Communication method and related device

Abstract

The invention discloses a communication method and a related device, and the method comprises the steps: distinguishing different tracks / adjacent regions according to the coverage condition of an actual adjacent region, and providing different distance thresholds for controlling whether terminal equipment starts the measurement of the track / adjacent region or not, different track / neighbor cell adaptations are distinguished, and different distance thresholds are provided to control whether the terminal device uses the track / neighbor cell as the target cell for cell reselection, so that the communication performance is improved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular to a communication method and related devices. Background Art

[0002] Non-terrestrial networks (NTN) communication systems have certain advantages over terrestrial network communication systems. For example, NTN has the characteristics of longer communication distance, larger coverage area, wider communication frequency band, and can provide users with communication services at any time and any place. In terrestrial network communication systems, terminal devices can perform radio resource management (RRM) measurements based on cell signal quality, and decide whether to perform cell switching (connected behavior of terminal devices) or cell selection / reselection (non-connected behavior of terminal devices) based on the measurement results to ensure that the communication link between the network and the terminal device will not be interrupted due to the movement of the terminal device. However, in NTN communication systems, if the decision on whether to perform RRM measurements and / or cell selection / reselection is based only on the NTN cell signal quality, the communication performance cannot be guaranteed. Summary of the invention

[0003] The present application provides a communication method and related devices, which are conducive to improving communication performance.

[0004] In a first aspect, the present application provides a communication method, and optionally, the execution subject of the method may be a terminal device, or a component or device (such as a processor, a chip, or a chip system, etc.) applied to the terminal device, or a logic module or software that can realize all or part of the functions of the terminal device. The method includes: receiving distance threshold information, the distance threshold information is used to indicate the distance threshold corresponding to different track types, and / or, the distance threshold corresponding to different tracks, and / or, the distance threshold corresponding to different cells, the track is a track of a non-terrestrial network device, and the cell is a non-terrestrial network NTN cell; determining whether to perform measurement and / or cell reselection according to the distance threshold information.

[0005] In the present application, for RRM measurement / cell reselection in the NTN scenario, the method of combining distance threshold information to determine whether to perform RRM measurement and / or cell reselection helps to ensure communication performance. In addition, the distance threshold information in the present application can be used to indicate the distance threshold corresponding to different orbit types, and / or, the distance threshold corresponding to different orbits, and / or, the distance threshold corresponding to different cells. This considers that in the NTN scenario, since satellites can be located on different orbits, the coverage overlap between cells in different orbits may be different, so the distance threshold is configured at the granularity of orbit type / orbit / cell, so that the control of determining whether to perform measurement and / or cell reselection based on the distance threshold information is more reasonable, further improving communication performance and enhancing user experience.

[0006] In a possible design, the distance threshold information is used to indicate distance thresholds corresponding to different cells; and determining whether to perform measurement and / or cell reselection according to the distance threshold information includes:

[0007] Determine a first distance threshold corresponding to a first cell according to the distance threshold information, wherein the first cell is a neighboring cell of a terminal device;

[0008] Whether to perform measurement on the first cell and / or whether to reselect to the first cell is determined according to the first distance threshold.

[0009] In this design, when the distance threshold information is used to indicate the distance thresholds corresponding to different cells, the terminal device determines the first distance threshold corresponding to the neighboring cell of the terminal device (i.e., the first cell) based on the distance threshold information, and then determines whether to perform measurement of the first cell and / or whether to reselect to the first cell according to the first distance threshold. This fully considers the coverage overlap between the service cell of the terminal device and the first cell, which is beneficial to improving communication performance.

[0010] In a possible design, the distance threshold information is used to indicate distance thresholds corresponding to different orbit types and / or distance thresholds corresponding to different orbits; and determining whether to perform measurement and / or cell reselection according to the distance threshold information includes:

[0011] Determine, according to the distance threshold information, a second distance threshold corresponding to the track of the non-ground network device corresponding to the first cell, wherein the first cell is a neighboring cell of the terminal device;

[0012] Whether to perform measurement on the first cell and / or whether to reselect to the first cell is determined according to the second distance threshold.

[0013] In this design, when the distance threshold information is used to indicate the distance thresholds corresponding to different track types, or the distance thresholds corresponding to different tracks, the terminal device determines the second distance threshold of the track of the corresponding non-ground network device in the neighboring area of ​​the terminal device (i.e., the first cell) based on the distance threshold information, and then determines whether to perform measurement on the first cell and / or whether to reselect to the first cell according to the second distance threshold. This fully considers the coverage overlap between the service cell of the terminal device and the first cell, which is beneficial to improving communication performance.

[0014] In a possible design, the distance threshold information includes distance thresholds corresponding to different track types, and / or, distance thresholds corresponding to different tracks, and / or, distance thresholds corresponding to different cells; or,

[0015] The distance threshold information includes a reference distance threshold, and distance threshold adjustment values ​​corresponding to different track types, and / or distance threshold adjustment values ​​corresponding to different tracks, and / or distance threshold adjustment values ​​corresponding to different cells; wherein the reference distance threshold and the distance threshold adjustment values ​​corresponding to different track types are used to determine the distance thresholds corresponding to different track types, the reference distance threshold and the distance threshold adjustment values ​​corresponding to different tracks are used to determine the distance thresholds corresponding to different tracks, and the reference distance threshold and the distance threshold adjustment values ​​corresponding to different cells are used to determine the distance thresholds corresponding to different cells.

[0016] In this design, the distance threshold information can directly include an absolute threshold, that is, directly inform the specific values ​​of the distance thresholds corresponding to different track types, and / or the distance thresholds corresponding to different tracks, and / or the distance thresholds corresponding to different cells, which is more intuitive. Alternatively, the distance threshold information may include a reference distance threshold and an adjustment parameter (e.g., a distance threshold adjustment value corresponding to different track types, and / or a distance threshold adjustment value corresponding to different tracks, and / or a distance threshold adjustment value corresponding to different cells). Based on the reference distance threshold and the adjustment parameter, the distance threshold corresponding to different track types, and / or the distance threshold corresponding to different tracks, and / or the specific values ​​of the distance threshold corresponding to different cells can be determined. This way of informing the adjustment parameters is conducive to saving resource overhead. Optionally, the reference distance threshold may be predefined or preconfigured, so the distance threshold information includes the distance threshold adjustment values ​​corresponding to different track types, and / or the distance threshold adjustment values ​​corresponding to different tracks, and / or the distance threshold adjustment values ​​corresponding to different cells, which can further save resource overhead.

[0017] In one possible design, the reference distance threshold is a distance threshold corresponding to the track of the non-ground network device corresponding to the service cell of the terminal device.

[0018] In a possible design, the distance threshold information is used to indicate distance thresholds corresponding to different track types, where the different track types include a same-track type and a different-track type; wherein:

[0019] In the case where the track of the non-terrestrial network device corresponding to the first cell is the same as the track of the non-terrestrial network device corresponding to the serving cell of the terminal device, the second distance threshold is the distance threshold corresponding to the same track type;

[0020] When the orbit of the non-terrestrial network equipment corresponding to the first cell is different from the orbit of the non-terrestrial network equipment corresponding to the service cell of the terminal device, the second distance threshold is the distance threshold corresponding to the different track type.

[0021] In one possible design, the method further includes:

[0022] Receive distance threshold update information, where the distance threshold update information is used to update distance thresholds corresponding to different track types, and / or distance thresholds corresponding to different tracks, and / or distance thresholds corresponding to different cells.

[0023] In this design, the distance threshold information can be updated according to the satellite coverage. For example, in different latitude regions, if the relative positions between the orbits of the satellites change, the distance thresholds corresponding to different orbit types and / or the distance thresholds corresponding to different orbits and / or the distance thresholds corresponding to different cells can be updated through the distance threshold update information.

[0024] In the second aspect, the present application provides a communication method, and optionally, the execution subject of the method may be a terminal device, or a component or device (such as a processor, a chip, or a chip system, etc.) applied to the terminal device, or a logic module or software that can realize all or part of the functions of the terminal device. The method includes: determining a third distance threshold corresponding to the track of a non-terrestrial network device corresponding to a first cell according to a reference distance threshold and a distance threshold calculation relationship; the first cell is a neighboring cell of the terminal device, and the first cell is a non-terrestrial network NTN cell;

[0025] Whether to perform measurement on the first cell and / or whether to reselect to the first cell is determined according to the third distance threshold.

[0026] In the present application, for RRM measurement / cell reselection in the NTN scenario, the third distance threshold corresponding to the track of the non-ground network device corresponding to the neighboring area (i.e., the first cell) of the terminal device is determined by combining the reference distance threshold and the distance threshold calculation relationship, and the method of deciding whether to perform measurement of the first cell and / or whether to reselect to the first cell is determined based on the third distance threshold, so that the control of RRM measurement and / or cell reselection is more reasonable, the communication performance is improved, and the user experience is enhanced.

[0027] In one possible design, the distance threshold calculation relationship includes a first correspondence between different latitude ranges of the same-track type and the distance threshold adjustment value, and / or a second correspondence between different latitude ranges of the different-track type and the distance threshold adjustment value, wherein the reference distance threshold and the distance threshold adjustment value are used to determine the third distance threshold.

[0028] In this design, the distance threshold calculation relationship can include the correspondence between different latitude ranges of different orbit types (ie, same-orbit type and different-orbit type) and distance threshold adjustment values, which has high applicability.

[0029] In one possible design, the reference distance threshold is a distance threshold used by the terminal device within a first latitude range.

[0030] In one possible design, when the orbit of the non-terrestrial network device corresponding to the first cell is the same as the orbit of the non-terrestrial network device corresponding to the service cell of the terminal device, the third distance threshold is determined based on the reference distance threshold, the first corresponding relationship, and the latitude range of the terminal device; and / or,

[0031] When the orbit of the non-terrestrial network device corresponding to the first cell is different from the orbit of the non-terrestrial network device corresponding to the service cell of the terminal device, the third distance threshold is determined based on the reference distance threshold, the second corresponding relationship, and the latitude range of the terminal device.

[0032] In a possible design, the distance threshold calculation relationship includes a third corresponding relationship between different track spacings and distance threshold adjustment values.

[0033] In this design, the distance threshold calculation relationship can be related to the orbit / satellite spacing, and has high applicability.

[0034] In one possible design, the reference distance threshold is a distance threshold corresponding to the track of the non-ground network device corresponding to the service cell of the terminal device.

[0035] In one possible design, the third distance threshold is determined based on the reference distance threshold, the third correspondence, and the track spacing between the track of the non-ground network device corresponding to the first cell and the track of the non-ground network device corresponding to the service cell of the terminal device.

[0036] In one possible design, the reference distance threshold and / or the distance threshold calculation relationship is predefined, or preconfigured, or configured by an access network device, or configured by a non-terrestrial network device.

[0037] In one possible design, the method further includes:

[0038] Receive reference distance threshold update information and / or the distance threshold estimation relationship update information, wherein the reference distance threshold update information is used to update the reference distance threshold and / or the distance threshold estimation relationship update information is used to update the distance threshold estimation relationship.

[0039] In this design, the reference distance threshold and / or the distance threshold estimation relationship can be updated according to the situation of the satellite. For example, if the orbit planning, coverage planning, etc. of the satellite changes, the threshold / estimation relationship can be updated.

[0040] In a third aspect, the present application provides a communication method, and optionally, the execution subject of the method may be a network device, or a component or device (such as a processor, a chip, or a chip system, etc.) applied to the network device, or a logic module or software that can implement all or part of the network device functions. The method includes: determining distance threshold information, the distance threshold information is used to indicate the distance threshold corresponding to different track types, and / or, the distance threshold corresponding to different tracks, and / or, the distance threshold corresponding to different cells, the track is a track of a non-terrestrial network device, and the cell is a non-terrestrial network NTN cell;

[0041] The distance threshold information is sent.

[0042] In a possible design, the distance threshold information includes distance thresholds corresponding to different track types, and / or, distance thresholds corresponding to different tracks, and / or, distance thresholds corresponding to different cells; or,

[0043] The distance threshold information includes a reference distance threshold, and distance threshold adjustment values ​​corresponding to different track types, and / or distance threshold adjustment values ​​corresponding to different tracks, and / or distance threshold adjustment values ​​corresponding to different cells; wherein the reference distance threshold and the distance threshold adjustment values ​​corresponding to different track types are used to determine the distance thresholds corresponding to different track types, the reference distance threshold and the distance threshold adjustment values ​​corresponding to different tracks are used to determine the distance thresholds corresponding to different tracks, and the reference distance threshold and the distance threshold adjustment values ​​corresponding to different cells are used to determine the distance thresholds corresponding to different cells.

[0044] In one possible design, the reference distance threshold is a distance threshold corresponding to the track of the non-ground network device corresponding to the service cell of the terminal device.

[0045] In one possible design, the method also includes: sending distance threshold update information, wherein the distance threshold update information is used to update distance thresholds corresponding to different orbit types, and / or distance thresholds corresponding to different orbits, and / or distance thresholds corresponding to different cells.

