sender, or making a judgment and determining the operation to be performed or the request result according to the judgment result.

[0071] It is worth noting that the technology described in the embodiments of the present application is not limited to the Long Term Evolution (LTE) / LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) system, but can also be used in other wireless communication systems, such as Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA), Single-carrier Frequency-Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) or other systems. The terms "system" and "network" in the embodiments of the present application are often used interchangeably, and the described technology can be used for the systems and radio technologies mentioned above as well as for other systems and radio technologies. The following description describes a New Radio (NR) system for illustrative purposes, and NR terminology is used in most of the following descriptions, but these technologies can also be applied to systems other than NR systems, such as the 6th generation (6 th Generation, 6G) communication system.

[0072] Figure 1A block diagram of a wireless communication system applicable to an embodiment of the present application is shown. The wireless communication system includes a terminal 11 and a network side device 12. Among them, the terminal 11 can be a mobile phone, a tablet computer (Tablet Personal Computer), a laptop computer (Laptop Computer), a notebook computer, a personal digital assistant (Personal Digital Assistant, PDA), a handheld computer, a netbook, an ultra-mobile personal computer (Ultra-mobile Personal Computer, UMPC), a mobile Internet device (Mobile Internet Device, MID), an augmented reality (Augmented Reality, AR), a virtual reality (Virtual Reality, VR) device, a robot, a wearable device (Wearable Device), an aircraft (flight vehicle), a vehicle-mounted device (Vehicle User Equipment, VUE), a ship-mounted device, a pedestrian terminal (Pedestrian User Equipment, PUE), a smart home (home appliances with wireless communication functions, such as refrigerators, televisions, washing machines or furniture, etc.), a game console, a personal computer (Personal Computer, PC), a teller machine or a self-service machine and other terminal side devices. Wearable devices include: smart watches, smart bracelets, smart headphones, smart glasses, smart jewelry (smart bracelets, smart bracelets, smart rings, smart necklaces, smart anklets, smart anklets, etc.), smart wristbands, smart clothing, etc. Among them, the vehicle-mounted device can also be called a vehicle-mounted terminal, a vehicle-mounted controller, a vehicle-mounted module, a vehicle-mounted component, a vehicle-mounted chip or a vehicle-mounted unit, etc. It should be noted that the specific type of the terminal 11 is not limited in the embodiment of the present application. The network side device 12 may include an access network device or a core network device, wherein the access network device may also be referred to as a radio access network (Radio Access Network, RAN) device, a radio access network function or a radio access network unit. The access network device may include a base station, a wireless local area network (Wireless Local Area Network, WLAN) access point (Access Point, AS) or a wireless fidelity (Wireless Fidelity, WiFi) node, etc.Among them, the base station may be referred to as a Node B (NB), an evolved Node B (eNB), a next generation Node B (gNB), a New Radio Node B (NR Node B), an access point, a Relay Base Station (RBS), a Serving Base Station (SBS), a Base Transceiver Station (BTS), a radio base station, a radio transceiver, a Basic Service Set (BSS), an Extended Service Set (ESS), a Home Node B (HNB), a Home Evolved Node B (home evolved Node B), a Transmission Reception Point (TRP) or other appropriate terms in the relevant field. As long as the same technical effect is achieved, the base station is not limited to specific technical vocabulary. It should be noted that in the embodiment of the present application, only the base station in the NR system is used as an example for introduction, and the specific type of the base station is not limited.

[0073] The core network equipment may include but is not limited to at least one of the following: core network node, core network function, mobility management entity (Mobility Management Entity, MME), access mobility management function (Access and Mobility Management Function, AMF), session management function (Session Management Function, SMF), user plane function (User Plane Function, UPF), policy control function (Policy Control Function, PCF), policy and charging rules function unit (Policy and Charging Rules Function, PCRF), edge application service discovery function (Edge Application Server Discovery Function, EASDF), unified data management (Unified Data Management, UDM), unified data storage (Unified Data Repository, UDR), home user server (Home Subscriber Server, HSS), centralized network configuration (CNC), network storage function (Network Repository Function, NRF), network exposure function (Network Exposure Function, NEF), local NEF (Local NEF, or L-NEF), binding support function (Binding Support Function, BSF), application function (Application Function, AF), etc. It should be noted that in the embodiments of the present application, only the core network device in the NR system is introduced as an example, and the specific type of the core network device is not limited.

[0074] For ease of understanding, some contents involved in the embodiments of the present application are described below:

[0075] 1. CU-Distributed Unit (DU) framework.

[0076] The NR access network splits the base station into a central unit and a distributed unit, which are connected via the F1 interface. Figure 2As shown below. Among them, a base station includes a CU and one or more DUs, and a DU includes one or more cells. The CU includes the Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) and the protocol stack above it, and the DU includes the protocol stack below the PDCP layer, such as the Radio Link Control (RLC) protocol, the Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol and the Physical (PHY) layer protocol. In the control plane, the CU includes RRC and the PDCP (PDCP-C) of the control plane; in the user plane, the CU includes the Service Data Adaption Protocol (SDAP) and the PDCP (PDCP-U) of the user plane.

[0077] 2. LTM.

[0078] LTM is introduced to reduce the switching delay. That is, DU uses L1 / L2 signaling to instruct the terminal to switch to the appropriate candidate cell based on the layer 1 measurement results reported by the terminal. LTM can consider supporting cell switching across CUs. The specific process is as follows: Figure 3 shown.

[0079] In the embodiment of the present application, continuous LTM means that the UE continuously switches between multiple configured candidate cells without the network reconfiguring the candidate cells.

[0080] 3. Key derivation during the switching process.

[0081] The derivation model of the key chain used for switching is as follows Figure 4 shown.

[0082] Optionally, when the initial connection is established, K gNB Derived from Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) and associated with NCC = 0. The horizontal derivation or vertical derivation process during subsequent handover is described below.

[0083] 4. Xn switching process.

[0084] like Figure 5 As shown, the Inter-gNB handover process includes at least the following steps:

[0085] Step 51: The source base station initiates a handover and sends a handover request (HANDOVERREQUEST) to the target base station via the Xn interface.

[0086] Step 52, the target base station performs admission control and provides the RRC configuration of the target cell in the handover request confirmation (HANDOVER REQUESTACKNOWLEDGE);

[0087] Step 53: The source base station forwards the RRC reconfiguration message carried in the HANDOVER REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE to the terminal;

[0088] Step 54: The terminal disconnects from the source base station, establishes an RRC connection with the target base station, and replies that the RRC reconfiguration is complete.

[0089] 5. Key update during Xn switching process.

[0090] Xn switching is to implement inter-CU switching through the Xn interface between the source base station and the target base station. The key derivation process of the switching process is as follows.

[0091] The process on the base station side is as follows:

[0092] a) When there is an unused {NH, NCC} pair in the source base station, vertical key derivation is performed, otherwise horizontal key derivation is performed, where the value of the next hop (NH) is determined by the AMF key K AMF Derivation; If vertical key derivation is performed, the source base station calculates K based on NH and the physical cell identifier (PCI) and frequency of the target cell as input. NG-RAN *; If horizontal key derivation is performed, the source base station uses the currently used key K gNB , using the PCI and frequency of the target cell as input to calculate K NG-RAN *;

[0093] b) The source base station will {K NG-RAN *, NCC}pair is sent to the target base station. The target base station uses K NG-RAN * As K when UE switches to the target cell gNB The target base station will NCC and target K gNB The received NCC is included in the handover command (HOCommand) message, transparently transmitted to the source base station, and then sent to the UE by the source base station;

[0094] c) After the handover is completed, the target base station sends a Next Generation Application Protocol (NGAP) path switch request (NGAP PATH SWITCH REQUEST) message to the AMF. After receiving the message, the AMF increases the NCC saved locally by 1 and calculates the K AMFA new NH is derived, and the AMF sends the new {NH, NCC} to the target base station through the NGAP PATH SWITCH REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE for subsequent switching, and deletes other saved {NH, NCC} pairs.

[0095] The behavior on the terminal side is as follows:

[0096] When the UE performs a handover and applies the RRC configuration of the target cell:

[0097] If the NCC value received by the UE in the handover command is different from the K currently used gNB / K eNB If the associated NCC is the same, the UE will gNB / K eNB , the target PCI and frequency level are derived to obtain K NG-RAN *

[0098] If the NCC value received by the UE in the handover command is different from the K currently used gNB / K eNB If the associated NCC is different, the UE first synchronizes the NCC and NH until it matches the NCC indicated by the handover command. Then the UE vertically derives K based on the synchronized NH, target PCI and frequency point. NG-RAN *.

[0099] UE uses K NG-RAN *K used to communicate with the target base station gNB / K eNB .

[0100] 6. N2 switching process.

[0101] When there is no Xn interface, the terminal implements inter-gNB N2 based handover through N2 interface signaling interaction. The handover preparation process of N2 handover is as follows: Figure 6 As shown, the switching execution process of N2 handover is shown in 7.

[0102] Optionally, in N2 handover, since there is no Xn interface, the source gNB and the target gNB cannot directly exchange signaling, and the candidate target cell preparation needs to be implemented through the NG interface. The main NG interface signaling involved includes:

[0103] HANDOVER REQUIRED sent by the source gNB to the AMF;

[0104] HANDOVER REQUEST sent by AMF to the target gNB;

[0105] The target gNB replies to AMF’s HANDOVER REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE.

[0106] The AMF replies with the HANDOVER COMMAND of the source gNB.

[0107] When the switch does not involve changes to the AMF, Figure 6 and Figure 7 The source AMF (S-AMF) and target AM (T-AMF) are the same node, and the signaling interaction between them can be omitted.

[0108] 7. Key update during N2 switching process.

[0109] Taking the case where AMF does not change as an example, the behaviors on the base station side and the UE side are as follows.

[0110] Base station side:

[0111] After receiving the NGAP HANDOVER REQUIRED message, the source AMF adds 1 to the NCC value stored locally and calculates the value based on K AMF Calculate a new NH and send the {NH, NCC} pair to the target base station;

[0112] The target base station calculates K based on NH, target PCI and frequency. NG-RAN *, the target base station uses K NG-RAN * As K when UE switches to the target cell gNB The target base station will NCC and target K gNB The UE associates with the NCC and includes it in the HOCommand message, which is transparently transmitted to the AMF. The AMF transparently transmits it to the source base station, which then sends it to the UE via the RRC reconfiguration message.

[0113] After the switch is completed, the target base station sends a NGAP PATH SWITCH REQUEST message to AMF. After receiving the message, AMF adds 1 to the locally saved NCC and derives a new NH based on KAMF. AMF sends the new {NH, NCC} to the target base station through NGAP PATHSWITCH REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE for subsequent switching and deletes other saved {NH, NCC} pairs.

[0114] The behavior on the terminal side is the same as the Xn switching process and will not be repeated here.

[0115] The key configuration method provided in the embodiment of the present application is described in detail below through some embodiments and their application scenarios in combination with the accompanying drawings.

