Condition switching control method and equipment

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention provides a condition switching control method, terminal equipment and network equipment. The conditional switching control method comprises the following steps: a first network device sends a first message, and the first message is used for conditional switching control; wherein the first network equipment is at least one of a primary cell PCell, a primary node MN or an auxiliary node SN which are currently connected with the terminal equipment. According to the embodiment of the invention, the service continuity of the terminal equipment in the continuous condition switching process can be ensured.

Description

[0001] This application is a divisional application of the PCT international patent application PCT / CN2022 / 101558 with an application date of June 27, 2022, which entered the Chinese national phase with Chinese patent application number 202280093812.8 and the invention name “Control method and device for conditional switching”. Technical Field

[0002] The present application relates to the field of communications, and more specifically, to a control method and device for conditional switching. Background Art

[0003] In a conditional handover mechanism, after receiving the conditional handover configuration information configured by the network device, the terminal device starts to evaluate whether the handover condition associated with each conditional handover candidate cell is met. When the handover condition associated with at least one conditional handover candidate cell is met, the terminal device selects a conditional handover candidate cell that meets the handover condition to initiate the handover process. Once a conditional handover process is successfully executed, the terminal device deletes all conditional handover configurations. Summary of the invention

[0004] Embodiments of the present application provide a method and device for controlling conditional switching.

[0005] The present application provides a method for controlling conditional switching, including:

[0006] The first network device sends a first message, where the first message is used for conditional switching control;

[0007] The first network device is at least one of a primary cell PCell, a primary node MN or a secondary node SN to which the terminal device is currently connected.

[0008] The present application also provides a method for controlling conditional switching, including:

[0009] The second network device receives a first message sent by the first network device, where the first message is used for conditional switching control;

[0010] The first network device is at least one of the PCell, MN or SN to which the terminal device is currently connected; and the second network device is a conditional switching candidate cell associated with the terminal device.

[0011] The present application also provides a method for controlling conditional switching, including:

[0012] The third network device receives a first message sent by the first network device, where the first message is used for conditional switching control;

[0013] Among them, the first network device is at least one of the PCell, MN or SN to which the terminal device is currently connected; the third network device is at least one of the PCell, MN or SN to which the terminal device is connected before the conditional switching occurs.

[0014] The present application also provides a method for controlling conditional switching, including:

[0015] The fourth network device receives a fourth message sent by the first network device, where the fourth message is used for conditional switching control;

[0016] Among them, the first network device is at least one of the PCell, MN or SN to which the terminal device is currently connected; the fourth network device is at least one of the PCell, MN or SN to which the terminal device is connected after conditional switching occurs.

[0017] The present application also provides a method for controlling conditional switching, including:

[0018] The terminal device reports auxiliary information to the first network device and / or the fourth network device, where the auxiliary information is related to the conditional switching candidate cell;

[0019] Among them, the first network device is at least one of the PCell, MN or SN to which the terminal device is currently connected; the fourth network device is at least one of the PCell, MN or SN to which the terminal device is connected after conditional switching occurs.

[0020] The embodiment of the present application further provides a first network device, including:

[0021] A sending unit, configured to send a first message, wherein the first message is used for conditional switching control;

[0022] The first network device is at least one of a primary cell PCell, a primary node MN or a secondary node SN to which the terminal device is currently connected.

[0023] The embodiment of the present application further provides a second network device, including:

[0024] A receiving unit, configured to receive a first message sent by a first network device, wherein the first message is used for conditional switching control;

[0025] The first network device is at least one of the PCell, MN or SN to which the terminal device is currently connected; and the second network device is a conditional switching candidate cell associated with the terminal device.

[0026] The embodiment of the present application further provides a third network device, including:

[0027] A receiving unit, configured to receive a first message sent by a first network device, wherein the first message is used for conditional switching control;

[0028] The first network device is at least one of the PCell, MN or SN to which the terminal device is currently connected; and the third network device is at least one of the PCell, MN or SN to which the terminal device is connected before conditional switching occurs.

[0029] The embodiment of the present application further provides a fourth network device, including:

[0030] A receiving unit, configured to receive a fourth message sent by the first network device, wherein the fourth message is used for conditional switching control;

[0031] The first network device is at least one of the PCell, MN or SN to which the terminal device is currently connected; and the fourth network device is at least one of the PCell, MN or SN to which the terminal device is connected after conditional switching occurs.

[0032] The present application also provides a terminal device, including:

[0033] A reporting unit, configured to report auxiliary information to the first network device and / or the fourth network device, where the auxiliary information is related to the conditional handover candidate cell;

[0034] Among them, the first network device is at least one of the PCell, MN or SN to which the terminal device is currently connected; the fourth network device is at least one of the PCell, MN or SN to which the terminal device is connected after conditional switching occurs.

[0035] The present application also provides a terminal device, including:

[0036] A reporting unit, configured to report auxiliary information to the first network device and / or the fourth network device, wherein the auxiliary information is related to the conditional handover candidate cell;

[0037] The first network device is at least one of the PCell, MN or SN to which the terminal device is currently connected; and the fourth network device is at least one of the PCell, MN or SN to which the terminal device is connected after conditional switching occurs.

[0038] The embodiment of the present application provides a terminal device, including a processor and a memory. The memory is used to store a computer program, and the processor is used to call and run the computer program stored in the memory, so that the terminal device executes the control method of conditional switching executed by the terminal device.

[0039] The embodiment of the present application provides a network device, including a processor and a memory. The memory is used to store a computer program, and the processor is used to call and run the computer program stored in the memory, so that the network device executes the control method of conditional switching executed by any of the above network devices.

[0040] An embodiment of the present application provides a chip for implementing the above-mentioned conditional switching control method.

[0041] Specifically, the chip includes: a processor, which is used to call and run a computer program from a memory, so that a device equipped with the chip executes the above-mentioned conditional switching control method.

[0042] An embodiment of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium for storing a computer program. When the computer program is executed by a device, the device executes the above-mentioned conditional switching control method.

[0043] An embodiment of the present application provides a computer program product, including computer program instructions, which enable a computer to execute the above-mentioned conditional switching control method.

[0044] An embodiment of the present application provides a computer program, which, when executed on a computer, enables the computer to execute the above-mentioned conditional switching control method.

[0045] The present application provides a communication system, including:

[0046] A terminal device, used to execute the above-mentioned conditional switching control method;

[0047] A network device is used to execute the above-mentioned conditional switching control method.

[0048] In the embodiment of the present application, the service continuity of the terminal device during the continuous condition switching process can be ensured by controlling the condition switching through the first message. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0049] Figure 1 It is a schematic diagram of an application scenario according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0050] Figure 2 It is an overall flow chart of an exemplary conditional switching control method provided in an embodiment of the present application.

[0051] Figure 3 is a schematic flowchart of a control method for conditional switching according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0052] Figure 4 is a schematic flowchart of a control method for conditional switching according to another embodiment of the present application.

[0053] Figure 5 is a schematic flowchart of a control method for conditional switching according to another embodiment of the present application.

[0054] Figure 6 is a schematic flowchart of a control method for conditional switching according to another embodiment of the present application.

[0055] Figure 7 is a schematic flowchart of a control method for conditional switching according to another embodiment of the present application.

[0056] Figure 8 is a schematic flowchart of a control method for conditional switching according to another embodiment of the present application.

[0057] Fig. 9 is a schematic flowchart of a control method for conditional switching according to another embodiment of the present application.

[0058] Fig.10 is a schematic flowchart of a control method for conditional switching according to another embodiment of the present application.

[0059] Fig.11 is a schematic flowchart of a control method for conditional switching according to another embodiment of the present application.

[0060] Fig.12 is a schematic flowchart of a control method for conditional switching according to another embodiment of the present application.

[0061] Fig.13 is a schematic flowchart of a control method for conditional switching according to another embodiment of the present application.

[0062] Fig.14 is a schematic flowchart of a control method for conditional switching according to another embodiment of the present application.

[0063] Fig.15 It is a schematic structural diagram of a first network device according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0064] Fig.16 It is a schematic structural diagram of a first network device according to another embodiment of the present application.

[0065] Fig.17 It is a structural diagram of a second network device according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0066] Fig.18 It is a structural diagram of a second network device according to another embodiment of the present application.

[0067] Fig.19 It is a schematic diagram of the structure of a third network device according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0068] Fig. 20 It is a structural diagram of a third network device according to another embodiment of the present application.

[0069] Fig.21 It is a structural diagram of a fourth network device according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0070] Fig. 22 It is a structural diagram of a fourth network device according to another embodiment of the present application.

[0071] Fig.23 It is a schematic diagram of the structure of a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0072] Fig.24 It is a schematic diagram of the structure of a terminal device according to another embodiment of the present application.

[0073] Fig.25 It is a schematic block diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0074] Fig.26 is a schematic block diagram of a chip according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0075] Fig. 27 It is a schematic block diagram of a communication system according to an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0076] The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be described below in conjunction with the drawings in the embodiments of the present application.

[0077] The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application can be applied to various communication systems, such as: Global System of Mobile communication (GSM) system, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) system, Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) system, General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, Advanced Long Term Evolution (LTE-A) system, New Radio (NR) system, NR system evolution system, LTE on unlicensed spectrum (LTE-U) system, NR on unlicensed spectrum (NR-U) system, Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN) system, Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS), Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN), Wireless Fidelity (Wireless Fidelity) system. Fidelity, WiFi), fifth-generation communication (5th-Generation, 5G) system or other communication systems, etc.

[0078] Generally speaking, traditional communication systems support a limited number of connections and are easy to implement. However, with the development of communication technology, mobile communication systems will not only support traditional communications, but will also support, for example, device to device (Device to Device, D2D) communication, machine to machine (Machine to Machine, M2M) communication, machine type communication (Machine Type Communication, MTC), vehicle to vehicle (V2V) communication, or vehicle to everything (V2X) communication, etc. The embodiments of the present application can also be applied to these communication systems.

[0079] In one implementation, the communication system in the embodiment of the present application can be applied to a carrier aggregation (CA) scenario, a dual connectivity (DC) scenario, or a standalone (SA) networking scenario.

[0080] In one embodiment, the communication system in the embodiment of the present application can be applied to an unlicensed spectrum, wherein the unlicensed spectrum can also be considered as a shared spectrum; or, the communication system in the embodiment of the present application can also be applied to an authorized spectrum, wherein the authorized spectrum can also be considered as an unshared spectrum.

[0081] The embodiments of the present application describe various embodiments in conjunction with network devices and terminal devices, wherein the terminal device may also be referred to as user equipment (UE), access terminal, user unit, user station, mobile station, mobile station, remote station, remote terminal, mobile device, user terminal, terminal, wireless communication device, user agent or user device, etc.

[0082] The terminal device can be a station (STAION, ST) in a WLAN, a cellular phone, a cordless phone, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phone, a Wireless Local Loop (WLL) station, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) device, a handheld device with wireless communication function, a computing device or other processing device connected to a wireless modem, a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, a terminal device in a next-generation communication system such as an NR network, or a terminal device in a future evolved Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) network, etc.

[0083] In the embodiments of the present application, the terminal device can be deployed on land, including indoors or outdoors, handheld, wearable or vehicle-mounted; it can also be deployed on the water surface (such as ships, etc.); it can also be deployed in the air (for example, on airplanes, balloons and satellites, etc.).

[0084] In the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device can be a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a computer with wireless transceiver function, a virtual reality (VR) terminal device, an augmented reality (AR) terminal device, a wireless terminal device in industrial control, a wireless terminal device in self driving, a wireless terminal device in remote medical, a wireless terminal device in a smart grid, a wireless terminal device in transportation safety, a wireless terminal device in a smart city, or a wireless terminal device in a smart home, etc.

[0085] As an example but not limitation, in the embodiments of the present application, the terminal device may also be a wearable device. Wearable devices may also be referred to as wearable smart devices, which are a general term for wearable devices that are intelligently designed and developed using wearable technology for daily wear, such as glasses, gloves, watches, clothing, and shoes. A wearable device is a portable device that is worn directly on the body or integrated into the user's clothes or accessories. Wearable devices are not only hardware devices, but also powerful functions achieved through software support, data interaction, and cloud interaction. Broadly speaking, wearable smart devices include full-featured, large-sized, and fully or partially independent of smartphones, such as smart watches or smart glasses, as well as devices that only focus on a certain type of application function and need to be used in conjunction with other devices such as smartphones, such as various types of smart bracelets and smart jewelry for vital sign monitoring.

[0086] In an embodiment of the present application, the network device may be a device for communicating with a mobile device. The network device may be an access point (AP) in WLAN, a base station (Base Transceiver Station, BTS) in GSM or CDMA, a base station (NodeB, NB) in WCDMA, an evolved base station (EvolutionalNode B, eNB or eNodeB) in LTE, or a relay station or access point, or a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, and a network device (gNB) in an NR network, or a network device in a future evolved PLMN network, or a network device in an NTN network, etc.

[0087] As an example but not limitation, in an embodiment of the present application, the network device may have a mobile characteristic, for example, the network device may be a mobile device. Optionally, the network device may be a satellite or a balloon station. For example, the satellite may be a low earth orbit (LEO) satellite, a medium earth orbit (MEO) satellite, a geostationary earth orbit (GEO) satellite, a high elliptical orbit (HEO) satellite, etc. Optionally, the network device may also be a base station set up in a location such as land or water.