[0046] In a fourth aspect, the present application provides a communication method, and optionally, the execution subject of the method may be a network device, or a component or device (such as a processor, a chip, or a chip system, etc.) applied to the network device, or a logic module or software that can implement all or part of the network device functions. The method includes: determining a reference distance threshold and a distance threshold calculation relationship, wherein the reference distance threshold and the distance threshold calculation relationship are used to determine a third distance threshold corresponding to the track of a non-terrestrial network device corresponding to a first cell; the first cell is a neighboring cell of a terminal device, and the first cell is a non-terrestrial network NTN cell;

[0047] The reference distance threshold and / or the distance threshold estimation relationship is sent.

[0048] In one possible design, the distance threshold calculation relationship includes a first correspondence between different latitude ranges of the same-track type and the distance threshold adjustment value, and / or a second correspondence between different latitude ranges of the different-track type and the distance threshold adjustment value, wherein the reference distance threshold and the distance threshold adjustment value are used to determine the third distance threshold.

[0049] In one possible design, the reference distance threshold is a distance threshold used by the terminal device within a first latitude range.

[0050] In one possible design, when the orbit of the non-terrestrial network device corresponding to the first cell is the same as the orbit of the non-terrestrial network device corresponding to the service cell of the terminal device, the third distance threshold is determined based on the reference distance threshold, the first corresponding relationship, and the latitude range of the terminal device; and / or,

[0051] When the orbit of the non-terrestrial network device corresponding to the first cell is different from the orbit of the non-terrestrial network device corresponding to the service cell of the terminal device, the third distance threshold is determined based on the reference distance threshold, the second corresponding relationship, and the latitude range of the terminal device.

[0052] In a possible design, the distance threshold calculation relationship includes a third corresponding relationship between different track spacings and distance threshold adjustment values.

[0053] In one possible design, the reference distance threshold is a distance threshold corresponding to the track of the non-ground network device corresponding to the service cell of the terminal device.

[0054] In one possible design, the third distance threshold is determined based on the reference distance threshold, the third correspondence, and the track spacing between the track of the non-ground network device corresponding to the first cell and the track of the non-ground network device corresponding to the service cell of the terminal device.

[0055] In one possible design, the method further includes:

[0056] Send reference distance threshold update information and / or the distance threshold estimation relationship update information, wherein the reference distance threshold update information is used to update the reference distance threshold and / or the distance threshold estimation relationship update information is used to update the distance threshold estimation relationship.

[0057] In a fifth aspect, the present application provides a communication device, which may be a terminal device or a module or chip in a terminal device. The communication device includes:

[0058] A transceiver unit, configured to receive distance threshold information, wherein the distance threshold information is used to indicate distance thresholds corresponding to different track types, and / or distance thresholds corresponding to different tracks, and / or distance thresholds corresponding to different cells, wherein the track is a track of a non-terrestrial network device, and the cell is a non-terrestrial network NTN cell;

[0059] A processing unit is used to determine whether to perform measurement and / or cell reselection according to the distance threshold information.

[0060] In a possible design, the distance threshold information is used to indicate distance thresholds corresponding to different cells; in the case of determining whether to perform measurement and / or cell reselection according to the distance threshold information, the processing unit is used to:

[0061] Determine a first distance threshold corresponding to a first cell according to the distance threshold information, wherein the first cell is a neighboring cell of a terminal device;

[0062] Whether to perform measurement on the first cell and / or whether to reselect to the first cell is determined according to the first distance threshold.

[0063] In a possible design, the distance threshold information is used to indicate distance thresholds corresponding to different orbit types and / or distance thresholds corresponding to different orbits; in the case of determining whether to perform measurement and / or cell reselection according to the distance threshold information, the processing unit is used to:

[0064] Determine, according to the distance threshold information, a second distance threshold corresponding to the track of the non-ground network device corresponding to the first cell, wherein the first cell is a neighboring cell of the terminal device;

[0065] Whether to perform measurement on the first cell and / or whether to reselect to the first cell is determined according to the second distance threshold.

[0066] In a possible design, the distance threshold information includes distance thresholds corresponding to different track types, and / or, distance thresholds corresponding to different tracks, and / or, distance thresholds corresponding to different cells; or,

[0067] The distance threshold information includes a reference distance threshold, and distance threshold adjustment values ​​corresponding to different track types, and / or distance threshold adjustment values ​​corresponding to different tracks, and / or distance threshold adjustment values ​​corresponding to different cells; wherein the reference distance threshold and the distance threshold adjustment values ​​corresponding to different track types are used to determine the distance thresholds corresponding to different track types, the reference distance threshold and the distance threshold adjustment values ​​corresponding to different tracks are used to determine the distance thresholds corresponding to different tracks, and the reference distance threshold and the distance threshold adjustment values ​​corresponding to different cells are used to determine the distance thresholds corresponding to different cells.

[0068] In one possible design, the reference distance threshold is a distance threshold corresponding to the track of the non-ground network device corresponding to the service cell of the terminal device.

[0069] In a possible design, the distance threshold information is used to indicate distance thresholds corresponding to different track types, where the different track types include a same-track type and a different-track type; wherein:

[0070] In the case where the track of the non-terrestrial network device corresponding to the first cell is the same as the track of the non-terrestrial network device corresponding to the serving cell of the terminal device, the second distance threshold is the distance threshold corresponding to the same track type;

[0071] When the orbit of the non-terrestrial network equipment corresponding to the first cell is different from the orbit of the non-terrestrial network equipment corresponding to the service cell of the terminal device, the second distance threshold is the distance threshold corresponding to the different track type.

[0072] In one possible design, the transceiver unit is further used for:

[0073] Receive distance threshold update information, where the distance threshold update information is used to update distance thresholds corresponding to different track types, and / or distance thresholds corresponding to different tracks, and / or distance thresholds corresponding to different cells.

[0074] In a sixth aspect, the present application provides a communication device, which may be a terminal device or a module or chip in a terminal device. The communication device includes:

[0075] A processing unit, configured to determine a third distance threshold corresponding to a track of a non-terrestrial network device corresponding to a first cell according to a reference distance threshold and a distance threshold calculation relationship; the first cell is a neighboring cell of a terminal device, and the first cell is a non-terrestrial network NTN cell;

[0076] The processing unit is configured to determine, according to the third distance threshold, whether to perform measurement on the first cell and / or whether to reselect to the first cell.

[0077] In one possible design, the distance threshold calculation relationship includes a first correspondence between different latitude ranges of the same-track type and the distance threshold adjustment value, and / or a second correspondence between different latitude ranges of the different-track type and the distance threshold adjustment value, wherein the reference distance threshold and the distance threshold adjustment value are used to determine the third distance threshold.

[0078] In one possible design, the reference distance threshold is a distance threshold used by the terminal device within a first latitude range.

[0079] In one possible design, when the orbit of the non-terrestrial network device corresponding to the first cell is the same as the orbit of the non-terrestrial network device corresponding to the service cell of the terminal device, the third distance threshold is determined based on the reference distance threshold, the first corresponding relationship, and the latitude range of the terminal device; and / or,

[0080] When the orbit of the non-terrestrial network device corresponding to the first cell is different from the orbit of the non-terrestrial network device corresponding to the service cell of the terminal device, the third distance threshold is determined based on the reference distance threshold, the second corresponding relationship, and the latitude range of the terminal device.

[0081] In a possible design, the distance threshold calculation relationship includes a third corresponding relationship between different track spacings and distance threshold adjustment values.

[0082] In one possible design, the reference distance threshold is a distance threshold corresponding to the track of the non-ground network device corresponding to the service cell of the terminal device.

[0083] In one possible design, the third distance threshold is determined based on the reference distance threshold, the third correspondence, and the track spacing between the track of the non-ground network device corresponding to the first cell and the track of the non-ground network device corresponding to the service cell of the terminal device.

[0084] In one possible design, the reference distance threshold and / or the distance threshold calculation relationship is predefined, or preconfigured, or configured by an access network device, or configured by a non-terrestrial network device.

[0085] In one possible design, the apparatus further includes a transceiver unit, wherein the transceiver unit is configured to:

[0086] Receive reference distance threshold update information and / or the distance threshold estimation relationship update information, wherein the reference distance threshold update information is used to update the reference distance threshold and / or the distance threshold estimation relationship update information is used to update the distance threshold estimation relationship.

[0087] In a seventh aspect, the present application provides a communication device, which may be a network device or a module or chip in a network device. The communication device includes:

[0088] A processing unit, configured to determine distance threshold information, wherein the distance threshold information is used to indicate distance thresholds corresponding to different track types, and / or distance thresholds corresponding to different tracks, and / or distance thresholds corresponding to different cells, wherein the track is a track of a non-terrestrial network device, and the cell is a non-terrestrial network NTN cell;

[0089] A transceiver unit is used to send the distance threshold information.

[0090] In a possible design, the distance threshold information includes distance thresholds corresponding to different track types, and / or, distance thresholds corresponding to different tracks, and / or, distance thresholds corresponding to different cells; or,

[0091] The distance threshold information includes a reference distance threshold, and distance threshold adjustment values ​​corresponding to different track types, and / or distance threshold adjustment values ​​corresponding to different tracks, and / or distance threshold adjustment values ​​corresponding to different cells; wherein the reference distance threshold and the distance threshold adjustment values ​​corresponding to different track types are used to determine the distance thresholds corresponding to different track types, the reference distance threshold and the distance threshold adjustment values ​​corresponding to different tracks are used to determine the distance thresholds corresponding to different tracks, and the reference distance threshold and the distance threshold adjustment values ​​corresponding to different cells are used to determine the distance thresholds corresponding to different cells.

[0092] In one possible design, the reference distance threshold is a distance threshold corresponding to the track of the non-ground network device corresponding to the service cell of the terminal device.

[0093] In one possible design, the transceiver unit is further used for:

[0094] Send distance threshold update information, where the distance threshold update information is used to update distance thresholds corresponding to different track types, and / or distance thresholds corresponding to different tracks, and / or distance thresholds corresponding to different cells.

[0095] In an eighth aspect, the present application provides a communication device, which may be a network device or a module or chip in a network device. The communication device includes:

[0096] A processing unit, configured to determine a reference distance threshold and a distance threshold calculation relationship, wherein the reference distance threshold and the distance threshold calculation relationship are used to determine a third distance threshold corresponding to a track of a non-terrestrial network device corresponding to a first cell; the first cell is a neighboring cell of a terminal device, and the first cell is a non-terrestrial network NTN cell;

[0097] A transceiver unit is used to send the reference distance threshold and / or the distance threshold calculation relationship.

[0098] In one possible design, the distance threshold calculation relationship includes a first correspondence between different latitude ranges of the same-track type and the distance threshold adjustment value, and / or a second correspondence between different latitude ranges of the different-track type and the distance threshold adjustment value, wherein the reference distance threshold and the distance threshold adjustment value are used to determine the third distance threshold.

[0099] In one possible design, the reference distance threshold is a distance threshold used by the terminal device within a first latitude range.

[0100] In one possible design, when the orbit of the non-terrestrial network device corresponding to the first cell is the same as the orbit of the non-terrestrial network device corresponding to the service cell of the terminal device, the third distance threshold is determined based on the reference distance threshold, the first corresponding relationship, and the latitude range of the terminal device; and / or,

[0101] When the orbit of the non-terrestrial network device corresponding to the first cell is different from the orbit of the non-terrestrial network device corresponding to the service cell of the terminal device, the third distance threshold is determined based on the reference distance threshold, the second corresponding relationship, and the latitude range of the terminal device.

[0102] In a possible design, the distance threshold calculation relationship includes a third corresponding relationship between different track spacings and distance threshold adjustment values.

[0103] In one possible design, the reference distance threshold is a distance threshold corresponding to the track of the non-ground network device corresponding to the service cell of the terminal device.

[0104] In one possible design, the third distance threshold is determined based on the reference distance threshold, the third correspondence, and the track spacing between the track of the non-ground network device corresponding to the first cell and the track of the non-ground network device corresponding to the service cell of the terminal device.

[0105] In one possible design, the transceiver unit is further used for:

[0106] Send reference distance threshold update information and / or the distance threshold estimation relationship update information, wherein the reference distance threshold update information is used to update the reference distance threshold and / or the distance threshold estimation relationship update information is used to update the distance threshold estimation relationship.

[0107] In a ninth aspect, the present application provides a communication device, which includes a processor, and the processor is used to execute a computer program so that the communication device executes any method described in any one of the first to fourth aspects.

[0108] In one possible design, the communication device may be a chip that implements the method of any one of the first to fourth aspects or a device including a chip.

[0109] In one possible design, the communication device further includes a transceiver, and the processor is coupled to the transceiver.

[0110] In a possible design, the communication device further includes a memory. The processor is coupled to the memory, a computer program is stored in the memory, and the processor is further used to call the computer program in the memory. Exemplarily, the processor and the memory may also be integrated together.

[0111] In a tenth aspect, the present application provides a communication device, which includes a processor, and the processor is used to implement any method as described in any one of the first to fourth aspects through a logic circuit or execution code instructions.

