Communication method and communication device

Abstract

The invention provides a communication method and a communication device, and the method is characterized in that a terminal device receives first information from a first network device, the first information comprises first indication information, the first indication information is used for indicating one or more candidate cells, and the first information is used for activating condition switching of the one or more candidate cells; a service cell currently accessed by the terminal equipment is a first cell, and the first cell belongs to first network equipment; and the terminal equipment determines a target cell according to the first switching condition and the first information, wherein the target cell belongs to the one or more candidate cells. According to the method or the device, the network equipment can activate the condition switching of the specific candidate cell through the activation signaling, so that the switching strategy of the terminal equipment can be quickly adjusted, the candidate cell can be switched, and the reliability of the condition switching of the candidate cell is improved; moreover, the terminal equipment can take whether the TA value of the candidate cell has been acquired as one of the switching conditions, so that the interruption duration of conditional switching can be reduced.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the field of communication technology, and more specifically, to a communication method and a communication device. Background Art

[0002] In a mobile communication system, a terminal device can initiate random access for handover after determining that a pre-configured handover condition is met; after the handover condition is met, the terminal device needs to disconnect from the serving cell and initiate random access to a new cell that meets the condition to complete uplink and downlink synchronization. Before the terminal completes random access, it cannot receive or send any data, so the interruption time of the terminal under this process is relatively long.

[0003] Therefore, how to reduce the interruption duration of terminal devices during condition switching is an urgent problem to be solved. Summary of the invention

[0004] The present application provides a communication method and a communication device, through which a network device can activate conditional switching of a specific candidate cell or activate conditional switching of a specific candidate cell group through activation signaling, thereby quickly adjusting the switching strategy of a terminal device and switching candidate cells, thereby improving the reliability of conditional switching of candidate cells; and, the terminal device uses whether to obtain the TA value of the candidate cell as one of the conditions for conditional switching, thereby reducing the interruption duration of the conditional switching.

[0005] In a first aspect, a communication method is provided, the method comprising: a terminal device receives first information from a first network device, the first information comprising first indication information, the first indication information being used to indicate one or more candidate cells, the first information being used to activate conditional switching of the one or more candidate cells, the service cell currently accessed by the terminal device being a first cell, and the first cell belonging to the first network device; the terminal device determines a target cell based on the first switching condition and the first information, and the target cell belongs to the one or more candidate cells.

[0006] In some embodiments, after determining the target cell, the terminal device switches the current serving cell from the first cell to the target cell.

[0007] In an embodiment of the present application, the network device can activate conditional switching of a specific candidate cell or conditional switching of a specific candidate cell group through activation signaling, thereby quickly adjusting the switching strategy of the terminal device and the switching candidate cell, thereby improving the reliability of conditional switching of the candidate cell.

[0008] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, before the terminal device receives the first information from the first network device, the method also includes: the terminal device receives first configuration information from the first network device, the first configuration information is used to configure the first switching condition for the terminal device, and / or the first configuration information is used to configure the one or more candidate cells for the terminal device.

[0009] In an embodiment of the present application, the network device can configure the switching conditions and candidate cells for conditional switching for the terminal device in advance, so that the subsequent network device can activate the conditional switching of specific candidate cells through activation signaling, thereby enabling rapid adjustment of the switching strategy and switching candidate cells of the terminal device, thereby improving the reliability of conditional switching of the candidate cells.

[0010] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the first switching condition includes that the terminal device has obtained the timing advance TA value of the candidate cell, and / or that the beam quality or reference signal quality of the candidate cell satisfies the first condition.

[0011] In the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device uses whether to obtain the TA value of the candidate cell as one of the conditions for conditional switching, which can reduce the interruption duration of the conditional switching.

[0012] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, determining the target cell based on the first switching condition and the first information includes: respectively obtaining the timing advance TA values ​​of the one or more candidate cells; and determining the candidate cell among the one or more candidate cells that meets the first switching condition as the target cell.

[0013] In some embodiments, respectively obtaining the TA value of the one or more candidate cells includes: the terminal device calculates the TA value of the first candidate cell based on the downlink arrival time difference of the synchronization signal block (SSB) of the first candidate cell; the terminal device receives the TA value of the first candidate cell sent by the first network device; or the terminal device obtains a contention-free random access (CFRA) resource sent by the first network device, and obtains the TA value of the first candidate cell based on the CFRA resource; wherein the one or more candidate cells include the first candidate cell.

[0014] In an embodiment of the present application, before the terminal device executes conditional switching, it obtains the TA value of the candidate cell in advance, and uses whether the terminal device obtains the TA value of the candidate cell as one of the conditions for conditional switching, which can reduce the interruption duration of the conditional switching.

[0015] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the target cell is determined based on the first switching condition and the first information, including: determining the candidate cell for which the TA value needs to be obtained based on one or more of the priority information of the one or more candidate cells, the ability of the terminal device to maintain the timing advance TA value, and the beam measurement results of the one or more candidate cells, the first information also including the priority information of the one or more candidate cells; respectively obtaining the TA values ​​of the candidate cells for which the TA values ​​need to be obtained; and determining the candidate cell among the candidate cells for which the TA values ​​need to be obtained that meets the first switching condition as the target cell.

[0016] In some embodiments, respectively obtaining the TA value of the candidate cell for which the TA value needs to be obtained includes: the terminal device calculates the TA value of the first candidate cell based on the downlink arrival time difference of the synchronization signal block (SSB) of the first candidate cell; the terminal device receives the TA value of the first candidate cell sent by the first network device; or the terminal device obtains the contention-free random access (CFRA) resources sent by the first network device, and obtains the TA value of the first candidate cell based on the CFRA resources; wherein, or the candidate cell for which the TA value needs to be obtained includes the first candidate cell.