[0088] In an embodiment of the present application, the network device can provide services for a cell, and the terminal device communicates with the network device through the transmission resources used by the cell (for example, frequency domain resources, or spectrum resources). The cell can be a cell corresponding to the network device (for example, a base station), and the cell can belong to a macro base station or a base station corresponding to a small cell. The small cells here may include: metro cells, micro cells, pico cells, femto cells, etc. These small cells have the characteristics of small coverage and low transmission power, and are suitable for providing high-speed data transmission services.

[0089] Figure 1 A communication system 100 is exemplarily shown. The communication system includes a network device 110 and two terminal devices 120. In one embodiment, the communication system 100 may include multiple network devices 110, and each network device 110 may include other number of terminal devices 120 within its coverage area, which is not limited in the present embodiment.

[0090] In one implementation, the communication system 100 may also include other network entities such as a mobility management entity (MME), an access and mobility management function (AMF), etc., which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0091] Among them, the network equipment may include access network equipment and core network equipment. That is, the wireless communication system also includes multiple core networks for communicating with the access network equipment. The access network equipment may be an evolutionary base station (evolutional node B, referred to as eNB or e-NodeB) macro base station, micro base station (also called "small base station"), micro-micro base station, access point (AP), transmission point (TP) or new generation base station (new generation Node B, gNodeB) in a long-term evolution (LTE) system, a next-generation (mobile communication system) (next radio, NR) system or an authorized auxiliary access long-term evolution (LAA-LTE) system.

[0092] It should be understood that the device with communication function in the network / system in the embodiment of the present application can be referred to as a communication device. Figure 1 Taking the communication system shown as an example, the communication equipment may include network equipment and terminal equipment with communication functions. The network equipment and terminal equipment may be specific equipment in the embodiments of the present application and will not be repeated here. The communication equipment may also include other equipment in the communication system, such as network controllers, mobile management entities and other network entities, which are not limited to the embodiments of the present application.

[0093] It should be understood that the terms "system" and "network" are often used interchangeably in this article. The term "and / or" in this article is only a description of the association relationship of associated objects, indicating that three relationships can exist. For example, A and / or B can represent: A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone. In addition, the character " / " in this article generally indicates that the associated objects before and after are in an "or" relationship.

[0094] It should be understood that the "indication" mentioned in the embodiments of the present application can be a direct indication, an indirect indication, or an indication of an association relationship. For example, A indicates B, which can mean that A directly indicates B, for example, B can be obtained through A; it can also mean that A indirectly indicates B, for example, A indicates C, and B can be obtained through C; it can also mean that there is an association relationship between A and B.

[0095] In the description of the embodiments of the present application, the term "corresponding" may indicate a direct or indirect correspondence between two items, or an association relationship between the two items, or a relationship between indication and being indicated, configuration and being configured, and the like.

[0096] To facilitate understanding of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, the relevant technologies of the embodiments of the present application are described below. The following related technologies can be arbitrarily combined with the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application as optional solutions, and they all belong to the protection scope of the embodiments of the present application.

[0097] 1. Conditional switching mechanism

[0098] Conditional PCell (Primary cell) change, also known as CHO (conditional handover): The handover configuration message sent by the source PCell to the terminal device includes the configuration information of at least one conditional handover target PCell cell and the handover condition configuration information associated with the corresponding conditional handover target PCell cell.

[0099] Conditional PSCell (Primary Secondary cell, primary and secondary cell) addition (conditional PSCelladdition, CPA) or conditional PSCell modification (conditional PSCell change, CPC): The switching configuration message sent by the PCell or PSCell to the terminal device includes at least one configuration information of the target PSCell cell added or modified conditionally and the switching condition configuration information associated with the corresponding target PSCell cell added or modified conditionally.

[0100] The conditional switching mechanism (CHO, CPA or CPC) of the related technology generally adopts a two-step processing mode: In the first step, the terminal device receives the conditional switching configuration configured by the network device, which contains configuration information associated with at least one switching candidate cell. In the second step, after successfully receiving the conditional switching configuration information configured by the network device, the terminal device begins to evaluate whether the switching conditions associated with each conditional switching candidate cell are met. When the switching conditions associated with at least one conditional switching candidate cell are met, the terminal device will select a conditional switching candidate cell that meets the switching conditions to initiate the switching process. Once a conditional switching process is successfully executed, the terminal device will delete all conditional switching configurations.

[0101] 2DC (Dual connection)

[0102] Under the DC architecture, a terminal device will simultaneously connect to two cell sets, one of which is called MCG (Master Cell Group). MCG includes at least one PCell (primary cell). Optionally, MCG may also include at least one SCell (Secondary Cell). Since all cells included in MCG are usually deployed in one node, in many scenarios, MCG may also be called MN (Master Node). The other cell set to which the terminal device is connected is called SCG (Secondary Cell Group). SCG includes at least one primary cell, which is called PSCell. Optionally, SCG may also include at least one SCell. Since all cells included in SCG are usually deployed in one node, in many scenarios, SCG may also be called SN (Secondary Node).

[0103] 3. Data forwarding

[0104] The communication system is composed of many cells, each of which has a corresponding signal service range. As the terminal device moves, the terminal device will switch from one cell to another to ensure service continuity. The switching process involves the migration of the control entity, including: from user control management through the source cell before the switch to user control management through the new service cell after the switch. At the same time, the switching process also involves the forwarding of user data. The user data that needs to be forwarded mainly includes three parts: data that has arrived at the source cell before the switch and has attempted to be transmitted to the terminal device but still has not received feedback from the terminal device for successful reception, data that has arrived at the source cell before the switch but has not been transmitted to the terminal device in time, and new data sent from the core network to the source cell during the switching process (between the source cell switching command being sent and the target cell completing the user data path switching operation). The purpose of data forwarding is also to ensure the continuity of terminal device service.

[0105] In the conditional handover (CHO, CPC or CPA) mechanism, the user data forwarding task that occurs in the network device during the handover process is performed once and unidirectionally, because the terminal device will only select one conditional handover candidate cell at most to initiate the access process. Once the terminal device successfully completes the access, all conditional handover configuration information stored in the terminal device will be deleted. Therefore, a conditional handover process (or a single conditional handover configuration process) will only involve data forwarding initiated by the source cell once. Accordingly, the direction of data forwarding can only be from the source cell of the terminal device to at least one conditional handover candidate cell.

[0106] However, for continuous conditional switching scenarios, the terminal device does not necessarily delete the configuration information related to at least one conditional switching candidate cell that was previously stored after successfully executing a single conditional switching. And as long as the conditions are met, the terminal device can still use the stored conditional switching configuration to initiate a new conditional switching (that is: the terminal device receives the conditional switching configuration once and executes the conditional switching multiple times). So for continuous conditional switching scenarios, there may be a situation where data forwarding is triggered back and forth between multiple conditional switching candidate cells. For example: continuous conditional switching will result in multiple and multi-directional data forwarding.

[0107] Figure 2 It is an overall flow chart of an exemplary conditional switching control method provided in an embodiment of the present application. SN0 is the SN (i.e., source cell) to which the terminal device is currently connected, SN1 is the target SN (i.e., target cell) to which the terminal device is preparing to switch. SN2 is a conditional switching candidate cell for the terminal device. Figure 2 Only some of the control methods for conditional switching are drawn, not all implementation methods, and the specific steps can change according to the actual application scenario.

[0108] like Figure 2 As shown, the control method of the conditional switching may include the following steps:

[0109] Step 0: Step 0 is an optional step, conditional switching trigger. The terminal device is ready to switch from SN0 to SN1 (SN1 is the target cell for this round of conditional switching). The conditional switching may be triggered autonomously by the terminal device, for example, when the switching condition configured by the network device is met, or it may be actively triggered by the network device, for example, the network device instructs the terminal device to switch to a pre-configured conditional switching cell through signaling.

[0110] Step 1a: The terminal device sends a message to the MN, where the message includes a reconfiguration completion message sent to the SN.

[0111] Step 1b: MN forwards the reconfiguration completion message to SN1.

[0112] The above steps 1a and 1b are both optional steps. In one implementation, both steps 1a and 1b occur, and in this implementation, the terminal device sends a reconfiguration completion message to SN1 through steps 1a and 1b. In another implementation, only step 1b is performed, and in this implementation, the MN sends a reconfiguration completion message or a conditional handover occurrence indication message to SN1, and the conditional handover occurrence indication message is used to inform SN1 of the conditional handover target cell that the terminal device is ready to access.

[0113] In addition, the terminal device may also send a reconfiguration completion message directly to SN1.

[0114] Step 1c: Step 1c is an optional step. The terminal device is connected to SN1 through step 1c. This application does not limit the logical order of step 1a and step 1c.

[0115] Step 1d: Step 1d is an optional step. SN1 informs MN that the terminal device has successfully accessed SN1 through step 1d.

[0116] Step 1e: Step 1e is an optional step, in which MN notifies SN0 to stop sending data to the terminal device. SN0 is the SN to which the terminal device is connected before this round of conditional switching. This application does not limit the logical sequence of step 1e and any of steps 1a to 1d.

[0117] Step 2a: Step 2a is an optional step. In one implementation, the MN will execute step 2a to allow the corresponding SN participating in the conditional switching, such as SN0 and / or SN2, to release the resources or configurations reserved for the terminal device. For example, if SN0 is no longer a candidate cell for conditional switching of the terminal device, the MN can request SN0 to release the resources reserved for the terminal device. If SN2 is no longer a candidate cell for conditional switching of the terminal device, the MN can request SN2 to release the resources reserved for the terminal device. In addition, if SN2 is no longer a candidate cell for conditional switching of the terminal device, SN0 or SN1 can also directly request SN2 to release the resources reserved for the terminal device. This application does not limit the logical order in which step 2a occurs with any of steps 1a to 1d.

[0118] Step 2b: The target SN of this round of conditional switching of the terminal device is SN1. SN0 and SN2 need to know the object of this round of conditional switching of the terminal device, and the notification process can be performed by MN. MN notifies the corresponding SN, such as SN0 and / or SN2, that the terminal device has performed the conditional switching. In addition, the notification process can also be performed by SN0 or SN1, and SN0 or SN1 notifies the corresponding SN, such as SN2, that the terminal device has performed the conditional switching. This application does not limit the logical order of occurrence of step 2b and any step 1a to 1d. Step 2a and step 2b may exist at the same time. In this case, the target SN set of step 2a is different from the target SN set of step 2b.

[0119] Step 2b1 and step 2b2: Step 2b1 and step 2b2 are both responses to step 2b, but step 2b1 and step 2b2 may not be executed at the same time. In one implementation, step 2b1 is executed, and the SN that receives the notification requests to release the resources reserved for the terminal device. In this way, step 2b1 is used to reply to the MN or the corresponding SN of SN0 or SN1 that it wishes to release the resources or configuration reserved for the terminal device, or to notify the MN or the corresponding SN of SN0 or SN1 that the resources or configuration reserved for the terminal device have been released. In another implementation, step 2b2 is executed to notify the MN of information related to the updated conditional switching of the corresponding SN.

[0120] Step 3: Step 3 is an optional step. The terminal device sends conditional handover auxiliary information to the network device through step 3. The network device receiving the conditional handover auxiliary information is the MN or the SN currently connected to the terminal device, such as SN0 connected before the handover or SN1 connected after the handover. This application does not limit step 3 to Figure 2 The logical order in which the other steps occur;

[0121] Step 4: Step 4 is an optional step. MN or SN0 or SN2 will send the data forwarding address to the SN connected after the terminal equipment conditional switching, such as SN1. SN1 will trigger the data forwarding task between other candidate SNs related to conditional switching at an appropriate time.

[0122] Figure 3 is a schematic flow chart of a control method 300 for conditional switching according to an embodiment of the present application. The method may optionally be applied to Figure 1 The system shown in the figure is not limited thereto. The method includes at least part of the following contents.

[0123] S310. A first network device sends a first message, where the first message is used for conditional switching control.

[0124] The first network device is at least one of a primary cell (PCell), a master node (MN) or a secondary node (SN) to which the terminal device is currently connected.

[0125] In the embodiment of the present application, the conditional switching may include at least one of the following scenarios:

[0126] Conditional PCell change (CHO);

[0127] Conditional PSCell Addition (CPA);

[0128] Conditional PSCell Modification (CPC).

[0129] In a continuous conditional switching scenario, the first network device may send the first message before, during or after a round of conditional switching for a certain terminal device. The first message is used for the next round of conditional switching control for the terminal device.

[0130] like Figure 4 As shown, in one implementation, the first network device sending the first message includes:

[0131] S410: The first network device sends a first message to the second network device and / or the third network device.

[0132] The second network device is a conditional switching candidate cell associated with the terminal device, and the third network device is at least one of the PCell, MN or SN to which the terminal device is connected before the conditional switching occurs.

[0133] In an embodiment of the present application, the first network device sends a first message to the second network device, and the first network device sends a first message to the third network device. These two steps can be performed in parallel or in sequence. The second network device is a conditional switching candidate cell for reserving resources for the terminal device before receiving the first message, and the third network device has the following different scenarios:

[0134] In one implementation, the conditional switching control may include adding a conditional switching candidate cell (also referred to as a conditional switching related candidate cell), which may specifically include requesting a cell as a conditional switching candidate cell for a terminal device. For example: before receiving the add request, a cell did not reserve resources for the terminal device. The third network device may be the source cell before the terminal device switches, and similar to adding a conditional switching candidate cell, the first network device sends a first message to the third network device (source cell), which can request the third network device as a conditional switching candidate cell for the terminal device.