[0112] Optionally, the communication device further includes an interface circuit, which is used to receive signals from other communication devices outside the communication device and transmit them to the processor or to send signals from the processor to other communication devices outside the communication device.

[0113] In an eleventh aspect, the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium, in which a computer program or instruction is stored. When the computer program or instruction is executed by a computer, the method described in any one of the first to fourth aspects is implemented.

[0114] In a twelfth aspect, the present application provides a computer program product. When a computer reads and executes the computer program product, the computer executes any one of the methods described in any one of the first to fourth aspects.

[0115] In a thirteenth aspect, the present application provides a communication system, which includes a communication device for implementing the method described in any one of the first aspect or the second aspect, and a communication device for implementing the method described in any one of the third aspect or the fourth aspect.

[0116] The beneficial effects of the third to thirteenth aspects can be referred to the beneficial effects of the first and second aspects, and will not be elaborated here. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0117] Figure 1 It is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a communication system applied in an embodiment of the present application;

[0118] Figure 2 It is a schematic diagram of an NTN-based RAN architecture applicable to an embodiment of the present application;

[0119] Figure 3 It is a schematic diagram of a terrestrial quasi-stationary NTN cell;

[0120] Figure 4 It is a schematic diagram of a terrestrial mobile NTN cell;

[0121] Figure 5 It is a coverage diagram of the same-track neighboring area, different-track neighboring area, and service cell;

[0122] Figure 6 It is a flow chart of a communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0123] Figure 7 is another flow chart of the communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0124] Figure 8 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a possible communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0125] Fig. 9 It is a schematic diagram of the structure of a possible communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0126] The specific embodiments of the present application are further described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

[0127] The terms "first" and "second" and the like in the specification, claims and drawings of this application are used to distinguish different objects, rather than to describe a specific order. In addition, the terms "including" and "having" and any variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions. For example, a process, method, system, product or device comprising a series of steps or units is not limited to the listed steps or units, but may optionally include steps or units not listed, or may optionally include other steps or units inherent to these processes, methods, products or devices.

[0128] Reference to "embodiments" herein means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in conjunction with the embodiments may be included in at least one embodiment of the present application. The appearance of the phrase in various locations in the specification does not necessarily refer to the same embodiment, nor is it an independent or alternative embodiment that is mutually exclusive with other embodiments. It is explicitly and implicitly understood by those skilled in the art that the embodiments described herein may be combined with other embodiments.

[0129] In the present application, "at least one (item)" means one or more, "more than one" means two or more, "at least two (items)" means two or three and more than three, and "and / or" is used to describe the association relationship of associated objects, indicating that three relationships may exist. For example, "A and / or B" can mean: only A exists, only B exists, and A and B exist at the same time, where A and B can be singular or plural. The character " / " generally indicates that the previous and next associated objects are in an "or" relationship. "At least one of the following items" 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, "a and b", "a and c", "b and c", or "a and b and c", where a, b, c can be single or multiple.

[0130] In this application, "sending information to... (such as a terminal)" can be understood as the destination of the information being the terminal. It can include sending information to the terminal directly or indirectly. "Receiving information from... (such as a terminal)" or "receiving information from... (such as a terminal)" can be understood as the source of the information being the terminal, which can include receiving information from the terminal directly or indirectly. The information may be processed as necessary between the source and destination of the information, such as format changes, but the destination can understand the valid information from the source. Similar expressions in this application can be understood similarly and will not be repeated here.

[0131] In order to better understand the embodiments of the present application, the system architecture involved in the embodiments of the present application is first introduced below:

[0132] The technical solution of the present application can be applied to non-terrestrial networks (NTN) or scenarios where NTN is integrated with terrestrial networks (TN). NTN systems can be, for example, satellite communication systems, high altitude platform station (HAPS) communication systems, global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), etc. TN systems can be, for example, fourth-generation (4G) communication systems (e.g., long-term evolution (LTE) systems), worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) communication systems, fifth-generation (5G) communication systems (e.g., new radio (NR) systems), sixth-generation mobile communication (6G) systems, and future mobile communication systems.

[0133] The communication system provided in the present application may include one or more network devices and one or more terminals.

[0134] Below Figure 1 The system architecture shown is explained as an example. Figure 1 , Figure 1 Schematic diagram of the architecture of the communication system used in the embodiment of the present application. Figure 1 As shown, the communication system 1000 includes a radio access network (RAN) 100 and a core network (CN) 200. Exemplarily, the communication system 1000 may also include the Internet 300. The RAN 100 includes at least one network device (such as Figure 1 110a and 110b, collectively referred to as 110) and at least one terminal (such as Figure 1 RAN 100 may also include other RAN nodes, such as wireless relay equipment and / or wireless backhaul equipment ( Figure 1The terminal 120 is connected to the network device 110 in a wireless manner. The network device 110 is connected to the core network 200 in a wireless or wired manner. The core network device in the core network 200 and the network device 110 in the RAN 100 may be different physical devices, or may be the same physical device that integrates the core network logical function and the radio access network logical function.

[0135] It should be noted that RAN 100 can be a cellular system related to the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), such as a 4G or 5G mobile communication system, or an evolution system after 5G (such as a 6G mobile communication system). RAN 100 can also be an open access network (open RAN, O-RAN or ORAN), a cloud radio access network (cloud radio access network, CRAN), etc. RAN 100 can also be a communication system that integrates two or more of the above systems. It should be noted that Figure 1 The number of network devices and terminals is only for illustration and should not be regarded as a specific limitation of the present application. The terminals and network devices involved in the system architecture are described in detail below.

[0136] 1. Terminal

[0137] Terminal can also be called terminal equipment, user equipment (UE), mobile station (MS), mobile terminal equipment (MT), mobile terminal, mobile equipment (ME), access terminal, user unit, user station, mobile station, remote station, remote terminal, user terminal, wireless communication equipment, user agent or user device, etc., or equipment used to provide voice or data connectivity to users, or IoT devices. For example, terminal equipment includes handheld devices with wireless connection function, vehicle-mounted devices, etc. At present, terminal devices can be: mobile phones, tablet computers, laptops, PDAs, mobile internet devices (MID), wearable devices (such as smart watches, smart bracelets, pedometers, etc.), vehicle-mounted equipment (such as cars, bicycles, electric vehicles, airplanes, ships, trains, high-speed railways, etc.), satellite terminal equipment, virtual reality (VR) equipment, augmented reality (AR) equipment, smart point of sale (POS) machines, customer-premises equipment (CPE), wireless terminal devices in industrial control, smart home equipment (such as refrigerators, televisions, air conditioners, electric meters, etc.), intelligent robots, robotic arms, workshop equipment, wireless terminal devices in unmanned driving, wireless terminal devices in telemedicine, wireless terminal devices in smart grids, wireless terminal devices in transportation safety, wireless terminal devices in smart cities, or wireless terminal devices in smart homes, flying equipment (such as intelligent robots, hot air balloons, drones, airplanes), etc. The terminal device may also be other devices having the functions of a terminal device. For example, the terminal device may also be a device that serves as a terminal device in D2D communication.

[0138] In addition, the terminal device involved in the embodiments of the present application is a terminal device that supports NTN access technology or has NTN capabilities.

[0139] The embodiments of the present application do not limit the device 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.

[0140] 2. Network equipment

[0141] A network device is a node in a radio access network (RAN), and can also be referred to as an access network device, or a RAN node (or device). A network device is used to help a terminal device achieve wireless access. The multiple network devices 110 in the communication system 1000 can be nodes of the same type or different types. In some scenarios, the roles of the network device 110 and the terminal 120 are relative, for example, Figure 1 The network element 120i may be a helicopter or a drone, which may be configured as a mobile base station. For the terminals 120j that access the RAN 100 through the network element 120i, the network element 120i is a base station; but for the base station 110a, the network element 120i is a terminal device. The network device 110 and the terminal 120 are sometimes referred to as communication devices, for example Figure 1 The network elements 110a and 110b may be understood as communication devices having base station functions, and the network elements 120a-120j may be understood as communication devices having terminal equipment functions.

[0142] In one possible scenario, the network device may be a device with base station functions, such as an evolved NodeB (eNodeB), a transmitting and receiving point (TRP), a transmitting point (TP), a next generation NodeB (gNB), a next generation base station in a 6G mobile communication system, and an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) node.

[0143] In a possible scenario, the network device may also be a non-ground network device in the NTN, for example, a device deployed in a high-altitude platform, such as a satellite. The network device may also be a macro base station (such as Figure 1 110a in), micro base stations or indoor stations (such as Figure 1 110b in the example), a relay node or a donor node, or a wireless controller in a CRAN scenario. The network device may also be a device that functions as a base station in device-to-device (D2D) communication, Internet of Vehicles communication, drone communication, and machine communication. Exemplarily, the network device may also be a server, a wearable device, a vehicle or an onboard device, etc. For example, the network device in the vehicle to everything (V2X) technology may be a road side unit (RSU).

[0144] All or part of the functions of the network device in this application can also be implemented by software functions running on hardware, or by virtualization functions instantiated on a platform (such as a cloud platform). The network device in this application can also be a logical node, logical module or software that can implement all or part of the network device functions.

[0145] In another possible scenario, multiple network devices collaborate to assist the terminal device in achieving wireless access, and different network devices respectively implement part of the functions of the base station. For example, the network device may include 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 set separately, 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 a radio frequency unit, such as a remote radio unit (RRU), an active antenna unit (AAU), or a remote radio head (RRH). It is understandable that the network device may be a CU node, a DU node, or a device including a CU node and a DU node. In addition, the CU may be divided into a network device in the access network RAN, or the CU may be divided into a network device in the core network CN, without limitation here.

[0146] 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, in the ORAN system, CU may also be called O-CU (open CU), DU may also be called O-DU, CU-CP may also be called O-CU-CP, CU-UP may also be called O-CU-UP, and RU may also be called O-RU. For the convenience of description, CU, CU-CP, CU-UP, DU and RU are described as examples in this application. Any unit of 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.

[0147] 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.

[0148] In order to facilitate the understanding of the content of this solution, some of the terms involved in the embodiments of the present application are explained below to facilitate understanding by those skilled in the art. This part is only for ease of understanding and cannot be regarded as a specific limitation of the present application.

[0149] 1. NTN

[0150] NTN, or non-terrestrial network, is a general term for networks involving flying objects, including satellite communication networks, high altitude platform systems (HAPS) and air-to-ground networks.

[0151] HAPS is carried on airborne platforms, mainly including aircraft, balloons and airships. The high-altitude platform station is used as a mobile communication base station, and mobile services are provided using the same frequency band as the ground mobile network. In other words, by deploying base stations or part of the base station functions on non-ground network equipment (such as ships, high-altitude platforms, drones or satellites), seamless communication coverage is provided for terminal devices to improve the reliability of the communication system. It should be noted that for ease of understanding, the following text only uses the example of a satellite as the non-ground network device in NTN, which should not be regarded as a specific limitation of the present application.

[0152] Satellite communication networks rely on onboard platforms, mainly including low earth orbiting (LEO), medium earth orbiting (MEO) and geostationary earthorbiting (GEO). Based on the relationship between satellites and base stations, they can be divided into the following architectures.

[0153] For example, see Figure 2 , Figure 2 Schematic diagram of NTN-based RAN architecture applicable to the embodiment of the present application. Figure 2 As shown, the NTN-based RAN architecture may include terminal equipment, RAN (or NG-RAN), core network equipment, and data network (or Internet).

[0154] in, Figure 2(a) shows a transparent satellite architecture. RAN may include a remote radio unit (RRU) and network equipment. RRU may include a satellite and an NTN gateway. The terminal equipment and the network equipment communicate through the user-universal terrestrial radio access network-user (Uu) interface. The satellite can realize transparent load transmission between the user and the network equipment. The satellite and the NTN gateway can be considered as the remote radio unit (RRU) of the network equipment to realize transparent forwarding of signals, that is, the satellite supports functions such as RF filtering, frequency conversion and amplification, and the signal waveform remains unchanged. The forwarding of the satellite is transparent to the terminal equipment, that is, the satellite mainly acts as a layer 1 (abbreviated as L1) relay device (L1 relay) to regenerate the physical layer signal (that is, the processing of wireless frequency point filtering, frequency conversion and amplification), without other higher protocol layers. Among them, the network equipment and the core network equipment can communicate through the next generation network (NG) interface, and interact with the core network's non-access stratum (NAS) signaling and the service data of the terminal equipment through the NG interface.

[0155] Figure 2 (b) shows a regenerative satellite without inter-satellite link architecture. RAN includes satellites and NTN gateways. Satellites are network devices (such as base stations) with the processing functions of base stations. Satellites and NTN gateways communicate through satellite radio interfaces (SRI). Terminal devices communicate with network devices through Uu interfaces, and network devices and core network devices can communicate through NG interfaces, exchanging NAS signaling of the core network and service data of terminal devices through NG interfaces.