[0017] In an embodiment of the present application, the terminal device does not need to obtain the TA value of each candidate cell in the candidate cells, but first determines the candidate cell whose TA value needs to be obtained based on information such as the priority of the candidate cell or the ability information of the terminal device to maintain the TA value. In this way, the power consumption overhead of the terminal device can be saved, and the efficiency of conditional switching can be improved, thereby further reducing the interruption duration of conditional switching.

[0018] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the first information also includes TA value acquisition information, which respectively acquires the TA value of the one or more candidate cells, or respectively acquires the TA value of the candidate cell that needs to acquire the TA value, including: acquiring the TA value of the one or more candidate cells according to the TA value acquisition information, or acquiring the TA value of the candidate cell that needs to acquire the TA value according to the TA value acquisition information.

[0019] In some embodiments, the TA value acquisition information includes the TA value of a first candidate cell; the TA value acquisition information indicates a CFRA resource used to acquire the TA value of the first candidate cell; or the TA value acquisition information is used to indicate that the terminal device autonomously acquires the TA value of the first candidate cell, wherein the one or more candidate cells include the first candidate cell, or the candidate cell that needs to acquire the TA value includes the first candidate cell.

[0020] In an embodiment of the present application, the terminal device can obtain the TA value of the candidate cell from the network device, so that the terminal device can obtain the TA value of the candidate cell in advance before performing conditional switching, thereby using whether the terminal device obtains the TA value of the candidate cell as one of the conditions for conditional switching to reduce the interruption duration of the conditional switching.

[0021] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the first information also includes one or more candidate beam identifiers or reference signal identifiers corresponding to each of the one or more candidate cells, and one or more uplink resource identifiers corresponding one-to-one to the one or more candidate beam identifiers or reference signal identifiers.

[0022] In some embodiments, one or more candidate beam identifiers or reference signal identifiers are used by a terminal device to determine one or more candidate beams or reference signals, and then to determine a target beam or target reference signal from the one or more candidate beams, and then perform switching of the current service cell through the uplink resources corresponding to the target beam or target reference signal and the target beam or target reference signal.

[0023] In a second aspect, a communication method is provided, including: a first network device sends first information to a terminal device, the first information includes first indication information, the first indication information is used to indicate one or more candidate cells, the first information is used to activate conditional switching of the one or more candidate cells, and the first information is also used to indicate the terminal device to determine a target cell according to the first switching condition and the first information, the target cell belongs to the one or more candidate cells, the service cell currently accessed by the terminal device is a first cell, and the first cell belongs to the first network device.

[0024] In some embodiments, after determining the target cell, the terminal device switches the current serving cell from the first cell to the target cell.

[0025] In an embodiment of the present application, the network device can activate conditional switching of a specific candidate cell or conditional switching of a specific candidate cell group through activation signaling, thereby quickly adjusting the switching strategy of the terminal device and the switching candidate cell, thereby improving the reliability of conditional switching of the candidate cell.

[0026] In combination with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, before the first network device sends the first information to the terminal device, the method also includes: the first network device sends first configuration information to the terminal device, the first configuration information is used to configure the first switching condition for the terminal device, and / or the first configuration information is used to configure the one or more candidate cells for the terminal device.

[0027] In an embodiment of the present application, the network device can configure the switching conditions and candidate cells for conditional switching for the terminal device in advance, so that the subsequent network device can activate the conditional switching of specific candidate cells through activation signaling, thereby enabling rapid adjustment of the switching strategy and switching candidate cells of the terminal device, thereby improving the reliability of conditional switching of the candidate cells.

[0028] In combination with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the first switching condition includes that the terminal device has obtained the timing advance TA value of the candidate cell, and / or that the beam quality or reference signal quality of the candidate cell satisfies the first condition.

[0029] In the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device uses whether to obtain the TA value of the candidate cell as one of the conditions for conditional switching, which can reduce the interruption duration of the conditional switching.

[0030] In combination with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the first information also includes priority information of the one or more candidate cells, and the first information is specifically used to instruct the terminal device to determine the target cell based on the first switching condition and the priority information of the one or more candidate cells.

[0031] In an embodiment of the present application, the terminal device does not need to obtain the TA value of each candidate cell in the candidate cells, but first determines the candidate cell whose TA value needs to be obtained based on information such as the priority of the candidate cell. In this way, the power consumption overhead of the terminal device can be saved, and the efficiency of conditional switching can be improved, thereby further reducing the interruption duration of conditional switching.

[0032] In combination with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the first information also includes TA value acquisition information, and the TA value acquisition information is used to indicate the resource or method for the terminal device to acquire the TA value of the candidate cell.

[0033] In some embodiments, the TA value acquisition information includes the TA value of a first candidate cell; the TA value acquisition information indicates a contention-free random access (CFRA) resource for acquiring the TA value of the first candidate cell; or the TA value acquisition information is used to instruct the terminal device to autonomously acquire the TA value of the first candidate cell; wherein the one or more candidate cells include the first candidate cell.

[0034] In an embodiment of the present application, the terminal device can obtain the TA value of the candidate cell from the network device, so that the terminal device can obtain the TA value of the candidate cell in advance before performing conditional switching, thereby using whether the terminal device obtains the TA value of the candidate cell as one of the conditions for conditional switching to reduce the interruption duration of the conditional switching.

[0035] In combination with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the first information also includes one or more candidate beam identifiers or reference signal identifiers corresponding to each of the one or more candidate cells, and one or more uplink resource identifiers corresponding one-to-one to the one or more candidate beam identifiers or reference signal identifiers.

[0036] In some embodiments, one or more candidate beam identifiers or reference signal identifiers are used by a terminal device to determine one or more candidate beams or reference signals, and then to determine a target beam or target reference signal from the one or more candidate beams or reference signals, and then perform switching of the current service cell through the uplink resources corresponding to the target beam or target reference signal and the target beam or target reference signal.