[0135] In another implementation, different from the process of adding a conditional switching candidate cell, the third network device is already a conditional switching candidate cell that reserves resources for the terminal device before receiving the first message. The first network device sends the first message to the third network device (source cell), which can request the third network device to continue to be the conditional switching candidate cell of the terminal device.

[0136] See also Figure 2In step 2b, the first network device is the initiator of the first message, which may be the MN connected to the terminal device (it may also be the PCell or SN connected to the terminal device). The second network device and the third network device may be the recipients of the first message. The second network device may be a candidate cell for other conditional switching, such as SN2. The third network device may be a cell connected to the terminal device before the conditional switching occurs, such as SN0. MN may send the first message to SN2 or SN0. For example, MN or SN0 or SN1 may notify SN2 that the terminal device has performed the conditional switching through the first message. For another example, MN may also notify SN0 that the terminal device has performed the conditional switching through the first message.

[0137] In one implementation, the relationship between the first network device and the second network device includes at least one of the following:

[0138] The first network device is a PCell to which the terminal device is currently connected, and the second network device is a PCell related to conditional switching associated with the terminal device;

[0139] The first network device is the MN currently connected to the terminal device, and the second network device is the MN related to the conditional switching associated with the terminal device;

[0140] The first network device is the MN or SN to which the terminal device is currently connected, and the second network device is the SN related to the conditional switching associated with the terminal device.

[0141] In an embodiment of the present application, the configuration method of the conditional switching candidate cell associated with the terminal device includes: the network device configures at least one conditional switching candidate cell for the terminal device through a reconfiguration process. For the CHO scenario, the conditional switching candidate cell associated with the terminal device is at least one conditional switching related PCell. For the CPA or CPC scenario, the conditional switching candidate cell associated with the terminal device is at least one conditional switching related PSCell.

[0142] Exemplarily, the application scenarios involved in the embodiments of the present application include at least one of the following:

[0143] Scenario 1: In a single connection scenario (non-DC scenario), the first network device is the PCell to which the terminal device is currently connected (regardless of whether it is before or after the conditional switching occurs), and the second network device is the PCell related to the conditional switching associated with the terminal device.

[0144] Scenario 2: In the DC scenario, further targeting the CHO scenario, the first network device is the MN to which the terminal device is currently connected (regardless of whether it is before or after the conditional switching occurs), and the second network device is the MN related to the conditional switching associated with the terminal device.

[0145] Scenario three: In the DC scenario, further for the CPA or CPC scenario, the first network device is the MN or SN to which the terminal device is currently connected (regardless of whether it is before or after the conditional switching occurs), and the second network device is the SN related to the conditional switching associated with the terminal device.

[0146] In one implementation, the relationship between the first network device and the third network device includes at least one of the following:

[0147] The first network device is the PCell to which the terminal device is currently connected, and the third network device is the PCell to which the terminal device is connected before the conditional switching occurs;

[0148] The first network device is the MN that the terminal device is currently connected to, and the third network device is the MN that the terminal device was connected to before the conditional switching occurred;

[0149] The first network device is the MN or SN to which the terminal device is currently connected, and the third network device is the SN to which the terminal device is connected before conditional switching occurs.

[0150] Exemplarily, the application scenarios involved in the embodiments of the present application include at least one of the following:

[0151] Scenario 1: In a single connection scenario (non-DC scenario), the first network device is the PCell to which the terminal device is currently connected, and the third network device is the PCell to which the terminal device is connected before the conditional switching occurs.

[0152] Scenario 2: In the DC scenario, further targeting the CHO scenario, the first network device is the MN to which the terminal device is currently connected, and the third network device is the MN to which the terminal device is connected before the conditional switching occurs.

[0153] Scenario three: In the DC scenario, further for the CPA or CPC scenario, the first network device is the MN or SN to which the terminal device is currently connected, and the third network device is the SN to which the terminal device is connected before the conditional switching occurs.

[0154] In one implementation, the first message includes at least one of the following:

[0155] Information 1-1: The cell identifier corresponding to the conditional switching candidate cell accessed by the terminal device.

[0156] For example, information 1-1: Figure 2As shown, the SN currently connected to the terminal device is SN0, and the target cell for the next round of conditional switching is SN1. Information 1-1 may include a cell identifier associated with the cell corresponding to SN1. The cell identifier may be any one or more of the following forms: a logical number identifier associated with a conditional switching candidate cell, a CGI (Cell Global Identifier), a PCI (Physical Cell Identifier) ​​and frequency combination information corresponding to the cell, and a serving cell identifier such as a serving cell index.

[0157] The above-mentioned logical number identifiers associated with the conditional switching candidate cells can be configured through the network. For example: under the conditional switching mechanism, the network device will configure at least one conditional switching candidate cell-associated configuration information for the terminal device. In order to facilitate related operations on the configuration information associated with the conditional switching candidate cells, such as: adding, updating or deleting the configuration information associated with the conditional switching candidate cells, when configuring at least one conditional switching candidate cell-associated configuration information, the network device will assign a logical number identifier to each conditional switching candidate cell-associated configuration information. For example: the network device configures 4 conditional switching candidate cell-associated configuration information for the terminal device, then the logical number identifiers assigned to the configuration information associated with these 4 conditional switching candidate cells can be 0, 1, 2 and 3 respectively.

[0158] Information 1-2: first indication information, which is used to indicate that the conditional switching candidate cell accessed by the terminal device is not the cell corresponding to the second network device and / or the third network device (ie, the recipient of the first message).

[0159] Regarding the example of information 1-2: If the first network device sends the first indication information to the second network device, the first indication information is used to indicate that the conditional switching candidate cell accessed by the terminal device (i.e., the target cell of this round of switching) is not the cell corresponding to the second network device. If the first network device sends the first indication information to the third network device, the first indication information is used to indicate that a conditional switching has occurred in the terminal device of the third network device.

[0160] like Figure 2As shown, the SN currently connected to the terminal device is SN0, and the target cell for the next round of conditional switching is SN1. Then, the MN connected to the terminal device (the initiator of the first message, which may also be the PCell or SN connected to the terminal device) can send a first message to other conditional switching candidate cells such as SN2. The first message may include a first indication information, which is used to inform SN2 that the cell selected by the terminal device for the next round of conditional switching is not SN2. Then SN2 can decide whether to continue to be a conditional switching candidate cell for the terminal device based on information 1-2 (other information contained in the first message may also be referenced).

[0161] Information 1-3: second indication information, where the second indication information is used to request the second network device and / or the third network device to provide a data forwarding address.

[0162] Regarding the example of information 1-3: If the first network device sends the second indication information to the second network device, the second indication information is used to request the second network device to provide a data forwarding address. If the first network device sends the second indication information to the third network device, the second indication information is used to request the third network device to provide a data forwarding address.

[0163] like Figure 2 As shown, the SN currently connected to the terminal device is SN0, and the potential objects of data forwarding are SN1 and / or SN2. SN0 needs to obtain the data forwarding receiving address of SN1 or SN2 before sending forwarded data to SN1 or SN2. Once the terminal device switches from SN0 to SN1, the source SN of data forwarding will change from SN0 to SN1. However, SN1 does not know the data forwarding addresses of other conditional switching candidate cells (for example: SN2). Then, the MN connected to the terminal device (the initiator of the first message, and it may also be the PCell or SN connected to the terminal device) can send a first message to other conditional switching candidate cells, such as SN2. The first message may include a second indication information for requesting SN2 to provide a new data forwarding address.

[0164] Information 1-4: third indication information, where the third indication information is used to request the second network device and / or the third network device to agree to serve as a conditional switching candidate cell for the terminal device.

[0165] Examples of information 1-4: If the first network device sends the third indication information to the second network device, the third indication information is used to request the second network device to continue to serve as a conditional switching candidate cell for the terminal device. If the first network device sends the third indication information to the third network device, the third indication information is used to request the third network device to continue to serve as a conditional switching candidate cell for the terminal device.

[0166] like Figure 2 As shown, the terminal device is connected to SN0 before the conditional switching occurs. The following scenarios may exist. Scenario 1: SN0 is already one of the candidate cells for conditional switching configured by the terminal device before the conditional switching. Scenario 2: SN0 is not one of the candidate cells for conditional switching configured by the terminal device before the conditional switching.

[0167] The SN currently connected to the terminal device is SN0, and the target cell for the next round of conditional switching is SN1. Since SN2 has not been selected as the target switching cell, the MN connected to the terminal device (the initiator of the first message, which may also be the PCell or SN connected to the terminal device) can send a first message to other conditional switching candidate cells, such as SN2. The first message contains a third indication information for requesting SN2 to continue to be a conditional switching candidate cell for the terminal device. Of course, whether SN2 receives the above request will be determined by SN2.

[0168] Information 1-5: cell configuration information used by the terminal device in the cell connected before the conditional switching, where the cell connected before the switching is at least one of the cell corresponding to the SN, the cell corresponding to the MN, or the PCell to which the terminal device is connected before the conditional switching.

[0169] Examples of information 1-5: cell configuration information used in the cell corresponding to the SN, the cell corresponding to the MN, or the PCell to which the terminal device is connected before the conditional switching.

[0170] like Figure 2 As shown, the SN currently connected to the terminal device is SN0, and information 1-5 may include the cell configuration information used by the terminal device in SN0. The MN connected to the terminal device (the initiator of the first message, which may also be the PCell or SN connected to the terminal device) can send a first message to other conditional switching candidate cells, such as SN2. The first message contains information 1-5, and after SN2 receives information 1-5, it can decide whether to change the resources reserved for the terminal device or change the cell configuration information prepared for the terminal device.

[0171] For example, the cell configuration information may include at least one of the following configurations:

[0172] NAS (Non-access stratum) layer related configuration information, SDAP (Service Data Adaptation Protocol) layer related configuration information, RRC (Radio Resource Control) layer related configuration information, PDCP (Packet Data Convergence Protocol) layer related configuration information, BAP (Backhaul Adaptation Protocol) layer related configuration information, RLC (Radio Link Control) layer related configuration information, MAC (Media Access Control) layer related configuration information and physical layer related configuration information.

[0173] Information 1-6: Cell measurement results reported by the terminal device.

[0174] Information 1-7: location information of the terminal device.

[0175] Information 1-8: Historical service cell information of the terminal device.

[0176] Examples of information 1-6, information 1-7 and information 1-8: Figure 2 As shown, the SN currently connected to the terminal device is SN0, and the target cell for the next round of conditional switching is SN1. Since SN2 has not been selected as the target switching cell, the MN connected to the terminal device (the initiator of the first message, which may also be the PCell or SN connected to the terminal device) can send a first message to other conditional switching candidate cells, such as SN2. The first message contains at least one of information 1-6, information 1-7 or information 1-8, which is used to request SN2 to continue to be the conditional switching candidate cell for the terminal device. Of course, whether SN2 receives the above request will be determined by SN2.

[0177] The first message may explicitly include at least one of the information 1-1 to information 1-8. In addition, the first message may also implicitly include some information, such as information 1-2 to information 1-4.

[0178] In one implementation, the first message is used for at least one of the following:

[0179] Requesting the second network device and / or the third network device to provide a data forwarding address;

[0180] Requesting the second network device and / or the third network device to agree to serve as a conditional switching candidate cell for the terminal device;

[0181] Indicate to the second network device and / or the third network device that conditional switching of the terminal device has occurred.

[0182] For example, the first message sent by the first network device to the second network device and / or the third network device may not include the second indication information, but the first message implicitly requests the receiving device to provide a data forwarding address.

[0183] For another example, the first message sent by the first network device to the second network device and / or the third network device may not include the third indication information, but the first message implicitly requests the receiving device to determine whether to agree to be the conditional switching candidate cell for the terminal device.

[0184] For another example, the first message sent by the first network device to the second network device and / or the third network device may not include the first indication information, but the first message implicitly indicates that the conditional switching has occurred in the receiving device.

[0185] In one embodiment, the method further comprises:

[0186] S420: The first network device receives a first message response message sent by the second network device and / or the third network device.

[0187] In one embodiment, the first message response message is used to notify the first network device to remove the configuration information reserved by the second network device and / or the third network device for the terminal device from the conditional switching configuration information configured for the terminal device, that is, the second network device and / or the third network device is unwilling to continue to serve as the conditional switching candidate cell associated with the terminal device.

[0188] Further, if the first message response message is used to notify the first network device to remove the configuration information reserved by the second network device and / or the third network device for the terminal device from the conditional switching configuration information configured by the terminal device, the second network device and / or the third network device may directly or indirectly (such as through the MN) send a resource release message to the terminal device. The resource release message may instruct the terminal device to remove the information of the second network device and / or the third network device from the conditional switching configuration information stored in the terminal device.

[0189] For example, see Figure 2After step 2b, step 2b1 or step 2b2 may be performed, and the network device, such as SN2, that receives the first message may return a first message response message to the MN (the initiator of the first message, which may also be the PCell or SN to which the terminal device is connected). The first message response message is used to respond to the message initiator's request to release the resources reserved for the terminal device. After receiving the first message response message, the MN may remove the configuration information reserved by SN2 for the terminal device from the conditional switching configuration information of the terminal device configuration stored locally.