[0156] Figure 2(c) shows a regenerative satellite with inter-satellite link architecture. RAN includes satellites and NTN gateways. Satellites act as network devices (e.g., base stations) and have the processing functions of base stations. Satellites communicate with NTN gateways via SRI. Satellites can communicate with each other via the Xn interface on the inter-satellite link (ISL). Terminal devices communicate with network devices via the Uu interface, and network devices and core network devices can communicate via the NG interface. The NG interface is used to exchange NAS signaling of the core network and service data of the terminal devices.

[0157] Figure 2 (d) shows a regenerative satellite architecture with the DU processing function of a base station. The satellite acts as a DU and has the DU processing function. Among them, the CU and DU can jointly complete the functions of a network device (such as a base station). The CU and DU communicate through the F1 interface, and the DU and the NTN gateway communicate through the F1 interface on the SRI. The terminal device communicates with the DU through the Uu interface, and the CU and the core network device can communicate through the NG interface. The NG interface interacts with the core network's NAS signaling and the service data of the terminal device.

[0158] For example, in another satellite architecture with integrated access and backhaul (IAB) function, the satellite acts as an IAB node. The IAB node is used to provide wireless backhaul service for nodes (such as terminal devices) that wirelessly access wireless backhaul nodes. The wireless backhaul service refers to data and / or signaling backhaul service provided through a wireless backhaul link.

[0159] 2. NTN Community

[0160] According to the mobility of NTN cells in the ground coverage area, NTN cells can be divided into the following three categories:

[0161] 1. Earth-fixed: The coverage area of ​​this type of NTN cell is fixed to a certain area on the ground, that is, continuous fixed-point coverage. The NTN cell provided by GEO satellites is of this type.

[0162] 2. Quasi-earth-fixed: The coverage area of ​​this type of NTN cell is fixed to a certain area on the ground for a period of time, and will be replaced by another area on the ground after a period of time, that is, fixed-point coverage within a period of time, such as Figure 3 LEO satellites and MEO satellites can provide this type of NTN cell.

[0163] 3. Earth-moving: The coverage area of ​​this type of NTN cell slides on the ground, such as Figure 4 LEO satellites and MEO satellites can provide this type of NTN cell.

[0164] 3. Reference points of the community

[0165] The reference point of a cell may be the nadir of a satellite corresponding to the cell, or the nadir of a satellite providing coverage for the cell, or the center of the cell, or a reference point of a network configuration, etc., and this application does not limit this. The nadir of a satellite may refer to the point where a line between the satellite and the center of the earth intersects the surface of the earth, and the center of a cell may be the center of the coverage of the cell.

[0166] 4. Same Track and Different Track

[0167] Both co-orbit and hetero-orbit are based on the orbit of the satellite of the service cell of the terminal device. Generally speaking, the orbit that is the same as the orbit of the satellite of the service cell is called co-orbit, and the orbit that is different from the orbit of the satellite of the service cell is called hetero-orbit. Here, hetero-orbit can refer to different orbits, not limited to whether the orbital heights are consistent. For example, the orbital height of the satellite of the service cell is H0, and there are orbit 1 (also at the height of H0) and orbit 2 (at the height of H1) that are different from this orbit. Both orbit 1 and orbit 2 can be called hetero-orbits of the orbit of the satellite of the service cell.

[0168] 5. RRM Measurement and Cell Reselection

[0169] Mobility management is an important operation in wireless mobile communications. It means changing the service cell of a terminal device by switching (connected behavior of the terminal device) or cell selection / reselection (disconnected behavior of the terminal device) when the signal quality of the service cell of the terminal device deteriorates to a certain extent. That is, selecting a neighboring cell with better communication quality as the new service cell of the terminal device to ensure that the communication link between the network and the terminal device will not be interrupted due to the movement of the terminal device.

[0170] RRM measurement means that the terminal device monitors the communication quality of its serving cell and / or neighboring cell (i.e., non-serving cell) in real time. The handover and cell selection / reselection involved in the above mobility management operations need to be performed based on the measurement results of RRM measurement, so RRM measurement is the basis of mobility management.

[0171] 1. RRM measurement and cell reselection for terrestrial network communication systems

[0172] (1-1) In a terrestrial network communication system, for RRM measurement, the network equipment can configure a quality threshold. The terminal equipment determines whether to start neighboring cell measurement by evaluating whether the quality of the serving cell meets the quality threshold configured by the network equipment.

[0173] (1-2) In the terrestrial network communication system, the network can also configure a quality threshold for cell reselection. The terminal device determines whether to reselect a cell by evaluating whether the quality of the serving cell and / or the quality of the neighboring cell meets the quality threshold configured by the network device.

[0174] 2. RRM measurement and cell reselection for non-terrestrial network communication systems

[0175] (2-1) In non-terrestrial network communication systems, for RRM measurements, it is possible to control whether the terminal device needs to measure the surrounding neighboring cells based on some conditions, so that the terminal device starts the measurement only when necessary, avoiding unnecessary measurement operations and wasting the power consumption of the terminal device. For example, in addition to considering the cell signal quality factor, the distance factor can also be considered to control the start and stop of the neighboring cell measurement. Specifically:

[0176] The network equipment can be configured with a quality threshold and a distance threshold. Based on the quality threshold, the terminal device also evaluates whether the distance between its own position and the reference point of the satellite cell (for example, the sub-satellite point of the serving cell or the neighboring cell) meets the configured distance threshold, and then determines whether to start the neighboring cell measurement. The detailed mechanism is described as follows:

[0177] (2-1-i) The terminal device evaluates whether the quality of the serving cell meets the quality threshold (also called S threshold) configured by the network device:

[0178] For the measurement of the same frequency point, the network equipment configures two quality thresholds SIntraSearchP (reference signal received power (RSRP) threshold) and SIntraSearchQ (reference signal received quality (RSRQ) threshold). When the serving cell RSRP quality Srxlev> threshold SIntraSearchP, and the serving cell RSRQ quality Squal> threshold SIntraSearchQ, it is considered that the quality threshold conditions corresponding to the same frequency point are met;

[0179] For the measurement of inter-frequency and inter-system (inter-RAT) frequencies, the network equipment is configured with two quality thresholds SnonIntraSearchP (RSRP threshold) and SnonIntraSearchQ (RSRQ threshold). When the serving cell RSRP quality Srxlev>threshold SnonIntraSearchP, and the serving cell RSRQ quality Squal>threshold SnonIntraSearchQ, it is considered that the quality threshold conditions corresponding to the inter-frequency / inter-system (inter-RAT) frequencies are met.

[0180] When the quality threshold condition in (2-1-i) above is met, the terminal device additionally determines whether the distance threshold condition in (2-1-ii) below is met, and finally determines whether it is necessary to measure the frequency point of the neighboring area.

[0181] (2-1-ii) The terminal device evaluates whether it meets the distance threshold conditions configured by the network device:

[0182] If the distance between the terminal device and the reference point of the serving cell (e.g., the sub-satellite point of the satellite) minus the distance between the terminal device and the reference point of the neighboring cell (e.g., the sub-satellite point of the satellite) ≤ the distance threshold, the terminal device may not measure the same-frequency frequency point, equal / low priority inter-frequency frequency points, or inter-system (inter-RAT) frequency points;

[0183] If the distance between the terminal device and the reference point of the serving cell (e.g., the sub-satellite point of the satellite) - the distance between the terminal device and the reference point of the neighboring cell (e.g., the sub-satellite point of the satellite) > the distance threshold, the terminal device needs to measure the same-frequency frequency points, equal / lower priority inter-frequency frequency points / inter-system (inter-RAT) frequency points.

[0184] Here, the network device can set the priority for each frequency point. Taking the frequency point of the service cell where the terminal device is currently residing as a reference, the priority of the neighboring frequency point (i.e., different frequency point or different system frequency point) may be higher, equal or lower than the priority point of the current service cell frequency point. Therefore, other frequency points can be called high priority frequency points, equal priority frequency points, and low priority frequency points.

[0185] (2-2) In non-terrestrial network communication systems, in addition to considering the cell signal quality factor, the distance factor can also be considered for cell reselection so that the terminal device can select a more suitable NTN neighboring cell as the new service cell to ensure mobility performance. Specifically:

[0186] The network equipment can be configured with a quality threshold and a distance threshold. On the basis of meeting the quality threshold, when the terminal device determines the target cell to be reselected, it also needs to consider whether the distance between its own position and the reference point of the satellite cell (for example, the sub-satellite point of the serving cell or the satellite of the neighboring cell) meets the configured distance threshold, so as to finally determine whether a certain cell can be reselected. The detailed mechanism is described as follows:

[0187] (2-2-i) Reselection of neighboring cells with low priority frequencies:

[0188] If the network device provides the RSRQ quality threshold Thresh Serving,LowQ , then in a period of time Treselection RAT The RSRQ quality of the serving cell meets Squal <Thresh Serving,LowQ And the neighboring cell RSRQ quality satisfies Squal>Thresh X,LowQ , and the distance between the terminal device and the reference point of the serving cell (e.g., the sub-satellite point of the satellite) - the distance between the terminal device and the reference point of the neighboring cell (e.g., the sub-satellite point of the satellite) > the distance threshold, then the neighboring cell is considered to be the target cell for reselection.

[0189] If the network device does not provide the RSRQ quality threshold Thresh Serving,LowQ Only the RSRP quality threshold Thresh is provided Serving,LowP , then in a period of time Treselection RAT The RSRP quality of the serving cell meets Srxlev <Thresh Serving,LowP And the neighboring cell RSRP quality satisfies Srxlev>Thresh X,LowP , and the distance between the terminal device and the reference point of the serving cell (e.g., the sub-satellite point of the satellite) - the distance between the terminal device and the reference point of the neighboring cell (e.g., the sub-satellite point of the satellite) > the distance threshold, then the neighboring cell is considered to be the target cell for reselection.

[0190] (2-2-ii) Reselection of co-frequency neighboring cells or inter-frequency / inter-system (inter-RAT) neighboring cells of equal priority:

[0191] If the quality of the neighboring cell meets the S criterion (i.e., the cell RSRP quality Srxlev>0 and the cell RSRQ quality Squal>0), and the distance between the terminal device and the reference point of the serving cell (e.g., the sub-satellite point of the satellite) - the distance between the terminal device and the reference point of the neighboring cell (e.g., the sub-satellite point of the satellite)>the distance threshold, the terminal device sorts one or more neighboring cells and the serving cell that meet the conditions.

[0192] It should be understood that the R criterion is used in the sorting, and the R value (ie, R) of the serving cell is calculated according to the following formula:s ), and the R value of the neighboring area (i.e. R n ), and then sort the corresponding cells according to the size of the R value. If the terminal device has been resident in the current serving cell for more than 1s, and for a period of time Treselection RAT If the inner neighboring cell is continuously better than the serving cell, the terminal device will use the inner neighboring cell as the target cell for reselection.

[0193] R s =Q meas,s +Q hyst -Qoffset temp

[0194] R n =Q meas,n -Q offset -Qoffset temp

[0195] Among them, Q meas,s and Q meas,n are the RSRP of the serving cell and the neighboring cell, Qoffset is the offset, Qoffset temp is the temporary offset, Q hyst is the hysteresis value.

[0196] From the introduction in "V. RRM measurement and cell reselection" above, it can be known that for RRM measurement, there is only one distance threshold for all types of neighboring cells in the current NTN communication system to control the start and stop of neighboring cell RRM measurement. Similarly, for cell reselection, there is only one distance threshold for all types of neighboring cells in the current NTN communication system to control cell reselection. In other words, whether it is RRM measurement or cell reselection, the control of the distance threshold condition does not distinguish whether the satellite corresponding to a certain neighboring cell is a satellite on the same orbit (referred to as co-orbit) or a satellite on a different orbit (referred to as different orbit) compared to the satellite of the current service cell of the terminal device. In practice, due to the difference in coverage between the co-track neighboring cells and the off-track neighboring cells, that is, the distance between the co-track neighboring cells and the serving cell is relatively close (or the overlapping area between the coverage of the co-track neighboring cells and the coverage of the serving cell is large), and the distance between the off-track neighboring cells and the serving cell is relatively far (or the overlapping area between the coverage of the off-track neighboring cells and the coverage of the serving cell is small), for RRM measurement, this method of using the same distance threshold to control the start and stop of measurements of different neighboring cells will result in unreasonable timing for starting measurement of neighboring cells of one of the co-track and off-track cells; similarly, for cell reselection, this method of using the same distance threshold to determine whether different neighboring cells can be used as target cells for cell reselection will result in unreasonable selection of reselected neighboring cells of one of the co-track and off-track cells, and is therefore not conducive to improving communication performance.