[0037] In a third aspect, a communication device is provided, comprising: a processor coupled to a memory, the memory being used to store a computer program, the processor being used to run the computer program, so that the communication device executes the method in the above-mentioned first aspect and any possible implementation thereof.

[0038] In a fourth aspect, a communication device is provided, comprising: a processor coupled to a memory, the memory being used to store a computer program, the processor being used to run the computer program, so that the communication device executes the method in the above-mentioned second aspect and any possible implementation thereof.

[0039] In a fifth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, on which a computer program is stored. When the computer program is executed by a computer, the computer executes any communication method that can be implemented in the first aspect and any one of the first aspect, or the second aspect and any one of the second aspect.

[0040] In a sixth aspect, a computer program product comprising instructions is provided. When the computer program product is run on a computer, the computer executes any communication method that can be implemented in the first aspect and any one of the first aspect, or the second aspect and any one of the second aspect.

[0041] In the seventh aspect, a chip is provided, which includes a processor and a data interface, and the processor reads instructions stored in a memory through the data interface to execute any communication method that can be implemented in the above-mentioned first aspect and any one of the first aspects, or the second aspect and any one of the second aspects.

[0042] In combination with the seventh aspect, in one possible implementation, the processor is coupled to the memory via an interface.

[0043] In combination with the seventh aspect, in a possible implementation, the chip system also includes a memory, in which a computer program or computer instructions are stored. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0044] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of a scenario provided in an embodiment of the present application.

[0045] Figure 2 The following is a schematic flow chart of an L1 / L2 switching method introduced in Release-18.

[0046] Figure 3 This is an interactive diagram of the conditional switching method introduced in Release-16.

[0047] Figure 4 It is a schematic flow chart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application.

[0048] Figure 5 This is a schematic flow chart of another communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application.

[0049] Figure 6 It is a schematic block diagram of a communication device of the present application.

[0050] Figure 7 It is a schematic block diagram of a terminal device of the present application.

[0051] Figure 8 It is a schematic block diagram of another communication device of the present application.

[0052] Fig. 9 It is a schematic block diagram of a network device of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0053] The technical solution in this application will be described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

[0054] The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application can be applied to various communication systems, for example: global system for mobile communications (GSM) system, code division multiple access (CDMA) system, wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) system, general packet radio service (GPRS), long term evolution (LTE) system, LTE frequency division duplex (FDD) system, LTE time division duplex (TDD), universal mobile telecommunication system (UMTS), worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) communication system, future fifth generation (5G) system or new radio (NR), etc.

[0055] The terminal equipment (UE) involved in the embodiments of the present application may include various handheld devices with wireless communication functions, vehicle-mounted devices, wearable devices, computing devices, or other processing devices connected to a wireless modem. The terminal equipment may be a mobile station (MS), a subscriber unit, a cellular phone, a smart phone, a wireless data card, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a tablet computer, a wireless modem, a handheld device (handset), a laptop computer, a machine type communication (MTC) terminal, etc., and the embodiments of the present application are not limited to this.

[0056] The network device in the embodiment of the present application may also be referred to as an access network device, and the network device may be a base station (base transceiver station, BTS) in a global system for mobile communications (GSM) system or code division multiple access (code division multiple access, CDMA), or a base station (NodeB, NB) in a wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) system, or an evolved NodeB (eNB or eNodeB) in an LTE system, or a wireless controller in a cloud radio access network (CRAN) scenario, or the network device may be a relay station, an access point, a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, and a network device in a future 5G network or a network device in a future evolved PLMN network, for example, a transmission point (TRP or TP) in an NR system, a base station (gNB) in an NR system, one or a group (including multiple antenna panels) of antenna panels of a base station in a 5G system, etc. The embodiment of the present application is not particularly limited to this.

[0057] The embodiments of the present application do not particularly limit the specific structure of the execution subject of the method provided by the embodiments of the present application. As long as it is possible to communicate according to the method provided by the embodiments of the present application by running a program that records the code of the method provided by the embodiments of the present application, for example, the execution subject of the method provided by the embodiments of the present application may be a terminal device or a network device, or a functional module in the terminal device or the network device that can call and execute the program.

[0058] In addition, various aspects or features of the present application can be implemented as methods, devices or products using standard programming and / or engineering techniques. The term "product" used in this application covers computer programs that can be accessed from any computer-readable device, carrier or medium. For example, computer-readable media may include, but are not limited to: magnetic storage devices (e.g., hard disks, floppy disks or tapes, etc.), optical disks (e.g., compact discs (CDs), digital versatile discs (DVDs), etc.), smart cards and flash memory devices (e.g., erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), cards, sticks or key drives, etc.). In addition, the various storage media described herein may represent one or more devices and / or other machine-readable media for storing information. The term "machine-readable medium" may include, but is not limited to, wireless channels and various other media capable of storing, containing and / or carrying instructions and / or data.

[0059] The following introduces the technical terms involved in the embodiments of the present application.

[0060] Beam: A beam is a communication resource. A beam can be a wide beam, a narrow beam, or other types of beams. The technology for forming a beam can be beamforming technology or other technical means. Beamforming technology can be specifically digital beamforming technology, analog beamforming technology, and hybrid digital / analog beamforming technology. Different beams can be considered as different resources. The same information or different information can be sent through different beams. Optionally, multiple beams with the same or similar communication characteristics can be regarded as a beam. A beam can include one or more antenna ports for transmitting data channels, control channels, and detection signals. For example, a transmit beam can refer to the distribution of signal strength in different directions in space after the signal is transmitted by the antenna, and a receive beam can refer to the distribution of signal strength of wireless signals received from the antenna in different directions in space. It can be understood that one or more antenna ports that form a beam can also be regarded as an antenna port set.