[0190] In one implementation, the first message response message is used to notify the first network device that the second network device and / or the third network device agree to serve as a conditional switching candidate cell for the terminal device.

[0191] In one implementation, when the first message response message is used to notify the first network device that the second network device and / or the third network device agree to serve as a conditional handover candidate cell for the terminal device, the first message response message includes at least one of the following:

[0192] Information 2-1: data forwarding address allocated by the second network device and / or the third network device.

[0193] Information 2-2: The cell configuration information corresponding to the second network device and / or the third network device is configured or updated by the terminal device. The cell configuration information of the above information 2-2 can refer to the relevant description of the above information 1-5, which will not be repeated here.

[0194] Information 2-3: information on the validity period of the cell corresponding to the second network device and / or the third network device agreeing to be a conditional switching candidate cell for the terminal device.

[0195] An example of information 2-3: In one case, the first network device receives a first message response message from the second network device, and the first message response message includes the effective duration information of the cell corresponding to the second network device continuing to be the conditional switching candidate cell of the terminal device. In another case, the first network device receives a first message response message from the third network device, and the first message response message includes the effective duration information of the cell corresponding to the third network device continuing to be the conditional switching candidate cell of the terminal device.

[0196] For example: the resource reservation behavior of the conditional switching candidate cell itself is equivalent to a waste of network resources. By setting the effective duration information of the conditional switching candidate cell, the corresponding reserved resources can be released when the reserved duration expires, thereby improving the efficiency of communication system resource reservation. Optionally, the MN connected to the terminal device within the effective duration (the initiator of the first message, or the PCell or SN connected to the terminal device) can negotiate a new effective duration with the conditional switching candidate cell again. After negotiation and agreement, the new effective duration will be recalculated.

[0197] Information 2-4: the cell identifier assigned by the second network device and / or the third network device to itself as a conditional handover candidate cell. The cell identifier of the above information 2-4 can refer to the relevant description of the above information 1-1, which will not be repeated here.

[0198] like Figure 5 As shown, in one embodiment, the method further includes:

[0199] S510: The first network device receives a second message sent by a fourth network device, where the second message is used to notify the first network device that the terminal device successfully accesses or switches to the fourth network device.

[0200] The fourth network device is at least one of the PCell, MN or SN to which the terminal device is connected after conditional switching occurs.

[0201] Exemplarily, the first network device may be Figure 2 The MN connected to the terminal device in the middle, the fourth network device can be Figure 2 SN1 (ie, the target cell of this round of handover) to which the MN terminal device is connected after the current round of conditional handover. Referring to step 1d, SN1 can inform the MN terminal of the successful access to SN1 through the second message.

[0202] In one embodiment, the method further comprises:

[0203] S520: The first network device sends a third message to the third network device, where the third message is used to notify the third network device to stop sending data to the terminal device.

[0204] The third network device is at least one of the PCell, MN or SN to which the terminal device is connected before the conditional switching occurs.

[0205] Exemplarily, the first network device may be Figure 2 The MN connected to the terminal device in the middle, the third network device can be Figure 2 Referring to step 1e, the MN may notify SN0 to stop sending data to the terminal device through a third message.

[0206] In one embodiment, the method further comprises:

[0207] S530: The first network device sends a fourth message to a fourth network device, where the fourth message is used for conditional switching control.

[0208] The fourth network device is at least one of the PCell, MN or SN to which the terminal device is connected after conditional switching occurs.

[0209] In the embodiment of the present application, the fourth network device may be the target cell of this round of conditional switching, for example Figure 2 Referring to step 4, if the first network device is MN and the fourth network device is SN1, MN can send the data forwarding address to SN1 through the fourth message. SN1 triggers the data forwarding task with other conditional switching candidate SNs at an appropriate time.

[0210] In one implementation, the fourth message includes:

[0211] The data forwarding address allocated by the second network device and / or the third network device; and / or,

[0212] The effective duration information of the cell corresponding to the second network device and / or the third network device as a conditional switching candidate cell of the terminal device.

[0213] The data forwarding address allocated by the second network device and / or the third network device and included in the fourth message may include the following examples:

[0214] Example 1: Acquired through the aforementioned first message response message (see information 2-1), that is, the data forwarding address re-acquired through the first message response message.

[0215] Example 2: Reusing the previously allocated data forwarding address. Exemplarily, the terminal device starts to connect to SN0. SN1 and SN2 send the data forwarding address to MN. MN sends the data forwarding addresses of SN1 and SN2 to SN0 in a timely manner. After a round of conditional switching, the terminal device switches from SN0 to SN1. Then, MN can forward the stored data forwarding address allocated by SN2 to SN1, for SN1 to forward data to SN2. In the above scenario, MN did not reapply for a new data forwarding address from SN2, but forwarded the address sent to SN0 to SN1.

[0216] In addition, after the fourth network device obtains the data forwarding address allocated by other conditional switching candidate cells, it can trigger data forwarding at an appropriate time. In this way, once the next round of conditional switching of the terminal device is triggered, for example: the terminal device switches from SN1 to SN2, the SN2 cell can send user data to the terminal device in time after access, ensuring user service continuity.

[0217] In one embodiment, the method further comprises:

[0218] S540: The first network device sends a fifth message to the fourth network device, where the fifth message is used to assist at least one of the PCell, MN or SN to which the terminal device is currently connected to forward data.

[0219] In one implementation, the fifth message includes at least one of the following:

[0220] The cell ID that is recommended to trigger data forwarding;

[0221] The data forwarding address that is recommended to trigger data forwarding;

[0222] It is not recommended to trigger the cell identity of data forwarding;

[0223] It is not recommended to trigger the data forwarding address of data forwarding;

[0224] Cell measurement results reported by terminal equipment;

[0225] The location information of the terminal device.

[0226] Exemplarily, the first network device may be Figure 2 The MN connected to the terminal device in the middle, the fourth network device can be Figure 2 SN1 to which the terminal device is connected after this round of conditional switching. After the terminal device switches to SN1, it is necessary to forward data to SN0 or SN2 at an appropriate time. However, the timing of data forwarding is difficult to grasp. If the data is forwarded too early, the terminal device is delayed in the next round of switching, and the previously forwarded data wastes network transmission and storage resources. If the data is forwarded too late, the terminal device may need to wait for data forwarding when switching to a new cell, resulting in a poor user experience. Therefore, the first network device MN can send a fifth message to the fourth network device SN1. The fifth information can assist the fourth network device in triggering data forwarding at an appropriate time. On the one hand, user experience is guaranteed, and on the other hand, waste of network resources is minimized.

[0227] The meaning of the cell identifier in the fifth message can be found in the relevant description of the above information 1-1, which will not be repeated here.

[0228] The information included in the fifth message may be determined based on the auxiliary information reported by the terminal device, or may be determined autonomously by the network device that sends the fifth message.

[0229] In the embodiment of the present application, the sending sequence of the first message, the second message, the third message, the fourth message and the fifth message is not limited and can be flexibly set according to the actual scenario.

[0230] like Figure 6 As shown, in one embodiment, the method further includes:

[0231] S610. The first network device sends fourth indication information to the terminal device, where the fourth indication information is used to trigger the terminal device to report auxiliary information.

[0232] In one embodiment, the method further comprises:

[0233] S620: The first network device sends event configuration information to the terminal device, where the event configuration information is used to configure the configuration associated with the event related to the auxiliary information reporting. The configuration method can refer to event type 2 or event type 3 in the following example.

[0234] In one implementation, the event configuration information includes at least one of the following:

[0235] An event type identifier corresponding to the event related to the auxiliary information reporting;

[0236] The reporting period corresponding to the events related to the auxiliary information reporting;

[0237] The number of reports corresponding to the event related to the auxiliary information reporting;

[0238] The trigger reporting threshold corresponding to the event related to the auxiliary information reporting.

[0239] In an embodiment of the present application, sending the fourth indication information and sending the event configuration information may be performed in one or both steps, and these two steps may have no time sequence relationship.

[0240] In the embodiment of the present application, the auxiliary information reporting may include the following types of triggering events from the perspective of the terminal device:

[0241] Event type 1: Network device sends indication information trigger mode

[0242] When the terminal device receives the indication information sent by the first network device or the fourth network device, it triggers reporting of the auxiliary information.

[0243] Event type 2: Protocol predefined event triggering method

[0244] In this way, the event that triggers the terminal device to report the auxiliary information does not need to be notified to the terminal device through the network device, but is given by the protocol default. However, the configuration related to the default event may be configured to the terminal device through the dedicated signaling sent by the network device, or may be given by the protocol default.

[0245] Event type 3: Network device dynamic configuration event triggering mode

[0246] In this manner, there may be multiple events that trigger the terminal device to report the auxiliary information. The network device sends the configuration related to the triggering event to the terminal device through dedicated signaling. The configuration includes an event type identifier and / or parameters related to the corresponding event. Exemplarily, the parameters related to the corresponding event may include at least one of a reporting period, a number of reports, and a trigger reporting threshold.

[0247] For example, the event corresponding to the above event type 2 or event type 3 may be any of the following events:

[0248] The periodic reporting timer has timed out;

[0249] The terminal device starts to execute the conditional switching evaluation task;

[0250] The terminal device starts to perform the conditional handover evaluation task and the cell measurement result of the PCell to which the terminal device is connected is less than or equal to the fifth threshold;

[0251] The terminal device starts the conditional switching evaluation task and the cell measurement result of the PSCell to which the terminal device is connected is less than or equal to the sixth threshold;

[0252] The terminal device stops executing the conditional switching evaluation task.

[0253] In one embodiment, the method further comprises:

[0254] S630: The first network device receives auxiliary information reported by the terminal device, the auxiliary information being related to the conditional switching candidate cell. In the embodiment of the present application, S610 and / or S620 may be performed first and then S630, or only S630 may be performed. The terminal device may independently decide to report the auxiliary information.

[0255] In one embodiment, the auxiliary information includes at least one of the following:

[0256] Auxiliary information 1: the cell identifier corresponding to the cell where the terminal device estimates that the conditional handover is most likely to be performed next time;

[0257] Auxiliary information 2: the terminal device infers the cell ID corresponding to the cell where the conditional handover may be performed next time, and the number of reported cell IDs cannot exceed M at most; where M is a positive integer;

[0258] Auxiliary information 3: cell identifiers of the N1 cells with the best measurement results among the conditional handover candidate cells measured by the terminal device; where N1 is a positive integer;

[0259] Auxiliary information 4: cell identifiers of the N1 cells with the best measurement results among the conditional handover candidate cells measured by the terminal device and the measurement results of the corresponding cells;

[0260] Auxiliary information 5: cell identifiers corresponding to cells whose measurement results among the conditional handover candidate cells measured by the terminal device are greater than or equal to the first threshold;

[0261] Auxiliary information 6: cell identifiers corresponding to cells whose measurement results among the conditional handover candidate cells measured by the terminal device are greater than or equal to the first threshold, and measurement results of the corresponding cells;

[0262] Auxiliary information 7: cell identifiers corresponding to cells whose measurement results among the conditional handover candidate cells measured by the terminal device are greater than or equal to the second threshold, and the number of cell identifiers reported cannot exceed N2 at most; where N2 is a positive integer;

[0263] Auxiliary information 8: cell identifiers corresponding to cells whose measurement results are greater than or equal to the second threshold among the conditional handover candidate cells measured by the terminal device and the measurement results of the corresponding cells, and the number of cells reported cannot exceed N2 at most;

[0264] Auxiliary information 9: a cell identifier corresponding to a cell whose ratio of a measurement result to a corresponding conditional handover event triggering threshold among the conditional handover candidate cells measured by the terminal device is greater than or equal to a third threshold;

[0265] Auxiliary information 10: cell identifiers corresponding to cells whose ratio of the measurement result of the conditional handover candidate cells measured by the terminal device to the corresponding conditional handover event triggering threshold is greater than or equal to the third threshold and the measurement results of the corresponding cells;

[0266] Auxiliary information 11: cell identifiers corresponding to cells whose ratio of the measurement result among the conditional handover candidate cells measured by the terminal device to the corresponding conditional handover event triggering threshold is greater than or equal to the fourth threshold, and the number of cells reported cannot exceed N3 at most; where N3 is a positive integer;

[0267] Auxiliary information 12: the cell identifiers corresponding to the cells whose ratio of the measurement results of the conditional switching candidate cells measured by the terminal device to the corresponding conditional switching event trigger threshold is greater than or equal to the fourth threshold, and the measurement results of the corresponding cells, and the number of cells reported cannot exceed N3 at most.

[0268] Regarding auxiliary information 9 to auxiliary information 12: For example, assuming that the measurement result of the conditional switching candidate cell A currently measured by the terminal device is W1, and the trigger threshold corresponding to the switching condition event associated with the conditional switching candidate cell A is W2, then if the ratio of W1 and W2 is greater than or equal to the corresponding threshold, then when the reporting event is triggered (see description below), it is considered that the auxiliary information related to the cell can be reported.

[0269] The meaning of the cell identifier in the above auxiliary information can be found in the description of information 1-1 above, and will not be repeated here.