[0116] Reference Figure 8 , the present application embodiment provides a key configuration method, such as Figure 8 As shown, the key configuration method includes

[0117] Step 801: A first network side device sends a first cell configuration or target information of a candidate cell to a terminal, where the first cell configuration includes M next hop link counters NCC, and the target information includes M NCCs and candidate cell groups associated with the M NCCs;

[0118] The M NCCs are used to determine the key used by the terminal to perform continuous switching between central units CU and access the candidate cell or any candidate cell in the candidate cell group, and M is a positive integer.

[0119] In the embodiment of the present application, the M NCCs are used to determine the key used by the terminal to perform T consecutive central unit CU handovers and access the candidate cell. Wherein, when M is greater than 1, T is an integer greater than or equal to M, and when M is equal to 1, T is greater than M.

[0120] Optionally, the association method of M NCCs with the candidate cell group can be: the identifier associated with the NCC list composed of the M NCCs is the same as the identifier associated with the configuration of the candidate cell in the candidate cell group, and each candidate cell configuration in the candidate cell group is associated with an identifier. That is to say, the NCC list composed of the M NCCs is associated with an identifier, and each candidate cell configuration in the candidate cell group is also associated with an identifier, and the identifier associated with the NCC list is the same as the identifier associated with each candidate cell configuration in the candidate cell group. Among them, the network side device provides multiple candidate cell configurations to the UE, and each candidate cell configuration is associated with an identifier. The terminal can determine whether these candidate cells belong to the same candidate cell group (i.e., cells in the same CU) based on whether the identifiers associated with the candidate cell configurations are the same. In addition, the terminal can also determine which NCC list is used for the candidate cell based on which identifier of the candidate cell configuration is the same as which NCC list.

[0121] Optionally, the key used by the candidate cell or any candidate cell in the candidate cell group can be understood or replaced by the key used by the access network device corresponding to the candidate cell or the candidate cell group. An access network device corresponds to one or more candidate cells, or an access network device corresponds to a candidate cell group, and the candidate cells associated with a candidate cell group meet at least one of the following conditions:

[0122] Any two candidate cells have the same preset identifier;

[0123] The cell group configurations of any two candidate cells have the same preset identifier;

[0124] Any two candidate cells are in the same cell list.

[0125] Optionally, the above-mentioned preset identifier can be understood as an identifier used to determine inter-CU switching. When the preset identifiers are the same, it can be considered as intra-CU switching, and when they are different, it can be considered as inter-CU switching.

[0126] Optionally, the first network side device mentioned above can be understood as a source access network device of the terminal.

[0127] Optionally, after receiving the first cell configuration of the candidate cell, the terminal may determine a key used for switching to the candidate cell according to M NCCs.

[0128] For example, in some embodiments, the terminal determines the key as follows:

[0129] The terminal determines a target cell during a handover process, where the target cell is one of the candidate cells or a candidate cell in the candidate cell group;

[0130] The terminal determines the target NCC for this handover based on the configuration order of the NCC of the target cell;

[0131] The terminal determines, based on the target NCC, a key used for switching to the target cell;

[0132] In which, when this switching is a case where the terminal performs X consecutive inter-CU switching based on the configured M NCCs, the target NCC is the Xth NCC.

[0133] In the embodiment of the present application, the above T is equal to M, and X is a positive integer less than or equal to M, that is, after every M switching, the network side device can reconfigure M NCCs for candidate selection for the terminal.

[0134] For another example, in some embodiments, the terminal determines the key in the following manner:

[0135] The terminal determines a target cell during a handover process, where the target cell is one of the candidate cells or a candidate cell associated with the candidate cell group;

[0136] In a case where the terminal switches to a third network side device corresponding to the target cell for the Yth time based on the configured M NCCs, the terminal determines the key used for switching to the target cell according to the target key generation method;

[0137] The target key generation method includes at least one of the following:

[0138] When Y is less than or equal to M, generating a key used for switching to a third network side device corresponding to the target cell based on the Yth NCC;

[0139] When Y is greater than M, a key used for the Yth handover to the third network side device corresponding to the target cell is generated based on the key used for the Y-1th handover to the third network side device corresponding to the target cell.

[0140] In the embodiment of the present application, the above switching process can be understood as a switching process between CUs. The above T is greater than M. When Y is greater than M, the key used for the Y-th switching to the candidate cell is generated by horizontal key derivation based on the key used for the Y-1th switching to the candidate cell.

[0141] In the embodiment of the present application, the first cell configuration of the candidate cell is sent to the terminal through the first network side device, and the first cell configuration includes M next hop link counters NCC; wherein the M NCCs are used to determine the key used by the terminal to perform continuous central unit CU switching and access to the candidate cell, and M is a positive integer. In this way, the terminal can perform multiple continuous CU switching based on the first cell configuration of the network side device once, avoiding the switching delay caused by reconfiguration of the key, and ensuring normal communication with the target cell. Therefore, the embodiment of the present application reduces and improves the reliability of communication.

[0142] Optionally, in some embodiments, before the first network side device sends the first cell configuration or target information of the candidate cell to the terminal, the method further includes:

[0143] The first network side device receives M first information from the second network side device, where the first information includes a next hop link NH and NCC.

[0144] In the embodiment of the present application, the second network side device can be understood as a core network device, such as an AMF. The third network side device can be understood as a candidate access network device. Optionally, the number of candidate cells corresponding to different third network side devices can be the same or different.

[0145] Optionally, in some embodiments, before the first network side device receives M first information from the second network side device, the method further includes:

[0146] The first network side device sends a first request message to the second network side device, where the first request message is used to request L pieces of the first information, where L is an integer greater than or equal to M.

[0147] In the embodiment of the present application, the above-mentioned first request message can be understood as requesting the second network side device to allocate L first information to the third network side device. At this time, the second network side device can allocate L first information to one or more third devices.

[0148] Optionally, in some embodiments, the first network side device sending the first request message to the second network side device includes:

[0149] When the terminal performs M consecutive inter-CU switching based on the configured M NCCs, the first network side device sends a first request message to the second network side device.

[0150] In an embodiment of the present application, when the terminal performs M consecutive inter-CU switching based on the configured M NCCs, the first network side device needs to reconfigure M first information for each candidate first cell so that the terminal can subsequently perform M consecutive inter-CU switching.

[0151] It should be noted that the first network side device can be understood as a candidate access network device before the Mth inter-CU switching based on the configured M NCCs. In other words, the first network side device is the current source access network device of the terminal, and can also be considered as a candidate access network device for the terminal to perform M consecutive inter-CU switching based on the configured M NCCs, so the third network side device can include the first network side device.

[0152] Optionally, in some embodiments, after the first network side device receives M first information from the second network side device, the method further includes:

[0153] The first network side device determines M first keys corresponding to the candidate cell according to the M NHs corresponding to the candidate cell, each first key being associated with an NCC corresponding to the NH;

[0154] The first network side device sends a handover request (HANDOVER REQUEST) message to the third network side device, where the handover request message includes a first key pair, where the first key pair includes the first key and a corresponding NCC.

[0155] In the embodiment of the present application, after the first network side device obtains the M NHs of each cell, it can obtain the M first key pairs of the candidate cells based on horizontal derivation or vertical derivation, and send the first key pairs to the third network side device. It should be noted that the number of target first key pairs sent by the first network side device to the third network side device is N*M.

[0156] Optionally, after the third network side device receives the above-mentioned handover request message, the third network side device may send a handover request confirmation (HANDOVER REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE) message to the first network side device, and the handover request confirmation message carries the first cell configuration of the candidate cell. After the first network side device receives the handover request confirmation message, it may send the first cell configuration of the candidate cell to the terminal through an RRC configuration message or an RRC reconfiguration message.

[0157] Optionally, in some embodiments, the method further comprises:

[0158] The first network side device sends at least one of the following to the target access network device:

[0159] The NCC associated with the key currently used by the terminal or the first network side device;

[0160] The NCC associated with the key used by the terminal when it switches to the target access network device next time;

[0161] The NCC associated with the key used by the terminal when it switches to the target access network device next time.

[0162] In an embodiment of the present application, after the last switch is completed, the first network side device can notify the third network side device of the number of switches the terminal has executed. At this time, the first network side device can send at least one of the following to the third network side device: the key-associated NCC currently used by the terminal or the first network side device; the key-associated NCC used by the terminal when it switches to the target access network device next time. Or after the source CU in the first network side device receives the switch initiation indication sent by the source DU, it notifies the third network side device of the number of switches the terminal has executed. At this time, the first network side device can send at least one of the following to the target access network device (the third network side device currently selected for access): the key-associated NCC currently used by the terminal or the first network side device; the key-associated NCC used by the terminal when it switches to the target access network device next time.

[0163] It should be noted that in the embodiment of the present application, after all keys are used up, that is, after M switches occur, the target access network device after the switch needs to obtain a new {NH, NCC} pair from the second network side device to support subsequent switches; optionally, in the switching completion stage, the target access network device sends a path switch request (PATH SWITCH REQUEST) T message to the second network side device, requesting to obtain M first information, and the second network side device includes the M first information in the path switch request confirmation (PATH SWITCH REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE) message.

[0164] Optionally, in some embodiments, before the first network side device sends the first cell configuration or target information of the candidate cell to the terminal, the method further includes:

[0165] The first network side device sends a second request message to the second network side device, where the second request message is used to instruct the second network side device to allocate L first information to the third network side device, where the first information includes NH and NCC, and L is an integer greater than or equal to M;

[0166] The first network side device receives a switching command from the second network side device, where the switching command is generated based on the second request message;

[0167] The handover command includes a target to source transparent container element IE (Target to Source Transparent Container IE), and a radio resource control RRC container in the target to source transparent container IE carries the first cell configuration.

[0168] In the embodiment of the present application, the above-mentioned second request message can be understood as a HANDOVER REQUIRED message. After receiving the second request message, the second network side device can send a handover request message to the third network side device, and the handover request message includes M first information. In some embodiments, the M first information is included in the security context IE in the handover request message. Optionally, the handover request message may further include at least one of the following:

[0169] Next Generation Application Protocol (NGAP) identifier (ID) of the second network side device and the terminal;

[0170] Source to Target Transparent Container.

[0171] Optionally, after receiving the switching request message, the third network side device may send a switching request confirmation message to the second network side device, where the switching request confirmation message includes at least one of the following:

[0172] NGAP ID of the second network side device and the terminal;

[0173] Access network equipment and terminal NGAP ID;

[0174] A target-to-source transparent container element IE, wherein a radio resource control RRC container in the target-to-source transparent container IE carries the first cell configuration.

[0175] Optionally, in some embodiments, the switching command may further include at least one of the following:

[0176] NGAP ID of the second network side device and the terminal;

[0177] Access network equipment and terminal NGAP ID.

[0178] Optionally, in an embodiment of the present application, after receiving the above-mentioned switching command, the first network side device can send the first cell configuration or target information of the candidate cell to the terminal through an RRC configuration message or an RRC reconfiguration message.

[0179] Optionally, in some embodiments, the first network side device sending the second request message to the second network side device includes:

[0180] In a case where the terminal switches to the first network side device for the Mth time between CUs based on the configured M NCCs, the first network side device sends a second request message to the second network side device.