[0061] When using low-frequency or medium-frequency bands, signals can be sent omnidirectionally or through a wider angle. When using high-frequency bands, thanks to the smaller carrier wavelength of the high-frequency communication system, an antenna array consisting of many antenna elements can be arranged at the transmitting and receiving ends. The transmitting end sends the signal with a certain beamforming weight so that the transmitted signal forms a beam with spatial directivity. At the same time, the receiving end uses an antenna array with a certain beamforming weight for reception, which can increase the received power of the signal at the receiving end and combat path loss.

[0062] Reference signal (RS): According to the Long Term Evolution LTE / NR protocol, at the physical layer, uplink communication includes the transmission of uplink physical channels and uplink signals. Uplink physical channels include random access channel (PRACH), uplink control channel (physical uplink control channel, PUCCH), uplink data channel (physical uplink shared channel, PUSCH), etc. Uplink signals include channel sounding signal SRS, uplink control channel demodulation reference signal (PUCCH de-modulation reference signal, PUCCH-DMRS), uplink data channel demodulation reference signal PUSCH-DMRS, uplink phase noise tracking signal (phase noise tracking reference signal, PTRS), uplink positioning signal (uplink positioning RS), etc. Downlink communication includes the transmission of downlink physical channels and downlink signals. The downlink physical channels include physical broadcast channel (PBCH), physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), etc. The downlink signals include primary synchronization signal (PSS) / secondary synchronization signal (SSS), downlink control channel demodulation reference signal PDCCH-DMRS, downlink data channel demodulation reference signal PDSCH-DMRS, phase noise tracking signal PTRS, channel status information reference signal (CSI-RS), cell signal (CRS) (NR does not have), time / frequency tracking reference signal (TRS) (LTE does not have), LTE / NR positioning signal (positioning RS), etc.

[0063] Timing Alignment (TA): Timing alignment is used for UE uplink transmission, which means that the UE sends data packets in advance according to the corresponding instructions. The timing advance command (TAC) is sent by the base station to the UE to inform the UE of the time size of the timing advance. An important feature of uplink transmission is that different UEs have orthogonal multiple access in time and frequency, that is, the uplink transmissions of different UEs in the same cell do not interfere with each other. In order to ensure the orthogonality of uplink transmission and avoid interference within the cell, TRP requires that the time when the signals from different UEs in the same subframe but different frequency domain resources arrive at the TRP is basically aligned. As long as the TRP receives the uplink data sent by the UE within the cyclic prefix (CP) range, it can correctly decode the uplink data. Therefore, uplink synchronization requires that the time when the signals from different UEs in the same subframe arrive at the TRP falls within the CP. From the UE side, TA is essentially a negative offset between the start time of receiving the downlink subframe and the time of transmitting the uplink subframe. TRP can control the time when the uplink signals from different UEs arrive at the TRP by properly controlling the offset of each UE. For UEs that are farther away from the TRP, due to the larger transmission delay, they need to send uplink data earlier than UEs that are closer to the TRP.

[0064] Transmission configuration indication (TCI): The upper layers in the protocol configure quasi-co-location (QCL) through TCI-State. The parameters of TCI-State are used to configure the quasi-co-location relationship between one or two downlink reference signals and the DMRS of PDSCH. TCI is the field in DCI used to indicate the quasi-co-location of PDSCH antenna ports.

[0065] TCI is configured by RRC and is called TCI-state in the configuration signaling. After RRC configuration, the base station sends a medium access control-control element (MAC-CE) to activate one or more TCI states. The base station can further send DCI to indicate one of the multiple activated TCIs.

[0066] TCI includes one or two QCL relationships. QCL represents a certain consistency relationship between the signal / channel currently to be received and a previously known reference signal. If a QCL relationship exists, the UE can inherit the receiving or sending parameters when previously receiving a reference signal to receive or send the upcoming signal / channel.

[0067] If the TCI status contains information identified as QCL Type-D, the TCI can be used to indicate the beam. QCLType-A / B / C is used to indicate information such as time domain and frequency domain offsets, but does not include spatial domain information. It is generally used to assist terminals in data reception and demodulation.

[0068] In the standard Rel-17 version, TCI is further divided into uplink TCI and downlink / joint TCI, where the uplink TCIstate includes a reference signal, and the UE determines the spatial domain filter for uplink transmission based on the spatial domain filter received from the reference signal.

[0069] Quasi-co-location (QCL): The co-location relationship is used to indicate that multiple resources have one or more identical or similar communication characteristics. For multiple resources with a co-location relationship, the same or similar communication configuration can be used. For example, if two antenna ports have a co-location relationship, the large-scale characteristics of the channel for transmitting a symbol on one port can be inferred from the large-scale characteristics of the channel for transmitting a symbol on the other port. The large-scale characteristics may include: delay spread, average delay, Doppler spread, Doppler shift, average gain, receiving parameters, terminal device receiving beam number, transmit / receive channel correlation, receive arrival angle, receiver antenna spatial correlation, main arrival angle (Angle-of-Arrival, AoA), average arrival angle, AoA extension, etc. Specifically, the co-location indication is used to indicate whether the at least two groups of antenna ports have a co-location relationship: the co-location indication is used to indicate whether the channel state information reference signals sent by the at least two groups of antenna ports are from the same transmission point, or the co-location indication is used to indicate whether the channel state information reference signals sent by the at least two groups of antenna ports are from the same beam group.

[0070] Figure 1 A schematic block diagram of a wireless communication system 100 according to an embodiment of the present application is shown. The wireless communication system 100 includes at least two cells, for example, a serving cell belonging to a first network device 110 and a candidate cell belonging to a second network device 120. When a terminal device 130 moves from a serving cell to a candidate cell, a handover may occur, that is, switching from a serving cell to a candidate cell.