[0197] like Figure 5 As shown in the figure, for RRM measurement, it is assumed that the network device configures a distance threshold d based on the overlap area of ​​the same track. Since the neighboring cells of the same track are close / the overlap area is large, the distance threshold d will be a relatively small value, so that the terminal device can start the neighboring cell measurement in time after entering the overlap area of ​​the same track. However, based on this distance threshold d, since the neighboring cells of different tracks are far away / the overlap area is small, the terminal device can meet the distance threshold d condition before actually reaching the overlap area between the neighboring cells of different tracks and the serving cell (that is, dis1-dis2 can easily be greater than d, and greater than d means far away from the serving cell and close to the neighboring cell, such as Figure 5 The dashed line in the middle indicates that the measurement of the neighboring area of ​​the different track will be started unnecessarily in advance, wasting the power consumption of the terminal device. On the contrary, assuming that the network device configures a distance threshold d based on the situation of the different track overlapping area, then the distance threshold d will be a relatively large value. Based on this distance threshold d, the terminal device can start the measurement of the neighboring area of ​​the same track only after it has entered the overlapping area of ​​the same track for a long time, causing the terminal device to start the measurement of the neighboring area of ​​the same track too late, thereby affecting the subsequent cell reselection, which is not conducive to mobility performance.

[0198] Likewise, see Figure 5 For cell reselection, it is assumed that the network device configures a distance threshold d based on the overlapped area of ​​the same track. Since the neighboring area of ​​the same track is close / the overlapped area is large, the distance threshold d will be a relatively small value. When judging the neighboring area of ​​the different track based on this threshold, the terminal device will meet the distance threshold d condition before actually reaching the coverage of the neighboring area of ​​the different track (that is, dis1-dis2 is easily greater than d, and greater than d means far away from the serving cell and close to the neighboring cell, such as Figure 5 The dashed line in the middle indicates that the terminal device may mistakenly or prematurely reselect to a different track neighboring cell, resulting in a reselection failure, causing the terminal device to lose the cell where it resides, affecting mobility performance and user experience. Similarly, assuming that the network configures a distance threshold d based on the situation of different track overlapping areas, when judging the same track neighboring area based on the threshold, the terminal device will determine to reselect to the neighboring area only after it has entered the coverage of the same track neighboring area far away, causing the terminal device to reselect to the target cell too late, and the quality of the current service cell may have deteriorated, causing the terminal device to lose the cell where it resides, affecting mobility performance and user experience.

[0199] Based on this, the present application proposes a communication method, which can distinguish different tracks / neighboring areas according to the actual coverage of the neighboring areas, provide different distance thresholds to control whether the terminal device starts the measurement of the track / neighboring area, or distinguish different tracks / neighboring areas to provide different distance thresholds to control whether the terminal device uses the track / neighboring area as the target cell for cell reselection, which is conducive to improving communication performance.

[0200] The communication method and communication device provided by this application are described in detail below:

[0201] See also Figure 6 , Figure 6 1 is a flow chart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application. Figure 6 As shown, the communication method includes the following steps S601 to S603. Figure 6 The method shown may be performed by a terminal device and a network device, or, Figure 6 The execution subject of the method shown may also be a chip in a terminal device or a chip in a network device. For example, the network device may be a non-terrestrial network device (such as a satellite) or an access network device (such as a base station), etc., and this application does not limit this. For the convenience of description, Figure 6 The following mainly uses terminal devices and network devices as the execution subjects of the method as examples. It should be noted that: Figure 6 is a schematic flow chart of a method embodiment of the present application, showing detailed communication steps or operations of the method, but these steps or operations are only examples, and the present application embodiment may also perform other operations or Figure 6 In addition, Figure 6 The steps in Figure 6 are executed in a different order than those presented, and may not be executed in the order Figure 6 All operations in . Among them:

[0202] S601: The network device sends distance threshold information to the terminal device. Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the distance threshold information from the network device.

[0203] It should be understood that the network device may send the distance threshold information via broadcast signaling (eg, system information (SI)).

[0204] The distance threshold information is used to indicate the distance thresholds corresponding to different orbit types, and / or, the distance thresholds corresponding to different orbits, and / or, the distance thresholds corresponding to different cells. The orbit involved in the embodiment of the present application is the orbit of the satellite (operation), and the cell is the NTN cell.

[0205] In some feasible implementations, the distance threshold information may directly include distance thresholds corresponding to different track types, and / or distance thresholds corresponding to different tracks, and / or distance thresholds corresponding to different cells. In other words, the distance threshold information directly includes the specific value of the distance threshold (i.e., the absolute threshold). Generally speaking, this form of absolute threshold can directly provide the thresholds corresponding to different tracks / neighboring cells in a simple manner.

[0206] In other feasible implementations, the distance threshold information may include a reference distance threshold, and distance threshold adjustment values ​​corresponding to different track types, and / or distance threshold adjustment values ​​corresponding to different tracks, and / or distance threshold adjustment values ​​corresponding to different cells. Among them, the reference distance threshold and the distance threshold adjustment values ​​corresponding to different track types are used to determine the distance thresholds corresponding to different track types, the reference distance threshold and the distance threshold adjustment values ​​corresponding to different tracks are used to determine the distance thresholds corresponding to different tracks, and the reference distance threshold and the distance threshold adjustment values ​​corresponding to different cells are used to determine the distance thresholds corresponding to different cells. In other words, the specific value of the distance threshold can only be obtained after calculation based on the reference distance threshold and the corresponding distance threshold adjustment value carried in the distance threshold information. For example, assuming that the reference distance threshold is dref, and the distance threshold adjustment value corresponding to a certain track / neighboring area is offset, the threshold d corresponding to the track / neighboring area can be: d=dref+offset. Generally speaking, this form of reference distance threshold and distance threshold adjustment value is conducive to reducing the signaling overhead during information configuration.

[0207] It should be noted that the reference distance threshold involved in the present application may not be carried in the distance threshold information, but may be predefined or preconfigured, which can further reduce the signaling overhead. Similarly, after performing calculations based on the predefined or preconfigured reference distance threshold and the distance threshold adjustment value carried in the distance threshold information, the specific value of the distance threshold can also be obtained.

[0208] It should be understood that the reference distance threshold may be just a reference value, or it may be a distance threshold corresponding to a certain orbit / cell. For example, the reference distance threshold is a distance threshold corresponding to the orbit of the satellite corresponding to the serving cell of the terminal device.

[0209] The following is a detailed description of the distance threshold information:

[0210] In one implementation 1, when the distance threshold information is used to indicate the distance thresholds corresponding to different track types (i.e., when the granularity of the distance threshold is the track type granularity), the distance threshold information can be used to indicate the distance threshold corresponding to the same track type and the distance threshold corresponding to the different track type. In other words, the different track types include the same track type and the different track type.

[0211] For example, in the distance threshold information, the same-track type corresponds to the distance threshold d0, and the different-track type corresponds to the distance threshold d1.

[0212] For another example, assuming that the reference distance threshold is the distance threshold corresponding to the orbit of the satellite corresponding to the service cell of the terminal device, then the distance threshold corresponding to the same-orbit type in the distance threshold information is dref (that is, the distance threshold adjustment value corresponding to the same-orbit type is 0), and the distance threshold adjustment value corresponding to the different-orbit type is offset1. Therefore, based on the reference distance threshold and the distance threshold adjustment value corresponding to the different-orbit type, the distance threshold corresponding to the different-orbit type can be determined, for example, the distance threshold corresponding to the different-orbit type is d1=dref+offset1.

[0213] In another implementation 2, when the distance threshold information is used to indicate the distance thresholds corresponding to different tracks (i.e., when the granularity of the distance threshold is the track granularity), the distance threshold information can be used to indicate the distance thresholds corresponding to at least two tracks. In other words, independent distance thresholds can be configured for different tracks, for example, track 1 corresponds to distance threshold d0, track 2 corresponds to distance threshold d1, track 3 corresponds to distance threshold d2, and so on.

[0214] For example, in the distance threshold information, the same track corresponds to the distance threshold d0, the different track 1 corresponds to the distance threshold d1, and the different track 2 corresponds to the distance threshold d2.

[0215] For another example, assuming that the reference distance threshold is the distance threshold corresponding to the orbit of the satellite corresponding to the service cell of the terminal device, then the distance threshold information includes the same-track corresponding distance threshold dref (i.e., the distance threshold adjustment value corresponding to the same-track is 0), the distance threshold adjustment value offset1 corresponding to different-track 1, and the distance threshold adjustment value offset2 corresponding to different-track 2. Therefore, based on the reference distance threshold and the distance threshold adjustment values ​​corresponding to different different-tracks, the distance thresholds corresponding to different different-tracks can be determined, for example, the distance threshold d1 corresponding to different-track 1 = dref + offset1, and the distance threshold d2 corresponding to different-track 2 = dref + offset2.

[0216] In another implementation 3, when the distance threshold information is used to indicate the distance thresholds corresponding to different cells (i.e., when the granularity of the distance threshold is the cell granularity), the distance threshold information can be used to indicate the distance thresholds corresponding to at least two cells. In other words, independent distance thresholds can be configured for different cells, and it can be understood that the distance thresholds configured for different cells can be the same. For example, cell 1 and cell 2 on track 1 both correspond to distance threshold d1, and cell 3 on track 1 corresponds to threshold d2; cell 1 on track 2 corresponds to distance threshold d3, and cell 2 and cell 3 on track 2 both correspond to distance threshold d4. Here, different cells may include different cells on the same track and different cells on different tracks.

[0217] For example, in the distance threshold information, cell 1 and cell 2 on the same track both correspond to distance threshold d1, and cell 3 on the same track corresponds to threshold d2; cell 1 on different track 1 corresponds to distance threshold d3, and cell 2 and cell 3 on different track 1 both correspond to distance threshold d4.

[0218] For another example, assuming that the reference distance threshold dref is a predefined value not related to any track / cell, if in the distance threshold information, cell 1 and cell 2 on the same track both correspond to distance threshold offset1, cell 3 on the same track corresponds to threshold offset2; cell 1 on different track 1 corresponds to distance threshold offset3, cell 2 and cell 3 on different track 1 both correspond to distance threshold offset4. Then, based on the reference distance threshold dref and the distance threshold adjustment values ​​corresponding to different cells, the distance thresholds corresponding to different cells can be determined, for example, cell 1 and cell 2 on the same track both correspond to distance threshold d1=dref+offset1, cell 3 on the same track corresponds to threshold d2=dref+offset2; cell 1 on different track 1 corresponds to distance threshold d3=dref+offset3, cell 2 and cell 3 on different track 1 both correspond to distance threshold d4=dref+offset4.

[0219] In yet another implementation 4, the distance threshold information may be used to indicate a distance threshold corresponding to a track and a distance threshold corresponding to a cell, that is, the granularity of the distance threshold may be a coexistence of a track granularity and a cell granularity.

[0220] For example, tracks on the same track indicate distance thresholds according to track granularity without distinguishing specific cells, that is, the same track corresponds to one threshold d1, and tracks on different tracks may indicate distance thresholds according to cell granularity, that is, different cells on different tracks may correspond to different distance thresholds.

[0221] For example, in the distance threshold information, the same track corresponds to the distance threshold d0, the cell 1 on the different track 1 corresponds to the distance threshold d1, and the cells 2 and 3 on the different track 1 both correspond to the distance threshold d2.

[0222] For another example, assuming that the reference distance threshold dref is a predefined value not related to any track / cell, if the distance threshold information indicates that the same track corresponds to distance threshold offset0, cell 1 on different track 1 corresponds to distance threshold offset1, and cell 2 and cell 3 on different track 1 both correspond to distance threshold offset2. Then, based on the reference distance threshold and the distance threshold adjustment value corresponding to different tracks / cells, the distance thresholds corresponding to different tracks / cells can be determined, for example, the same track corresponds to distance threshold d0=dref+offset0; cell 1 on different track 1 corresponds to distance threshold d1=dref+offset1, and cell 2 and cell 3 on different track 1 both correspond to distance threshold d2=dref+offset2.

[0223] In yet another implementation 5, the distance threshold information may be used to indicate the distance threshold corresponding to the track type and the distance threshold corresponding to the track, that is, the granularity of the distance threshold may be a coexistence of the track granularity and the track type granularity.

[0224] For example, tracks on the same track indicate distance thresholds according to track granularity, that is, the same track corresponds to a threshold d0, and tracks on different tracks may indicate distance thresholds according to track granularity, that is, different tracks may correspond to different distance thresholds.

[0225] For example, in the distance threshold information, the same track corresponds to the distance threshold d0, track 1 corresponds to the distance threshold d1, track 2 corresponds to the distance threshold d2, and track 3 corresponds to the distance threshold d3.

[0226] For another example, assuming that the reference distance threshold dref is a predefined value not related to any track / cell, if the distance threshold information indicates that the same track corresponds to distance threshold offset0, track 1 corresponds to distance threshold offset1, track 2 corresponds to distance threshold offset2, and track 3 corresponds to distance threshold offset3. Then, based on the reference distance threshold and the distance threshold adjustment values ​​corresponding to different tracks, the distance thresholds corresponding to different tracks can be determined, for example, the same track corresponds to distance threshold d0=dref+offset0; track 1 corresponds to distance threshold d1=dref+offset1, track 2 corresponds to distance threshold d2=dref+offset2, and track 3 corresponds to distance threshold d3=dref+offset3.