[0181] In the embodiment of the present application, when switching to a candidate access network device, the candidate access network device can record the number of times the terminal switches to the candidate access network device, or after completing the switch, delete the first information associated with the currently used key, that is, delete the used first information. In this way, the candidate access device can determine the number of times the terminal performs inter-CU switching to the candidate access device based on the configured M NCCs.

[0182] Optionally, in some embodiments, before the first network side device sends the first cell configuration of the candidate cell to the terminal, the method further includes:

[0183] The first network side device sends a third request message to the third network side device, where the third request message is used to request to obtain the first cell configuration of the candidate cell;

[0184] The first network side device receives the first cell configuration from a third network side device.

[0185] In the embodiment of the present application, the third request message can be understood as a HANDOVER REQUIRED message. After receiving the third request message, the third network side device can send a fourth request message to the second network side device. The fourth request message is used to request to obtain N second information groups. The second network side device can send N first information groups to the third network side device based on the fourth request message. The N first information groups can be carried by a HANDOVER REQUEST message. For example, the HANDOVER REQUEST message includes a Security Context IE, and the Security Context IE carries N first information groups. At this time, the third network side device can send a HANDOVER REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE message to the terminal, and the HANDOVER REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE message includes the first cell configuration of the candidate cell.

[0186] Optionally, in some embodiments, before the first network side device sends the target information to the terminal, the method further includes:

[0187] The first network side device sends a third request message to the third network side device, where the third request message is used to request to obtain the second cell configuration and target information of the candidate cell;

[0188] The first network side device receives the target information configured for the second cell from the third network side device.

[0189] In the embodiment of the present application, the second cell configuration can be understood as a cell configuration without carrying an NCC. The content carried by the third request message can refer to the above implementation and will not be described in detail here.

[0190] Optionally, in some embodiments, the HANDOVER REQUEST message may further include at least one of the following:

[0191] NGAP ID of the second network side device and the terminal;

[0192] Source to destination transparent container.

[0193] Optionally, in some embodiments, the third request message includes at least one of the following:

[0194] Continuous inter-CU switching request;

[0195] The number of times switching to candidate access network equipment is allowed;

[0196] Target indication information, where the target indication information is used to indicate the number of keys that the candidate access network device requests to obtain from the second network side device.

[0197] Optionally, the third request message may further include:

[0198] Cell Global ID.

[0199] The Cell Global ID may be referred to as a target cell global identifier (Target Cell Global ID).

[0200] Optionally, in some embodiments, before the first network side device receives the first cell configuration or target information of the candidate cell from the third network side device, the method includes:

[0201] The first network side device sends a second request message to the second network side device, where the second request message is used to instruct the second network side device to allocate L first information to the third network side device, where L is an integer greater than or equal to M.

[0202] In the embodiment of the present application, the second network side device may send N first information groups to the candidate cell based on the second request message or the fourth request message.

[0203] Optionally, in some embodiments, the second request message includes at least one of the following:

[0204] Continuous inter-CU switching request;

[0205] The number of times switching to candidate access network equipment is allowed;

[0206] Request the number of keys to be allocated to the access network device.

[0207] Optionally, in some embodiments, the second request message may further include at least one of the following:

[0208] NGAP ID of the second network side device and the terminal;

[0209] Access network equipment and terminal NGAP ID;

[0210] Node identifier of the candidate access network device;

[0211] Source to destination transparent container.

[0212] In order to better understand the present application, some examples are given below for detailed description.

[0213] In some embodiments, the Xn-handover process prepares candidate cells and keys.

[0214] The network-side devices behave as follows:

[0215] Step S00: The gNB obtains M (M>1) {NH, NCC} pairs from the AMF. One implementation of the acquisition process may be:

[0216] Method 1: The source gNB requests L {NH, NCC} pairs from the AMF. After receiving the request, the AMF provides M (M≤L) {NH, NCC} pairs to the source gNB.

[0217] Method 2: AMF provides M {NH, NCC} pairs to the source gNB;

[0218] Step S01: The source gNB calculates the K of multiple candidate cells based on M NHs, PCIs of candidate cells, and frequencies. NG-RAN * (i.e., key), where each candidate cell corresponds to M K NG-RAN *, each K NG-RAN * and derivative K NG-RAN *NH corresponds to NCC association;

[0219] Step S02: The source gNB sends a HANDOVER REQUEST message to the candidate gNB. The message contains M {K NG-RAN *,NCC}pair. The candidate target gNB will be the Xth (X≤M) K NG-RAN *The key K used when the terminal performs the Xth handover and switches to the current candidate gNB gNB The candidate gNB takes the Xth NCC value and the Xth K NG-RAN * / K gNB Association; If the source gNB prepares cells in N candidate gNBs through one message, the message shall contain M*N {K NG-RAN *,NCC}pair.

[0220] Step S03: The candidate gNB sends a HANDOVER REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE message to the source gNB. The message includes the first cell configuration of the candidate cell. The first cell configuration of each candidate cell includes M NCC values. The source gNB sends the first cell configuration of the candidate cell to the UE through an RRC reconfiguration message.

[0221] Step S04: After the above configuration is completed, when the terminal performs the Xth handover and switches to the gNB where the candidate cell is located, the candidate gNB uses the Xth key (K NG-RAN * or K gNB ) as the key of the candidate cell or candidate gNB.

[0222] Optionally, the candidate gNB may confirm the number of handovers performed by the terminal according to the following two implementation methods. After the last handover is completed, the source gNB notifies the candidate gNB of one or more of the following:

[0223] K currently used by the terminal or source gNB gNB Associated NCCs;

[0224] K used by the terminal when it switches to this candidate gNB next time gNB Associated NCC.

[0225] After receiving the handover initiation indication sent by the DU, the source gNB notifies the target gNB of one or more of the following:

[0226] K currently used by the terminal or source gNB gNB Associated NCC

[0227] K used when the terminal switches to the target gNB gNB Associated NCC

[0228] Step S05, all K gNB After use, that is, after M handovers, the gNB after the handover needs to obtain a new {NH,NCC} pair from the AMF to support subsequent handovers; optionally, in the handover completion phase, the target gNB sends a PATHSWITCH REQUEST message to the AMF, requesting L {NH,NCC} pairs, and the AMF includes M {NH,NCC} pairs in the PATH SWITCH REQUESTACKNOWLEDGE message.

[0229] For example, suppose the terminal’s current serving cell is cell 1, which belongs to gNB 1 and uses K gNB Associated NCC = 0; Candidate gNB2 contains cell cell 2, contains two keys to be used, associated NCC = 1 and NCC = 2; Candidate gNB 3 contains cell cell 3, contains two keys to be used, associated NCC = 1 and NCC = 2. The terminal handover process is as follows:

[0230] The terminal switches from cell 1 to cell 2. After the handover is completed, the terminal uses K associated with NCC=1. gNB At the same time, before the handover is completed, gNB 1 notifies gNB 2 of the NCC currently used by the terminal so that the key used by cell 2 matches the terminal, that is, the K associated with NCC = 1 is used. gNB ;

[0231] The terminal switches from cell 2 to cell 3. After the handover is completed, the terminal uses K associated with NCC=2. gNBAt the same time, before the handover is completed, gNB 2 notifies gNB 3 of the NCC currently used by the terminal so that the key used by cell 3 matches the terminal, that is, using the K associated with NCC = 2 gNB ;

[0232] At this point, all NCCs have been used. To support subsequent inter-CU switching, new keys need to be applied for. The application process can be through step S00; or as described in step S05: the target gNB, i.e., gNB 2, sends a PATH SWITCH REQUEST message to the AMF, requesting L {NH, NCC} pairs, and the AMF includes M {NH, NCC} pairs in the PATH SWITCH REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE message.

[0233] The behavior on the terminal side is as follows:

[0234] Step S10: The terminal receives a candidate first cell configuration from the source gNB, where the configuration includes M NCCs.

[0235] Step S11: When the terminal receives a switching command or performs conditional switching, it synchronizes NH according to the current switching times and NCC value, and calculates K gNB .

[0236] For example, the UE’s current serving cell cell 0 belongs to gNB0, and the K gNB The associated NCC is 4; candidate cell cell1 belongs to gNB1, and the configured NCCs are 5, 6, and 7; candidate cell cell 2 belongs to gNB2, and the configured NCCs are 5, 6, and 7. The handover process is as follows:

[0237] When the terminal switches from cell 0 to cell 2, the terminal first synchronizes the locally stored NH parameters (i.e., the NH corresponding to NCC=4) to the NH parameters corresponding to NCC=5, and then calculates K based on the synchronized NH, the PCI and frequency of the target cell. NG-RAN * as the key after switching;

[0238] When the terminal switches from cell 2 to cell 1, the terminal first synchronizes the locally stored NH parameters (i.e., the NH corresponding to NCC=5) to the NH parameters corresponding to NCC=6, and then calculates K based on the synchronized NH, the PCI and frequency of the target cell. NG-RAN * as the key after the handover. In this step, the UE determines that this is the second handover and should use the second NCC value;

[0239] When the terminal switches from cell 1 to cell 2, the terminal first synchronizes the locally stored NH parameters (i.e., the NH corresponding to NCC=6) to the NH parameters corresponding to NCC=7, and then calculates K based on the synchronized NH, the PCI and frequency of the target cell. NG-RAN * as the key after the handover. In this step, the UE determines that this is the third handover and should use the third NCC value.

[0240] Optionally, after using a certain NCC configured by the network, the terminal deletes the saved NCC and the NCC included in other first cell configurations.

[0241] Optionally, NCC currently occupies 3 bits, that is, it supports up to 8 non-repeating NCCs, excluding the NCC currently used by the source cell, and supports up to 7 consecutive inter-CU switches. The value range of NCC can be expanded to more bits to support more consecutive inter-CU switches, for example, NCC can be expanded to 4 bits to support up to 15 consecutive inter-CU switches.

[0242] Optionally, in some embodiments, the N2-handover process prepares candidate cells and keys.

[0243] In the embodiment of the present application, the network side device may include the following behaviors:

[0244] Step S20: The source gNB sends a HANDOVER REQUIRED message to the AMF. The message includes at least one of the following:

[0245] AMF UE NGAP ID;

[0246] RAN UE NGAP ID;

[0247] Candidate NG-RAN node ID (Target ID);

[0248] Source to Target Transparent Container;

[0249] Continuous inter-CU switching request;

[0250] The number of allowed handovers to the candidate gNB;

[0251] Request the number of keys to be allocated to the candidate gNB.

[0252] Step S21: AMF generates M (M>1) NHs for the candidate target gNB and sends a HANDOVERREQUEST message to the candidate target gNB, which contains at least one of the following:

[0253] AMF UE NGAP ID;

[0254] Security Context IE, contains M {NH, NCC} pairs;

[0255] Source to Target Transparent Container.

[0256] If the HANDOVER REQUIRED and HANDOVER REQUEST messages contain P (P>1) candidate cell handover requests within the candidate gNB, the HANDOVER REQUEST message contains M {NH,NCC} pairs;

[0257] Step S22: The candidate gNB deletes the previously saved {NH, NCC} (if any) and derives M K according to the received M NH. NG-RAN *, where the Xth K NG-RAN *The key K used when the terminal switches to the candidate cell or candidate gNB for the Xth time gNB .

