Switching method and communication device

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention discloses a switching method and a communication device, relates to the technical field of communication, and solves the problem of service interruption caused by reestablishment of terminal equipment when uplink congestion occurs. The method comprises the following steps: when uplink congestion is detected, sending a first measurement report to network equipment; the first measurement report is used for triggering the network equipment to indicate the terminal equipment to switch to the target neighbor cell. The embodiment of the invention is applied to the uplink congestion process of the terminal equipment.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The embodiments of the present application relate to the field of communication technology, and in particular, to a switching method and a communication device. Background Art

[0002] In the related art, when a terminal device detects uplink congestion, it usually triggers a re-establishment process through radio resource control (RRC). However, during the re-establishment process, the terminal device needs to perform network search and resident processes, and can only resume data transmission on the re-established cell after random access is successful, which will cause service interruption. Summary of the invention

[0003] The embodiments of the present application provide a switching method and a communication device, which can avoid service interruption caused by re-establishment of a terminal device when uplink is congested.

[0004] In order to achieve the above objectives, this application provides the following technical solutions:

[0005] In a first aspect, a switching method is provided, which can be executed by a terminal device, or by a component of the terminal device, such as a processor, a chip, or a chip system of the terminal device, or can be implemented by a logic module or software that can implement all or part of the terminal device. The following is an example of the method being executed by a terminal device. The switching method includes: when uplink congestion is detected, sending a first measurement report to a network device; the first measurement report is used to trigger the network device to instruct the terminal device to switch to a target neighboring area.

[0006] In the present application, when the terminal device detects uplink congestion, it sends a first measurement report to the network device, so that the network device can instruct the terminal to switch to the target cell that meets the switching threshold in the measurement report through the first measurement report. Based on this, when the terminal device detects uplink congestion in the embodiment of the present application, the uplink congestion is solved by switching, rather than by re-establishment. Compared with re-establishment, in the switching process, the terminal device can directly carry the service data and switch to the neighboring cell without causing service interruption, thereby solving the problem of service interruption caused by re-establishment in the case of uplink congestion in the prior art.

[0007] In combination with the above-mentioned first aspect, in a possible implementation method, the first measurement report includes a first signal strength of a target neighboring cell, where the first signal strength is a signal strength that satisfies a switching condition and is determined based on a second signal strength; and the second signal strength is a signal strength obtained by measuring the signal of the target neighboring cell.

[0008] Based on this, when the measured signal strength of the target neighboring cell does not meet the switching conditions, the terminal device can trigger the generation of the first measurement report by adjusting the signal strength of the target neighboring cell, thereby being able to directly trigger switching in an uplink congestion scenario, avoiding the inability to switch due to the target neighboring cell signal strength not meeting the switching conditions.

[0009] In combination with the above-mentioned first aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the target neighboring cell is a neighboring cell whose RSRP is greater than a first threshold and / or whose SINR is greater than a second threshold among multiple neighboring cells.

[0010] Based on this, the terminal device can select a neighboring cell with better signal strength from multiple neighboring cells as the target neighboring cell to improve the network quality after the terminal device switches and improve the user's network experience.

[0011] In combination with the above-mentioned first aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the multiple neighboring cells include at least one of a same-frequency neighboring cell and a different-frequency neighboring cell of a service cell of the terminal device.

[0012] Based on this, the terminal device can select the target neighboring cell from the same-frequency neighboring cells and the different-frequency neighboring cells. The terminal device has a wider selection range, which makes it more likely that the terminal device will select the target neighboring cell and the network quality of the selected target neighboring cell is better.

[0013] In combination with the above-mentioned first aspect, in a possible implementation method, when the multiple neighboring cells include an inter-frequency neighboring cell of the service cell, the method also includes: sending first indication information to a network device; the first indication information is used to instruct the network device to configure configuration information of the inter-frequency neighboring cell for the terminal device; receiving second indication information from the network device, the second indication information includes the configuration information of the inter-frequency neighboring cell; performing inter-frequency measurement based on the configuration information of the inter-frequency neighboring cell to determine the signal strength of the inter-frequency neighboring cell.

[0014] Based on this, the terminal device triggers heterodyne measurement through the first indication information, so that the terminal device can measure the heterodyne cell and determine the signal strength of the heterodyne cell.

[0015] In combination with the above-mentioned first aspect, in a possible implementation method, the first indication information includes a third signal strength of the serving cell; the third signal strength is a signal strength less than a third threshold determined based on the fourth signal strength; and the fourth signal strength is a signal strength obtained by measuring the signal of the serving cell.

[0016] Based on this, when the measured signal strength of the service cell does not meet the inter-frequency measurement triggering conditions, the terminal device can adjust the signal strength of the service cell to a signal strength that meets the inter-frequency measurement triggering conditions, thereby being able to start inter-frequency measurement in an uplink congestion scenario, and further enabling the terminal device to select a target neighboring cell based on the measurement results of the same-frequency measurement and the measurement results of the inter-frequency measurement.

[0017] In combination with the above-mentioned first aspect, in a possible implementation, the method also includes: receiving third indication information from a network device, the third indication information being used to instruct the terminal device to switch to a target neighboring cell; and switching to the target neighboring cell in response to the third indication information.

[0018] Based on this, after sending the first measurement report to the network device, the terminal device switches to the target neighboring cell based on the instruction of the network device, thereby solving the problem of service interruption through switching in the uplink congestion scenario.

[0019] In combination with the above-mentioned first aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the method also includes: after switching to the target neighboring cell, starting a first timer; the duration of the first timer is the duration during which the terminal device is prohibited from switching back to the serving cell.

[0020] Based on this, after the terminal device switches out of the service cell where uplink congestion occurs, a timer can be set to prevent the terminal device from switching back to the service cell where uplink congestion occurs within a preset time, thereby avoiding uplink congestion again after the terminal device switches back to the service cell.

[0021] In a second aspect, a communication device is provided for implementing the above-mentioned various methods. The communication device may be the terminal device in the above-mentioned first aspect, or any implementation of the first aspect, or a device including the above-mentioned terminal device, or a device included in the above-mentioned terminal device, such as a chip. The communication device includes a module, unit, or means corresponding to the above-mentioned method, and the module, unit, or means may be implemented by hardware, software, or by executing the corresponding software implementation by hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more modules or units corresponding to the above-mentioned functions.

[0022] In some possible designs, the communication device may include a processing module and a transceiver module. The transceiver module, which may also be referred to as a transceiver unit, is used to implement the sending and / or receiving functions in any of the above aspects and any possible implementations thereof. The transceiver module may be composed of a transceiver circuit, a transceiver, a transceiver or a communication interface. The processing module may be used to implement the processing functions in any of the above aspects and any possible implementations thereof.

[0023] In some possible designs, the transceiver module includes a sending module and a receiving module, which are respectively used to implement the sending and receiving functions in any of the above aspects and any possible implementation methods thereof.

[0024] In a third aspect, a communication device is provided, comprising: at least one processor; the processor is used to execute a computer program or instruction stored in a memory, so that the communication device performs the method of any of the above aspects. The memory may be coupled to the processor, or may be independent of the processor. The communication device may be the terminal device in the above first aspect, or any implementation of the first aspect, or a device including the above terminal device, or a device included in the above terminal device, such as a chip.

[0025] In some possible designs, the communication device includes a memory for storing necessary program instructions and data.