[0227] S602: The terminal device determines whether to perform measurement and / or cell reselection according to the distance threshold information.

[0228] In some feasible implementations, when the distance threshold information is used to indicate the distance thresholds corresponding to different cells, the above-mentioned determination of whether to perform measurement and / or cell reselection according to the distance threshold information can be understood as: determining a first distance threshold corresponding to a first cell according to the distance threshold information, and determining whether to perform measurement on the first cell and / or whether to reselect to the first cell according to the first distance threshold. The first cell is a neighboring cell of the terminal device.

[0229] For example, assume that in the distance threshold information, cell 1 and cell 2 on orbit 1 both correspond to distance threshold d1, and cell 3 on orbit 1 corresponds to threshold d2; cell 1 on orbit 2 corresponds to distance threshold d3, and cell 2 and cell 3 on orbit 2 both correspond to distance threshold d4. In the case where the orbit of the satellite corresponding to the first cell is the same as the orbit of the satellite corresponding to the service cell of the terminal device, for example, when the service cell of the terminal device is cell 1 on orbit 1, and the neighboring cell of the terminal device is cell 3 on orbit 1, the first distance threshold is d2. In the case where the orbit of the satellite corresponding to the first cell is different from the orbit of the satellite corresponding to the service cell of the terminal device, for example, when the service cell of the terminal device is cell 1 on orbit 1, and the neighboring cell of the terminal device is cell 3 on orbit 2, the first distance threshold is d4.

[0230] For another example, assume that in the distance threshold information, orbit 1 corresponds to threshold d1; cell 1 on orbit 2 corresponds to distance threshold d2, and cells 2 and 3 on orbit 2 both correspond to distance threshold d3. When the orbit of the satellite corresponding to the first cell is the same as the orbit of the satellite corresponding to the service cell of the terminal device, for example, when the service cell of the terminal device is cell 1 on orbit 1, and the neighboring cell of the terminal device is cell 3 on orbit 1, the first distance threshold (or second distance threshold) is d1. When the orbit of the satellite corresponding to the first cell is different from the orbit of the satellite corresponding to the service cell of the terminal device, for example, when the service cell of the terminal device is cell 1 on orbit 1, and the neighboring cell of the terminal device is cell 3 on orbit 2, the first distance threshold (or second distance threshold) is d3.

[0231] like Figure 6 The process shown is for the RRM measurement scenario, so the distance threshold in (2-1-ii) in the above "five" can be replaced with the first distance threshold determined here, and whether to perform measurement on the first cell is determined based on the first distance threshold. That is to say, when determining whether it is necessary to perform frequency measurement on the first cell, it can be further determined whether the distance threshold condition in (2-1-ii) is met when the quality threshold condition in (2-1-i) is met. The difference is that the distance threshold in (2-1-i) should be replaced with the first distance threshold corresponding to the first cell.

[0232] like Figure 6The process shown is for the cell reselection scenario, so the distance thresholds in (2-2-i) and (2-2-ii) in the above "Five" can be replaced with the first distance threshold determined here, and whether to reselect to the first cell is determined based on the first distance threshold. In other words, when determining whether to reselect to the first cell, the conditional judgments in (2-2-i) and (2-2-ii) in the above "Five" can be used, except that the distance thresholds in (2-2-i) and (2-2-ii) should be replaced with the first distance threshold corresponding to the first cell.

[0233] In other feasible implementations, when the distance threshold information is used to indicate the distance thresholds corresponding to different orbit types, and / or the distance thresholds corresponding to different orbits, the above-mentioned determination of whether to perform measurement and / or cell reselection according to the distance threshold information can be understood as: determining the second distance threshold corresponding to the orbit of the satellite corresponding to the first cell according to the distance threshold information, and determining whether to perform measurement on the first cell and / or whether to reselect to the first cell according to the second distance threshold. The first cell is a neighboring cell of the terminal device.

[0234] For example, assume that the same-orbit type in the distance threshold information corresponds to the distance threshold d0, and the different-orbit type corresponds to the distance threshold d1. In the case where the orbit of the satellite corresponding to the first cell is the same as the orbit of the satellite corresponding to the service cell of the terminal device, the second distance threshold is d0. In the case where the orbit of the satellite corresponding to the first cell is different from the orbit of the satellite corresponding to the service cell of the terminal device, the second distance threshold is d1.

[0235] For another example, assume that in the distance threshold information, orbit 1 corresponds to distance threshold d0, orbit 2 corresponds to distance threshold d1, and orbit 3 corresponds to distance threshold d2. When the orbit of the satellite corresponding to the first cell is the same as the orbit of the satellite corresponding to the service cell of the terminal device, for example, when the service cell of the terminal device is cell 1 on orbit 1, and the neighboring cell of the terminal device is cell 3 on orbit 1, the second distance threshold is d0. When the orbit of the satellite corresponding to the first cell is different from the orbit of the satellite corresponding to the service cell of the terminal device, for example, when the service cell of the terminal device is cell 1 on orbit 1, and the neighboring cell of the terminal device is cell 3 on orbit 2, the second distance threshold is d1.

[0236] For another example, assume that in the distance threshold information, the same track corresponds to the distance threshold d0, track 1 corresponds to the distance threshold d1, track 2 corresponds to the distance threshold d2, and track 3 corresponds to the distance threshold d3. When the orbit of the satellite corresponding to the first cell is the same as the orbit of the satellite corresponding to the service cell of the terminal device, for example, when the service cell of the terminal device is cell 1 on track 1, and the neighboring cell of the terminal device is cell 3 on track 1, the second distance threshold is d0. When the orbit of the satellite corresponding to the first cell is different from the orbit of the satellite corresponding to the service cell of the terminal device, for example, when the service cell of the terminal device is cell 1 on track 1, and the neighboring cell of the terminal device is cell 3 on track 2, the second distance threshold is d2.

[0237] like Figure 6 The process shown is for the RRM measurement scenario, so the distance threshold in (2-1-ii) in the above "five" can be replaced by the second distance threshold determined here, and whether to perform measurement on the first cell is determined based on the second distance threshold. That is to say, when determining whether it is necessary to perform frequency measurement on the first cell, it can be further determined whether the distance threshold condition in (2-1-ii) is met when the quality threshold condition in (2-1-i) is met. The difference is that the distance threshold in (2-1-i) should be replaced by the second distance threshold corresponding to the orbit of the satellite corresponding to the first cell.

[0238] like Figure 6 The process shown is for the cell reselection scenario, so the distance thresholds in (2-2-i) and (2-2-ii) in the above "Five" can be replaced with the second distance threshold determined here, and whether to reselect to the first cell is determined based on the second distance threshold. In other words, when determining whether to reselect to the first cell, the conditional judgments in (2-2-i) and (2-2-ii) in the above "Five" can be used, except that the distance thresholds in (2-2-i) and (2-2-ii) should be replaced with the second distance threshold corresponding to the orbit of the satellite corresponding to the first cell.

[0239] It should be noted that whether the orbit of the satellite corresponding to the first cell and the orbit of the satellite corresponding to the service cell of the terminal device are the same orbit can be determined based on the ephemeris information of the satellite corresponding to the first cell and the ephemeris information of the satellite corresponding to the service cell. The specific judgment method is not elaborated in detail in this application.

[0240] S603: The network device sends distance threshold update information to the terminal device. Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the distance threshold update information from the network device.

[0241] Generally speaking, when the satellite coverage changes, the network device can update the distance threshold accordingly. For example, in different latitudes, if the relative positions between the orbits of the satellites change, the network device can update the threshold. For example, if the distance between the orbits of the satellites in the service cell and the off-orbit 1 becomes smaller, or the overlapping area between the service cell and the neighboring area of ​​the off-orbit 1 becomes larger, the network device can reduce the distance threshold corresponding to the off-orbit 1.

[0242] It should be understood that the network device may update the distance threshold information by using a system information update process. For example, within a system information modification period (SI modification period), the UE is notified through a system information modification indication (SIchange notification) that the system information or specifically the distance threshold information will change, and then the updated system information / distance threshold information is sent within the next system information modification period.

[0243] It should be understood that the numbering of the steps in the present application does not represent the execution order of the steps. For example, the order of step S603 and other steps is not limited, and the network device can update the distance threshold information as needed.

[0244] In an embodiment of the present application, for RRM measurement / cell reselection in an NTN scenario, the method of determining whether to perform RRM measurement and / or cell reselection by combining distance threshold information helps to ensure communication performance. In addition, the distance threshold information in the present application can be used to indicate distance thresholds corresponding to different orbit types, and / or, distance thresholds corresponding to different orbits, and / or, distance thresholds corresponding to different cells. This considers that in the NTN scenario, since satellites can be located on different orbits, there may be differences in the coverage overlap between cells in different orbits. Therefore, the distance threshold is configured at the granularity of orbit type / orbit / cell, so that the control of determining whether to perform measurement and / or cell reselection based on the distance threshold information is more reasonable, further improving communication performance and enhancing user experience.

[0245] It should be noted that the above Figure 6 The method shown requires the network device to send or update the distance threshold information. Based on this, the present application also proposes to achieve differentiated configuration of different distance thresholds for different orbits / neighboring areas by defining the distance threshold calculation relationship. This can reduce the overhead of the network device sending or updating the distance threshold information. When the satellite system is deployed stably, the terminal device can directly obtain the required distance threshold according to the defined distance threshold relationship without obtaining relevant information in real time, which reduces the operation complexity of the terminal device. Please refer to Figure 7 , Figure 7 FIG. 1 is another flow chart of the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application. Figure 7 As shown, the communication method includes the following steps S701-S702. Figure 7 The method shown may be performed by a terminal device and a network device, or, Figure 7 The execution subject of the method shown may also be a chip in a terminal device and a chip in a network device. Exemplarily, the network device may be a non-terrestrial network device (such as a satellite for example) or an access network device (such as a base station for example). For the convenience of description, Figure 7 The following mainly uses terminal devices and network devices as the execution subjects of the method as examples. It should be noted that: Figure 7 is a schematic flow chart of a method embodiment of the present application, showing detailed communication steps or operations of the method, but these steps or operations are only examples, and the present application embodiment may also perform other operations or Figure 7 In addition, Figure 7 The steps in Figure 7 are executed in a different order than those presented, and may not be executed in the order Figure 7 All operations in . Among them:

[0246] S701. The terminal device determines a third distance threshold corresponding to the orbit of the satellite corresponding to the first cell according to a reference distance threshold and a distance threshold calculation relationship.

[0247] Here, the first cell is a neighboring cell of the terminal device, and the first cell is an NTN cell. The reference distance threshold may be predefined, or preconfigured, or configured by a network device (such as a base station or satellite), and the present application does not impose any restrictions on this. The distance threshold calculation relationship may also be predefined, or preconfigured, or configured by a network device (such as a base station or satellite), and the present application does not impose any restrictions on this. Generally speaking, the reference distance threshold may be just a reference value, or it may be a distance threshold corresponding to a certain track / cell, and the present application does not impose any restrictions on this.

[0248] In some feasible implementation manners ①, the distance threshold calculation relationship includes a first correspondence between different latitude ranges and distance threshold adjustment values ​​in the case of the same track type, and / or, a second correspondence between different latitude ranges and distance threshold adjustment values ​​in the case of different track types, wherein the reference distance threshold and the distance threshold adjustment value are used to determine the third distance threshold (i.e., after calculation based on the reference distance threshold and the distance threshold adjustment value carried in the correspondence, the specific value of the distance threshold can be obtained). Optionally, in this implementation manner ①, the reference distance threshold can be the distance threshold used by the terminal device within the first latitude range, or the reference distance threshold can also be other values ​​not related to the latitude range, and the present application does not limit this.

[0249] It should be understood that in this implementation mode ①, when the orbit of the satellite corresponding to the first cell is the same as the orbit of the satellite corresponding to the service cell of the terminal device, the third distance threshold is determined based on the reference distance threshold, the first corresponding relationship, and the latitude range of the terminal device; when the orbit of the satellite corresponding to the first cell is different from the orbit of the satellite corresponding to the service cell of the terminal device, the third distance threshold is determined based on the reference distance threshold, the second corresponding relationship, and the latitude range of the terminal device.

[0250] For example, assuming that the reference distance threshold is dref, and the latitude range of the earth may include latitude range 1, latitude range 2, and latitude range 3, wherein for the same track type, the first corresponding relationship may be that latitude range 1 corresponds to distance threshold adjustment value offset1, latitude range 2 corresponds to distance threshold adjustment value offset2, and latitude range 3 corresponds to distance threshold adjustment value offset3. For the different track type, the second corresponding relationship may be that latitude range 1 corresponds to distance threshold adjustment value offset4, latitude range 2 corresponds to distance threshold adjustment value offset5, and latitude range 3 corresponds to distance threshold adjustment value offset6. Wherein:

[0251] If the orbit of the satellite corresponding to the first cell is the same as the orbit of the satellite corresponding to the service cell of the terminal device, for example, the service cell of the terminal device is cell 1 on orbit 1, the neighboring cell of the terminal device is cell 3 on orbit 1, and the current latitude range of the terminal device is latitude range 1, then based on the first corresponding relationship, the distance threshold adjustment value can be determined to be offset1, so the third distance threshold is (dref+offset1).