[0258] Step S23: The candidate gNB sends a HANDOVER REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE message to the AMF, where the message contains at least one of the following:

[0259] AMF UE NGAP ID;

[0260] RAN UE NGAP ID;

[0261] Target to Source Transparent Container IE, the RRC container contains the first cell configuration of the candidate cell, and the configuration contains M NCCs for switching to the candidate gNB

[0262] Step S24: The AMF sends a HANDOVER COMMAND message to the source gNB. The message includes at least one of the following:

[0263] AMF UE NGAP ID;

[0264] RAN UE NGAP ID;

[0265] Target to Source Transparent Container IE, the RRC container contains the first cell configuration of the candidate cell, and the configuration includes M NCCs used for switching to the candidate gNB.

[0266] Step S25: The source gNB sends the first cell configuration of the candidate cell to the UE through an RRC message, where the first cell configuration includes M NCCs for switching to the candidate target gNB.

[0267] Step S26: When the terminal switches to the gNB where the candidate cell is located for the Xth time, the candidate gNB configures the order according to the NCC value and uses the K associated with the Xth NCC. gNB As the key of the candidate cell or candidate gNB;

[0268] The candidate gNB needs to record the number of times the terminal switches to the candidate gNB; or, after the switch is completed, the candidate gNB deletes the current K gNB The associated {NH, NCC} pair is deleted, and the K associated with the NCC with the “smallest” NCC value is used in the next switch. gNB As the key of the candidate cell or candidate gNB. The NCC with the "smallest" NCC value is the NCC with the highest configuration order, taking into account the NCC flipping situation. For example, if the NCC values ​​configured in sequence are 5, 6, 7, and 0, then the NCC with the lowest configuration order is NCC=5, not the flipped NCC=0.

[0269] Step S27, all K gNB After use, that is, after the terminal switches to a candidate gNB M times, the candidate gNB needs to obtain a new {NH, NCC} pair from the AMF and reconfigure the UE to support subsequent switching; the process of obtaining keys and reconfiguring keys can be performed through steps S20 to S25.

[0270] The corresponding behaviors on the terminal side are as follows:

[0271] Step S30: The terminal obtains the first cell configuration of the candidate cell from the source gNB, and the first cell configuration of each inter-CU includes multiple NCCs;

[0272] Step S31, when the terminal receives a switching command or performs conditional switching, it performs key reconfiguration according to the NCC configuration order in the candidate target first cell configuration. Since different first cell configurations contain different NCCs, the terminal does not necessarily perform key reconfiguration in the order of NCC=NCC+1.

[0273] For example, if NCC is 3 bits, the UE’s current serving cell cell 0 belongs to gNB0, and the K used is gNB The associated NCC is 4; candidate target cell 1 belongs to gNB1, and the configured NCC is 5, 6, 7; candidate target cell 2 belongs to gNB2, and the configured NCC is 0, 1, 2. The handover process is as follows:

[0274] The terminal switches from cell 0 to cell 2, synchronizes the locally saved NH parameters (i.e., the NH corresponding to NCC=4) to the NH parameters corresponding to NCC=0 (this is the next round of NCC after flipping), and then calculates K based on the synchronized NH, the PCI and frequency of the target cell. NG-RAN * as the key after switching;

[0275] The terminal switches from cell 2 to cell 1, synchronizes the NH parameters corresponding to NCC=4 (the previous round of NCC) to the NH parameters corresponding to NCC=5 (the previous round), and then calculates K based on the synchronized NH, the PCI and frequency of the target cell. NG-RAN * as the key after switching;

[0276] The terminal switches from cell 1 to cell 2, synchronizes the NH parameters corresponding to NCC=4 (previous round) to the NH parameters corresponding to NCC=1 (next round), and then calculates KNG-RAN* as the key after switching based on the synchronized NH, target PCI and frequency. That is, the UE always starts synchronization from the NH associated with the initial serving cell key, rather than from the NH associated with the current serving cell key.

[0277] Optionally, after using a certain NCC configured by the network, the terminal deletes the saved NCC and the NCC included in other first cell configurations.

[0278] It should be noted that this embodiment mainly describes the candidate first cell configuration and key interaction in the switching preparation stage, the signaling interaction and data transfer in the switching execution stage and the switching completion stage. It can be forwarded through AMF, that is, the relevant steps of N2handover are executed; it can also be performed through the Xn interface, that is, the relevant steps of Xn-handover are executed.

[0279] Optionally, in some embodiments, the Xn-handover process prepares candidate cells and the N2-handover process prepares keys.

[0280] In the embodiment of the present application, the network side device may include the following behaviors:

[0281] Step S40: The source gNB sends a HANDOVER REQUEST message to the candidate target gNB, requesting to obtain the first cell configuration of the candidate cell. The message includes at least one of the following:

[0282] Target Cell Global ID;

[0283] Continuous inter-CU switching request;

[0284] Number of switching times;

[0285] Instruct the candidate gNB to request the AMF to obtain L (L>1) keys.

[0286] Step S41: The candidate gNB sends a first message to the AMF, requesting to obtain L (L>1) keys or L {NH, NCC} pairs.

[0287] Step S42: The AMF sends a second message to the candidate gNB, containing M (1<M<=N) {NH, NCC} pairs.

[0288] Step S43 is the same as step S22 and will not be elaborated here.

[0289] Step S44: The candidate gNB sends a HANDOVER REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE message to the source gNB. The message contains the first cell configuration of the candidate cell, and the configuration contains M NCCs for the UE to switch to the candidate gNB.

[0290] Steps S45 to S47 are the same as steps S25 to S27 above and will not be elaborated here.

[0291] Optionally, in some embodiments, it is possible to support both the source gNB instructing the AMF to allocate {NH, NCC} pairs to the candidate gNB and the source gNB instructing the candidate gNB to request the AMF to obtain {NH, NCC} pairs. The M {NH, NCC} pairs can come from these two methods simultaneously.

[0292] Optionally, the corresponding behavior on the terminal side is the same as steps S30 to S31 above. Among them, the signaling interaction and data transfer during the handover execution phase and the handover completion phase are carried out through the Xn interface.

[0293] Optionally, in some embodiments, the candidate cell derives the key according to its own K gNB level and does not need to interact with the source cell.

[0294] In the embodiments of the present application, the network side device may include the following behaviors:

[0295] Step S50: The same as step S20 or step S40, that is, the N2 handover preparation process, and the candidate gNB obtains M (M≥1) {NH, NCC} pairs.

[0296] Step S51: When the terminal switches to the candidate gNB for the Xth (X≤M) time, the candidate gNB uses the K gNB associated with the Xth NCC of the candidate cell configured according to the NCC value order as the key of the candidate cell or the candidate gNB.

[0297] Step S52: When the terminal switches to the candidate gNB for the Yth (Y>M) time, the candidate gNB uses the K value when the terminal switches to the candidate gNB for the Y-1th time. gNB As the input key, the PCI and frequency of the target cell are used as input parameters, and the output key is obtained by horizontal derivation calculation as the key when the terminal switches to the candidate gNB for the Yth time.

[0298] In step S53, the candidate gNB or source gNB decides when to obtain a new {NH, NCC} pair from the AMF and reconfigures the UE to support vertical and horizontal derivation of keys during subsequent switching, in the manner of the above embodiment.

[0299] Optionally, the network side device can determine vertical derivation or horizontal derivation based on the NCC. For example, after the candidate gNB has used a key associated with a certain NCC, it deletes the NCC included in all first cell configurations. When all M NCCs of the candidate gNB are used up, the candidate gNB starts horizontal derivation.

[0300] The corresponding terminal side includes the following behaviors:

[0301] Step S60: the terminal's previous X (X≤M) switching processes are the same as steps S30 and S31

[0302] Step S61: When the terminal switches to the target gNB for the Yth (X>M) time, the terminal uses the K gNB As the input key, the PCI and frequency of the target cell are used as input parameters, and the output key is calculated horizontally as the key for the terminal to switch to the target cell for the Yth time. That is, after the configured M NCCs are used up, the terminal defaults to the K when it last switched to this gNB gNB As input key, horizontal derivation is performed.

[0303] Step S62: After receiving the new M NCCs, the terminal repeats steps S60 and S61.

[0304] Optionally, refer to Fig. 9 The present application also provides a key configuration method, such as Fig. 9 As shown, the key configuration method includes:

[0305] Step 901: The terminal receives a first cell configuration or target information of a candidate cell from a first network side device, where the first cell configuration includes M next hop link counters NCC, and the target information includes M NCCs and candidate cell groups associated with the M NCCs, where M is a positive integer.

[0306] Step 902: The terminal determines a key used for switching to the candidate cell or any candidate cell in the candidate cell group according to the M NCCs.

[0307] Optionally, the terminal determines, according to the M NCCs, a key used for switching to the candidate cell or any candidate cell in the candidate cell group, including:

[0308] The terminal determines a target cell during a handover process, where the target cell is one of the candidate cells or a candidate cell in the candidate cell group;

[0309] The terminal determines the target NCC for this handover based on the configuration order of the NCC of the target cell;

[0310] The terminal determines, based on the target NCC, a key used for switching to the target cell;

[0311] In which, when this switching is a case where the terminal performs X consecutive inter-CU switching based on the configured M NCCs, the target NCC is the Xth NCC.

[0312] Optionally, the terminal determines the target NCC for this handover based on the configuration order of the NCC of the target cell, including:

[0313] When the target condition is met, the terminal determines the target NCC for this handover based on the configuration order of the NCC of the target cell;

[0314] The target condition includes any of the following:

[0315] The source cell and the target cell have the same preset identifier;

[0316] The cell group configuration of the source cell and the cell group configuration of the target cell have the same preset identifier;

[0317] The source cell and the target cell are in the same cell list.

[0318] Optionally, the terminal determines the target NCC for this handover based on the configuration order of the NCC of the target cell, including:

[0319] When the target condition is met, the terminal determines the target NCC for this handover based on the configuration order of the NCC of the target cell;

[0320] The target condition includes any of the following:

[0321] The source cell and the target cell have different preset identifiers;

[0322] The cell group configuration of the source cell and the cell group configuration of the target cell have different preset identifiers;

[0323] The source cell and the target cell are in different cell lists.

[0324] In the embodiment of the present application, the source cell and the target cell are in the same cell list, which can be understood or replaced by: the source cell and the target cell are in the same cell list configured by the source network side device.

[0325] Optionally, the terminal determines, according to the M NCCs, a key used for switching to the candidate cell or any candidate cell in the candidate cell group, including:

[0326] The terminal determines a target cell during a handover process, where the target cell is one of the candidate cells or a candidate cell associated with the candidate cell group;

[0327] In a case where the terminal switches to a third network side device corresponding to the target cell for the Yth time based on the configured M NCCs, the terminal determines the key used for switching to the target cell according to the target key generation method;

[0328] The target key generation method includes at least one of the following:

[0329] When Y is less than or equal to M, generating a key used for switching to a third network side device corresponding to the target cell based on the Yth NCC;

[0330] When Y is greater than M, a key used for the Yth handover to the third network side device corresponding to the target cell is generated based on the key used for the Y-1th handover to the third network side device corresponding to the target cell.