[0270] The above measurement results may include cell-level measurement results and / or beam-level measurement results. Among them, the cell-level measurement results or beam-level measurement results may include at least one of the following measurements: RSRP (Reference Signal Received Power), RSRQ (Reference Signal Received Quality) and SINR (Signal to Interference plus Noise Ratio).

[0271] At least one of the above-mentioned parameters M, parameter N1, parameter first threshold, parameter second threshold, parameter N2, parameter third threshold, parameter N3, and parameter fourth threshold is configured by at least one of the following methods: protocol default configuration method, system broadcast message method, and terminal device dedicated signaling method.

[0272] The control method for conditional switching of the embodiment of the present application can solve the problem of data forwarding between different candidate cells during continuous conditional switching, and ensure the service continuity of the terminal device during continuous conditional switching.

[0273] Figure 7 FIG. 7 is a schematic flow chart of a control method 700 for conditional switching according to an embodiment of the present application. The method may optionally be applied to Figure 1 The system shown in the figure is not limited thereto. The method includes at least part of the following contents.

[0274] S710. The second network device receives a first message sent by the first network device, where the first message is used for conditional switching control.

[0275] The first network device is at least one of the PCell, MN or SN to which the terminal device is currently connected; and the second network device is a conditional switching candidate cell associated with the terminal device.

[0276] In one implementation, the relationship between the first network device and the second network device includes at least one of the following:

[0277] The first network device is a PCell to which the terminal device is currently connected, and the second network device is a PCell related to conditional switching associated with the terminal device;

[0278] The first network device is the MN currently connected to the terminal device, and the second network device is the MN related to the conditional switching associated with the terminal device;

[0279] The first network device is the MN or SN to which the terminal device is currently connected, and the second network device is the SN related to the conditional switching associated with the terminal device.

[0280] In one implementation, the first message includes at least one of the following:

[0281] The cell identifier corresponding to the conditional handover candidate cell accessed by the terminal device;

[0282] first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate that the conditional switching candidate cell accessed by the terminal device is not the cell corresponding to the second network device;

[0283] second indication information, where the second indication information is used to request the second network device to provide a data forwarding address;

[0284] third indication information, where the third indication information is used to request the second network device to agree to continue to serve as a conditional switching candidate cell for the terminal device;

[0285] The cell configuration information used by the terminal device in the cell connected before the conditional switching, where the cell connected before the switching is at least one of the cell corresponding to the SN, the cell corresponding to the MN, or the PCell to which the terminal device is connected before the conditional switching;

[0286] The cell measurement result reported by the terminal device;

[0287] Location information of the terminal device;

[0288] The historical service cell information of the terminal device.

[0289] In one implementation, the first message is used for at least one of the following:

[0290] Requesting the second network device to provide a data forwarding address;

[0291] Requesting the second network device to agree to continue to serve as a conditional handover candidate cell for the terminal device;

[0292] The second network device is informed that a conditional switching of the terminal device has occurred.

[0293] In one embodiment, the method further comprises:

[0294] S720, the second network device sends a first message response message to the first network device;

[0295] Among them, the first message response message is used to notify the first network device to remove the configuration information reserved by the second network device for the terminal device from the conditional switching configuration information configured for the terminal device; or, the first message response message is used to notify the first network device that the second network device agrees to continue to serve as the conditional switching candidate cell for the terminal device.

[0296] In one implementation, when the first message response message is used to notify the first network device that the second network device agrees to continue to serve as a conditional handover candidate cell for the terminal device, the first message response message includes at least one of the following:

[0297] The data forwarding address allocated by the second network device;

[0298] The cell corresponding to the second network device is the cell configuration information configured or updated by the terminal device;

[0299] The validity period information of the cell corresponding to the second network device agreeing to continue to serve as the conditional switching candidate cell of the terminal device;

[0300] The second network device allocates a cell identifier for itself as a conditional switching candidate cell.

[0301] For a specific example of the second network device executing the method 700 of this embodiment, reference may be made to the related description about the second network device in the above method 300, which will not be described again for the sake of brevity.

[0302] Figure 8 FIG. 8 is a schematic flow chart of a control method 800 for conditional switching according to an embodiment of the present application. The method may optionally be applied to Figure 1 The system shown in the figure is not limited thereto. The method includes at least part of the following contents.

[0303] S810. The third network device receives a first message sent by the first network device, where the first message is used for conditional switching control.

[0304] Among them, the first network device is at least one of the PCell, MN or SN to which the terminal device is currently connected; the third network device is at least one of the PCell, MN or SN to which the terminal device is connected before the conditional switching occurs.

[0305] In one implementation, the first message includes at least one of the following:

[0306] The cell identifier corresponding to the conditional handover candidate cell accessed by the terminal device;

[0307] first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate that the conditional switching candidate cell accessed by the terminal device is not the cell corresponding to the third network device;

[0308] second indication information, where the second indication information is used to request the third network device to provide a data forwarding address;

[0309] third indication information, where the third indication information is used to request the third network device to agree to serve as a conditional switching candidate cell for the terminal device;

[0310] The cell configuration information used by the terminal device in the cell connected before the conditional switching, where the cell connected before the switching is at least one of the cell corresponding to the SN, the cell corresponding to the MN, or the PCell to which the terminal device is connected before the conditional switching;

[0311] The cell measurement result reported by the terminal device;

[0312] Location information of the terminal device;

[0313] The historical service cell information of the terminal device.

[0314] In one implementation, the first message is used for at least one of the following:

[0315] Requesting the third network device to provide a data forwarding address;

[0316] Requesting the third network device to agree to serve as a conditional switching candidate cell for the terminal device;

[0317] The third network device is informed that a conditional switching of the terminal device has occurred.

[0318] In one embodiment, the method further comprises:

[0319] S820, the third network device sends a first message response message to the first network device;

[0320] Among them, the first message response message is used to notify the first network device to remove the configuration information reserved by the third network device for the terminal device from the conditional switching configuration information configured for the terminal device; or, the first message response message is used to notify the first network device that the third network device agrees to be the conditional switching candidate cell for the terminal device.

[0321] In one implementation, when the first message response message is used to notify the first network device that the third network device agrees to serve as a conditional handover candidate cell for the terminal device, the first message response message includes at least one of the following:

[0322] The data forwarding address allocated by the third network device;

[0323] The cell corresponding to the third network device is the cell configuration information configured or updated by the terminal device;

[0324] The validity period information of the cell corresponding to the third network device agreeing to be a conditional switching candidate cell for the terminal device;

[0325] The third network device allocates a cell identifier for itself as a conditional switching candidate cell.

[0326] like Fig. 9 As shown, in one embodiment, the method further includes:

[0327] S910. The third network device receives a third message sent by the first network device, where the third message is used to notify the third network device to stop sending data to the terminal device.

[0328] For a specific example of the third network device executing the method 900 of this embodiment, reference may be made to the related description about the third network device in the above method 300, which will not be described again for the sake of brevity.

[0329] Fig.10 is a schematic flow chart of a control method 1000 for conditional switching according to an embodiment of the present application. The method may optionally be applied to Figure 1 The system shown in the figure is not limited thereto. The method includes at least part of the following contents.

[0330] S1010. The fourth network device receives a fourth message sent by the first network device, where the fourth message is used for conditional switching control;

[0331] Among them, the first network device is at least one of the PCell, MN or SN to which the terminal device is currently connected; the fourth network device is at least one of the PCell, MN or SN to which the terminal device is connected after conditional switching occurs.

[0332] In one implementation, the fourth message includes:

[0333] The data forwarding address allocated by the second network device and / or the third network device; and / or,

[0334] The effective duration information of the cell corresponding to the second network device and / or the third network device as a conditional switching candidate cell of the terminal device.

[0335] like Fig.11 As shown, in one embodiment, the method further includes:

[0336] S1110. The fourth network device sends a second message to the first network device, where the second message is used to notify the first network device that the terminal device has successfully accessed or switched to the fourth network device.

[0337] like Fig.12 As shown, in one embodiment, the method further includes:

[0338] S1210. The fourth network device sends fourth indication information to the terminal device, where the fourth indication information is used to trigger the auxiliary information on the terminal device.

[0339] In one embodiment, the method further comprises:

[0340] S1220: The fourth network device sends event configuration information to the terminal device, where the event configuration information is used to configure a configuration associated with an event related to the auxiliary information reporting;

[0341] The event configuration information includes at least one of the following:

[0342] An event type identifier corresponding to the event related to the auxiliary information reporting;

[0343] The reporting period corresponding to the events related to the auxiliary information reporting;

[0344] The number of reports corresponding to the event related to the auxiliary information reporting;

[0345] The trigger reporting threshold corresponding to the event related to the auxiliary information reporting.

[0346] In one embodiment, the method further comprises:

[0347] S1230. The fourth network device receives auxiliary information reported by the terminal device, where the auxiliary information is related to a conditional switching candidate cell.

[0348] In one embodiment, the auxiliary information includes at least one of the following:

[0349] The terminal device estimates the cell identifier corresponding to the cell that is most likely to perform conditional switching next time;

[0350] The terminal device estimates the cell ID corresponding to the cell where the conditional handover may be performed next time, and the number of cell IDs reported cannot exceed M at most;

[0351] The cell identifiers of the N1 cells with the best measurement results among the conditional handover candidate cells measured by the terminal device;

[0352] The cell identifiers of the N1 cells with the best measurement results among the conditional handover candidate cells measured by the terminal device and the measurement results of the corresponding cells;

[0353] A cell identifier corresponding to a cell whose measurement result among the conditional switching candidate cells measured by the terminal device is greater than or equal to the first threshold;

[0354] The cell identifiers corresponding to the cells whose measurement results among the conditional switching candidate cells measured by the terminal device are greater than or equal to the first threshold and the measurement results of the corresponding cells;

[0355] The cell identifiers corresponding to the cells whose measurement results among the conditional handover candidate cells measured by the terminal device are greater than or equal to the second threshold, and the number of cell identifiers reported cannot exceed N2 at most;

[0356] The cell identifiers corresponding to the cells whose measurement results among the conditional handover candidate cells measured by the terminal device are greater than or equal to the second threshold and the measurement results of the corresponding cells, and the number of cells reported cannot exceed N2 at most;

[0357] a cell identifier corresponding to a cell in which the ratio of the measurement result of the conditional switching candidate cell measured by the terminal device to the corresponding conditional switching event triggering threshold is greater than or equal to the third threshold;

[0358] The cell identifier corresponding to the cell whose ratio of the measurement result in the conditional switching candidate cell measured by the terminal device to the corresponding conditional switching event trigger threshold is greater than or equal to the third threshold and the measurement result of the corresponding cell;

[0359] The cell identifiers corresponding to the cells whose ratio of the measurement result among the conditional switching candidate cells measured by the terminal device to the corresponding conditional switching event triggering threshold is greater than or equal to the fourth threshold, and the number of cells reported cannot exceed N3 at most;

[0360] The cell identifier and measurement result of the corresponding cell corresponding to the cell whose ratio of the measurement result of the conditional switching candidate cell measured by the terminal device to the corresponding conditional switching event trigger threshold is greater than or equal to the fourth threshold, and the number of cells reported cannot exceed N3 at most.

[0361] In one embodiment, the method further comprises:

[0362] S1240: The fourth network device receives a fifth message sent by the first network device, where the fifth message is used to assist at least one of the PCell, MN or SN to which the terminal device is currently connected to forward data.

[0363] In one implementation, the fifth message includes at least one of the following:

[0364] The cell ID that is recommended to trigger data forwarding;

[0365] The data forwarding address that is recommended to trigger data forwarding;

[0366] It is not recommended to trigger the cell identity of data forwarding;

[0367] It is not recommended to trigger the data forwarding address of data forwarding;

[0368] The cell measurement result reported by the terminal device;

[0369] The location information of the terminal device.

[0370] For a specific example of the fourth network device executing the method 1000 of this embodiment, reference may be made to the related description about the fourth network device in the above method 300, which will not be described again for the sake of brevity.

[0371] Fig.13 FIG. 1 is a schematic flow chart of a control method 1300 for conditional switching according to an embodiment of the present application. The method may optionally be applied to Figure 1 The system shown in the figure is not limited thereto. The method includes at least part of the following contents.

[0372] S1310. The terminal device reports auxiliary information to the first network device and / or the fourth network device, where the auxiliary information is related to the conditional handover candidate cell;

[0373] Among them, the first network device is at least one of the PCell, MN or SN to which the terminal device is currently connected; the fourth network device is at least one of the PCell, MN or SN to which the terminal device is connected after conditional switching occurs.