[0252] If the orbit of the satellite corresponding to the first cell is different from the orbit of the satellite corresponding to the service cell of the terminal device, for example, the service cell of the terminal device is cell 1 on orbit 1, the neighboring cell of the terminal device is cell 3 on orbit 2, and the current latitude range of the terminal device is latitude range 1, then based on the second corresponding relationship, the distance threshold adjustment value can be determined to be offset4, so the third distance threshold is (dref+offset4).

[0253] In some feasible implementations ②, the distance threshold calculation relationship includes a third correspondence between different orbital spacings and distance threshold adjustment values. Optionally, in this implementation ②, the reference distance threshold may be a distance threshold corresponding to the orbit of the satellite corresponding to the service cell of the terminal device, or the reference distance threshold may also be other values ​​not related to the service cell of the terminal device, and this application does not impose any restrictions on this.

[0254] It should be understood that in this implementation mode ②, the third distance threshold is determined based on the reference distance threshold, the third corresponding relationship, and the orbital spacing between the orbit of the satellite corresponding to the first cell and the orbit of the satellite corresponding to the service cell of the terminal device.

[0255] For example, assuming that the reference distance threshold is dref, and the third corresponding relationship is that track spacing 1 corresponds to distance threshold adjustment value offset1, track spacing 2 corresponds to distance threshold adjustment value offset2, track spacing 3 corresponds to distance threshold adjustment value offset3, and track spacing 4 corresponds to distance threshold adjustment value offset4. Wherein:

[0256] If the orbital spacing between the orbit of the satellite corresponding to the first cell and the orbit of the satellite corresponding to the service cell of the terminal device is orbital spacing 1, then based on the third corresponding relationship, the distance threshold adjustment value can be determined to be offset1, so the third distance threshold is (dref+offset1).

[0257] If the orbital spacing between the orbit of the satellite corresponding to the first cell and the orbit of the satellite corresponding to the service cell of the terminal device is an orbital spacing of 2, then based on the third corresponding relationship, the distance threshold adjustment value can be determined to be offset2, so the third distance threshold is (dref+offset2). Other orbital spacing situations are similar and are not listed here one by one.

[0258] It should be noted that the orbital spacing described in the above implementation mode ② can also be replaced by the satellite spacing. Generally speaking, the orbital spacing can be understood as the distance between the orbits of the satellite, for example, it can be the distance between two points on the orbit, and the satellite spacing can refer to the distance between satellites. That is to say, the third distance threshold can also be determined based on the reference distance threshold, the correspondence between different satellite spacings and distance threshold adjustment values ​​(for ease of distinction, the fourth correspondence is used below for explanation), and the satellite spacing between the satellite corresponding to the first cell and the satellite corresponding to the service cell of the terminal device.

[0259] For example, assuming that the reference distance threshold is dref, and the fourth corresponding relationship is that satellite spacing 1 corresponds to distance threshold adjustment value offset1, satellite spacing 2 corresponds to distance threshold adjustment value offset2, satellite spacing 2 corresponds to distance threshold adjustment value offset2, satellite spacing 3 corresponds to distance threshold adjustment value offset3, and satellite spacing 4 corresponds to distance threshold adjustment value offset4. Wherein:

[0260] If the satellite spacing between the satellite corresponding to the first cell and the satellite corresponding to the service cell of the terminal device is satellite spacing 1, then based on the fourth corresponding relationship, the distance threshold adjustment value can be determined to be offset1, so the third distance threshold is (dref+offset1).

[0261] If the satellite spacing between the satellite corresponding to the first cell and the satellite corresponding to the service cell of the terminal device is satellite spacing 2, then based on the fourth corresponding relationship, the distance threshold adjustment value can be determined to be offset2, so the third distance threshold is (dref+offset2). Other satellite spacing situations are similar and are not listed one by one here.

[0262] It should be noted that the judgment of whether the orbit of the satellite corresponding to the first cell and the orbit of the satellite corresponding to the service cell of the terminal device are the same orbit can be determined based on the ephemeris information of the satellite corresponding to the first cell and the ephemeris information of the satellite corresponding to the service cell. The specific judgment method is not elaborated in detail in this application. Similarly, the orbit spacing or satellite spacing can also be determined based on the ephemeris information of the satellite, which is not elaborated in detail in this application. Optionally, the location information of the terminal device itself can be used to determine the latitude range of the terminal device.

[0263] S702. The terminal device determines whether to perform measurement on the first cell and / or whether to reselect to the first cell according to a third distance threshold.

[0264] It should be understood that if Figure 7 The process shown is for the RRM measurement scenario, so the distance threshold in (2-1-ii) in the above "five" can be replaced by the third distance threshold determined here, and whether to perform measurement on the first cell is determined based on the third distance threshold. That is to say, when determining whether it is necessary to perform frequency measurement on the first cell, it can be further determined whether the distance threshold condition in (2-1-ii) is met when the quality threshold condition in (2-1-i) is met. The difference is that the distance threshold in (2-1-i) should be replaced by the third distance threshold associated with the first cell.

[0265] like Figure 7 The process shown is for the cell reselection scenario, so the distance thresholds in (2-2-i) and (2-2-ii) in the above "Five" can be replaced with the third distance threshold determined here, and whether to reselect to the first cell is determined based on the third distance threshold. In other words, when determining whether to reselect to the first cell, the conditional judgments in (2-2-i) and (2-2-ii) in the above "Five" can be used, except that the distance thresholds in (2-2-i) and (2-2-ii) should be replaced with the third distance threshold associated with the first cell.

[0266] Optionally, the reference distance threshold and / or the distance threshold calculation relationship may also be updated according to the situation of the satellite. For example, if the orbit planning, coverage planning, etc. of the satellite changes, the reference distance threshold and / or the distance threshold calculation relationship may be updated. Exemplarily, a network device (such as a base station or a satellite) may send reference distance threshold update information and / or distance threshold calculation relationship update information to a terminal device, wherein the reference distance threshold update information is used to update the reference distance threshold, and / or the distance threshold calculation relationship update information is used to update the distance threshold calculation relationship.

[0267] In an embodiment of the present application, for RRM measurement / cell reselection in the NTN scenario, the third distance threshold corresponding to the track of the non-ground network device corresponding to the neighboring area (i.e., the first cell) of the terminal device is determined by combining the reference distance threshold and the distance threshold calculation relationship, and the method of deciding whether to perform measurement of the first cell and / or whether to reselect to the first cell is determined based on the third distance threshold, so that the control of RRM measurement and / or cell reselection is more reasonable, the communication performance is improved, and the user experience is enhanced.

[0268] It should be understood that if the applicable scenario of the communication method provided in the present application is an RRM measurement scenario, then the configured distance threshold is the distance threshold applicable to the RRM measurement scenario. If the applicable scenario of the communication method provided in the present application is a cell reselection scenario, then the configured distance threshold is the distance threshold applicable to the cell reselection. Generally speaking, the numerical value of the distance threshold configuration in the RRM measurement scenario and the numerical value of the distance threshold configuration in the cell reselection scenario may be the same or different, and the present application does not impose any restrictions on this.

[0269] It should be understood that the solution provided by the present application is mainly designed for the distance threshold of the cell reselection measurement and cell reselection in the non-connected state, but the solution is not technically limited to these two scenarios. As long as it involves the distance threshold in the NTN system, the solution provided by the present application can be applied to optimize the setting of the distance threshold so that the distance threshold is more adapted to the actual NTN cell coverage.

[0270] It should be understood that the solution provided by the present application is mainly for the measurement control of the same frequency, and the measurement control of different frequencies / different systems with equal / lower priorities, or the reselection of cells of the same frequency, and the reselection of cells of different frequencies / different systems with equal / lower priorities. However, technically speaking, the distance threshold solution of the present application is also applicable to the measurement control / cell reselection of high priority frequencies.

[0271] In summary, for RRM measurement, the method provided by the present application can distinguish different tracks / neighboring areas and use different distance thresholds to control whether the terminal device starts the measurement of the track / neighboring area. On the one hand, it ensures that the terminal device starts the measurement of the neighboring area only when the neighboring area coverage is close, avoiding the terminal device from measuring the neighboring area that is not around in advance, reducing unnecessary measurement power consumption of the terminal device; on the other hand, when the neighboring area coverage is close, the terminal device can also start the measurement of the neighboring area in time to support the subsequent cell reselection decision to ensure mobility performance. For cell reselection, the method provided by the present application can distinguish different tracks / neighboring areas and use different distance thresholds to control whether the terminal device uses the track / neighboring area as the target cell for cell reselection. On the one hand, it ensures that the terminal device considers reselecting to a neighboring area only when it is within the coverage of a neighboring area, avoiding the terminal device from performing reselection too early and causing reselection failure; on the other hand, it ensures that when the terminal device is far away from the coverage of the service cell and has reached the coverage of the neighboring area, it can perform reselection in time to change the appropriate resident service cell to ensure mobility performance.

[0272] The following will be combined Figure 8-Figure 9 The communication device provided in this application is described in detail.

[0273] It is understandable that in order to implement the functions in the above embodiments, the communication device includes hardware structures and / or software modules corresponding to the execution of each function. It should be easily appreciated by those skilled in the art that, in combination with the units and method steps of each example described in the embodiments disclosed in this application, 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 scenario and design constraints of the technical solution.

[0274] Figure 8 and Fig. 9 The following is a schematic diagram of the structure of possible communication devices provided in the embodiments of the present application. These communication devices can be used to implement the functions of the terminal device or network device in the above method embodiments, and thus can also achieve the beneficial effects of the above method embodiments. In the embodiments of the present application, the terminal device can be as follows: Figure 1 One of the terminals 120a-120j shown in FIG. 1 may also be a module (such as a chip) applied to a terminal device. The network device may be, for example, Figure 2 The satellite shown may also be a module (such as a chip) used in network equipment.

[0275] like Figure 8 As shown, the communication device 800 includes a processing unit 810 and a transceiver unit 820. The communication device 800 is used to implement the above Figure 6 and Figure 7The functions of the terminal device or the network device in the method embodiment shown in FIG.

[0276] When the communication device 800 is used to implement Figure 6 and Figure 7 The functions of the terminal device in the method embodiment shown are:

[0277] In one implementation, the transceiver unit 820 is used to receive distance threshold information, where the distance threshold information is used to indicate distance thresholds corresponding to different track types, and / or distance thresholds corresponding to different tracks, and / or distance thresholds corresponding to different cells, where the track is a track of a non-terrestrial network device, and the cell is a non-terrestrial network NTN cell; the processing unit 810 is used to determine whether to perform measurement and / or cell reselection based on the distance threshold information.

[0278] In another implementation, the processing unit 810 is used to determine a third distance threshold corresponding to the orbit of the non-terrestrial network device corresponding to the first cell based on a reference distance threshold and a distance threshold calculation relationship; the first cell is a neighboring cell of the terminal device, and the first cell is a non-terrestrial network NTN cell; the processing unit 810 is used to determine whether to perform measurement on the first cell and / or whether to reselect to the first cell based on the third distance threshold.

[0279] Exemplarily, the transceiver unit 820 is used to receive reference distance threshold update information and / or distance threshold calculation relationship update information.

[0280] When the communication device 800 is used to implement Figure 6 and Figure 7 The functions of the network device in the method embodiment shown are:

[0281] In one implementation, the processing unit 810 is used to determine distance threshold information, where the distance threshold information is used to indicate distance thresholds corresponding to different track types, and / or distance thresholds corresponding to different tracks, and / or distance thresholds corresponding to different cells, where the track is a track of a non-terrestrial network device, and the cell is a non-terrestrial network NTN cell; the transceiver unit 820 is used to send the distance threshold information.

[0282] In another implementation, the processing unit 810 is used to determine a reference distance threshold and a distance threshold calculation relationship, and the reference distance threshold and the distance threshold calculation relationship are used to determine a third distance threshold corresponding to the track of a non-terrestrial network device corresponding to a first cell; the first cell is a neighboring cell of a terminal device, and the first cell is a non-terrestrial network NTN cell; the transceiver unit 820 is used to send the reference distance threshold and / or the distance threshold calculation relationship.

[0283] For more detailed description of the processing unit 810 and the transceiver unit 820, please refer to Figure 6 and Figure 7 The method embodiment shown is described in detail.

[0284] like Fig. 9 As shown, the communication device 900 includes a processor 910 and an interface circuit 920. The processor 910 and the interface circuit 920 are coupled to each other. It is understood that the interface circuit 920 can be a transceiver or an input-output interface. Exemplarily, the communication device 900 may also include a memory 930 for storing instructions executed by the processor 910 or storing input data required by the processor 910 to execute instructions or storing data generated after the processor 910 executes instructions.

[0285] When the communication device 900 is used to implement Figure 6 and Figure 7 When the method is shown, the processor 910 is used to implement the function of the above-mentioned processing unit 810, and the interface circuit 920 is used to implement the function of the above-mentioned transceiver unit 820.