[0026] In a possible implementation, the processor includes a logic circuit and an input interface and / or an output interface, wherein the output interface is used to execute the sending action in the corresponding method, and the input interface is used to execute the receiving action in the corresponding method.

[0027] In a possible implementation, the communication device further includes a communication interface and a communication bus, and the processor, the memory, and the communication interface are connected via the communication bus. The communication interface is used to perform the sending and receiving actions in the corresponding method. The communication interface may also be referred to as a transceiver. Optionally, the communication interface includes a transmitter and a receiver, in which case the transmitter is used to perform the sending action in the corresponding method, and the receiver is used to perform the receiving action in the corresponding method.

[0028] In some possible designs, when the communication device is a chip system, it can be composed of a chip, or it can include a chip and other discrete devices.

[0029] It can be understood that when the communication device provided in any one of the second to third aspects is a chip, the above-mentioned sending action / function can be understood as output, and the above-mentioned receiving action / function can be understood as input.

[0030] In a fourth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, in which a computer program or instruction is stored. When the computer-readable storage medium is run on a communication device, the communication device can execute any of the above aspects or any of its implementation methods.

[0031] In a fifth aspect, a computer program product comprising instructions is provided, which, when executed on a communication device, enables the communication device to execute any of the above-mentioned aspects or any of its implementation methods.

[0032] The technical effects brought about by any implementation method of the second to fifth aspects can refer to the technical effects brought about by the corresponding implementation method of the first aspect, and will not be repeated here.

[0033] It should be noted that various possible implementation methods of any one of the above aspects can be combined under the premise that there is no contradiction between the solutions. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0034] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of a switching process provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0035] Figure 2 A system architecture diagram of a communication system provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0036] Figure 3 A flowchart of a switching method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0037] Figure 4 A flowchart of another switching method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0038] Figure 5 A schematic diagram of the composition of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0039] Figure 6 A schematic diagram of the hardware structure of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0040] In the description of this application, unless otherwise specified, " / " indicates that the objects associated with each other are in an "or" relationship, for example, A / B can represent A or B; "and / or" in this application is merely a description of the association relationship between associated objects, indicating that three relationships may exist, for example, A and / or B can represent: A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone, where A and B can be singular or plural.

[0041] In the description of this application, unless otherwise specified, "plurality" means two or more than two. "At least one of the following" or similar expressions refers to any combination of these items, including any combination of single items or plural items. For example, at least one of a, b, or c can mean: a, b, c, ab, ac, bc, or abc, where a, b, and c can be single or multiple.

[0042] In addition, in order to clearly describe the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, in the embodiments of the present application, words such as "first" and "second" are used to distinguish the same items or similar items with substantially the same functions and effects. Those skilled in the art can understand that words such as "first" and "second" do not limit the quantity and execution order, and words such as "first" and "second" do not necessarily limit the difference.

[0043] In the embodiments of the present application, words such as "exemplary" or "for example" are used to indicate examples, illustrations or descriptions. Any embodiment or design described as "exemplary" or "for example" in the embodiments of the present application should not be interpreted as being more preferred or more advantageous than other embodiments or designs. Specifically, the use of words such as "exemplary" or "for example" is intended to present related concepts in a concrete way for easy understanding.

[0044] It is understood that the "embodiment" mentioned throughout the specification means that the specific features, structures or characteristics related to the embodiment are included in at least one embodiment of the present application. Therefore, the various embodiments in the entire specification do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment. In addition, these specific features, structures or characteristics can be combined in one or more embodiments in any suitable manner. It is understood that in various embodiments of the present application, the size of the sequence number of each process does not mean the order of execution, and 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 embodiment of the present application.

[0045] It can be understood that in the present application, "when" and "if" both mean that corresponding processing will be carried out under certain objective circumstances, and do not limit the time, nor do they require any judgment action when implementing, nor do they mean the existence of other limitations.

[0046] It can be understood that some optional features in the embodiments of the present application may be implemented independently in certain scenarios without relying on other features, such as the solution on which they are currently based, to solve corresponding technical problems and achieve corresponding effects, or may be combined with other features according to needs in certain scenarios. Accordingly, the devices provided in the embodiments of the present application may also realize these features or functions accordingly, which will not be elaborated here.

[0047] In this application, unless otherwise specified, the same or similar parts between the various embodiments can refer to each other. In the various embodiments in this application, and the various implementation methods / implementation methods / implementation methods in each embodiment, if there is no special explanation and logical conflict, the terms and / or descriptions between different embodiments and the various implementation methods / implementation methods / implementation methods in each embodiment are consistent and can be referenced to each other. The technical features in different embodiments and the various implementation methods / implementation methods / implementation methods in each embodiment can be combined to form new embodiments, implementation methods, implementation methods, or implementation methods according to their inherent logical relationships. The implementation methods of this application described below do not constitute a limitation on the scope of protection of this application.

[0048] The technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application can be used for various communication systems, and the communication system can be a third generation partnership project (3GPP) communication system, for example, a fourth generation (4G) long term evolution (LTE) system, a fifth generation (5G) new radio (NR) system, a vehicle to everything (V2X) system, a system of LTE and NR hybrid networking, or a device to device (D2D) system, a machine to machine (M2M) communication system, an Internet of Things (IoT), and other next generation communication systems. Alternatively, the communication system may also be a non-3GPP communication system, without limitation.

[0049] Among them, the above-mentioned communication system applicable to the present application is only an example, and the communication system applicable to the present application is not limited to this. It is uniformly explained here and will not be repeated below.

[0050] The network device in the embodiment of the present application is an entity on the network side for sending signals, or receiving signals, or sending and receiving signals. The network device may be a device deployed in a radio access network (RAN) to provide wireless communication functions for terminal devices, for example, it may include an evolved base station (NodeB or eNB or e-NodeB, evolutionalNode B) in an LTE system or an enhanced LTE (LTE-advanced, LTE-A) system, such as a traditional macro base station eNB and a micro base station eNB in ​​a heterogeneous network scenario. Alternatively, it may include a next generation node B (next generation node B, gNB) in a new radio (newradio, NR) system. Alternatively, it may include a transmission reception point (TRP), a home base station (e.g., home evolved NodeB, or home Node B, HNB), a base band unit (BBU), a base band pool (BBU pool), or a wireless fidelity (WiFi) access point (access point, AP), etc. Alternatively, it may include a base station in a non-terrestrial network (NTN), that is, it may be deployed on a flying platform or a satellite. In the NTN, the network device may be used as a layer 1 (L1) relay, or as a base station, or as an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) node. Alternatively, the network device may be a device that implements the base station function in IoT, such as a device that implements the base station function in drone communications, V2X, D2D, or machine to machine (M2M).

[0051] In some possible scenarios, the network device may also be a module or unit that can implement some functions of the base station, for example, the network device may be a centralized unit (CU), a distributed unit (DU), a CU-control plane (CP), a CU-user plane (UP), or a radio unit (RU). The CU and DU may be separately configured, or may be included in the same network element, such as a baseband unit (BBU). The RU may be included in a radio frequency device or radio frequency unit, such as a remote radio unit (RRU), an active antenna unit (AAU), or a remote radio head (RRH).