[0374] In one embodiment, the auxiliary information includes at least one of the following:

[0375] The terminal device estimates the cell identifier corresponding to the cell that is most likely to perform conditional switching next time;

[0376] The terminal device estimates the cell ID corresponding to the cell where the conditional handover may be performed next time, and the number of cell IDs reported cannot exceed M at most;

[0377] The cell identifiers of the N1 cells with the best measurement results among the conditional handover candidate cells measured by the terminal device;

[0378] The cell identifiers of the N1 cells with the best measurement results among the conditional handover candidate cells measured by the terminal device and the measurement results of the corresponding cells;

[0379] A cell identifier corresponding to a cell whose measurement result among the conditional switching candidate cells measured by the terminal device is greater than or equal to the first threshold;

[0380] The cell identifiers corresponding to the cells whose measurement results among the conditional switching candidate cells measured by the terminal device are greater than or equal to the first threshold and the measurement results of the corresponding cells;

[0381] The cell identifiers corresponding to the cells whose measurement results among the conditional handover candidate cells measured by the terminal device are greater than or equal to the second threshold, and the number of cell identifiers reported cannot exceed N2 at most;

[0382] The cell identifiers corresponding to the cells whose measurement results among the conditional handover candidate cells measured by the terminal device are greater than or equal to the second threshold and the measurement results of the corresponding cells, and the number of cells reported cannot exceed N2 at most;

[0383] a cell identifier corresponding to a cell in which the ratio of the measurement result of the conditional switching candidate cell measured by the terminal device to the corresponding conditional switching event triggering threshold is greater than or equal to the third threshold;

[0384] The cell identifier corresponding to the cell whose ratio of the measurement result in the conditional switching candidate cell measured by the terminal device to the corresponding conditional switching event trigger threshold is greater than or equal to the third threshold and the measurement result of the corresponding cell;

[0385] The cell identifiers corresponding to the cells whose ratio of the measurement result among the conditional switching candidate cells measured by the terminal device to the corresponding conditional switching event triggering threshold is greater than or equal to the fourth threshold, and the number of cells reported cannot exceed N3 at most;

[0386] The cell identifier and measurement result of the corresponding cell corresponding to the cell whose ratio of the measurement result of the conditional switching candidate cell measured by the terminal device to the corresponding conditional switching event trigger threshold is greater than or equal to the fourth threshold, and the number of cells reported cannot exceed N3 at most.

[0387] like Fig.14 As shown, in one embodiment, the method further includes:

[0388] S1410. The terminal device receives fourth indication information sent by the first network device and / or the fourth network device, where the fourth indication information is used to trigger the terminal device to report the auxiliary information.

[0389] In one implementation, the auxiliary information reporting of the terminal device is triggered when a default event is satisfied or when an event configured by the first network device and / or the fourth network device is satisfied.

[0390] In one embodiment, the method further comprises:

[0391] S1420. The terminal device receives event configuration information sent by the first network device and / or the fourth network device, where the event configuration information is used to configure a configuration associated with an event related to the auxiliary information reporting;

[0392] The event configuration information includes at least one of the following:

[0393] An event type identifier corresponding to the event related to the auxiliary information reporting;

[0394] The reporting period corresponding to the events related to the auxiliary information reporting;

[0395] The number of reports corresponding to the event related to the auxiliary information reporting;

[0396] The trigger reporting threshold corresponding to the event related to the auxiliary information reporting.

[0397] For a specific example of the terminal device executing method 1300 of this embodiment, reference may be made to the relevant description about the terminal device in the above method 300, which will not be repeated here for the sake of brevity.

[0398] Fig.15 FIG. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a first network device 1500 according to an embodiment of the present application. The device may optionally be applied to Figure 1 The system shown is not limited thereto. The device includes at least part of the following contents.

[0399] The sending unit 1510 is configured to send a first message, where the first message is used for conditional switching control;

[0400] The first network device is at least one of a primary cell PCell, a primary node MN or a secondary node SN to which the terminal device is currently connected.

[0401] In one implementation, the sending unit 1510 is further configured to send the first message to the second network device and / or the third network device;

[0402] The second network device is a conditional switching candidate cell associated with the terminal device, and the third network device is at least one of the PCell, MN or SN to which the terminal device is connected before the conditional switching occurs.

[0403] In one embodiment, the relationship between the first network device and the second network device includes at least one of the following:

[0404] The first network device is a PCell to which the terminal device is currently connected, and the second network device is a PCell related to conditional switching associated with the terminal device;

[0405] The first network device is the MN currently connected to the terminal device, and the second network device is the MN related to the conditional switching associated with the terminal device;

[0406] The first network device is the MN or SN to which the terminal device is currently connected, and the second network device is the SN related to the conditional switching associated with the terminal device.

[0407] In one implementation, the first message includes at least one of the following:

[0408] The cell identifier corresponding to the conditional switching candidate cell accessed by the terminal device;

[0409] first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate that the conditional switching candidate cell accessed by the terminal device is not a cell corresponding to the second network device and / or the third network device;

[0410] second indication information, where the second indication information is used to request the second network device and / or the third network device to provide a data forwarding address;

[0411] third indication information, where the third indication information is used to request the second network device and / or the third network device to agree to serve as a conditional switching candidate cell for the terminal device;

[0412] The cell configuration information used by the terminal device in the cell connected before the conditional switching, the cell connected before the switching is at least one of the cell corresponding to the SN, the cell corresponding to the MN, or the PCell to which the terminal device is connected before the conditional switching;

[0413] The cell measurement result reported by the terminal device;

[0414] The location information of the terminal device;

[0415] The historical service cell information of the terminal device.

[0416] In one embodiment, the first message is used for at least one of the following:

[0417] Requesting the second network device and / or the third network device to provide a data forwarding address;

[0418] Requesting the second network device and / or the third network device to agree to serve as a conditional switching candidate cell for the terminal device;

[0419] Indicate to the second network device and / or the third network device that conditional switching of the terminal device has occurred.

[0420] In one embodiment, Fig.16As shown, the first network device also includes:

[0421] The first receiving unit 1610 is configured to receive a first message response message sent by the second network device and / or the third network device;

[0422] Among them, the first message response message is used to notify the first network device to remove the configuration information reserved by the second network device and / or the third network device for the terminal device from the conditional switching configuration information configured for the terminal device; or, the first message response message is used to notify the first network device that the second network device and / or the third network device agree to be the conditional switching candidate cell for the terminal device.

[0423] In one implementation, when the first message response message is used to notify the first network device that the second network device and / or the third network device agree to serve as a conditional handover candidate cell for the terminal device, the first message response message includes at least one of the following:

[0424] The data forwarding address allocated by the second network device and / or the third network device;

[0425] The cell corresponding to the second network device and / or the third network device is the cell configuration information configured or updated by the terminal device;

[0426] The validity period information of the cell corresponding to the second network device and / or the third network device agreeing to be a conditional switching candidate cell for the terminal device;

[0427] The second network device and / or the third network device allocates a cell identifier for itself as a conditional handover candidate cell.

[0428] In one embodiment, the first network device further includes:

[0429] The second receiving unit 1620 is used to receive a second message sent by a fourth network device, where the second message is used to notify the first network device that the terminal device has successfully accessed or switched to the fourth network device;

[0430] The fourth network device is at least one of the PCell, MN or SN to which the terminal device is connected after conditional switching occurs.

[0431] In one implementation, the sending unit 1510 is further configured to send a third message to a third network device, where the third message is used to notify the third network device to stop sending data to the terminal device;

[0432] The third network device is at least one of the PCell, MN or SN to which the terminal device is connected before the conditional switching occurs.

[0433] In one implementation, the sending unit 1510 is further configured to send a fourth message to a fourth network device, where the fourth message is used for conditional switching control;

[0434] The fourth network device is at least one of the PCell, MN or SN to which the terminal device is connected after conditional switching occurs.

[0435] In one implementation, the fourth message includes:

[0436] The data forwarding address allocated by the second network device and / or the third network device; and / or,

[0437] The validity period information of the cell corresponding to the second network device and / or the third network device as a conditional switching candidate cell for the terminal device.

[0438] In one implementation, the sending unit 1510 is further used to send a fifth message to the fourth network device, where the fifth message is used to assist at least one of the PCell, MN or SN to which the terminal device is currently connected to forward data.

[0439] In one implementation, the fifth message includes at least one of the following:

[0440] The cell ID that is recommended to trigger data forwarding;

[0441] The data forwarding address that is recommended to trigger data forwarding;

[0442] It is not recommended to trigger the cell identity of data forwarding;

[0443] It is not recommended to trigger the data forwarding address of data forwarding;

[0444] Cell measurement results reported by terminal equipment;

[0445] The location information of the terminal device.

[0446] In one embodiment, the first network device further includes:

[0447] The third receiving unit 1630 is used to receive auxiliary information reported by the terminal device, where the auxiliary information is related to the conditional switching candidate cell.

[0448] In one embodiment, the auxiliary information includes at least one of the following:

[0449] The terminal device estimates a cell identifier corresponding to a cell that is most likely to perform conditional switching next time;

[0450] The terminal device estimates the cell identifier corresponding to the cell that is likely to perform conditional switching next time, and the number of reported cell identifiers cannot exceed M at most;

[0451] The cell identifiers of the N1 cells with the best measurement results among the conditional handover candidate cells measured by the terminal device;

[0452] The cell identifiers of the N1 cells with the best measurement results among the conditional handover candidate cells measured by the terminal device and the measurement results of the corresponding cells;

[0453] A cell identifier corresponding to a cell whose measurement result among the conditional switching candidate cells measured by the terminal device is greater than or equal to the first threshold;

[0454] The cell identifiers corresponding to the cells whose measurement results among the conditional switching candidate cells measured by the terminal device are greater than or equal to the first threshold, and the measurement results of the corresponding cells;

[0455] The cell identifiers corresponding to the cells whose measurement results among the conditional handover candidate cells measured by the terminal device are greater than or equal to the second threshold, and the number of cell identifiers reported cannot exceed N2 at most;

[0456] The cell identifiers corresponding to the cells whose measurement results among the conditional handover candidate cells measured by the terminal device are greater than or equal to the second threshold, and the measurement results of the corresponding cells, and the number of cells reported cannot exceed N2 at most;

[0457] a cell identifier corresponding to a cell in which the ratio of the measurement result of the conditional switching candidate cell measured by the terminal device to the corresponding conditional switching event triggering threshold is greater than or equal to the third threshold;

[0458] The cell identifier corresponding to the cell whose ratio of the measurement result among the conditional switching candidate cells measured by the terminal device to the corresponding conditional switching event trigger threshold is greater than or equal to the third threshold and the measurement result of the corresponding cell;

[0459] The cell identifiers corresponding to the cells whose ratio of the measurement result among the conditional switching candidate cells measured by the terminal device to the corresponding conditional switching event triggering threshold is greater than or equal to the fourth threshold, and the number of cells reported cannot exceed N3 at most;

[0460] The cell identifier and measurement result of the corresponding cell corresponding to the cell whose ratio of the measurement result of the conditional switching candidate cell measured by the terminal device to the corresponding conditional switching event trigger threshold is greater than or equal to the fourth threshold, and the number of cells reported cannot exceed N3 at most.

[0461] In one implementation, the sending unit 1510 is further used to send fourth indication information to the terminal device, where the fourth indication information is used to trigger the terminal device to report the auxiliary information.

[0462] In one implementation, the sending unit 1510 is further configured to send event configuration information to the terminal device, where the event configuration information is used to configure a configuration associated with an event related to the auxiliary information reporting;

[0463] The event configuration information includes at least one of the following:

[0464] An event type identifier corresponding to the event related to the auxiliary information reporting;

[0465] A reporting period corresponding to events related to the auxiliary information reporting;

[0466] The number of reports corresponding to the event related to the auxiliary information reporting;

[0467] A trigger reporting threshold corresponding to an event related to the auxiliary information reporting.

[0468] The first network device 1500 of the embodiment of the present application can implement the corresponding functions of the first network device in the aforementioned method embodiment. The processes, functions, implementation methods and beneficial effects corresponding to the various modules (sub-modules, units or components, etc.) in the first network device 1500 can be found in the corresponding descriptions in the above method embodiments, which will not be repeated here. It should be noted that the functions described by the various modules (sub-modules, units or components, etc.) in the first network device 1500 of the embodiment of the application can be implemented by different modules (sub-modules, units or components, etc.), or by the same module (sub-module, unit or component, etc.).

[0469] Fig.17 1 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a second network device 1700 according to an embodiment of the present application. The device may optionally be applied to Figure 1 The system shown is not limited thereto. The device includes at least part of the following contents.

[0470] The receiving unit 1710 is configured to receive a first message sent by a first network device, where the first message is used for conditional switching control;

[0471] The first network device is at least one of the PCell, MN or SN to which the terminal device is currently connected; and the second network device is a conditional switching candidate cell associated with the terminal device.

[0472] In one embodiment, the relationship between the first network device and the second network device includes at least one of the following:

[0473] The first network device is a PCell to which the terminal device is currently connected, and the second network device is a PCell related to conditional switching associated with the terminal device;

[0474] The first network device is the MN currently connected to the terminal device, and the second network device is the MN related to the conditional switching associated with the terminal device;

[0475] The first network device is the MN or SN to which the terminal device is currently connected, and the second network device is the SN related to the conditional switching associated with the terminal device.

[0476] In one implementation, the first message includes at least one of the following:

[0477] The cell identifier corresponding to the conditional switching candidate cell accessed by the terminal device;

[0478] first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate that the conditional switching candidate cell accessed by the terminal device is not the cell corresponding to the second network device;

[0479] second indication information, where the second indication information is used to request the second network device to provide a data forwarding address;

[0480] third indication information, where the third indication information is used to request the second network device to agree to continue to serve as a conditional switching candidate cell for the terminal device;

[0481] The cell configuration information used by the terminal device in the cell connected before the conditional switching, the cell connected before the switching is at least one of the cell corresponding to the SN, the cell corresponding to the MN, or the PCell to which the terminal device is connected before the conditional switching;

[0482] The cell measurement result reported by the terminal device;

[0483] The location information of the terminal device;

[0484] The historical service cell information of the terminal device.