[0331] Optionally, the method further comprises:

[0332] The terminal synchronizes the NH associated with the key of the initial service cell to the NH of the Yth NCC, and the initial service cell is the service cell initially accessed by the terminal or the cell configured as the first cell of the candidate cell received by the terminal.

[0333] Optionally, refer to Fig.10 The present application also provides a key configuration method, such as Fig.10 As shown, the key configuration method includes:

[0334] Step 1001: The second network side device performs a first operation; the first operation includes any one of the following:

[0335] A first cell configuration or target information of a candidate cell is sent to a first network side device, wherein the first cell configuration includes M next-hop link counters NCC, and the target information includes M NCCs and a candidate cell group associated with the M NCCs; wherein the identifier associated with the NCC list composed of the M NCCs is the same as the identifier associated with the configuration of the candidate cell in the candidate cell group, and the configuration of each candidate cell in the candidate cell group is associated with an identifier.

[0336] Sending M first information to the first network side device, where the M first information is associated with the third network side device, and each of the first information includes a next hop link NH and NCC;

[0337] Among them, M is a positive integer, the third network side device is a candidate access network device, and the M NCCs are used to determine the key used by the terminal to perform continuous central unit CU switching and access to the candidate cell or any candidate cell in the candidate cell group.

[0338] Optionally, before sending N information groups to the first network side device, the method further includes:

[0339] The second network side device receives a first request message from the first network side device, where the first request message is used to request L first information, where the first information includes NH and NCC, and L is an integer greater than or equal to M.

[0340] Optionally, before sending the first cell configuration or target information of the candidate cell to the first network side device, the method further includes:

[0341] When the second network side device receives the target request message, the second network side device sends the M first information to the third device;

[0342] The second network side device receives the first cell configuration of the candidate cell or the target information from the third device;

[0343] The target request message includes at least one of the following:

[0344] A second request message sent by the first network side device, where the second request message is used to instruct the second network side device to allocate L first information to the third network side device;

[0345] A fourth request message sent by the third network side device, where the fourth request message is used to request to obtain L first information;

[0346] Wherein, L is an integer greater than or equal to M.

[0347] Optionally, refer to Fig.11The present application also provides a key configuration method, such as Fig.11 As shown, the key configuration method includes:

[0348] Step 1101: The third network side device receives M first information from the second network side device, where the first information includes a next hop link NH and a next hop link counter NCC;

[0349] Step 1102: The third network side device sends a first cell configuration or target information of a candidate cell to the second network side device, where the first cell configuration includes M NCCs, the target information includes M NCCs and a candidate cell group associated with the M NCCs, an identifier associated with the NCC list composed of the M NCCs is the same as an identifier associated with the configuration of the candidate cell in the candidate cell group, and each configuration of the candidate cell in the candidate cell group is associated with an identifier;

[0350] The M NCCs are used to determine the key used by the terminal to perform continuous switching between central units CU and access the candidate cell or any candidate cell in the candidate cell group, and M is a positive integer.

[0351] Optionally, before the third network side device receives the M first information from the second network side device, the method further includes:

[0352] The third network side device receives a third request message from the first network side device, where the third request message is used to request to obtain the first cell configuration of the candidate cell;

[0353] The third network side device sends a fourth request message to the second network side device, where the fourth request message is used to request to obtain L first information, where L is an integer greater than or equal to M.

[0354] Optionally, the third request message includes at least one of the following:

[0355] Continuous inter-CU switching request;

[0356] The number of times switching to candidate access network equipment is allowed;

[0357] Target indication information, where the target indication information is used to indicate the number of keys that the candidate access network device requests to obtain from the second network side device.

[0358] Optionally, after the third network side device sends the first cell configuration or target information of the candidate cell to the terminal, the method further includes:

[0359] The third network side device determines the target NCC based on the configuration order of the M NCCs;

[0360] The third network side device determines, based on the target NCC, a key used by the terminal to switch to the candidate cell this time;

[0361] In which, when this switching is a case where the terminal performs X consecutive inter-CU switching based on the configured M NCCs, the target NCC is the Xth NCC.

[0362] Optionally, after the third network side device determines, based on the target NCC, the key used by the terminal to switch to the candidate cell this time, the method further includes:

[0363] In a case where the current switching is M consecutive inter-CU switching performed by the terminal based on the configured M NCCs, the third network side device obtains M new first information;

[0364] The new first information group is carried in a path switching request confirmation message.

[0365] Optionally, the third network side device determining the target NCC based on the configuration order of the M NCCs includes:

[0366] When the target condition is met, the third network side device determines the target NCC based on the configuration order of the M NCCs;

[0367] The target condition includes any of the following:

[0368] The source cell and the target cell have the same preset identifier;

[0369] The cell group configuration of the source cell and the cell group configuration of the target cell have the same preset identifier;

[0370] The source cell and the target cell are in the same cell list.

[0371] Optionally, the third network side device determining the target NCC based on the configuration order of the M NCCs includes:

[0372] When the target condition is met, the third network side device determines the target NCC based on the configuration order of the M NCCs;

[0373] The target condition includes any of the following:

[0374] The source cell and the target cell have different preset identifiers;

[0375] The cell group configuration of the source cell and the cell group configuration of the target cell have different preset identifiers;

[0376] The source cell and the target cell are in different cell lists.

[0377] Optionally, after the third network side device sends the first cell configuration or target information of the candidate cell to the terminal, the method further includes:

[0378] In a case where the third network side device is the target access network device for the current handover of the terminal, the third network side device receives at least one of the following from the first network side device:

[0379] The NCC associated with the key currently used by the terminal or the first network side device;

[0380] The NCC associated with the key used by the terminal when it switches to the target access network device next time;

[0381] The NCC associated with the key used when the terminal switches to the target access network device.

[0382] Optionally, after the third network side device sends the first cell configuration or target information of the candidate cell to the terminal, the method further includes:

[0383] In a case where the terminal switches to the third network side device corresponding to the target cell for the Yth time based on the configured M NCCs, the third network side device determines the key used by the terminal to switch to the third network side device corresponding to the target cell according to the target key generation method;

[0384] The target cell is one of the candidate cells or a candidate cell associated with the candidate cell group; and the target key generation method includes at least one of the following:

[0385] When Y is less than or equal to M, generating a key used for switching to a third network side device corresponding to the target cell based on the Yth NCC;

[0386] In the case that Y is greater than M, a key used for the Yth handover to the target cell is generated based on a key used for the third network side device corresponding to the Y-1th handover to the target cell.

[0387] The key configuration method provided in the embodiment of the present application can be executed by a key configuration device. In the embodiment of the present application, the key configuration device provided in the embodiment of the present application is described by taking the key configuration method executed by the key configuration device as an example.

[0388] Reference Fig.12 , the embodiment of the present application also provides a key configuration device, such as Fig.12 As shown, the key configuration device 1200 includes:

[0389] The first sending module 1201 is configured to send a first cell configuration or target information of a candidate cell to a terminal, wherein the first cell configuration includes M next hop link counters NCC, the target information includes M NCCs and a candidate cell group associated with the M NCCs, the identifier associated with the NCC list composed of the M NCCs is the same as the identifier associated with the configuration of the candidate cell in the candidate cell group, and each configuration of the candidate cell in the candidate cell group is associated with an identifier;

[0390] The M NCCs are used to determine the key used by the terminal to perform continuous switching between central units CU and access the candidate cell or any candidate cell in the candidate cell group, and M is a positive integer.

[0391] Optionally, the key configuration device 1200 further includes:

[0392] The third receiving module is used to receive M first information from the second network side device, where the first information includes the next hop link NH and NCC.

[0393] Optionally, the first sending module 1201 is further used to send a first request message to the second network side device, where the first request message is used to request L first information, where L is an integer greater than or equal to M.

[0394] Optionally, the first sending module 1201 is specifically used to: when the terminal performs M consecutive inter-CU switching based on the configured M NCCs, send a first request message to the second network side device.

[0395] Optionally, the key configuration device 1200 further includes:

[0396] A second determination module is used to determine M first keys corresponding to the candidate cell according to the M NHs corresponding to the candidate cell, each first key is associated with the NCC corresponding to the NH;

[0397] The first sending module 1201 is further configured to send a switching request message to the third network side device, where the switching request message includes a first key pair, where the first key pair includes the first key and a corresponding NCC.

[0398] Optionally, the first sending module 1201 is further configured to send at least one of the following to the target access network device:

[0399] The NCC associated with the key currently used by the terminal or the first network side device;

[0400] The NCC associated with the key used by the terminal when it switches to the target access network device next time;

[0401] The NCC associated with the key used when the terminal switches to the target access network device.

[0402] Optionally, the key configuration device 1200 further includes: a third receiving module;

[0403] The first sending module 1201 is further used to: send a second request message to the second network side device, where the second request message is used to instruct the second network side device to allocate L first information to the third network side device, where L is an integer greater than or equal to M;

[0404] The third receiving module is used to receive a switching command from the second network side device, where the switching command is generated based on the second request message;

[0405] The handover command includes a target-to-source transparent container element IE, and a radio resource control RRC container in the target-to-source transparent container IE carries the first cell configuration.

[0406] Optionally, the first sending module 1201 is further used to: send a second request message to the second network side device when the terminal switches to the first network side device for the Mth time between CUs based on the configured M NCCs.

[0407] Optionally, the key configuration device 1200 further includes: a third receiving module;

[0408] The first sending module 1201 is further used to: send a third request message to a third network side device, where the third request message is used to request to obtain the first cell configuration of the candidate cell;

[0409] The third receiving module is used to receive the first cell configuration from a third network side device.

[0410] Optionally, the third request message includes at least one of the following:

[0411] Continuous inter-CU switching request;

[0412] The number of times switching to candidate access network equipment is allowed;

[0413] Target indication information, where the target indication information is used to indicate the number of keys that the candidate access network device requests to obtain from the second network side device.

[0414] Optionally, the first sending module 1201 is further used to: send a second request message to the second network side device, where the second request message is used to instruct the second network side device to allocate L first information to the third network side device, where L is an integer greater than or equal to M.

[0415] Optionally, the second request message includes at least one of the following:

[0416] Continuous inter-CU switching request;

[0417] The number of times switching to candidate access network equipment is allowed;

[0418] Request the number of keys to be allocated to the access network device.

[0419] Reference Fig.13 , the embodiment of the present application also provides a key configuration device, such as Fig.13 As shown, the key configuration device 1300 includes:

[0420] The first receiving module 1301 is configured to receive a first cell configuration or target information of a candidate cell from a first network side device, wherein the first cell configuration includes M next hop link counters NCC, and the target information includes M NCCs and a candidate cell group associated with the M NCCs, where M is a positive integer, and an identifier associated with an NCC list composed of the M NCCs is the same as an identifier associated with a configuration of a candidate cell in the candidate cell group, and each configuration of a candidate cell in the candidate cell group is associated with an identifier;

[0421] The first determining module 1302 is configured to determine, according to the M NCCs, a key used for switching to the candidate cell or any candidate cell in the candidate cell group.