[0052] In different systems, CU (or CU-CP and CU-UP), DU or RU may also have different names, but those skilled in the art can understand their meanings. For example, the network device may be a network device or a module of a network device in an open radio access network (open RAN, ORAN) system. In the ORAN system, CU may also be referred to as open (open, O)-CU, DU may also be referred to as O-DU, CU-CP may also be referred to as O-CU-CP, CU-UP may also be referred to as O-CU-UP, and RU may also be referred to as O-RU. Any of the CU (or CU-CP, CU-UP), DU and RU in this application may be implemented by a software module, a hardware module, or a combination of a software module and a hardware module.

[0053] In the embodiments of the present application, the form of the network device is not limited. The device for realizing the function of the network device can be the network device; or it can be a device that can support the network device to realize the function, such as a chip system. The device can be installed in the network device or used in combination with the network device.

[0054] The terminal device in the embodiment of the present application is an entity on the user side for receiving signals, or sending signals, or receiving signals and sending signals. The terminal device can be a user equipment (UE), access terminal, terminal unit, user station, terminal station, mobile station, mobile station, remote station, remote terminal, user terminal terminal equipment, TE), mobile device, wireless communication device, terminal agent, tablet computer (pad), handheld device with wireless communication function, computing device or other processing device connected to wireless modem, vehicle-mounted device, vehicle-mounted communication module, wearable device, or terminal device in the fifth generation mobile communication technology (5th generation, 5G) network or the public land mobile network (public land mobile network, PLMN) evolved after 5G. The access terminal can be a cellular phone, a cordless phone, a session initiation protocol (session initiation protocol, SIP) phone, a wireless local loop (wireless local loop, WLL) station, a personal digital assistant (personal digital assistant, PDA), a handheld device with wireless communication function, a computing device or other processing device connected to a wireless modem, a vehicle-mounted device, a drone, a robot, a smart point of sale (point of sale, POS) machine, a customer terminal equipment (customer-premises equipment, CPE) or a wearable device, virtual reality (virtual The terminal device may be a wireless terminal in the Internet of Things (IoT), such as a terminal in V2X (such as a vehicle networking device), a terminal in D2D communication, or a terminal in M2M communication. The terminal device may be a mobile or fixed device.

[0055] The embodiments of the present application do not limit the form of the terminal device. The device for realizing the function of the terminal device can be the terminal device; it can also be a device that can support the terminal device to realize the function, such as a chip system. The device can be installed in the terminal device or used in combination with the terminal device. In the embodiments of the present application, the chip system can be composed of chips, or it can include chips and other discrete devices.

[0056] To facilitate understanding of the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application, a brief introduction to the related technologies of the present application is first given. The brief introduction is as follows:

[0057] 1. Uplink congestion

[0058] Uplink congestion refers to the congestion of the uplink link between the terminal device and the network device (such as the base station), which blocks the transmission of uplink data sent by the terminal device. Uplink congestion will seriously affect the user's network experience.

[0059] Upstream congestion is usually caused by the following reasons:

[0060] Reason 1: There are many terminal devices residing in the cell, and the schedulable air interface resources of the base station corresponding to the cell are limited. At this time, if the base station is not configured or load balancing is not triggered, the air interface resources allocated by the base station to the terminal devices residing in the cell may not meet the uplink service transmission requirements of the terminal devices, resulting in uplink congestion of the terminal devices.

[0061] Reason 2: The downlink transmission of the cell is normal, but the uplink service transmission interference is large. At this time, the base station cannot schedule a larger modulation and coding scheme (MCS) and radio bearer (RB) for the terminal device, and the uplink authorization of the terminal device continues to be small, and the terminal device will experience uplink congestion.

[0062] Reason 3: The terminal device is at the edge of the coverage area of ​​the resident cell, but the terminal device does not meet the switching conditions at this time, and the base station cannot be triggered to instruct the terminal device to switch. In this case, both the uplink and downlink links of the terminal device will cause significant interference, and the uplink and downlink transmission of the terminal device will be blocked, resulting in uplink congestion and downlink congestion of the terminal device.

[0063] Reason 4: The uplink scheduling or uplink configuration of the cell where the terminal device resides is abnormal, resulting in uplink congestion of the terminal device.

[0064] Currently, methods for a terminal device to detect whether uplink congestion occurs include: 1. a radio link failure (RLF) detection mechanism; 2. an uplink continuous congestion detection mechanism.

[0065] 1. The wireless link anomaly detection mechanism specifically includes: 1.1. Wireless link failure detection mechanism at the radio link control (RLC) layer; 1.2. Wireless link failure detection mechanism at the media access control (MAC) layer.

[0066] 1.1. The RLC layer radio link failure detection mechanism is as follows: the terminal device RLC layer uplink transmits the RLC service data unit (SDU), and the uplink abnormality causes the RLC SDU to be unable to be sent to the base station, or the downlink abnormality causes the terminal device to be unable to receive the RLC STATUS (status) feedback sent by the base station; the terminal device uplink RLC Polling retransmission times exceeds the threshold, triggering the radio link failure.

[0067] 1.2. The MAC layer wireless link failure detection mechanism is as follows: the terminal device MAC layer applies for uplink authorization through a scheduling request (SR). The SR transmission reaches the maximum threshold, but no uplink authorization is obtained; the terminal device falls back to the random access (RA) process to apply for uplink authorization. The number of RA failures exceeds the threshold, triggering a wireless link failure.

[0068] 2. The uplink continuous congestion detection mechanism includes: uplink continuous congestion and uplink continuous interference.

[0069] Among them, continuous uplink congestion includes: the terminal device detects uplink congestion continuously within a preset time (for example, for multiple consecutive cycles).

[0070] The uplink continuous interference includes: the terminal device continuously detects uplink congestion, and detects that the reference signal receiving power (RSRP) of the serving cell is greater than a first threshold, and the signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) is less than a second threshold.

[0071] The above terminal device detects uplink congestion specifically including:

[0072] Case 1: The terminal device detects that the first PDCP SDU cache time of the packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) queue is greater than or equal to the first time threshold (applicable to the scenario where the PDCP discard timer is not configured on the network device side).

[0073] Case 2: The terminal device detects that the proportion of the number of target PDCP SDUs is greater than or equal to the first ratio; the target PDCP SDU is a PDCP SDU discarded due to timer expiration (applicable to scenarios where a PDCP discard timer is configured on the network device side).

[0074] Regarding the above-mentioned solution of detecting uplink congestion by the terminal device, if the terminal device detects RLF, the terminal device triggers a re-establishment process through a radio resource control (RRC) message. However, there are the following problems in this process:

[0075] When measuring the current service cell during the re-establishment process of the terminal device, no abnormality in the measurement of the service cell is found. The terminal device is likely to be re-established on the current service cell. After the re-establishment, the terminal device will still experience uplink congestion. Even if the terminal device is re-established to other cells, it is still necessary to successfully search the network, reside, and randomly access before resuming service transmission, resulting in a long service transmission interruption time for the terminal device. In addition, RLF generally occurs when the uplink or downlink is completely abnormal. However, when the uplink congestion is caused by large uplink interference to the terminal device and the base station continues to allocate small authorizations to the terminal device, the terminal device will not trigger the RLF process, which makes the problem of uplink congestion of the terminal device unable to be solved.

[0076] Regarding the above-mentioned solution for detecting uplink congestion by the terminal device, if the terminal device detects uplink congestion, the terminal device sets the current serving cell as a bad cell through RRC, and triggers the terminal device to reestablish to other cells. However, there are the following problems in this process:

[0077] When a terminal device is reestablished in another cell, it needs to search the network, reside, and randomly access successfully before it can resume service transmission, resulting in a long service transmission interruption time for the terminal device. In addition, the signal strength of the cell selected by the terminal device during reestablishment only meets the residency threshold, and the reestablished cell may not be the optimal cell, resulting in difficulty in restoring service transmission of the terminal device after reestablishment.