[0485] In one embodiment, the first message is used for at least one of the following:

[0486] Requesting the second network device to provide a data forwarding address;

[0487] Requesting the second network device to agree to continue to serve as a conditional handover candidate cell for the terminal device;

[0488] Indicate to the second network device that conditional switching of the terminal device has occurred.

[0489] In one embodiment, Fig.18 As shown, the second network device also includes:

[0490] The sending unit 1810 is further configured to send a first message response message to the first network device;

[0491] Among them, the first message response message is used to notify the first network device to remove the configuration information reserved by the second network device for the terminal device from the conditional switching configuration information configured by the terminal device; or, the first message response message is used to notify the first network device that the second network device agrees to continue to be the conditional switching candidate cell for the terminal device.

[0492] In one implementation, when the first message response message is used to notify the first network device that the second network device agrees to continue to serve as a conditional handover candidate cell for the terminal device, the first message response message includes at least one of the following:

[0493] A data forwarding address allocated by the second network device;

[0494] The cell corresponding to the second network device is the cell configuration information configured or updated by the terminal device;

[0495] The validity period information of the cell corresponding to the second network device agreeing to continue to serve as the conditional switching candidate cell of the terminal device;

[0496] The second network device allocates a cell identifier for itself as a conditional handover candidate cell.

[0497] The second network device 1700 of the embodiment of the present application can implement the corresponding functions of the second network device in the aforementioned method embodiment. The processes, functions, implementation methods and beneficial effects corresponding to the various modules (sub-modules, units or components, etc.) in the second network device 1700 can be found in the corresponding descriptions in the above method embodiments, which will not be repeated here. It should be noted that the functions described by the various modules (sub-modules, units or components, etc.) in the second network device 1700 of the embodiment of the application can be implemented by different modules (sub-modules, units or components, etc.), or by the same module (sub-module, unit or component, etc.).

[0498] Fig.19 1 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a third network device 1900 according to an embodiment of the present application. The device may optionally be applied to Figure 1 The system shown is not limited thereto. The device includes at least part of the following contents.

[0499] The receiving unit 1910 is configured to receive a first message sent by a first network device, where the first message is used for conditional switching control;

[0500] The first network device is at least one of the PCell, MN or SN to which the terminal device is currently connected; and the third network device is at least one of the PCell, MN or SN to which the terminal device is connected before conditional switching occurs.

[0501] In one implementation, the first message includes at least one of the following:

[0502] The cell identifier corresponding to the conditional switching candidate cell accessed by the terminal device;

[0503] first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate that the conditional switching candidate cell accessed by the terminal device is not the cell corresponding to the third network device;

[0504] second indication information, where the second indication information is used to request the third network device to provide a data forwarding address;

[0505] third indication information, where the third indication information is used to request the third network device to agree to serve as a conditional switching candidate cell for the terminal device;

[0506] The cell configuration information used by the terminal device in the cell connected before the conditional switching, the cell connected before the switching is at least one of the cell corresponding to the SN, the cell corresponding to the MN, or the PCell to which the terminal device is connected before the conditional switching;

[0507] The cell measurement result reported by the terminal device;

[0508] The location information of the terminal device;

[0509] The historical service cell information of the terminal device.

[0510] In one embodiment, the first message is used for at least one of the following:

[0511] Requesting the third network device to provide a data forwarding address;

[0512] Requesting the third network device to agree to serve as a conditional switching candidate cell for the terminal device;

[0513] Indicate to the third network device that conditional switching of the terminal device has occurred.

[0514] In one embodiment, Fig. 20 The third network device shown also includes:

[0515] A sending unit 2010 is configured to send a first message response message to the first network device;

[0516] Among them, the first message response message is used to notify the first network device to remove the configuration information reserved by the third network device for the terminal device from the conditional switching configuration information configured for the terminal device; or, the first message response message is used to notify the first network device that the third network device agrees to be the conditional switching candidate cell for the terminal device.

[0517] In one implementation, when the first message response message is used to notify the first network device that the third network device agrees to serve as a conditional handover candidate cell for the terminal device, the first message response message includes at least one of the following:

[0518] The data forwarding address allocated by the third network device;

[0519] The cell corresponding to the third network device is the cell configuration information configured or updated by the terminal device;

[0520] The validity period information of the cell corresponding to the third network device agreeing to be a conditional switching candidate cell for the terminal device;

[0521] The third network device allocates a cell identifier for itself as a conditional switching candidate cell.

[0522] In one implementation, the receiving unit 1910 is further configured to receive, by the third network device, a third message sent by the first network device, where the third message is configured to notify the third network device to stop sending data to the terminal device.

[0523] The third network device 1900 of the embodiment of the present application can implement the corresponding functions of the third network device in the aforementioned method embodiment. The processes, functions, implementation methods and beneficial effects corresponding to each module (sub-module, unit or component, etc.) in the third network device 1900 can be found in the corresponding description in the above method embodiment, which will not be repeated here. It should be noted that the functions described by each module (sub-module, unit or component, etc.) in the third network device 1900 of the embodiment of the application can be implemented by different modules (sub-module, unit or component, etc.), or by the same module (sub-module, unit or component, etc.).

[0524] Fig.21 2100 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a fourth network device according to an embodiment of the present application. The device can optionally be applied to Figure 1 The system shown is not limited thereto. The device includes at least part of the following contents.

[0525] The receiving unit 2110 is configured to receive a fourth message sent by the first network device, where the fourth message is used for conditional switching control;

[0526] The first network device is at least one of the PCell, MN or SN to which the terminal device is currently connected; and the fourth network device is at least one of the PCell, MN or SN to which the terminal device is connected after conditional switching occurs.

[0527] In one implementation, the fourth message includes:

[0528] The data forwarding address allocated by the second network device and / or the third network device; and / or,

[0529] The validity period information of the cell corresponding to the second network device and / or the third network device as a conditional switching candidate cell for the terminal device.

[0530] In one implementation, the receiving unit 2110 is further used to receive a fifth message sent by the first network device, where the fifth message is used to assist at least one of the PCell, MN or SN to which the terminal device is currently connected to forward data.

[0531] In one implementation, the fifth message includes at least one of the following:

[0532] The cell ID that is recommended to trigger data forwarding;

[0533] The data forwarding address that is recommended to trigger data forwarding;

[0534] It is not recommended to trigger the cell identity of data forwarding;

[0535] It is not recommended to trigger the data forwarding address of data forwarding;

[0536] The cell measurement result reported by the terminal device;

[0537] The location information of the terminal device.

[0538] In one embodiment, Fig. 22 As shown, the device also includes:

[0539] The first sending unit 2210 is used to send a second message to the first network device, where the second message is used to notify the first network device that the terminal device has successfully accessed or switched to the fourth network device.

[0540] In one implementation, the receiving unit 2110 is further configured to receive auxiliary information reported by the terminal device, where the auxiliary information is related to the conditional switching candidate cell.

[0541] In one embodiment, the auxiliary information includes at least one of the following:

[0542] The terminal device estimates a cell identifier corresponding to a cell that is most likely to perform conditional switching next time;

[0543] The terminal device estimates the cell identifier corresponding to the cell that is likely to perform conditional switching next time, and the number of reported cell identifiers cannot exceed M at most;

[0544] The cell identifiers of the N1 cells with the best measurement results among the conditional handover candidate cells measured by the terminal device;

[0545] The cell identifiers of the N1 cells with the best measurement results among the conditional handover candidate cells measured by the terminal device and the measurement results of the corresponding cells;

[0546] A cell identifier corresponding to a cell whose measurement result among the conditional switching candidate cells measured by the terminal device is greater than or equal to the first threshold;

[0547] The cell identifiers corresponding to the cells whose measurement results among the conditional switching candidate cells measured by the terminal device are greater than or equal to the first threshold, and the measurement results of the corresponding cells;

[0548] The cell identifiers corresponding to the cells whose measurement results among the conditional handover candidate cells measured by the terminal device are greater than or equal to the second threshold, and the number of cell identifiers reported cannot exceed N2 at most;

[0549] The cell identifiers corresponding to the cells whose measurement results among the conditional handover candidate cells measured by the terminal device are greater than or equal to the second threshold, and the measurement results of the corresponding cells, and the number of cells reported cannot exceed N2 at most;

[0550] a cell identifier corresponding to a cell in which the ratio of the measurement result of the conditional switching candidate cell measured by the terminal device to the corresponding conditional switching event triggering threshold is greater than or equal to the third threshold;

[0551] The cell identifier corresponding to the cell whose ratio of the measurement result among the conditional switching candidate cells measured by the terminal device to the corresponding conditional switching event trigger threshold is greater than or equal to the third threshold and the measurement result of the corresponding cell;

[0552] The cell identifiers corresponding to the cells whose ratio of the measurement result among the conditional switching candidate cells measured by the terminal device to the corresponding conditional switching event triggering threshold is greater than or equal to the fourth threshold, and the number of cells reported cannot exceed N3 at most;

[0553] The cell identifier and measurement result of the corresponding cell corresponding to the cell whose ratio of the measurement result of the conditional switching candidate cell measured by the terminal device to the corresponding conditional switching event trigger threshold is greater than or equal to the fourth threshold, and the number of cells reported cannot exceed N3 at most.

[0554] In one embodiment, the device further comprises:

[0555] The second sending unit 2220 is used to send fourth indication information to the terminal device, and the fourth indication information is used to trigger the terminal device to report the auxiliary information.

[0556] In one implementation, the second sending unit 2220 is further configured to send event configuration information to the terminal device, where the event configuration information is used to configure a configuration associated with an event related to the auxiliary information reporting;

[0557] The event configuration information includes at least one of the following:

[0558] An event type identifier corresponding to the event related to the auxiliary information reporting;

[0559] A reporting period corresponding to events related to the auxiliary information reporting;

[0560] The number of reports corresponding to the event related to the auxiliary information reporting;

[0561] A trigger reporting threshold corresponding to an event related to the auxiliary information reporting.

[0562] The fourth network device 2100 of the embodiment of the present application can implement the corresponding functions of the fourth network device in the aforementioned method embodiment. The processes, functions, implementation methods and beneficial effects corresponding to the various modules (sub-modules, units or components, etc.) in the fourth network device 2100 can be found in the corresponding descriptions in the above method embodiments, which will not be repeated here. It should be noted that the functions described by the various modules (sub-modules, units or components, etc.) in the fourth network device 2100 of the application embodiment can be implemented by different modules (sub-modules, units or components, etc.), or by the same module (sub-module, unit or component, etc.).

[0563] Fig.23 2300 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present application. The device can optionally be applied to Figure 1 The system shown is not limited thereto. The device includes at least part of the following contents.

[0564] A reporting unit 2310 is configured to report auxiliary information to the first network device and / or the fourth network device, where the auxiliary information is related to the conditional handover candidate cell;

[0565] The first network device is at least one of the PCell, MN or SN to which the terminal device is currently connected; and the fourth network device is at least one of the PCell, MN or SN to which the terminal device is connected after conditional switching occurs.

[0566] In one embodiment, the auxiliary information includes at least one of the following:

[0567] The terminal device estimates a cell identifier corresponding to a cell that is most likely to perform conditional switching next time;

[0568] The terminal device estimates the cell identifier corresponding to the cell that is likely to perform conditional switching next time, and the number of reported cell identifiers cannot exceed M at most;

[0569] The cell identifiers of the N1 cells with the best measurement results among the conditional handover candidate cells measured by the terminal device;

[0570] The cell identifiers of the N1 cells with the best measurement results among the conditional handover candidate cells measured by the terminal device and the measurement results of the corresponding cells;

[0571] A cell identifier corresponding to a cell whose measurement result among the conditional switching candidate cells measured by the terminal device is greater than or equal to the first threshold;

[0572] The cell identifiers corresponding to the cells whose measurement results among the conditional switching candidate cells measured by the terminal device are greater than or equal to the first threshold, and the measurement results of the corresponding cells;

[0573] The cell identifiers corresponding to the cells whose measurement results among the conditional handover candidate cells measured by the terminal device are greater than or equal to the second threshold, and the number of cell identifiers reported cannot exceed N2 at most;

[0574] The cell identifiers corresponding to the cells whose measurement results among the conditional handover candidate cells measured by the terminal device are greater than or equal to the second threshold, and the measurement results of the corresponding cells, and the number of cells reported cannot exceed N2 at most;

[0575] a cell identifier corresponding to a cell in which the ratio of the measurement result of the conditional switching candidate cell measured by the terminal device to the corresponding conditional switching event triggering threshold is greater than or equal to the third threshold;

[0576] The cell identifier corresponding to the cell whose ratio of the measurement result among the conditional switching candidate cells measured by the terminal device to the corresponding conditional switching event trigger threshold is greater than or equal to the third threshold and the measurement result of the corresponding cell;

[0577] The cell identifiers corresponding to the cells whose ratio of the measurement result among the conditional switching candidate cells measured by the terminal device to the corresponding conditional switching event triggering threshold is greater than or equal to the fourth threshold, and the number of cells reported cannot exceed N3 at most;

[0578] The cell identifier and measurement result of the corresponding cell corresponding to the cell whose ratio of the measurement result of the conditional switching candidate cell measured by the terminal device to the corresponding conditional switching event trigger threshold is greater than or equal to the fourth threshold, and the number of cells reported cannot exceed N3 at most.