[0422] Optionally, the first determination module 1302 is specifically used to: determine a target cell during a handover process, the target cell being one of the candidate cells or a candidate cell in the candidate cell group; determine a target NCC for this handover based on a configuration order of the NCC of the target cell; determine a key used for handover to the target cell based on the target NCC;

[0423] In which, when this switching is a case where the terminal performs X consecutive inter-CU switching based on the configured M NCCs, the target NCC is the Xth NCC.

[0424] Optionally, the first determining module 1302 is specifically configured to: determine the target NCC for this handover based on the configuration order of the NCC of the target cell when the target condition is met;

[0425] The target condition includes any of the following:

[0426] The source cell and the target cell have the same preset identifier;

[0427] The cell group configuration of the source cell and the cell group configuration of the target cell have the same preset identifier;

[0428] The source cell and the target cell are in the same cell list.

[0429] Optionally, the first determining module 1302 is specifically configured to: determine the target NCC for this handover based on the configuration order of the NCC of the target cell when the target condition is met;

[0430] The target condition includes any of the following:

[0431] The source cell and the target cell have different preset identifiers;

[0432] The cell group configuration of the source cell and the cell group configuration of the target cell have different preset identifiers;

[0433] The source cell and the target cell are in different cell lists.

[0434] Optionally, the first determination module 1302 is specifically used to: determine a target cell during a handover process, the target cell being one of the candidate cells or a candidate cell associated with the candidate cell group; when the terminal switches to a third network side device corresponding to the target cell for the Yth time based on the configured M NCCs, determine a key used for switching to the target cell according to a target key generation method;

[0435] The target key generation method includes at least one of the following:

[0436] When Y is less than or equal to M, generating a key used for switching to a third network side device corresponding to the target cell based on the Yth NCC;

[0437] When Y is greater than M, a key used for the Yth handover to the third network side device corresponding to the target cell is generated based on the key used for the Y-1th handover to the third network side device corresponding to the target cell.

[0438] Optionally, the key configuration device 1300 further includes:

[0439] The first synchronization module is used to synchronize the key-associated NH of the initial service cell to the NH of the Yth NCC, where the initial service cell is the service cell initially accessed by the terminal or the first cell configured by the terminal to receive candidate cells.

[0440] Reference Fig.14 , the embodiment of the present application also provides a key configuration device, such as Fig.14 As shown, the key configuration device 1400 includes:

[0441] The second sending module 1401 is configured to perform a first operation, wherein the first operation includes any one of the following:

[0442] Sending a first cell configuration or target information of a candidate cell to a first network side device, where the first cell configuration includes M next hop link counters NCC, the target information includes M NCCs and a candidate cell group associated with the M NCCs, an identifier associated with an NCC list composed of the M NCCs is the same as an identifier associated with the configuration of the candidate cell in the candidate cell group, and each configuration of the candidate cell in the candidate cell group is associated with an identifier;

[0443] Sending M first information to the first network side device, where the M first information is associated with the third network side device, and each of the first information includes a next hop link NH and NCC;

[0444] Among them, M is a positive integer, the third network side device is a candidate access network device, and the M NCCs are used to determine the key used by the terminal to perform continuous central unit CU switching and access to the candidate cell or any candidate cell in the candidate cell group.

[0445] Optionally, the key configuration device 1400 further includes:

[0446] The fourth receiving module is used to receive a first request message from the first network side device, where the first request message is used to request L first information, where the first information includes NH and NCC, and L is an integer greater than or equal to M.

[0447] Optionally, the key configuration device 1400 further includes a fourth receiving module,

[0448] The second sending module 1401 is further configured to send the M first information to the third device when the second network side device receives the target request message;

[0449] The fourth receiving module is used to receive the first cell configuration of the candidate cell or the target information from the third device;

[0450] The target request message includes at least one of the following:

[0451] A second request message sent by the first network side device, where the second request message is used to instruct the second network side device to allocate L first information to the third network side device;

[0452] A fourth request message sent by the third network side device, where the fourth request message is used to request to obtain L first information;

[0453] Wherein, L is an integer greater than or equal to M.

[0454] Reference Fig.15 , the embodiment of the present application also provides a key configuration device, such as Fig.15 As shown, the key configuration device 1500 includes:

[0455] The second receiving module 1501 is configured to receive M first information from a second network side device, where the first information includes a next hop link NH and a next hop link counter NCC;

[0456] The third sending module 1502 is configured to send a first cell configuration or target information of a candidate cell to the second network side device, where the first cell configuration includes M NCCs, the target information includes M NCCs and a candidate cell group associated with the M NCCs, the identifier associated with the NCC list composed of the M NCCs is the same as the identifier associated with the configuration of the candidate cell in the candidate cell group, and each configuration of the candidate cell in the candidate cell group is associated with an identifier;

[0457] The M NCCs are used to determine the key used by the terminal to perform continuous switching between central units CU and access the candidate cell or any candidate cell in the candidate cell group, and M is a positive integer.

[0458] Optionally, the second receiving module 1501 is further used to receive a third request message from the first network side device, where the third request message is used to request to obtain the first cell configuration of the candidate cell;

[0459] The third sending module 1502 is further used to send a fourth request message to the second network side device, where the fourth request message is used to request to obtain L first information, where L is an integer greater than or equal to M.

[0460] Optionally, the third request message includes at least one of the following:

[0461] Continuous inter-CU switching request;

[0462] The number of times switching to candidate access network equipment is allowed;

[0463] Target indication information, where the target indication information is used to indicate the number of keys that the candidate access network device requests to obtain from the second network side device.

[0464] Optionally, the key configuration device 1500 further includes:

[0465] A third determination module is used to determine a target NCC based on the configuration order of the M NCCs; and determine a key used by the terminal to switch to the candidate cell this time based on the target NCC;

[0466] In which, when this switching is a case where the terminal performs X consecutive inter-CU switching based on the configured M NCCs, the target NCC is the Xth NCC.

[0467] Optionally, the key configuration device 1500 further includes:

[0468] An acquisition module, configured to acquire M new first information when the current switching is M consecutive inter-CU switching performed by the terminal based on the configured M NCCs;

[0469] The new first information group is carried in a path switching request confirmation message.

[0470] Optionally, the third determination module is specifically configured to determine a target NCC based on a configuration order of the M NCCs when a target condition is met;

[0471] The target condition includes any of the following:

[0472] The source cell and the target cell have the same preset identifier;

[0473] The cell group configuration of the source cell and the cell group configuration of the target cell have the same preset identifier;

[0474] The source cell and the target cell are in the same cell list.

[0475] Optionally, the third determination module is specifically configured to determine a target NCC based on a configuration order of the M NCCs when a target condition is met;

[0476] The target condition includes any of the following:

[0477] The source cell and the target cell have different preset identifiers;

[0478] The cell group configuration of the source cell and the cell group configuration of the target cell have different preset identifiers;

[0479] The source cell and the target cell are in different cell lists.

[0480] Optionally, the second receiving module 1501 is further configured to receive at least one of the following from the first network side device when the third network side device is the target access network device for the current handover of the terminal:

[0481] The NCC associated with the key currently used by the terminal or the first network side device;

[0482] The NCC associated with the key used by the terminal when it switches to the target access network device next time;

[0483] The NCC associated with the key used when the terminal switches to the target access network device.

[0484] Optionally, the key configuration device 1500 further includes:

[0485] A third determination module is used for, when the configured M NCCs are switched to the third network side device corresponding to the target cell for the Yth time, the third network side device determines the key used by the terminal to switch to the third network side device corresponding to the target cell according to the target key generation method;

[0486] The target key generation method includes at least one of the following:

[0487] When Y is less than or equal to M, generating a key used for switching to a third network side device corresponding to the target cell based on the Yth NCC;

[0488] In the case that Y is greater than M, a key used for the Yth handover to the target cell is generated based on a key used for the third network side device corresponding to the Y-1th handover to the target cell.

[0489] The key configuration device in the embodiment of the present application can be an electronic device, such as an electronic device with an operating system, or a component in an electronic device, such as an integrated circuit or a chip. The electronic device can be a terminal, or it can be other devices other than a terminal. Exemplarily, the terminal can include but is not limited to the types of terminals 11 listed above, and other devices can be servers, network attached storage (NAS), etc., which are not specifically limited in the embodiment of the present application.

[0490] The key configuration device provided in the embodiment of the present application can achieve Figures 8 to 11 The various processes implemented by the method embodiment and achieving the same technical effect are not described here to avoid repetition.

[0491] like Fig.16 As shown, an embodiment of the present application also provides a communication device 1600, including a processor 1601 and a memory 1602, and the memory 1602 stores a program or instruction that can be executed on the processor 1601. When the program or instruction is executed by the processor 1601, the various steps of the above-mentioned key configuration method embodiment are implemented, and the same technical effect can be achieved. To avoid repetition, it will not be repeated here.

[0492] The embodiment of the present application also provides a terminal, including a processor and a communication interface, wherein the communication interface is coupled to the processor, and the processor is used to run a program or instruction to implement the following Fig. 9 The steps in the method embodiment shown. This terminal embodiment corresponds to the above-mentioned terminal side method embodiment, and each implementation process and implementation method of the above-mentioned method embodiment can be applied to this terminal embodiment and can achieve the same technical effect. Specifically, Fig.17 A schematic diagram of the hardware structure of a terminal for implementing an embodiment of the present application.

[0493] The terminal 1700 includes but is not limited to: a radio frequency unit 1701, a network module 1702, an audio output unit 1703, an input unit 1704, a sensor 1705, a display unit 1706, a user input unit 1707, an interface unit 1708, a memory 1709 and at least some of the components of the processor 1710.

[0494] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the terminal 1700 may also include a power source (such as a battery) for supplying power to each component, and the power source may be logically connected to the processor 1710 through a power management system, thereby implementing functions such as managing charging, discharging, and power consumption management through the power management system. Fig.17 The terminal structure shown in the figure does not constitute a limitation on the terminal. The terminal may include more or fewer components than shown in the figure, or combine certain components, or arrange the components differently, which will not be described in detail here.

[0495] It should be understood that in the embodiment of the present application, the input unit 1704 may include a graphics processing unit (GPU) 17041 and a microphone 17042, and the graphics processor 17041 processes the image data of the static picture or video obtained by the image capture device (such as a camera) in the video capture mode or the image capture mode. The display unit 1706 may include a display panel 17061, and the display panel 17061 may be configured in the form of a liquid crystal display, an organic light emitting diode, etc. The user input unit 1707 includes a touch panel 17071 and at least one of other input devices 17072. The touch panel 17071 is also called a touch screen. The touch panel 17071 may include two parts: a touch detection device and a touch controller. Other input devices 17072 may include, but are not limited to, a physical keyboard, function keys (such as volume control keys, switch keys, etc.), a trackball, a mouse, and a joystick, which will not be repeated here.