[0078] 2. Redirection

[0079] Redirection refers to the process of redirecting a terminal device from one cell to another in a connected state. During the redirection process, the terminal device disconnects from the serving cell and performs network search, resident and random access processes. After the random access is successful, the terminal device transmits service data in the newly accessed cell. During the redirection process, the terminal device cannot carry service data for redirection. The terminal device needs to interrupt service transmission first and resume service transmission after redirection.

[0080] 3. Switch

[0081] Handover refers to the process of switching a terminal device from one cell to another in a connected state. During the handover process, the terminal device can carry service data for handover without interrupting service transmission.

[0082] Taking LTE network or NR network as an example, the switching process includes: switching triggering, switching measurement, switching decision and switching execution.

[0083] Among them, handover triggering refers to the process of the terminal device triggering handover measurement. For the same-frequency cell, the terminal device will periodically measure the signal strength of the same-frequency cell frequency; for the inter-frequency cell, the terminal device will trigger an event report after the measured signal strength of the current serving cell is weaker than the inter-frequency measurement threshold, thereby triggering the terminal device to perform inter-frequency measurement.

[0084] Switching measurement refers to the process in which the terminal device measures the signal strength of the same-frequency / different-frequency neighboring cell signal according to the measurement configuration of the network device, and when the signal strength of the target neighboring cell meets the measurement event, generates a measurement report corresponding to the measurement event and reports the measurement report to the network device.

[0085] The switching decision refers to the process in which the network device interacts with neighboring network devices, core network devices and other devices after receiving the measurement report reported by the terminal device to decide whether the terminal device should switch to the target neighboring cell.

[0086] The handover execution refers to the process in which the network device reconfigures the information of the target neighboring cell to the terminal device, and the terminal device initiates the handover random access to the target neighboring cell after receiving the reconfiguration information of the target neighboring cell.

[0087] Figure 1 The specific process of switching in the related art is shown, such as Figure 1 As shown, the current switching process includes the following S101-S110.

[0088] S101. A source network device sends a handover (HO) measurement configuration to a terminal device. Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the HO measurement configuration from the source network device.

[0089] As an example, in the NR network, the source network device may be a source NR base station (NR Node B, gNB).

[0090] S102: The terminal device performs measurement based on the switching measurement configuration.

[0091] S103: The terminal device sends an A1 event or A2 event measurement report to the source network device. Correspondingly, the source network device receives the A1 event or A2 event measurement report from the terminal device.

[0092] In other words, when the measurement result satisfies the A1 event or the A2 event, the terminal device generates an A1 event or an A2 event measurement report. The terminal device sends the A1 event or the A2 event measurement report to the source network device.

[0093] As an example, the A1 event is: the serving cell measurement result is higher than the threshold 1. The A2 event is: the serving cell measurement result is lower than the threshold 2.

[0094] Among them, the above S101-S103 correspond to the above switching triggering process.

[0095] S104: The source network device measures and sends data to the terminal device.

[0096] In a possible implementation, the source network device sends measurement configuration information of the hetero-frequency neighboring cell during hetero-frequency measurement to the terminal device, so that the terminal device can perform hetero-frequency measurement.

[0097] S105. The terminal device measures the cell signal strength and determines the measurement result.

[0098] S106: The terminal device reports the measurement result to the source network device. Correspondingly, the source network device receives the measurement result from the terminal device.

[0099] In a possible implementation, when a measurement result satisfies a corresponding measurement event, the terminal device generates a measurement report corresponding to the measurement event and sends the measurement report to the terminal device.

[0100] In addition to the above-mentioned A1 event and A2 event, the measurement events also include A3 event to A6 event, and B1 event to B2 event.

[0101] Event A3 is: the neighboring cell measurement result is higher than the serving cell measurement result + offset value (offset).

[0102] Event A4 is: the neighboring cell measurement result is higher than threshold 3.

[0103] Event A5 is: the serving cell measurement result is lower than threshold 4, and the neighboring cell measurement result is higher than threshold 5.

[0104] Event A6 is: the neighboring cell measurement result is higher than the Scell ​​measurement result + offset value (offset).

[0105] Event B1 is: the measurement result of the cell of the different system is higher than the threshold 6.

[0106] Event B2 is: the measurement result of the heterogeneous cell is higher than threshold 7, and the measurement result of the SPcell is lower than threshold 8.

[0107] The measurement report corresponding to each switching event may carry the measurement result of the cell that triggers the switching event in the switching event, so that the source network device can instruct the terminal device to switch according to the measurement result.

[0108] Among them, the above S104-S106 correspond to the above switching measurement process.

[0109] S107: The source network device makes a switching decision.

[0110] In other words, the source network device makes a handover decision based on the handover event in the measurement report, and selects a handover cell and a handover strategy.

[0111] The above S107 corresponds to the above switching decision process.

[0112] S108: The source network device, the target network device, and the core network device interact with each other to prepare for switching.

[0113] As an example, in the NR network, the target network device is the target gNB, and the core network device is the 5G core network (5G core network, 5GC) device.

[0114] S109: The source network device, the target network device, and the core network device are all ready for switching.

[0115] In other words, the source network device, the target network device, and the core network device apply for and allocate resources for the terminal device, and determine that the switching preparation is complete after the resources are applied for and allocated.

[0116] S110: The source network device sends switching indication information to the terminal device. Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the switching indication information from the source network device.

[0117] Among them, the above S108-S110 correspond to the above switching execution process.

[0118] Afterwards, the terminal device initiates switching to the target network device according to the switching indication information, and transmits service data through the target network device after switching to the target network device.

[0119] From the above introduction to the related technologies of this application, it can be seen that when a terminal device and a network device transmit data through an air interface, the terminal device may experience uplink congestion due to a large number of resident users in the cell, large uplink interference, abnormal uplink scheduling or configuration, etc. After the uplink congestion occurs in the terminal device, if the terminal device continues to reside in the current cell, the uplink service transmission of the terminal device will be blocked, resulting in the inability to transmit the uplink service data normally, affecting the user's network experience.

[0120] Currently, in order to avoid the inability to transmit uplink service data normally when the terminal device is uplink congested, the re-establishment process is usually triggered through RRC when the terminal device detects uplink congestion. However, during the re-establishment process, the terminal device needs to search the network and stay in the network, and can only resume data transmission in the re-established cell after random access is successful, resulting in service interruption.

[0121] In order to solve the technical problems existing in the above-mentioned prior art, an embodiment of the present application provides a switching method, in which the terminal device sends a first measurement report to the network device when uplink congestion is detected, so that the network device can instruct the terminal device to switch to the target cell that meets the switching threshold in the measurement report through the first measurement report. Based on this, in an embodiment of the present application, when the terminal device detects uplink congestion, the uplink congestion is solved by switching, rather than by re-establishment. Compared with re-establishment, in the switching process, the terminal device can directly carry the service data and switch to the neighboring cell without causing service interruption, thereby solving the problem of service interruption caused by re-establishment in the case of uplink congestion in the prior art.

[0122] The switching method provided in the embodiment of the present application can be applied to Figure 2 In the communication system shown in FIG. Figure 2 As shown, the communication system includes a network device 201 and a terminal device 202 .