[0579] In one embodiment, Fig.24 As shown, the device also includes:

[0580] The receiving unit 2410 is used to receive fourth indication information sent by the first network device and / or the fourth network device, and the fourth indication information is used to trigger the terminal device to report the auxiliary information.

[0581] In one implementation, the auxiliary information reporting of the terminal device is triggered when a default event is satisfied or when an event configured by the first network device and / or the fourth network device is satisfied.

[0582] In one implementation, the receiving unit 2410 is further configured to receive event configuration information sent by the first network device and / or the fourth network device, where the event configuration information is used to configure a configuration associated with an event related to the auxiliary information reporting;

[0583] The event configuration information includes at least one of the following:

[0584] An event type identifier corresponding to the event related to the auxiliary information reporting;

[0585] A reporting period corresponding to events related to the auxiliary information reporting;

[0586] The number of reports corresponding to the event related to the auxiliary information reporting;

[0587] A trigger reporting threshold corresponding to an event related to the auxiliary information reporting.

[0588] The terminal device 2300 of the embodiment of the present application can implement the corresponding functions of the terminal device in the aforementioned method embodiment. The processes, functions, implementation methods and beneficial effects corresponding to the various modules (sub-modules, units or components, etc.) in the terminal device 2300 can be found in the corresponding descriptions in the above method embodiments, which will not be repeated here. It should be noted that the functions described by the various modules (sub-modules, units or components, etc.) in the terminal device 2300 of the embodiment of the application can be implemented by different modules (sub-modules, units or components, etc.), or by the same module (sub-module, unit or component, etc.).

[0589] Fig.25 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device 2500 according to an embodiment of the present application. The communication device 2500 includes a processor 2510, and the processor 2510 can call and run a computer program from a memory to enable the communication device 2500 to implement the method in the embodiment of the present application.

[0590] In one implementation, the communication device 2500 may further include a memory 2520. The processor 2510 may call and run a computer program from the memory 2520 to enable the communication device 2500 to implement the method in the embodiment of the present application.

[0591] The memory 2520 may be a separate device independent of the processor 2510 , or may be integrated into the processor 2510 .

[0592] In one implementation, the communication device 2500 may further include a transceiver 2530, and the processor 2510 may control the transceiver 2530 to communicate with other devices, specifically, may send information or data to other devices, or receive information or data sent by other devices.

[0593] The transceiver 2530 may include a transmitter and a receiver. The transceiver 2530 may further include an antenna, and the number of antennas may be one or more.

[0594] In one implementation, the communication device 2500 may be a network device of an embodiment of the present application, and the communication device 2500 may implement the corresponding processes implemented by the network device in each method of the embodiment of the present application, which will not be described in detail here for the sake of brevity.

[0595] In one implementation, the communication device 2500 may be a terminal device of an embodiment of the present application, and the communication device 2500 may implement the corresponding processes implemented by the terminal device in each method of the embodiment of the present application, which will not be described here for the sake of brevity.

[0596] Fig.262 is a schematic structural diagram of a chip 2600 according to an embodiment of the present application. The chip 2600 includes a processor 2610, and the processor 2610 can call and run a computer program from a memory to implement the method in the embodiment of the present application.

[0597] In one implementation, the chip 2600 may further include a memory 2620. The processor 2610 may call and run a computer program from the memory 2620 to implement the method executed by the terminal device or the network device in the embodiment of the present application.

[0598] The memory 2620 may be a separate device independent of the processor 2610 , or may be integrated into the processor 2610 .

[0599] In one implementation, the chip 2600 may further include an input interface 2630. The processor 2610 may control the input interface 2630 to communicate with other devices or chips, and specifically, may obtain information or data sent by other devices or chips.

[0600] In one implementation, the chip 2600 may further include an output interface 2640. The processor 2610 may control the output interface 2640 to communicate with other devices or chips, and specifically, may output information or data to other devices or chips.

[0601] In one implementation, the chip can be applied to the network device in the embodiments of the present application, and the chip can implement the corresponding processes implemented by the network device in each method of the embodiments of the present application. For the sake of brevity, they will not be repeated here.

[0602] In one implementation, the chip can be applied to the terminal device in the embodiments of the present application, and the chip can implement the corresponding processes implemented by the terminal device in the various methods of the embodiments of the present application. For the sake of brevity, they will not be repeated here.

[0603] The chips used in the network device and the terminal device may be the same chip or different chips.

[0604] 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.

[0605] The processor mentioned above may be a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) or other programmable logic devices, transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components, etc. Among them, the general-purpose processor mentioned above may be a microprocessor or any conventional processor, etc.

[0606] The memory mentioned above may be a volatile memory or a non-volatile memory, or may include both volatile and non-volatile memories. Among them, the non-volatile memory may be a read-only memory (ROM), a programmable ROM (PROM), an erasable programmable ROM (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM) or a flash memory. The volatile memory may be a random access memory (RAM).

[0607] It should be understood that the above-mentioned memory is exemplary but not restrictive. For example, the memory in the embodiments of the present application may also be static random access memory (static RAM, SRAM), dynamic random access memory (dynamic RAM, DRAM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (synchronous DRAM, SDRAM), double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory (double data rate SDRAM, DDR SDRAM), enhanced synchronous dynamic random access memory (enhanced SDRAM, ESDRAM), synchronous link dynamic random access memory (synch link DRAM, SLDRAM) and direct memory bus random access memory (Direct Rambus RAM, DR RAM), etc. That is to say, the memory in the embodiments of the present application is intended to include but not limited to these and any other suitable types of memory.

[0608] Fig. 27 27 is a schematic block diagram of a communication system 2700 according to an embodiment of the present application. The communication system 2700 includes a first network device 2710 and a second network device 2720.

[0609] The first network device 2710 is used to execute the control method of conditional switching executed by the first network device in the above embodiment;

[0610] The second network device 2720 is used to execute the control method of conditional switching executed by the second network device in the above embodiment.

[0611] In one embodiment, the communication system further includes:

[0612] The third network device 2730 is used in the control method of conditional switching performed by the third network device in the above embodiment.

[0613] In one embodiment, the communication system further includes:

[0614] The fourth network device 2740 is used in the control method of conditional switching performed by the fourth network device in the above embodiment.

[0615] In one embodiment, the communication system further includes:

[0616] Terminal device 2750 is used for the control method of conditional switching performed by the terminal device in the above embodiment.

[0617] In the above embodiments, it can be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware or any combination thereof. When implemented using software, it can be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When the computer program instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, the process or function in accordance with the embodiment of the present application is generated in whole or in part. The computer can be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable devices. The computer instructions can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium, or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium, for example, the computer instructions can be transmitted from a website site, computer, server or data center by wired (e.g., coaxial cable, optical fiber, digital subscriber line (Digital Subscriber Line, DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) mode to another website site, computer, server or data center. The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that a computer can access or a data storage device such as a server, data center, etc. that contains one or more available media integrations. The available medium may be a magnetic medium (eg, a floppy disk, a hard disk, a magnetic tape), an optical medium (eg, a DVD), or a semiconductor medium (eg, a solid state disk (SSD)).

[0618] It should be understood that in the various embodiments of the present application, the size of the serial numbers of the above-mentioned processes does not mean the order of execution. The execution order of each process should be determined by its function and internal logic, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiments of the present application.

[0619] Those skilled in the art can clearly understand that, for the convenience and brevity of description, the specific working processes of the systems, devices and units described above can refer to the corresponding processes in the aforementioned method embodiments and will not be repeated here.

[0620] The above is only a specific implementation of the present application, but the protection scope of the present application is not limited thereto. Any person skilled in the art who is familiar with the present technical field can easily think of changes or substitutions within the technical scope disclosed in the present application, which should be included in the protection scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application should be based on the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A control method for conditional switching, comprising: The fourth network device receives a fourth message sent by the first network device, where the fourth message is used for conditional switching control; The first network device is at least one of the PCell, MN or SN to which the terminal device is currently connected; and the fourth network device is at least one of the PCell, MN or SN to which the terminal device is connected after conditional switching occurs.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The fourth message includes: The data forwarding address allocated by the second network device and / or the third network device; and / or, The validity period information of the cell corresponding to the second network device and / or the third network device as a conditional switching candidate cell for the terminal device.

3. According to the method of claim 2, the second network device is a conditional switching candidate cell associated with the terminal device, and the third network device is at least one of the PCell, MN or SN to which the terminal device is connected before the conditional switching occurs.

4. The method according to claim 2, wherein the relationship between the first network device and the second network device comprises at least one of the following: The first network device is a PCell to which the terminal device is currently connected, and the second network device is a PCell related to conditional switching associated with the terminal device; The first network device is the MN currently connected to the terminal device, and the second network device is the MN related to the conditional switching associated with the terminal device; The first network device is the MN or SN to which the terminal device is currently connected, and the second network device is the SN related to the conditional switching associated with the terminal device.

5. The method according to claim 2, wherein: The data forwarding address is included in a first message response message sent by the second network device and / or the third network device to the first network device in response to the first message from the first network device, The first message is used for conditional switching control; The first message response message is used to notify the first network device that the second network device and / or the third network device agree to serve as a conditional switching candidate cell for the terminal device.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the first message response message further comprises at least one of the following: The cell corresponding to the second network device and / or the third network device is the cell configuration information configured or updated by the terminal device; The validity period information of the cell corresponding to the second network device and / or the third network device agreeing to be a conditional switching candidate cell for the terminal device; The second network device and / or the third network device allocates a cell identifier for itself as a conditional handover candidate cell.

7. The method according to claim 5, wherein: The first message includes at least one of the following: The cell identifier corresponding to the conditional switching candidate cell accessed by the terminal device; first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate that the conditional switching candidate cell accessed by the terminal device is not a cell corresponding to the second network device and / or the third network device; second indication information, where the second indication information is used to request the second network device and / or the third network device to provide a data forwarding address; third indication information, where the third indication information is used to request the second network device and / or the third network device to agree to serve as a conditional switching candidate cell for the terminal device; The cell configuration information used by the terminal device in the cell connected before the conditional switching, the cell connected before the switching is at least one of the cell corresponding to the SN, the cell corresponding to the MN, or the PCell to which the terminal device is connected before the conditional switching; The cell measurement result reported by the terminal device; The location information of the terminal device; The historical service cell information of the terminal device.

8. The method according to claim 5, wherein: The first message is used for at least one of the following: Requesting the second network device and / or the third network device to provide a data forwarding address; Requesting the second network device and / or the third network device to agree to serve as a conditional switching candidate cell for the terminal device; Indicate to the second network device and / or the third network device that conditional switching of the terminal device has occurred.

9. A control method for conditional switching, comprising: The first network device sends a fourth message to the fourth network device, where the fourth message is used for conditional switching control; The first network device is at least one of the PCell, MN or SN to which the terminal device is currently connected; and the fourth network device is at least one of the PCell, MN or SN to which the terminal device is connected after conditional switching occurs.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein: The fourth message includes: The data forwarding address allocated by the second network device and / or the third network device; and / or, The validity period information of the cell corresponding to the second network device and / or the third network device as a conditional switching candidate cell for the terminal device.

11. The method according to claim 9, further comprising: The first network device sends a first message to the second network device and / or the third network device, where the first message is used for conditional switching control; The second network device is a conditional switching candidate cell associated with the terminal device, and the third network device is at least one of the PCell, MN or SN to which the terminal device is connected before the conditional switching occurs.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein: The first message is used for at least one of the following: Requesting the second network device and / or the third network device to provide a data forwarding address; Requesting the second network device and / or the third network device to agree to serve as a conditional switching candidate cell for the terminal device; Indicate to the second network device and / or the third network device that conditional switching of the terminal device has occurred.

13. The method according to claim 11, further comprising: The first network device receives a first message response message sent by the second network device and / or the third network device; The first message response message is used to notify the first network device to remove the configuration information reserved by the second network device and / or the third network device for the terminal device from the conditional switching configuration information configured for the terminal device; or, the first message response message is used to notify the first network device that the second network device and / or the third network device agree to be the conditional switching candidate cell for the terminal device.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein: In the case where the first message response message is used to notify the first network device that the second network device and / or the third network device agree to serve as a conditional handover candidate cell for the terminal device, the first message response message includes at least one of the following: The data forwarding address allocated by the second network device and / or the third network device; The cell corresponding to the second network device and / or the third network device is the cell configuration information configured or updated by the terminal device; The validity period information of the cell corresponding to the second network device and / or the third network device agreeing to be a conditional switching candidate cell for the terminal device; The second network device and / or the third network device allocates a cell identifier for itself as a conditional handover candidate cell.

15. The method according to claim 9, further comprising: The first network device sends a third message to the third network device, where the third message is used to notify the third network device to stop sending data to the terminal device; The third network device is at least one of the PCell, MN or SN to which the terminal device is connected before the conditional switching occurs.

16. The fourth network device comprises: A processor and a memory, the memory being used to store a computer program, the processor being used to call and run the computer program stored in the memory, so that the fourth network device executes the method according to any one of claims 1 to 8.

17. A first network device, comprising: A processor and a memory, the memory being used to store a computer program, the processor being used to call and run the computer program stored in the memory, so that the first network device executes the method according to any one of claims 9 to 15.

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