[0071] It should be noted that when the terminal device switches to a candidate cell, the candidate cell can be understood as a new service cell, and the original service cell can be understood as a new candidate cell.

[0072] It should be understood that the candidate cell may be a neighboring cell of the serving cell. In the embodiments of the present application, "first", "second", "third", "fourth", etc. are only for distinction, and the first, second, third, and fourth are not intended to limit the embodiments of the present application.

[0073] It should be understood that in the embodiment of the present application, a network device may have one or more cells. The serving cell and the candidate cell may also belong to the same network device, that is, the first network device and the second network device may be the same network device. In this case, the terminal device performs a handover within the network device.

[0074] Optionally, the serving cell and the candidate cell may also belong to different network devices, that is, the first network device and the second network device may be different network devices. In this case, the terminal device performs a handover between network devices.

[0075] It should be noted that the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application can take a single network device and a terminal device as an example, and the network device can transmit data or control signaling to the terminal device.

[0076] Specifically, based on the configuration information of the network device, the terminal device can report the measurement result of the reference signal for switching the service beam of the terminal. Each cell (including the serving cell and the candidate cell) can be configured with multiple carriers.

[0077] like Figure 1 As shown, the current terminal device 130 is controlled by the first network device of the serving cell, and the first network device controls the terminal device to switch to the candidate cell by sending a switching message. Currently, the first network device triggers the random access channel (RACH) initiated by the terminal device to the candidate cell through a downlink control channel (physical downlink control channel, PDCCH), which requires the use of downlink control indication (DCI) signaling.

[0078] In the traditional switching method, the network equipment chooses the switching time. In the switching process currently used by 5G, the measurements before switching (reporting of neighboring area measurement results) and the issuance of switching commands use radio resource control (RRC) signaling (RRC layer is a high layer, also called layer 3 / L3).

[0079] On the basis of the traditional switching mode, the physical (Physical, PHY) layer / media (medium) access control (MAC) layer (L1 / L2) switching is introduced in Release-18, that is, the terminal device reports the neighboring cell measurement result to the network device through L1 signaling, and the network device uses L2 signaling to send a switching command to the terminal device (that is, the switching command can be carried by MAC CE), triggering the terminal device to switch the serving cell. For example, Figure 2 A schematic interaction diagram corresponding to the switching process is shown.

[0080] like Figure 2 As shown, the switching process includes the following steps:

[0081] S201: The terminal device reports the measurement result of the reference signal of the candidate cell to the serving cell.

[0082] S202: The serving cell sends a random access resource request to the candidate cell.

[0083] S203: The candidate cell sends a random access resource request response to the serving cell, where the random access resource request response includes a random access resource corresponding to the candidate cell.

[0084] S204: The serving cell sends the random access resource to the terminal device.

[0085] S205: The terminal device sends a random access preamble to the candidate cell. The random access preamble is used to measure the candidate cell and obtain a timing alignment (TA) value of the terminal device in the candidate cell.

[0086] S206: The candidate cell sends the TA value of the terminal device in the candidate cell to the serving cell.

[0087] S207: The serving cell sends a handover command to the terminal device using L2 signaling, where the handover command includes the TA value of the terminal device in the candidate cell.

[0088] S208: The terminal device switches the currently connected service cell to the neighboring cell according to the switching command.

[0089] In this method, the terminal device reports the measurement results of the reference signal of the candidate cell to the network device through L1 signaling, and the network device uses L2 signaling to send a switching command to the terminal device, which can reduce the delay of signaling processing and improve the switching performance; however, the network device selects the switching timing, and there is a delay in the network device sending the switching command, which can easily lead to switching delays, resulting in a longer interruption time of the terminal device during conditional switching.

[0090] In Release-16 of 5G (NR), the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) introduced conditional handover (CHO): allowing the terminal device to decide whether to perform handover when one or more handover execution conditions are met. That is, the subject of selecting the handover timing is changed from the network device to the terminal device. For example, Figure 3 A schematic interaction diagram corresponding to the switching process is shown.

[0091] like Figure 3 As shown, the switching process includes the following steps:

[0092] S301: The terminal device reports the neighboring cell measurement result to the serving cell.

[0093] S302: The serving cell determines that the neighboring cell measurement result reported by the terminal device meets the handover preparation condition.

[0094] S303: The serving cell sends a handover resource request message to the neighboring cell, where the handover resource request message is used to request configuration information required for handover.

[0095] S304: Determine a handover resource, which is carried by RRC signaling.

[0096] S305: The neighboring cell sends a handover resource request reply message to the serving cell, where the handover resource request reply message includes the handover resources of the neighboring cell.

[0097] S306: The serving cell sends the switching conditions and switching resources corresponding to the neighboring cell to the terminal device.

[0098] S307: The terminal device determines whether to switch the currently connected service cell to a neighboring cell according to the switching conditions.

[0099] S308: When the terminal device determines to switch the currently connected service cell to the neighboring cell according to the switching condition, the currently connected service cell is switched to the neighboring cell based on the switching resources of the neighboring cell.

[0100] In this method, the network device pre-configures one or more switching commands and switching conditions for the terminal device. After the terminal device satisfies any pre-configured switching condition through measurement, it initiates random access for switching. Although this method changes the subject of selecting the switching timing from the network device to the terminal device, the measurement before switching and the issuance of the switching command in this method use RRC signaling, which is not conducive to reducing the delay of signaling processing. In addition, the switching condition of this method is a comparison of the measurement results of the current service cell and the neighboring cell at the cell level. There is a certain delay in the switching decision on the network side, and the interruption time of the terminal device during conditional switching is relatively long. In addition, after the switching condition is met, the terminal device needs to disconnect from the service cell and initiate random access to the new cell that meets the conditions to complete uplink and downlink synchronization. Before the terminal completes random access, the terminal cannot receive or send any data, so the terminal interruption time under this process is relatively long.