[0123] The network device 201 is used to trigger the terminal device 202 to switch according to the measurement report reported by the terminal device 202. The terminal device 202 is used to switch according to the instruction of the network device 201, and transmit service data in the new cell after switching to the new cell.

[0124] Figure 3 It is a schematic diagram of an example of the switching method provided in an embodiment of the present application. The method is explained by taking the interaction between a network device and a terminal device as an example. Of course, the subject that executes the network device action in the method can also be a device / module in the network device, such as a chip, processor, processing unit, etc. in the network device; the subject that executes the terminal device action in the method can also be a device / module in the terminal device, such as a chip, processor, processing unit, etc. in the terminal device, and the embodiment of the present application does not make specific limitations on this. The processing performed by a single execution subject (for example, a network device or a terminal device) in the embodiment of the present application can also be divided into executions by multiple execution subjects, and these execution subjects can be logically and / or physically separated. Exemplary, such as Figure 3 As shown, the switching method provided in the embodiment of the present application includes:

[0125] S301: When detecting uplink congestion, the terminal device sends a first measurement report to the network device. Correspondingly, the network device receives the first measurement report from the terminal device.

[0126] Among them, the first measurement report is used to trigger the network device to instruct the terminal device to switch to the target neighboring cell.

[0127] As an example, the first measurement report is a measurement report generated according to a switching event after the terminal device measures the serving cell and the neighboring cell, when the measurement result satisfies the switching event. At this time, the first measurement report is used to report to the network device the measurement event determined by the terminal device according to the current measurement result.

[0128] As an example, the measurement event reported in the first measurement report includes the above-mentioned A3 event-A5 event, and at least one of the B1 event and the B2 event. For understanding of the A3 event-A5 event, and the B1 event and the B2 event, reference can be made to the content recorded in the previous text, which will not be repeated here.

[0129] In a possible implementation, the terminal device detects whether uplink congestion occurs in the terminal device in the manner described above. In the case of uplink congestion in the terminal device, the terminal device determines a corresponding measurement event based on the current measurement results of the serving cell and the neighboring cell, and after generating a first measurement report based on the determined measurement event, sends the first measurement report to the network device to trigger the network device to instruct the terminal device to switch to the target neighboring cell.

[0130] In an embodiment of the present application, when the terminal device detects uplink congestion, it sends a first measurement report to the network device, so that the network device can instruct the terminal device to switch to the target cell that meets the switching threshold in the measurement report through the first measurement report. Based on this, when the terminal device detects uplink congestion in an embodiment of the present application, the uplink congestion is solved by switching, rather than by re-establishment. Compared with re-establishment, in the switching process, the terminal device can directly carry the service data and switch to the neighboring cell without causing service interruption, thereby solving the problem of service interruption caused by re-establishment in the case of uplink congestion in the prior art.

[0131] In addition, compared with the prior art in which the terminal device triggers the re-establishment process after detecting RLF, in the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device directly triggers the switching process after detecting uplink congestion. In the switching process, the terminal device will switch to the neighboring cell with the best measurement result instead of switching to the current service cell, thereby avoiding the problem of uplink congestion of the terminal device caused by the terminal device re-establishing to the current cell.

[0132] In a possible implementation, the first measurement report includes a first signal strength of a target neighboring cell, where the first signal strength is a signal strength that satisfies a switching condition and is determined based on a second signal strength; and the second signal strength is a signal strength obtained by measuring a signal of the target neighboring cell.

[0133] Optionally, the second signal strength is greater than the first signal strength. That is, the terminal device adjusts the smaller signal strength actually measured to a larger signal strength that satisfies the switching condition, so that the terminal device can generate the first measurement report according to the larger signal strength.

[0134] In other words, when uplink congestion occurs in the terminal device, the measured signal strength of the neighboring cell and the signal strength of the serving cell may not meet the conditions for triggering the measurement event, which will cause the terminal device to be unable to generate and report the switching event measurement report, and further cause the terminal device to be unable to switch to the neighboring cell. At this time, in order to enable the terminal device to meet the conditions for triggering the measurement event and report the switching event measurement report, the terminal device can adjust the measured signal strength of the neighboring cell so that the terminal meets the switching conditions.

[0135] In one example, for the above-mentioned A3 event, the terminal device selects the neighboring cell with the strongest signal strength from multiple neighboring cells as the target neighboring cell, and the measured signal strength of the target neighboring cell is less than or equal to the service cell measurement result + offset value, which does not meet the triggering conditions of the above-mentioned A3 event.

[0136] At this time, the terminal device adjusts the signal strength of the target neighboring cell to a signal strength greater than the service cell measurement result + offset value so that the target neighboring cell meets the conditions for triggering the above-mentioned A3 event. The terminal device generates the first measurement report corresponding to the A3 event, and after carrying the adjusted signal strength of the target neighboring cell into the first measurement report, sends the first measurement report to the network device.

[0137] In another example, for the above-mentioned A4 event, the terminal device selects a neighboring cell with a signal strength greater than a threshold 9 (threshold 9 is less than the above-mentioned threshold 3) from the same-frequency neighboring cells of multiple neighboring cells as the target neighboring cell; since the terminal device has not currently triggered the A4 event, it indicates that the signal strength of the target neighboring cell is less than or equal to threshold 3.

[0138] At this time, the terminal device adjusts the signal strength of the target neighboring cell to a signal strength greater than threshold 3, so that the target neighboring cell meets the conditions for triggering the above-mentioned A4 event. The terminal device generates a first measurement report corresponding to the A4 event, and after carrying the adjusted signal strength of the target neighboring cell in the first measurement report, sends the first measurement report to the network device.

[0139] In another example, for the above-mentioned B1 event, the terminal device selects a neighboring cell with a signal strength greater than threshold 8 (threshold 8 is less than threshold 6) from multiple heterofrequency neighboring cells as the target neighboring cell; since the terminal device has not currently triggered the B2 event, it indicates that the signal strength of the target neighboring cell is less than or equal to threshold 6.

[0140] At this time, the terminal device adjusts the signal strength of the target neighboring cell to a signal strength greater than threshold 6, so that the target neighboring cell meets the conditions for triggering the above-mentioned B1 event. The terminal device generates a first measurement report corresponding to the B1 event, and after carrying the adjusted signal strength of the target neighboring cell in the first measurement report, sends the first measurement report to the network device.

[0141] Based on this, when the measured signal strength of the target neighboring cell does not meet the switching conditions, the terminal device can trigger the generation of the first measurement report by adjusting the signal strength of the target neighboring cell, thereby being able to directly trigger switching in an uplink congestion scenario, avoiding the inability to switch due to the target neighboring cell signal strength not meeting the switching conditions.

[0142] It should be noted that the terminal device may also adjust the signal strength of cells other than the target neighboring cell, such as the serving cell, Scell, and SPcell, so that the terminal device meets the corresponding measurement event, and this application does not limit this.

[0143] In a possible implementation manner, the target neighboring cell is a neighboring cell whose RSRP is greater than a first threshold and / or whose SINR is greater than a second threshold among the multiple neighboring cells.

[0144] In other words, in the embodiment of the present application, after starting the same-frequency measurement and / or different-frequency measurement, the terminal device generates a measurement list according to the measurement results. The terminal device selects a neighboring cell that meets the conditions (that is, RSRP is greater than the first threshold and / or SINR is greater than the second threshold) from the measurement list as the target neighboring cell.