[0496] In the embodiment of the present application, after receiving downlink data from the network side device, the RF unit 1701 can transmit the data to the processor 1710 for processing; in addition, the RF unit 1701 can send uplink data to the network side device. Generally, the RF unit 1701 includes but is not limited to an antenna, an amplifier, a transceiver, a coupler, a low noise amplifier, a duplexer, etc.

[0497] The memory 1709 can be used to store software programs or instructions and various data. The memory 1709 may mainly include a first storage area for storing programs or instructions and a second storage area for storing data, wherein the first storage area may store an operating system, an application program or instruction required for at least one function (such as a sound playback function, an image playback function, etc.), etc. In addition, the memory 1709 may include a volatile memory or a non-volatile memory. Among them, the non-volatile memory may be a read-only memory (ROM), a programmable read-only memory (PROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), or a flash memory. The volatile memory may be a random access memory (RAM), a static random access memory (SRAM), a dynamic random access memory (DRAM), a synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), a double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory (DDRSDRAM), an enhanced synchronous dynamic random access memory (ESDRAM), a synchronous link dynamic random access memory (SLDRAM) and a direct memory bus random access memory (DRRAM). The memory 1709 in the embodiment of the present application includes but is not limited to these and any other suitable types of memory.

[0498] The processor 1710 may include one or more processing units; optionally, the processor 1710 integrates an application processor and a modem processor, wherein the application processor mainly processes operations related to an operating system, a user interface, and application programs, and the modem processor mainly processes wireless communication signals, such as a baseband processor. It is understandable that the modem processor may not be integrated into the processor 1710.

[0499] The radio frequency unit 1701 is configured to receive a first cell configuration or target information of a candidate cell from a first network side device, where the first cell configuration includes M next hop link counters NCC, and the target information includes M NCCs and candidate cell groups associated with the M NCCs, where M is a positive integer;

[0500] The processor 1710 is configured to determine, according to the M NCCs, a key used for switching to the candidate cell or any candidate cell in the candidate cell group.

[0501] It can be understood that the implementation process of each implementation method mentioned in this embodiment can refer to the relevant description of the key configuration method of the method embodiment, and achieve the same or corresponding technical effect. To avoid repetition, it will not be repeated here.

[0502] The embodiment of the present application also provides a network side device, including a processor and a communication interface, wherein the communication interface is coupled to the processor, and the processor is used to run a program or instruction to implement the following Figure 8 Or the steps of the method embodiment shown in 11. This network side device embodiment corresponds to the above network side device method embodiment, and each implementation process and implementation method of the above method embodiment can be applied to this network side device embodiment and can achieve the same technical effect.

[0503] Specifically, the embodiment of the present application also provides a network side device. Fig.18 As shown, the network side device 1800 includes: an antenna 1801, a radio frequency device 1802, a baseband device 1803, a processor 1804 and a memory 1805. The antenna 1801 is connected to the radio frequency device 1802. In the uplink direction, the radio frequency device 1802 receives information through the antenna 1801 and sends the received information to the baseband device 1803 for processing. In the downlink direction, the baseband device 1803 processes the information to be sent and sends it to the radio frequency device 1802. The radio frequency device 1802 processes the received information and sends it out through the antenna 1801.

[0504] The method executed by the network-side device in the above embodiment may be implemented in the baseband device 1803, which includes a baseband processor.

[0505] The baseband device 1803 may include, for example, at least one baseband board on which a plurality of chips are arranged. Fig.18 As shown, one of the chips is, for example, a baseband processor, which is connected to the memory 1805 through a bus interface to call the program in the memory 1805 to execute the network device operations shown in the above method embodiment.

[0506] The network side device may further include a network interface 1806, which is, for example, a Common Public Radio Interface (CPRI).

[0507] Specifically, the network side device 1800 of the embodiment of the present application further includes: instructions or programs stored in the memory 1805 and executable on the processor 1804, and the processor 1804 calls the instructions or programs in the memory 1805 to execute Fig.12Or the method executed by each module shown in 15, and achieves the same technical effect, to avoid repetition, it will not be repeated here.

[0508] Specifically, the embodiment of the present application also provides a network side device. Fig.19 As shown, the network side device 1900 includes: a processor 1901, a network interface 1902 and a memory 1903. The network interface 1902 is, for example, a common public radio interface (CPRI).

[0509] Specifically, the network side device 1900 of the embodiment of the present application further includes: instructions or programs stored in the memory 1903 and executable on the processor 1901, and the processor 1901 calls the instructions or programs in the memory 1903 to execute Fig.14 The methods executed by the modules shown achieve the same technical effects, and therefore will not be described here in detail to avoid repetition.

[0510] An embodiment of the present application also provides a readable storage medium, on which a program or instruction is stored. When the program or instruction is executed by a processor, each process of the above-mentioned key configuration method embodiment is implemented, and the same technical effect can be achieved. To avoid repetition, it will not be repeated here.

[0511] The processor is the processor in the terminal described in the above embodiment. The readable storage medium includes a computer readable storage medium, such as a computer read-only memory ROM, a random access memory RAM, a magnetic disk or an optical disk. In some examples, the readable storage medium may be a non-transient readable storage medium.

[0512] An embodiment of the present application further provides a chip, which includes a processor and a communication interface, wherein the communication interface is coupled to the processor, and the processor is used to run programs or instructions to implement the various processes of the above-mentioned key configuration method embodiment, and can achieve the same technical effect. To avoid repetition, it will not be repeated here.

[0513] It should be understood that the chip mentioned in the embodiments of the present application can also be called a system-level chip, a system chip, a chip system or a system-on-chip chip, etc.

[0514] The embodiment of the present application further provides a computer program / program product, which is stored in a storage medium, and is executed by at least one processor to implement the various processes of the above-mentioned key configuration method embodiment, and can achieve the same technical effect. To avoid repetition, it will not be repeated here.

[0515] An embodiment of the present application also provides a wireless communication system, including: a terminal and a network side device, wherein the terminal can be used to execute the steps of the terminal side key configuration method as described above, and the network side device can be used to execute the steps of the network side device key configuration method as described above.

[0516] It should be noted that, in this article, the terms "comprise", "include" or any other variant thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, so that a process, method, article or device including a series of elements includes not only those elements, but also other elements not explicitly listed, or also includes elements inherent to such process, method, article or device. In the absence of further restrictions, an element defined by the sentence "comprises one..." does not exclude the presence of other identical elements in the process, method, article or device including the element. In addition, it should be pointed out that the scope of the method and device in the embodiment of the present application is not limited to performing functions in the order shown or discussed, and may also include performing functions in a substantially simultaneous manner or in reverse order according to the functions involved, for example, the described method may be performed in an order different from that described, and various steps may also be added, omitted or combined. In addition, the features described with reference to certain examples may be combined in other examples.

[0517] Through the description of the above implementation methods, those skilled in the art can clearly understand that the above-mentioned embodiment methods can be implemented by means of a computer software product plus a necessary general hardware platform, and of course, can also be implemented by hardware. The computer software product is stored in a storage medium (such as ROM, RAM, disk, CD, etc.), including several instructions to enable a terminal or a network-side device to execute the methods described in each embodiment of the present application.

[0518] The embodiments of the present application are described above in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, but the present application is not limited to the above-mentioned specific implementation methods. The above-mentioned specific implementation methods are merely illustrative and not restrictive. Under the guidance of the present application, ordinary technicians in this field can also make many forms of implementation methods without departing from the purpose of the present application and the scope of protection of the claims, and these implementation methods are all within the protection of the present application.

Claims

1. A key configuration method, characterized in that: include: The first network side device sends a first cell configuration or target information of a candidate cell to the terminal, where the first cell configuration includes M next hop link counters NCC, and the target information includes M NCCs and a candidate cell group associated with the M NCCs; The M NCCs are used to determine the key used by the terminal to perform continuous switching between central units CU and access the candidate cell or any candidate cell in the candidate cell group, and M is a positive integer.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that Before the first network side device sends the first cell configuration or target information of the candidate cell to the terminal, the method further includes: The first network side device receives M first information from the second network side device, where the first information includes a next hop link NH and NCC.

3. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that Before the first network side device receives M first information from the second network side device, the method further includes: The first network side device sends a first request message to the second network side device, where the first request message is used to request L pieces of the first information, where L is an integer greater than or equal to M.

4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that The first network side device sending a first request message to the second network side device includes: When the terminal performs M consecutive inter-CU switching based on the configured M NCCs, the first network side device sends a first request message to the second network side device.

5. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 4, characterized in that: After the first network side device receives M first information from the second network side device, the method further includes: The first network side device determines M first keys corresponding to the candidate cell according to the M NHs corresponding to the candidate cell, each first key being associated with an NCC corresponding to the NH; The first network side device sends a switching request message to a third network side device, the switching request message includes a first key pair, the first key pair includes the first key and a corresponding NCC, and the third network side device is a candidate access network device.

6. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 5, characterized in that: The method further comprises: The first network side device sends at least one of the following to the target access network device: The NCC associated with the key currently used by the terminal or the first network side device; The NCC associated with the key used by the terminal when it switches to the target access network device next time; The NCC associated with the key used when the terminal switches to the target access network device.

7. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that Before the first network side device sends the first cell configuration or target information of the candidate cell to the terminal, the method further includes: The first network side device sends a second request message to the second network side device, where the second request message is used to instruct the second network side device to allocate L first information to the third network side device, where L is an integer greater than or equal to M; The first network side device receives a switching command from the second network side device, where the switching command is generated based on the second request message; The handover command includes a target-to-source transparent container element IE, and a radio resource control RRC container in the target-to-source transparent container IE carries the first cell configuration.

8. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that The first network side device sending a second request message to the second network side device includes: In a case where the terminal switches to the first network side device for the Mth time between CUs based on the configured M NCCs, the first network side device sends a second request message to the second network side device.

9. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that: Before the first network side device sends the first cell configuration of the candidate cell to the terminal, the method further includes: The first network side device sends a third request message to the third network side device, where the third request message is used to request to obtain the first cell configuration of the candidate cell; The first network side device receives the first cell configuration from a third network side device.

10. The method according to claim 9, characterized in that The third request message includes at least one of the following: Continuous inter-CU switching request; The number of times switching to candidate access network equipment is allowed; Target indication information, where the target indication information is used to indicate the number of keys that the candidate access network device requests to obtain from the second network side device.

11. The method according to claim 9, characterized in that Before the first network side device receives the first cell configuration or target information of the candidate cell from the third network side device, the method includes: The first network side device sends a second request message to the second network side device, where the second request message is used to instruct the second network side device to allocate L first information to the third network side device, where L is an integer greater than or equal to M.

12. The method according to claim 7 or 11, characterized in that: The second request message includes at least one of the following: Continuous inter-CU switching request; The number of times switching to candidate access network equipment is allowed; Request the number of keys to be allocated to the access network device.

13. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The identifier associated with the NCC list consisting of the M NCCs is the same as the identifier associated with the configuration of the candidate cell in the candidate cell group, and each configuration of the candidate cell in the candidate cell group is respectively associated with an identifier.

14. A key configuration method, characterized in that: include: The terminal receives a first cell configuration or target information of a candidate cell from a first network side device, where the first cell configuration includes M next hop link counters NCC, and the target information includes M NCCs and candidate cell groups associated with the M NCCs, where M is a positive integer; The terminal determines, according to the M NCCs, a key used for switching to the candidate cell or any candidate cell in the candidate cell group.