[0101] In summary, the terminal device decides whether to perform conditional switching based on the L1 measurement results. Combined with the L1 / L2 triggered mobility (LTM) in R18, the biggest gain of this method comes from completing the uplink and downlink synchronization of the candidate cells before switching, and even beam management.

[0102] However, when the terminal device selects the target switching cell and determines the switching timing, the switching interruption duration is not taken into consideration. When the switching interruption duration is long, it is likely to affect the switching process of the terminal device, thereby affecting the switching efficiency of the terminal device.

[0103] In view of the above problems, a communication method and a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application incorporate the interruption duration of switching into the decision conditions for conditional switching of the terminal device, so that the conditional switching process of the terminal device has higher reliability. At the same time, it can also reduce the interruption duration of the conditional switching of the terminal device and improve the switching efficiency of the terminal device.

[0104] In the following, for the sake of ease of understanding and explanation, the execution process and actions of the communication method in the present application in the communication system are described as an example rather than a limitation.

[0105] like Figure 4 As shown, a schematic flow chart of a communication method 400 provided in an embodiment of the present application is shown. Figure 4 The method shown can be applied to Figure 1 In the communication system shown in FIG. Figure 4 As shown, the method 400 includes:

[0106] S401, a terminal device receives first information, and correspondingly, a first network device sends first information.

[0107] Among them, the first information includes first indication information, and the first indication information is used to indicate one or more candidate cells. Optionally, the first information can also be used to activate conditional switching of the one or more candidate cells. The service cell currently accessed by the terminal device is the first cell, and the first cell belongs to the first network device.

[0108] Optionally, before S401, a step may also be included: the terminal device receives the first configuration information, and accordingly, the first network device sends the first configuration information.

[0109] The first configuration information is used to configure a cell group and / or a first switching condition for the terminal device.

[0110] The cell group includes the one or more candidate cells, and specifically may be identifiers of the one or more candidate cells, and the first switching condition is used to trigger conditional switching of the one or more candidate cells.

[0111] In some embodiments, the first switching condition may be a comparison between a measurement result of a specific reference signal of the candidate cell and a preconfigured threshold, or may be a comparison between a beam measurement result of the serving cell and a preconfigured threshold. For example, the first switching condition may be a measurement result of a synchronization signal block (SSB) #1 of the candidate cell #1, the reference signal receiving power (RSRP) being greater than a preconfigured threshold by X dBm, where X is an arbitrary real number. In this embodiment, the first information or the first configuration information may include one or more of the following information: a candidate cell identifier, an identifier of one or more reference signals of the candidate cell, one or more thresholds corresponding to one or more reference signals of the candidate cell, an identifier of one or more reference signals of the serving cell, and one or more thresholds corresponding to one or more reference signals of the serving cell.

[0112] In a possible implementation, the protocol defines a method for calculating cell quality based on physical layer beam-level or reference signal-level measurement results, such as averaging the measurement results of multiple beams to obtain cell quality. In this implementation, the first switching condition may be a comparison between the cell-level measurement result of the candidate cell and a preconfigured threshold, or a comparison between the cell-level measurement result of the candidate cell and the cell-level measurement result of the serving cell. It should be understood that the "average" in this embodiment is only an example, and in actual implementation, it may also be other calculation methods defined by the protocol or configured by the network, such as weighted average.

[0113] S402: The terminal device determines a target cell according to the first information and the first switching condition.

[0114] The target cell belongs to one or more candidate cells, wherein the first switching condition includes that the terminal device has obtained the TA value of the candidate cell, and / or the beam quality of the candidate cell satisfies the first condition.

[0115] In one example, if the terminal device has obtained (or maintained) the TA value of the first candidate cell, and / or the reference signal measurement result of the first candidate cell meets the first condition, the first candidate cell is determined to be the target cell, and the first candidate cell belongs to one or more candidate cells.

[0116] In some embodiments, the reference signal measurement result of the candidate cell satisfies the first condition may be that the reference signal measurement result of the candidate cell is greater than or equal to the sum of the reference signal measurement value of the first cell and a first preset value.

[0117] In some embodiments, the first information also includes priority information of one or more candidate cells, and the terminal device determines the target cell based on the first information and the first switching condition. Specifically, it can be: the terminal device determines the target cell from the one or more candidate cells based on the priority information of one or more candidate cells and the first switching condition.

[0118] In some embodiments, the first information or the first configuration information further includes reference signal measurement times information N belonging to the first switching condition. For example, the terminal device needs to determine that the first condition is met only after the result of N consecutive measurements of the reference signal of the candidate cell is greater than or equal to the sum of the reference signal measurement value of the first cell and the first preset value.

[0119] In one example, if the terminal device has obtained (or maintained) the TA values ​​of N candidate cells, and the reference signal measurement results of the N candidate cells meet the first condition, the terminal device determines the candidate cell with the highest priority among the N candidate cells as the target cell, where the N candidate cells belong to one or more candidate cells.

[0120] In one example, if N candidate cells among one or more candidate cells have TA values ​​obtained by the terminal device, and / or the reference signal measurement result meets the first condition, the terminal device determines the candidate cell with the highest priority among the N candidate cells as the target cell. It should be noted that the target cell belongs to the first network device, or the target cell belongs to the second network device. The target cell and the first cell can be neighboring cells of each other. If the terminal device switches from the first cell to the target cell, the target cell can be understood as the service cell after the terminal device switches.