[0145] In one possible implementation, when the measurement list includes multiple neighboring cells that meet the above conditions, the terminal device selects the neighboring cell with the best signal quality as the target neighboring cell. For example, when the measurement list includes multiple neighboring cells that meet the above conditions, the terminal device selects the neighboring cell with the largest RSRP and / or the largest SINR as the target neighboring cell.

[0146] Based on this, the terminal device can select a neighboring cell with better signal strength from multiple neighboring cells as the target neighboring cell, so as to improve the network quality after the terminal device switches and improve the user's network experience; at the same time, this solution also avoids the problem in related technologies that when the terminal device is re-established, it is difficult to restore service transmission after the terminal device is re-established, resulting in the selection of a cell with a signal strength that only meets the residence threshold for re-establishment.

[0147] In a possible implementation, the multiple neighboring cells include at least one of a same-frequency neighboring cell and a different-frequency neighboring cell of a service cell of the terminal device.

[0148] Based on this, the terminal device can select the target neighboring cell from the same-frequency neighboring cells and the different-frequency neighboring cells. The terminal device has a wider selection range, which makes it more likely that the terminal device will select the target neighboring cell and the network quality of the selected target neighboring cell is better.

[0149] The following is an exemplary description of the complete process of a terminal device detecting uplink congestion and sending a measurement report:

[0150] The terminal device periodically or continuously monitors whether uplink congestion occurs. When uplink congestion is detected, the terminal device determines whether there is a target neighboring cell in the neighboring cell whose RSRP is greater than the first threshold and / or SINR is greater than the second threshold based on the measurement results of the current same-frequency measurement and / or different-frequency measurement.

[0151] If there is a target neighboring cell and the target neighboring cell does not currently meet the triggering switching event, the terminal device adjusts the measured first signal strength of the target neighboring cell to the second signal strength to meet the triggering condition of the measurement event so that the terminal device generates a first measurement report for reporting the measurement event according to the second signal strength. After that, the terminal device sends the first measurement report to the network device so that the network device instructs the terminal device to switch to the target neighboring cell.

[0152] In a possible implementation, after the terminal device sends the first measurement report to the network device, the network device instructs the terminal device to switch to the target neighboring cell, and the terminal device switches to the target neighboring cell according to the instruction of the network device. The switching process of the terminal device is described in detail below.

[0153] Exemplarily, after S301, the network device and the terminal device can Figure 3 The switching of the terminal device is achieved by the method recorded in S302-S303 shown:

[0154] S302: The network device sends third indication information to the terminal device. Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the third indication information from the network device.

[0155] Among them, the third indication information is used to instruct the terminal device to switch to the target neighboring area.

[0156] In a possible implementation, the third indication information is switching indication information, and the third indication information specifically includes switching configuration information of the target neighboring cell, such as the frequency of the target neighboring cell, switching events and other information.

[0157] S303. In response to the third indication information, the terminal device switches to the target neighboring cell.

[0158] In one possible implementation, the terminal device switches to the target neighboring cell according to the switching configuration information of the target neighboring cell indicated by the third indication information, and continues to transmit services through the target neighboring cell after the switching is completed.

[0159] It should be noted that in a complete switching process of a terminal device, in addition to the interaction between the terminal device and the network device of the serving cell, one or more of the terminal device, the network device of the serving cell, the network device of the target neighboring cell, and the core network device also need to interact, so that the core network device and the network device of the target neighboring cell establish a session connection for the terminal device and release the session connection established by the serving cell for the terminal device. The specific switching process can refer to the prior art, and this application will not elaborate on it.

[0160] Based on this, after sending the first measurement report to the network device, the terminal device switches to the target neighboring cell based on the instruction of the network device, thereby solving the problem of service interruption through switching in the uplink congestion scenario.

[0161] In one possible implementation, after the terminal device switches from the serving cell to the target neighboring cell, due to uplink congestion in the serving cell, if the terminal device switches back to the serving cell in a short time, the terminal device is still likely to experience uplink congestion. Therefore, in the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device can set a timer to prohibit the terminal device from switching the serving cell in a short time.

[0162] Exemplarily, the process of the terminal device setting a timer to prohibit the terminal device from switching the serving cell within a short period of time can be as follows: Figure 3 The S304 implementation shown:

[0163] S304: After switching to the target neighboring cell, the terminal device starts a first timer.

[0164] The duration of the first timer is the duration during which the terminal device is prohibited from switching back to the service cell.

[0165] In other words, before the first timer times out, the terminal device is prohibited from switching back to the original serving cell. After the first timer times out, the terminal device can switch normally. After the first timer times out, the terminal device can switch cells according to the actual measurement results. The cell to be switched can be the original serving cell or another cell that meets the switching conditions. This application does not limit this.

[0166] Based on this, after the terminal device switches out of the service cell where uplink congestion occurs, a timer can be set to prevent the terminal device from switching back to the service cell where uplink congestion occurs within a preset time, thereby avoiding uplink congestion again after the terminal device switches back to the service cell.

[0167] In a possible implementation, before sending the first measurement report, the terminal device needs to select a target neighboring cell based on the measurement results of the neighboring cells. The neighboring cells of the service cell include co-frequency neighboring cells and hetero-frequency neighboring cells. Accordingly, the terminal device's measurement of the neighboring cells includes co-frequency measurement and hetero-frequency measurement. Among them, co-frequency measurement is a measurement performed periodically by the terminal device, and hetero-frequency measurement is a measurement performed by the terminal device when the measurement trigger condition is met.

[0168] Since intra-frequency measurement is a measurement performed at a fixed period, the measurement list of the terminal device usually includes the measurement results of the intra-frequency cell after the terminal device detects uplink congestion. However, inter-frequency measurement is a measurement performed by the terminal device when conditions are met (for example, the terminal device will trigger inter-frequency measurement when the A2 event is met). Therefore, when the terminal device detects uplink congestion, the terminal device may not start inter-frequency measurement.

[0169] When the terminal device does not start inter-frequency measurement, if there is no neighboring cell with good signal quality (for example, RSRP is greater than the first threshold and / or SINR is greater than the second threshold) in the results of the same-frequency measurement, the terminal device cannot select the target neighboring cell from the same-frequency neighboring cells, which makes the terminal device unable to adjust the signal strength of the target neighboring cell for switching.

[0170] In addition, even if there is a neighboring cell with better signal quality in the same-frequency measurement results, the terminal device cannot determine whether there is a neighboring cell with better signal quality in the inter-frequency neighboring cell because the terminal device has not started the inter-frequency measurement. This may cause the terminal device to fail to switch to the neighboring cell with the best signal quality, affecting the service transmission quality of the terminal device.

[0171] Therefore, when the terminal device detects uplink congestion, if the terminal device has not started inter-frequency measurement at this time, the terminal device can adjust the measured signal strength of the serving cell to trigger the terminal device to start inter-frequency measurement. Figure 4 As shown, the process can be implemented by the following S401-S403:

[0172] S401: The terminal device sends first indication information to the network device. Correspondingly, the network device receives the first indication information from the terminal device.

[0173] Among them, the first indication information is used to instruct the network device to configure the configuration information of the heterofrequency neighboring cell for the terminal device.

[0174] In a possible implementation, when the signal quality of a serving cell is poor and an inter-frequency measurement needs to be initiated, the terminal device generates first indication information.