[0286] When the above communication device is a chip applied to a terminal device, the terminal device chip implements the functions of the terminal device in the above method embodiment. The terminal device chip receives information sent by the network device to the terminal device through other modules in the terminal device (such as a radio frequency module or an antenna); or, the terminal device chip sends information to other modules in the terminal device (such as a radio frequency module or an antenna), and the information is sent by the terminal device to the network device.

[0287] When the above-mentioned communication device is a module applied to a network device, the network device module implements the function of the network device in the above-mentioned method embodiment. The network device module receives information from other modules in the network device (such as a radio frequency module or an antenna), and the information is sent by the terminal device to the network device; or, the network device module sends information to other modules in the network device (such as a radio frequency module or an antenna), and the information is sent by the network device to the terminal device. The network device module here can be a baseband chip of the network device, or it can be other modules.

[0288] The present application also provides a communication device, which includes a processor. When the communication device is a terminal device, the processor is used to implement the above-mentioned implementation. Figure 6 and Figure 7 The actions performed by the terminal device in the method shown in the figure, when the communication device is a network device, the processor is used to implement the above implementation Figure 6 and Figure 7 Actions performed by the network device in the method shown.

[0289] It is understandable that the processor in the embodiments of the present application may be a central processing unit (CPU), or other general-purpose processors, digital signal processors (DSP), application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC), field programmable gate arrays (FPGA) or other programmable logic devices, transistor logic devices, hardware components or any combination thereof. The general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor or any conventional processor.

[0290] The method steps in the embodiments of the present application can be implemented in hardware, or in software instructions that can be executed by a processor. The software instructions can be composed of corresponding software modules, and the software modules can be stored in random access memory, flash memory, read-only memory, programmable read-only memory, erasable programmable read-only memory, electrically erasable programmable read-only memory, register, hard disk, mobile hard disk, CD-ROM or any other form of storage medium well known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor so that the processor can read information from the storage medium and can write information to the storage medium. The storage medium can also be a component of the processor. The processor and the storage medium can be located in an ASIC. In addition, the ASIC can be located in a network device or a terminal device. The processor and the storage medium can also be present in a network device or a terminal device as discrete components.

[0291] In the above embodiments, it can be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware or any combination thereof. When implemented by 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 programs or instructions. When the computer program or instruction is loaded and executed on a computer, the process or function described in the embodiment of the present application is executed in whole or in part. The computer may be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, a network device, a user device or other programmable device. The computer program or instruction may 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 program or instruction may be transmitted from one website site, computer, server or data center to another website site, computer, server or data center by wired or wireless means. The computer-readable storage medium may be any available medium that a computer can access or a data storage device such as a server, data center, etc. that integrates one or more available media. The available medium may be a magnetic medium, for example, a floppy disk, a hard disk, a tape; it may also be an optical medium, for example, a digital video disc; it may also be a semiconductor medium, for example, a solid-state hard disk. The computer-readable storage medium may be a volatile or nonvolatile storage medium, or may include both volatile and nonvolatile types of storage media.

[0292] In the various embodiments of the present application, unless otherwise specified or provided for in any logical conflict, the terms and / or descriptions between the different embodiments are consistent and may be referenced to each other, and the technical features in the different embodiments may be combined to form new embodiments according to their inherent logical relationships.

[0293] It is understood that the various numbers involved in the embodiments of the present application are only for the convenience of description and are not used to limit the scope of the embodiments of the present application. The size of the sequence number of the above-mentioned processes does not mean the order of execution, and the execution order of each process should be determined by its function and internal logic.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that: include: receiving distance threshold information, where the distance threshold information is used to indicate distance thresholds corresponding to different track types, and / or distance thresholds corresponding to different tracks, and / or distance thresholds corresponding to different cells, where the track is a track of a non-terrestrial network device, and the cell is a non-terrestrial network NTN cell; Determine whether to perform measurement and / or cell reselection according to the distance threshold information.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The distance threshold information is used to indicate distance thresholds corresponding to different cells; and determining whether to perform measurement and / or cell reselection according to the distance threshold information includes: Determine a first distance threshold corresponding to a first cell according to the distance threshold information, wherein the first cell is a neighboring cell of a terminal device; Whether to perform measurement on the first cell and / or whether to reselect to the first cell is determined according to the first distance threshold.

3. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The distance threshold information is used to indicate distance thresholds corresponding to different track types and / or distance thresholds corresponding to different tracks; and determining whether to perform measurement and / or cell reselection according to the distance threshold information includes: Determine, according to the distance threshold information, a second distance threshold corresponding to the track of the non-ground network device corresponding to the first cell, wherein the first cell is a neighboring cell of the terminal device; Whether to perform measurement on the first cell and / or whether to reselect to the first cell is determined according to the second distance threshold.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that: The distance threshold information includes distance thresholds corresponding to different track types, and / or distance thresholds corresponding to different tracks, and / or distance thresholds corresponding to different cells; or, The distance threshold information includes a reference distance threshold, and distance threshold adjustment values ​​corresponding to different track types, and / or distance threshold adjustment values ​​corresponding to different tracks, and / or distance threshold adjustment values ​​corresponding to different cells; wherein the reference distance threshold and the distance threshold adjustment values ​​corresponding to different track types are used to determine the distance thresholds corresponding to different track types, the reference distance threshold and the distance threshold adjustment values ​​corresponding to different tracks are used to determine the distance thresholds corresponding to different tracks, and the reference distance threshold and the distance threshold adjustment values ​​corresponding to different cells are used to determine the distance thresholds corresponding to different cells.

5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that The reference distance threshold is a distance threshold corresponding to the track of the non-ground network device corresponding to the service cell of the terminal device.

6. The method according to any one of claims 3 to 5, characterized in that: The distance threshold information is used to indicate the distance thresholds corresponding to different track types, and the different track types include the same track type and the different track type; wherein: In the case where the track of the non-terrestrial network device corresponding to the first cell is the same as the track of the non-terrestrial network device corresponding to the serving cell of the terminal device, the second distance threshold is the distance threshold corresponding to the same track type; When the orbit of the non-terrestrial network equipment corresponding to the first cell is different from the orbit of the non-terrestrial network equipment corresponding to the service cell of the terminal device, the second distance threshold is the distance threshold corresponding to the different track type.

7. A communication method, characterized in that: The method comprises: Determine, according to the reference distance threshold and the distance threshold calculation relationship, a third distance threshold corresponding to the track of the non-terrestrial network device corresponding to the first cell; the first cell is a neighboring cell of the terminal device, and the first cell is a non-terrestrial network NTN cell; Whether to perform measurement on the first cell and / or whether to reselect to the first cell is determined according to the third distance threshold.

8. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that The distance threshold calculation relationship includes a first corresponding relationship between different latitude ranges of the same-track type and the distance threshold adjustment value, and / or a second corresponding relationship between different latitude ranges of the different-track type and the distance threshold adjustment value, wherein the reference distance threshold and the distance threshold adjustment value are used to determine the third distance threshold.

9. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that The reference distance threshold is a distance threshold used by the terminal device within a first latitude range.

10. The method according to claim 8 or 9, characterized in that: In a case where the orbit of the non-terrestrial network device corresponding to the first cell is the same as the orbit of the non-terrestrial network device corresponding to the service cell of the terminal device, the third distance threshold is determined based on the reference distance threshold, the first corresponding relationship, and the latitude range of the terminal device; and / or, When the orbit of the non-terrestrial network device corresponding to the first cell is different from the orbit of the non-terrestrial network device corresponding to the service cell of the terminal device, the third distance threshold is determined based on the reference distance threshold, the second corresponding relationship, and the latitude range of the terminal device.

11. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that The distance threshold calculation relationship includes a third corresponding relationship between different track spacings and distance threshold adjustment values.

12. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that The reference distance threshold is a distance threshold corresponding to the track of the non-ground network device corresponding to the service cell of the terminal device.

13. The method according to claim 11 or 12, characterized in that: The third distance threshold is determined based on the reference distance threshold, the third corresponding relationship, and the track spacing between the track of the non-terrestrial network device corresponding to the first cell and the track of the non-terrestrial network device corresponding to the service cell of the terminal device.

14. The method according to any one of claims 7 to 13, characterized in that: The reference distance threshold, and / or the distance threshold calculation relationship is predefined, or preconfigured, or configured by an access network device, or configured by a non-terrestrial network device.

15. A communication method, characterized in that: include: Determine distance threshold information, where the distance threshold information is used to indicate distance thresholds corresponding to different track types, and / or distance thresholds corresponding to different tracks, and / or distance thresholds corresponding to different cells, where the track is a track of a non-terrestrial network device, and the cell is a non-terrestrial network NTN cell; The distance threshold information is sent.

16. The method according to claim 15, characterized in that The distance threshold information includes distance thresholds corresponding to different track types, and / or distance thresholds corresponding to different tracks, and / or distance thresholds corresponding to different cells; or, The distance threshold information includes a reference distance threshold, and distance threshold adjustment values ​​corresponding to different track types, and / or distance threshold adjustment values ​​corresponding to different tracks, and / or distance threshold adjustment values ​​corresponding to different cells; wherein the reference distance threshold and the distance threshold adjustment values ​​corresponding to different track types are used to determine the distance thresholds corresponding to different track types, the reference distance threshold and the distance threshold adjustment values ​​corresponding to different tracks are used to determine the distance thresholds corresponding to different tracks, and the reference distance threshold and the distance threshold adjustment values ​​corresponding to different cells are used to determine the distance thresholds corresponding to different cells.

17. The method according to claim 16, characterized in that The reference distance threshold is a distance threshold corresponding to the track of the non-ground network device corresponding to the service cell of the terminal device.

18. A communication method, characterized in that: The method comprises: Determine a reference distance threshold and a distance threshold calculation relationship, wherein the reference distance threshold and the distance threshold calculation relationship are used to determine a third distance threshold corresponding to a track of a non-terrestrial network device corresponding to a first cell; the first cell is a neighboring cell of a terminal device, and the first cell is a non-terrestrial network NTN cell; The reference distance threshold and / or the distance threshold estimation relationship is sent.

19. The method according to claim 18, characterized in that The distance threshold calculation relationship includes a first corresponding relationship between different latitude ranges of the same-track type and the distance threshold adjustment value, and / or a second corresponding relationship between different latitude ranges of the different-track type and the distance threshold adjustment value, wherein the reference distance threshold and the distance threshold adjustment value are used to determine the third distance threshold.

20. The method according to claim 19, characterized in that The reference distance threshold is a distance threshold used by the terminal device within a first latitude range.

21. The method according to claim 19 or 20, characterized in that In a case where the orbit of the non-terrestrial network device corresponding to the first cell is the same as the orbit of the non-terrestrial network device corresponding to the service cell of the terminal device, the third distance threshold is determined based on the reference distance threshold, the first corresponding relationship, and the latitude range of the terminal device; and / or, When the orbit of the non-terrestrial network device corresponding to the first cell is different from the orbit of the non-terrestrial network device corresponding to the service cell of the terminal device, the third distance threshold is determined based on the reference distance threshold, the second corresponding relationship, and the latitude range of the terminal device.

22. The method according to claim 18, characterized in that The distance threshold calculation relationship includes a third corresponding relationship between different track spacings and distance threshold adjustment values.

23. The method according to claim 22, characterized in that The reference distance threshold is a distance threshold corresponding to the track of the non-ground network device corresponding to the service cell of the terminal device.

24. The method according to claim 22 or 23, characterized in that The third distance threshold is determined based on the reference distance threshold, the third corresponding relationship, and the track spacing between the track of the non-terrestrial network device corresponding to the first cell and the track of the non-terrestrial network device corresponding to the service cell of the terminal device.

25. A communication device, comprising a unit or module for executing the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 6, or, comprising a unit or module for executing the method as described in any one of claims 7 to 14, or, comprising a unit or module for executing the method as described in any one of claims 15 to 17, or, comprising a unit or module for executing the method as described in any one of claims 18 to 24.

26. A communication device, characterized in that: Comprising a processor, wherein the processor is used to implement the method as described in any one of claims 1-6, or implement the method as described in any one of claims 7-14, or implement the method as described in any one of claims 15-17, or implement the method as described in any one of claims 18-24.

27. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that: The storage medium stores a computer program or instruction. When the computer program or instruction is executed by the communication device, it implements the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 6, or implements the method as described in any one of claims 7 to 14, or implements the method as described in any one of claims 15 to 17, or implements the method as described in any one of claims 18 to 24.

28. A computer program product, characterized in that Comprising computer program code, when the computer program code is run on a computer, to implement the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 6, or to implement the method as described in any one of claims 7 to 14, or to implement the method as described in any one of claims 15 to 17, or to implement the method as described in any one of claims 18 to 24.

29. A communication system, characterized in that: The invention comprises a communication device for implementing the method described in any one of claims 1 to 6 or any one of claims 7 to 14, and a communication device for implementing the method described in any one of claims 15 to 17 or any one of claims 18 to 24.

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