[0121] It should be understood that when the target cell belongs to the first network device, it corresponds to the scenario in which the terminal device in the first network device switches between cells; when the target cell belongs to the second network device, it corresponds to the scenario in which the terminal device between multiple network devices switches between cells.

[0122] In some embodiments, the first indication information indicates one or more candidate cells through a logical identifier configured by the LTM. Optionally, the first indication information may also indicate a serving cell through a logical identifier configured by the LTM.

[0123] It should be understood that the network device can configure at least one cell or cell group for the terminal device as a candidate cell to be switched by the terminal device. At the same time, the network device configures identifiers for these cells or cell groups, which can be understood as logical identifiers, and can be different from the cell identifier or the cell physical identifier (PCI). The service cell accessed by the terminal device can also be used as a candidate cell and is associated with the identifier of the candidate cell. Generally speaking, the service cell configuration as a candidate cell can be used in scenarios where the terminal device continuously switches between cells, that is, after the terminal device switches from the currently accessed service cell to other candidate cells, it can switch back to the original service cell without reconfiguration.

[0124] Furthermore, the terminal device may send a random access request message to the target cell according to the first information and the first switching condition.

[0125] In an embodiment of the present application, before conditional switching, the network device sends information to activate conditional switching to the terminal device. By activating conditional switching of a specific candidate cell, the network device can quickly control and adjust the switching strategy of the terminal device and the switching candidate cell, which can make the conditional switching of the candidate cell more reliable; and before executing the conditional switching, the TA value of the candidate cell is obtained in advance, and whether the terminal device obtains the TA value of the candidate cell is used as one of the conditions for conditional switching, which can reduce the interruption duration of the conditional switching.

[0126] For example, in Figure 4 Based on the embodiment shown, Figure 5 A schematic flow chart of another communication method 500 provided in an embodiment of the present application is shown. Figure 5 The method shown can be applied to Figure 1 In the communication system shown in FIG. Figure 5 As shown, the method 500 includes:

[0127] S501: The terminal device receives first configuration information, and correspondingly, the first network device sends the first configuration information.

[0128] The first configuration information is used to configure a cell group and / or a first switching condition for the terminal device.

[0129] The cell group includes one or more candidate cells, which may specifically be identifiers of the one or more candidate cells, and the first switching condition is used to trigger conditional switching of the one or more candidate cells.

[0130] The explanation of the first switching condition is in Figure 4 The illustrated embodiment has been described in detail and will not be described again here for the sake of brevity.

[0131] S502, the terminal device receives the first information, and correspondingly, the first network device sends the first information.

[0132] Among them, the first information includes first indication information, and the first indication information is used to indicate one or more candidate cells. Optionally, the first information can also be used to activate conditional switching of the one or more candidate cells. The service cell currently accessed by the terminal device is the first cell, and the first cell belongs to the first network device.

[0133] In some embodiments, the first information further includes priority information of one or more candidate cells.

[0134] In an example, the priority information of the one or more candidate cells may be implicit priority indication information, for example, the priority of the one or more candidate cells may be indicated by the ranking of the one or more candidate cells included in the first information.

[0135] In another example, the priority information of the one or more candidate cells may be explicit priority indication information, for example, it may directly indicate the priority identifier or index of the one or more candidate cells, for example, the configured identifier or index decreases in priority from small to large.

[0136] In some embodiments, the first information may also include one or more candidate beams or reference signal identifiers corresponding to each of the one or more candidate cells, and one or more uplink resource identifiers corresponding to the one or more candidate beam identifiers or reference signal identifiers. The candidate beams or reference signals, and the uplink resources corresponding to the candidate beams or reference signals are used for sending uplink information in the target cell after the terminal device switches from the current serving cell to the target cell.

[0137] In some embodiments, the first information may further include TA value acquisition information of one or more candidate cells, where the TA value acquisition information is used to indicate a resource or method for acquiring a TA value, wherein the TA value acquisition information may be, for example, any one or more of the following information:

[0138] (1) a TA value of the candidate cell, that is, the first information may directly include the TA value of the candidate cell;

[0139] Among them, the TA value of the candidate cell can also be described as the TA value of the terminal device in the candidate cell. After obtaining the TA value of the candidate cell, the terminal device can determine the uplink sending timing in the candidate cell after switching from the current serving cell to the candidate cell based on the TA value.

[0140] (2) signaling for indicating the TA value of the candidate cell, such as MAC CE signaling;

[0141] (3) Information indicating contention-free random access (CFRA) resources, where the CFRA resources are used to obtain the TA value of the candidate cell. For example, the CFRA resources may be a preamble ID, a SSB index, a mask index, etc.;

[0142] (4) Information used to instruct the terminal device to independently obtain the TA value of the candidate cell. The information may be, for example, a specific field or an identifier of a downlink reference signal used to instruct the terminal device to measure timing. The information may also include a downlink transmission time difference between the serving cell and the candidate cell, or may include a compensation value for the terminal device to independently obtain the TA value of the candidate cell.

[0143] S503, the terminal device obtains the TA value of one or more candidate cells.

[0144] In some embodiments, the terminal device respectively obtains the TA value of each candidate cell in one or more candidate cells. Specifically, taking the first candidate cell in the one or more candidate cells as an example, if the terminal device does not maintain the TA value of the first candidate cell, the terminal device obtains the TA value of the first candidate cell. For example: the terminal device calculates the TA value of the first candidate cell based on the SSB downlink arrival time difference corresponding to the first candidate cell.

[0145] In some further embodiments, the first information includes priority information of one or more candidate cells. The terminal device determines one or more candidate cells (for example, the candidate cells ranked at the top of the priority list) from the one or more candidate cells whose TA values ​​need to be obtained based on the priority information of the one or more candidate cells. The terminal device further obtains the TA values ​​of the one or more candidate cells whose TA values ​​need to be obtained.