[0175] Optionally, the terminal device is pre-configured with an inter-frequency measurement threshold. When the signal quality of the serving cell is less than the inter-frequency measurement threshold, the terminal device sends a first indication message to the network device to instruct the network device to configure configuration information of the inter-frequency neighboring cell for the terminal device.

[0176] In one example, the inter-frequency measurement threshold of the terminal device can be the trigger threshold of the A2 event (the A2 event is: the measurement result of the serving cell is lower than threshold 2). When the signal quality of the serving cell is lower than threshold 2, the terminal device generates an A2 event measurement report and sends the A2 event measurement report to the network device. After receiving the A2 event measurement report from the terminal device, the network device configures the configuration information of the inter-frequency neighboring cell for the terminal device.

[0177] S402: The network device sends second indication information to the terminal device. Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the second indication information from the network device.

[0178] The second indication information includes configuration information of the heterofrequency neighboring cell.

[0179] S403: The terminal device performs inter-frequency measurement based on the configuration information of the inter-frequency neighboring cell to determine the signal strength of the inter-frequency neighboring cell.

[0180] Based on this, the terminal device triggers heterodyne measurement through the first indication information, so that the terminal device can measure the heterodyne cell and determine the signal strength of the heterodyne cell.

[0181] In a possible implementation, the first indication information includes a third signal strength of the serving cell; the third signal strength is a signal strength less than a third threshold determined based on the fourth signal strength; and the fourth signal strength is a signal strength obtained by measuring the signal of the serving cell.

[0182] In other words, when the terminal device detects uplink congestion, it determines whether the terminal device has started the heterofrequency measurement threshold. If the terminal device has started the heterofrequency measurement, the terminal device selects the target neighboring area according to the relevant content in the above S301 and reports the first measurement report.

[0183] If the terminal device does not start the inter-frequency measurement, and the terminal device is configured with an inter-frequency measurement threshold, the terminal device adjusts the measured signal strength (fourth signal strength) of the current service cell to a signal strength (third signal strength) less than the inter-frequency measurement threshold, and the terminal device sends a first indication message to the network device to indicate that the terminal device needs to start the inter-frequency measurement. The network device configures the configuration information of the inter-frequency neighboring area to the terminal device, and the terminal device performs inter-frequency measurement on the inter-frequency neighboring area according to the configuration information of the inter-frequency neighboring area configured by the network device.

[0184] If the terminal device does not start the inter-frequency measurement, and the terminal device does not configure the inter-frequency measurement threshold, it means that the terminal device cannot perform inter-frequency measurement. In this case, the terminal device determines whether there is a target neighboring area with RSRP greater than the first threshold and / or SINR greater than the second threshold in the measurement results of the same-frequency measurement. If so, the terminal device selects the target neighboring area according to the relevant content in S301 above and reports the first measurement report. If not, the terminal device may not execute the switching-related process in the embodiment of the present application.

[0185] In one example, in an embodiment of the present application, the inter-frequency measurement threshold is the trigger threshold of the A2 event. When the terminal device does not start the inter-frequency measurement and the terminal device is configured with the inter-frequency measurement threshold, the terminal device adjusts the signal strength measured by the current service cell to a signal strength less than threshold 2. At this time, the terminal device triggers the A2 event to generate an A2 event measurement report and sends the A2 event measurement report to the network device. After receiving the A2 event measurement report, the network device determines that the signal quality of the current service cell of the terminal device meets the inter-frequency measurement conditions, and then configures the configuration information of the inter-frequency neighboring area to the terminal device.

[0186] Based on this, when the measured signal strength of the service cell does not meet the inter-frequency measurement triggering conditions, the terminal device can adjust the signal strength of the service cell to a signal strength that meets the inter-frequency measurement triggering conditions, thereby being able to start inter-frequency measurement in an uplink congestion scenario, and further enabling the terminal device to select a target neighboring cell based on the measurement results of the same-frequency measurement and the measurement results of the inter-frequency measurement.

[0187] The above mainly introduces the scheme provided by the embodiment of the present application from the perspective of interaction between network elements. Accordingly, the embodiment of the present application also provides a communication device, which is used to implement the above various methods. The communication device can be a network device in the above method embodiment, or a device including the above network device, or a component that can be used for a network device; or, the communication device can be a terminal device in the above method embodiment, or a device including the above terminal device, or a component that can be used for a terminal device. It can be understood that in order to implement the above functions, the communication device includes a hardware structure and / or software module corresponding to each function. Those skilled in the art should easily realize that, in combination with the units and algorithm steps of each example described in the embodiments disclosed herein, the present application can be implemented in the form of hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is executed in the form of hardware or computer software driving hardware depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Professional and technical personnel can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered to exceed the scope of the present application.

[0188] The embodiment of the present application can divide the functional modules of the communication device according to the above method embodiment. For example, each functional module can be divided according to each function, or two or more functions can be integrated into one processing module. The above integrated module can be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of software functional modules. It should be understood that the division of modules in the embodiment of the present application is schematic and is only a logical function division. There may be other division methods in actual implementation.

[0189] For example, Figure 5 The structure diagram of a communication device 50 is shown, including: a processing module 501 and a communication module 502. Optionally, a storage module 503 is also included. The storage module 503 is used to store program codes and data of the communication device 50.

[0190] For example, the communication device 50 may be the terminal device in the above method embodiment, or a device including the above terminal device, or a component that can be used for the terminal device, then:

[0191] The processing module 501 is used to instruct the communication module 502 to send a first measurement report to the network device when uplink congestion is detected; the first measurement report is used to trigger the network device to instruct the terminal device to switch to the target neighboring cell.

[0192] In a possible implementation, the first measurement report includes a first signal strength of a target neighboring cell, where the first signal strength is a signal strength that satisfies a switching condition and is determined based on a second signal strength; and the second signal strength is a signal strength obtained by measuring a signal of the target neighboring cell.

[0193] In a possible implementation manner, the target neighboring cell is a neighboring cell whose RSRP is greater than a first threshold and / or whose SINR is greater than a second threshold among the multiple neighboring cells.

[0194] In a possible implementation, the multiple neighboring cells include at least one of a same-frequency neighboring cell and a different-frequency neighboring cell of a service cell of the terminal device.

[0195] In one possible implementation, the processing module 501 is also used to: instruct the communication module 502 to send a first indication message to the network device; the first indication information is used to instruct the network device to configure the configuration information of the hetero-frequency neighboring area for the terminal device; instruct the communication module 502 to receive a second indication message from the network device, the second indication information including the configuration information of the hetero-frequency neighboring area; perform hetero-frequency measurement based on the configuration information of the hetero-frequency neighboring area to determine the signal strength of the hetero-frequency neighboring area.

[0196] In a possible implementation, the first indication information includes a third signal strength of the serving cell; the third signal strength is a signal strength less than a third threshold determined based on the fourth signal strength; and the fourth signal strength is a signal strength obtained by measuring the signal of the serving cell.

[0197] In a possible implementation, the processing module 501 is further used to: instruct the communication module 502 to receive third indication information from the network device, where the third indication information is used to instruct the terminal device to switch to the target neighboring cell; and switch to the target neighboring cell in response to the third indication information.

[0198] In a possible implementation, the processing module 501 is further used to start a first timer after switching to the target neighboring cell; the duration of the first timer is the duration during which the terminal device is prohibited from switching back to the serving cell.