15. The method according to claim 14, characterized in that The key used by the terminal to determine, according to the M NCCs, switching to the candidate cell or any candidate cell in the candidate cell group includes: The terminal determines a target cell during a handover process, where the target cell is one of the candidate cells or a candidate cell in the candidate cell group; The terminal determines the target NCC for this handover based on the configuration order of the NCC of the target cell; The terminal determines, based on the target NCC, a key used for switching to the target cell; In which, when this switching is a case where the terminal performs X consecutive inter-CU switching based on the configured M NCCs, the target NCC is the Xth NCC.

16. The method according to claim 15, characterized in that The terminal determines the target NCC for this handover based on the configuration order of the NCC of the target cell, including: When the target condition is met, the terminal determines the target NCC for this handover based on the configuration order of the NCC of the target cell; The target condition includes any of the following: The source cell and the target cell have the same preset identifier; The cell group configuration of the source cell and the cell group configuration of the target cell have the same preset identifier; The source cell and the target cell are in the same cell list.

17. The method according to claim 15, characterized in that The terminal determines the target NCC for this handover based on the configuration order of the NCC of the target cell, including: When the target condition is met, the terminal determines the target NCC for this handover based on the configuration order of the NCC of the target cell; The target condition includes any of the following: The source cell and the target cell have different preset identifiers; The cell group configuration of the source cell and the cell group configuration of the target cell have different preset identifiers; The source cell and the target cell are in different cell lists.

18. The method according to claim 14, characterized in that The key used by the terminal to determine, according to the M NCCs, switching to the candidate cell or any candidate cell in the candidate cell group includes: The terminal determines a target cell during a handover process, where the target cell is one of the candidate cells or a candidate cell associated with the candidate cell group; In a case where the terminal switches to a third network side device corresponding to the target cell for the Yth time based on the configured M NCCs, the terminal determines the key used for switching to the target cell according to the target key generation method; The target key generation method includes at least one of the following: When Y is less than or equal to M, generating a key used for switching to a third network side device corresponding to the target cell based on the Yth NCC; When Y is greater than M, a key used for the Yth handover to the third network side device corresponding to the target cell is generated based on the key used for the Y-1th handover to the third network side device corresponding to the target cell.

19. The method according to claim 18, characterized in that The method further comprises: The terminal synchronizes the NH associated with the key of the initial service cell to the NH of the Yth NCC, and the initial service cell is the service cell initially accessed by the terminal or the cell configured as the first cell of the candidate cell received by the terminal.

20. The method according to claim 14, characterized in that The identifier associated with the NCC list consisting of the M NCCs is the same as the identifier associated with the configuration of the candidate cell in the candidate cell group, and each configuration of the candidate cell in the candidate cell group is respectively associated with an identifier.

21. A key configuration method, characterized in that: include: The second network side device performs a first operation, wherein the first operation includes any one of the following: Sending a first cell configuration or target information of a candidate cell to a first network side device, where the first cell configuration includes M next hop link counters NCC, and the target information includes M NCCs and a candidate cell group associated with the M NCCs; Sending M first information to the first network side device, where the M first information is associated with the third network side device, and each of the first information includes a next hop link NH and NCC; Among them, M is a positive integer, the third network side device is a candidate access network device, and the M NCCs are used to determine the key used by the terminal to perform continuous central unit CU switching and access to the candidate cell or any candidate cell in the candidate cell group.

22. The method according to claim 21, characterized in that Before sending N information groups to the first network side device, the method further includes: The second network side device receives a first request message from the first network side device, where the first request message is used to request L first information, where the first information includes NH and NCC, and L is an integer greater than or equal to M.

23. The method according to claim 21, characterized in that Before sending the first cell configuration or target information of the candidate cell to the first network side device, the method further includes: When the second network side device receives the target request message, the second network side device sends the M first information to the third device; The second network side device receives the first cell configuration of the candidate cell or the target information from the third device; The target request message includes at least one of the following: A second request message sent by the first network side device, where the second request message is used to instruct the second network side device to allocate L first information to the third network side device; A fourth request message sent by the third network side device, where the fourth request message is used to request to obtain L first information; Wherein, L is an integer greater than or equal to M.

24. The method according to claim 21, characterized in that The identifier associated with the NCC list consisting of the M NCCs is the same as the identifier associated with the configuration of the candidate cell in the candidate cell group, and each configuration of the candidate cell in the candidate cell group is respectively associated with an identifier.

25. A key configuration method, characterized in that: include: The third network side device receives M first information from the second network side device, where the first information includes a next hop link NH and a next hop link counter NCC; The third network side device sends a first cell configuration or target information of a candidate cell to the second network side device, where the first cell configuration includes M NCCs, and the target information includes M NCCs and a candidate cell group associated with the M NCCs; The M NCCs are used to determine the key used by the terminal to perform continuous switching between central units CU and access the candidate cell or any candidate cell in the candidate cell group, and M is a positive integer.

26. The method according to claim 25, characterized in that Before the third network side device receives the M first information from the second network side device, the method further includes: The third network side device receives a third request message from the first network side device, where the third request message is used to request to obtain the first cell configuration of the candidate cell; The third network side device sends a fourth request message to the second network side device, where the fourth request message is used to request to obtain L first information, where L is an integer greater than or equal to M.

27. The method according to claim 26, characterized in that The third request message includes at least one of the following: Continuous inter-CU switching request; The number of times switching to candidate access network equipment is allowed; Target indication information, where the target indication information is used to indicate the number of keys that the candidate access network device requests to obtain from the second network side device.

28. The method according to claim 25, characterized in that After the third network side device sends the first cell configuration or target information of the candidate cell to the terminal, the method further includes: The third network side device determines the target NCC based on the configuration order of the M NCCs; The third network side device determines, based on the target NCC, a key used by the terminal to switch to the candidate cell this time; In which, when this switching is a case where the terminal performs X consecutive inter-CU switching based on the configured M NCCs, the target NCC is the Xth NCC.

29. The method according to claim 28, characterized in that After the third network side device determines, based on the target NCC, the key used by the terminal for switching to the candidate cell this time, the method further includes: In a case where the current switching is M consecutive inter-CU switching performed by the terminal based on the configured M NCCs, the third network side device obtains M new first information; The new first information group is carried in a path switching request confirmation message.

30. The method according to claim 28, characterized in that The third network side device determines the target NCC based on the configuration order of the M NCCs, including: When the target condition is met, the third network side device determines the target NCC based on the configuration order of the M NCCs; The target condition includes any of the following: The source cell and the target cell have the same preset identifier; The cell group configuration of the source cell and the cell group configuration of the target cell have the same preset identifier; The source cell and the target cell are in the same cell list.

31. The method according to claim 28, characterized in that The third network side device determines the target NCC based on the configuration order of the M NCCs, including: When the target condition is met, the third network side device determines the target NCC based on the configuration order of the M NCCs; The target condition includes any of the following: The source cell and the target cell have different preset identifiers; The cell group configuration of the source cell and the cell group configuration of the target cell have different preset identifiers; The source cell and the target cell are in different cell lists.

32. The method according to any one of claims 25 to 31, characterized in that After the third network side device sends the first cell configuration or target information of the candidate cell to the terminal, the method further includes: In a case where the third network side device is the target access network device for the current handover of the terminal, the third network side device receives at least one of the following from the first network side device: The NCC associated with the key currently used by the terminal or the first network side device; The NCC associated with the key used by the terminal when it switches to the target access network device next time; The NCC associated with the key used when the terminal switches to the target access network device.

33. The method according to claim 25, characterized in that After the third network side device sends the first cell configuration or target information of the candidate cell to the terminal, the method further includes: In a case where the terminal switches to the third network side device corresponding to the target cell for the Yth time based on the configured M NCCs, the third network side device determines the key used by the terminal to switch to the third network side device corresponding to the target cell according to the target key generation method; The target cell is one of the candidate cells or a candidate cell associated with the candidate cell group; and the target key generation method includes at least one of the following: When Y is less than or equal to M, generating a key used for switching to a third network side device corresponding to the target cell based on the Yth NCC; In the case that Y is greater than M, a key used for the Yth handover to the target cell is generated based on a key used for the third network side device corresponding to the Y-1th handover to the target cell.

34. The method according to claim 25, characterized in that The identifier associated with the NCC list consisting of the M NCCs is the same as the identifier associated with the configuration of the candidate cell in the candidate cell group, and each configuration of the candidate cell in the candidate cell group is respectively associated with an identifier.

35. A key configuration device, characterized in that: include: A first sending module, configured to send a first cell configuration or target information of a candidate cell to a terminal, wherein the first cell configuration includes M next hop link counters NCC, and the target information includes M NCCs and a candidate cell group associated with the M NCCs; The M NCCs are used to determine the key used by the terminal to perform continuous switching between central units CU and access the candidate cell or the candidate cell group, and M is a positive integer.

36. A key configuration device, characterized in that: include: A first receiving module is configured to receive a first cell configuration or target information of a candidate cell from a first network side device, wherein the first cell configuration includes M next hop link counters NCC, where M is a positive integer; The first determining module is configured to determine a key used for switching to the candidate cell according to the M NCCs.

37. A key configuration device, characterized in that: include: The second sending module is configured to perform a first operation, wherein the first operation includes any one of the following: Sending a first cell configuration or target information of a candidate cell to a first network side device, where the first cell configuration includes M next hop link counters NCC, and the target information includes M NCCs and a candidate cell group associated with the M NCCs; Sending M first information to the first network side device, where the M first information is associated with the third network side device, and each of the first information includes a next hop link NH and NCC; Among them, M is a positive integer, the third network side device is a candidate access network device, and the M NCCs are used to determine the key used by the terminal to perform continuous central unit CU switching and access to the candidate cell or any candidate cell in the candidate cell group.

38. A key configuration device, characterized in that: include: A second receiving module, configured to receive M first information from a second network side device, wherein the first information includes a next hop link NH and a next hop link counter NCC; A third sending module, configured to send a first cell configuration or target information of a candidate cell to the second network side device, where the first cell configuration includes M NCCs, and the target information includes M NCCs and a candidate cell group associated with the M NCCs; The M NCCs are used to determine the key used by the terminal to perform continuous switching between central units CU and access the candidate cell or any candidate cell in the candidate cell group, and M is a positive integer.

39. A terminal, characterized in that: The method comprises a processor and a memory, wherein the memory stores a program or instruction that can be run on the processor, and when the program or instruction is executed by the processor, the steps of the key configuration method according to any one of claims 14 to 10 are implemented.

40. A network side device, characterized in that: It comprises a processor and a memory, wherein the memory stores a program or instruction that can be run on the processor, and when the program or instruction is executed by the processor, the steps of the key configuration method as described in any one of claims 1 to 13 and 21 to 34 are implemented.

41. A readable storage medium, characterized in that: The readable storage medium stores a program or instruction, and when the program or instruction is executed by the processor, the steps of the key configuration method according to any one of claims 1 to 34 are implemented.

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