[0199] Among them, all relevant contents of each step involved in the above method embodiment can be referred to the functional description of the corresponding functional module, and will not be repeated here.

[0200] Optionally, Figure 5 The modules in the system may also be referred to as units. For example, the processing module may be referred to as a processing unit, and the transceiver module may be referred to as a transceiver unit. Figure 5 In the illustrated embodiment, the names of the various units may not be the names shown in the figure. For example, the transceiver module may also be called a communication module or a communication unit.

[0201] Figure 5 If each unit in the embodiment is implemented in the form of a software function module and sold or used as an independent product, it can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the embodiment of the present application is essentially or the part that contributes to the prior art or all or part of the technical solution can be embodied in the form of a software product, and the computer software product is stored in a storage medium, including a number of instructions to enable a computer device (which can be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) or a processor (processor) to perform all or part of the steps of the method described in each embodiment of the present application. The storage medium for storing computer software products includes: U disk, mobile hard disk, read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), disk or optical disk and other media that can store program codes.

[0202] In the embodiment of the present application, the communication device 50 is presented in the form of dividing various functional modules in an integrated manner. The "module" here may refer to a specific ASIC, a circuit, a processor and a memory that executes one or more software or firmware programs, an integrated logic circuit, and / or other devices that can provide the above functions. In a simple embodiment, a person skilled in the art can imagine that the communication device 50 can be used Figure 6 The form of the communication device shown.

[0203] See also Figure 6 The communication device includes a processor 601 and a transceiver 602, and optionally, also includes a memory 603 connected to the processor 601.

[0204] Processor 601 may be a general-purpose central processing unit (CPU), a microprocessor, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or one or more integrated circuits for controlling the execution of the program of the present application. Processor 601 may also include multiple CPUs, and processor 601 may be a single-core (single-CPU) processor or a multi-core (multi-CPU) processor. The processor here may refer to one or more devices, circuits, or processing cores for processing data (such as computer program instructions).

[0205] The processor 601, the memory 603 and the transceiver 602 are connected via a bus. The transceiver 602 is used to communicate with other communication devices. Optionally, the transceiver 602 may include a transmitter and a receiver. The device used to implement the receiving function in the transceiver 602 can be regarded as a receiver, and the receiver is used to perform the receiving step in the embodiment of the present application. The device used to implement the sending function in the transceiver 602 can be regarded as a transmitter, and the transmitter is used to perform the sending step in the embodiment of the present application.

[0206] In the first possible implementation, see Figure 6, the communication device also includes a memory 603. The memory 603 can be a ROM or other types of static storage devices that can store static information and instructions, a RAM or other types of dynamic storage devices that can store information and instructions, or an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) or other optical disc storage, optical disc storage (including compressed optical disc, laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc, Blu-ray disc, etc.), a disk storage medium or other magnetic storage device, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store the desired program code in the form of an instruction or data structure and can be accessed by a computer, and the embodiment of the present application does not impose any restrictions on this. The memory 603 can exist independently or be integrated with the processor 601. Among them, the memory 603 can contain computer program code. The processor 601 is used to execute the computer program code stored in the memory 603, so as to realize the method provided in the embodiment of the present application.

[0207] An embodiment of the present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium, including instructions, which, when executed on a computer, enable the computer to execute any of the above methods.

[0208] The embodiment of the present application also provides a computer program product including instructions, which, when executed on a computer, enables the computer to execute any of the above methods.

[0209] An embodiment of the present application also provides a chip, including: a processor and an interface, wherein the processor is coupled to a memory via the interface, and when the processor executes a computer program or instruction in the memory, any one of the methods provided in the above embodiments is executed.

[0210] An embodiment of the present application also provides a communication system, including: the terminal device and the network device in the above embodiment.

[0211] In the above embodiments, it can be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware or any combination thereof. When implemented using a software program, 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 described in 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 device. 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 (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 can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device such as a server, data center, etc. that contains one or more servers that can be integrated with the medium. 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)).

[0212] Although the present application is described herein in conjunction with various embodiments, in the process of implementing the claimed application, those skilled in the art may understand and implement other changes to the disclosed embodiments by viewing the drawings, the disclosure, and the appended claims. In the claims, the word "comprising" does not exclude other components or steps, and "one" or "an" does not exclude multiple situations. A single processor or other unit may implement several functions listed in the claims. Certain measures are recorded in different dependent claims, but this does not mean that these measures cannot be combined to produce good results.

[0213] Although the present application has been described in conjunction with features and embodiments thereof, it is apparent that various modifications and combinations may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the present application. Accordingly, this specification and the drawings are merely exemplary illustrations of the present application as defined by the appended claims, and are deemed to have covered any and all modifications, variations, combinations or equivalents within the scope of the present application. Obviously, those skilled in the art may make various modifications and variations to the present application without departing from the spirit and scope of the present application. Thus, if these modifications and variations of the present application fall within the scope of the claims of the present application and their equivalents, the present application is also intended to include these modifications and variations.

[0214] The above is only an implementation method of the present application, but the protection scope of the present application is not limited thereto. Any changes or substitutions within the technical scope disclosed in the present application shall be included in the protection scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application shall be based on the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A switching method, characterized in that: include: When uplink congestion is detected, sending a first measurement report to the network device; The first measurement report is used to trigger the network device to instruct the terminal device to switch to the target neighboring cell.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The first measurement report includes a first signal strength of the target neighboring cell, where the first signal strength is a signal strength that satisfies a switching condition and is determined based on a second signal strength; and the second signal strength is a signal strength obtained by measuring a signal of the target neighboring cell.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: The target neighboring cell is a neighboring cell whose reference signal received power RSRP is greater than a first threshold and / or whose signal to interference plus noise ratio SINR is greater than a second threshold among multiple neighboring cells.

4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that The multiple neighboring cells include at least one of a same-frequency neighboring cell and a different-frequency neighboring cell of a service cell of the terminal device.

5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that In the case where the multiple neighboring cells include an inter-frequency neighboring cell of the serving cell, the method further includes: Sending first indication information to the network device; the first indication information is used to instruct the network device to configure configuration information of an inter-frequency neighboring cell for the terminal device; receiving second indication information from the network device, where the second indication information includes configuration information of the inter-frequency neighboring cell; Perform inter-frequency measurement based on the configuration information of the inter-frequency neighboring cell to determine the signal strength of the inter-frequency neighboring cell.

6. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that The first indication information includes a third signal strength of the serving cell; the third signal strength is a signal strength less than a third threshold determined based on a fourth signal strength; and the fourth signal strength is a signal strength obtained by measuring a signal of the serving cell.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that: The method further comprises: receiving third indication information from the network device, where the third indication information is used to instruct the terminal device to switch to the target neighboring cell; In response to the third indication information, switching to the target neighboring cell is performed.

8. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that The method further comprises: After switching to the target neighboring cell, a first timer is started; the duration of the first timer is the duration during which the terminal device is prohibited from switching back to the serving cell.

9. A communication device, characterized in that: include: A functional unit for executing the method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 8; wherein the actions performed by the functional unit are implemented by hardware or by hardware executing corresponding software implementations.

10. A communication device, characterized in that: include: processor; The processor is connected to a memory, the memory is used to store computer-executable instructions, and the processor executes the computer-executable instructions stored in the memory, so that the communication device implements the method according to any one of claims 1 to 8.

11. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that: The method comprises instructions, which, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 8.

12. A computer program product, characterized in that The method comprises instructions, which, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 8.

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