[0146] In some further embodiments, the terminal device determines one or more candidate cells whose TA values ​​need to be obtained from the one or more candidate cells based on its own ability to maintain the TA values ​​of the candidate cells (for example, this may be determined randomly or in combination with the beam quality or reference signal quality measurement results of the one or more candidate cells), and the terminal device further obtains the TA values ​​of the one or more candidate cells for which the TA values ​​need to be obtained.

[0147] In some further embodiments, the first information includes priority information of one or more candidate cells. The terminal device determines one or more candidate cells whose TA values ​​need to be obtained from the one or more candidate cells (for example, they may be candidate cells with the top priorities determined within the capability range) based on the priority information of the one or more candidate cells and the terminal device's own ability to maintain the TA values ​​of the candidate cells. The terminal device further obtains the TA values ​​of the one or more candidate cells whose TA values ​​need to be obtained.

[0148] Among them, the terminal device obtains the TA value of the candidate cell, which can be the TA value of the candidate cell calculated by the terminal device according to the SSB downlink arrival time difference corresponding to the candidate cell; it can also be that the terminal device directly receives the TA value of the candidate cell; it can also be that the terminal device obtains a CFRA resource for obtaining the TA value of the candidate cell, and further obtains the TA value of the candidate cell based on the CFRA resource.

[0149] In some embodiments, if the terminal device cannot obtain the TA value of the candidate cell, the candidate cell will not be used as a candidate cell for conditional switching, that is, the candidate cell will not be determined as a target cell for conditional switching.

[0150] In some further embodiments, the first information includes TA value acquisition information of one or more candidate cells, and the terminal device acquires the TA value of the candidate cell. The terminal device may acquire the TA value of the candidate cell according to the TA value acquisition information.

[0151] In one example, taking the first candidate cell among one or more candidate cells as an example, if the TA value acquisition information does not include the TA value acquisition information of the first candidate cell, the first candidate cell will not be used as a candidate cell for conditional switching, that is, the first candidate cell will not be determined as the target cell for conditional switching.

[0152] The explanation of the TA value acquisition information is described in detail in S502, and will not be repeated here for the sake of brevity.

[0153] S504: The terminal device determines a target cell according to the first switching condition.

[0154] In some embodiments, the terminal device determines a target cell from candidate cells for which TA values ​​need to be obtained according to a first switching condition.

[0155] In one example, the terminal device determines as a target cell the candidate cell whose TA value has been obtained by the terminal device and / or whose beam quality measurement result or reference signal measurement result meets the first condition among the candidate cells for which the TA value needs to be obtained.

[0156] In another example, the terminal device determines the candidate cell with the highest priority as the target cell among the candidate cells for which the terminal device needs to obtain the TA value and whose TA values ​​have been obtained by the terminal device and / or whose beam quality measurement results or reference signal measurement results meet the first condition.

[0157] In some further embodiments, the terminal device determines a target cell from one or more candidate cells based on the first switching condition.

[0158] In one example, the terminal device determines, as a target cell, one or more candidate cells whose TA value has been obtained by the terminal device, and / or whose beam quality measurement result or reference signal measurement result satisfies the first condition.

[0159] In another example, the terminal device determines as the target cell the candidate cell with the highest priority among one or more candidate cells whose TA values ​​have been obtained by the terminal device, and / or whose beam quality measurement results or reference signal measurement results meet the first condition.

[0160] In some embodiments, the terminal device first determines whether the beam quality or reference signal measurement results of one or more candidate cells meet the first condition, then activates the transmission configuration indication TCI of one or more candidate cells whose beam quality or reference signal measurement results meet the first condition, then obtains the TA value in one or more candidate cells whose beam quality or reference signal measurement results meet the first condition, and then further determines the target cell.

[0161] In an embodiment of the present application, before conditional switching, the network device sends information to activate conditional switching to the terminal device. By activating conditional switching of a specific candidate cell or activating conditional switching of a specific candidate cell group, the network device can quickly control and adjust the switching strategy of the terminal device and the switching candidate cell, which can make the conditional switching of the candidate cell more reliable; and before executing the conditional switching, the TA value of the candidate cell is obtained in advance, and whether the terminal device obtains the TA value of the candidate cell is used as one of the conditions for conditional switching, which can reduce the interruption duration of the conditional switching.

[0162] In addition, the activation information sent by the network device to the terminal device may also include TA value acquisition information of the candidate cell, which can also be understood as the network device can dynamically configure resources or methods for the terminal device to obtain the TA value of a specific candidate cell for triggering conditional switching.

[0163] It should be understood that in the embodiments of the present application, the size of the serial numbers of the above-mentioned processes does not mean the order of execution. The execution order of each process should be determined by its function and internal logic, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiments of the present application.

[0164] It is understandable that in the above-mentioned various method embodiments, the method implemented by the terminal device can also be implemented by a component (such as a chip or circuit) that can be used in the terminal, and the method implemented by the network device can also be implemented by a component (such as a chip or circuit) that can be used in the network device. Figures 4 to 5 The method of the embodiment of the present application is described in detail. Figures 6 to 9 A communication device according to an embodiment of the present application is described.

[0165] Figure 6 A schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application, the communication device may include: a processing unit 610 and a transceiver unit 620.

[0166] The communication device 600 provided in this application may correspond to the above Figures 4 to 5 The process executed by the terminal device in the method embodiment and the functions of each unit / module in the communication device can be found in the description above, and the detailed description is appropriately omitted here.

[0167] It should be understood that Figure 6 The communication device shown may be a terminal device, and may also be applicable to a chip or an integrated circuit in the terminal device.

[0168] Taking the communication device as a terminal device as an example, Figure 7 A schematic diagram of the structure of a terminal device provided in an embodiment of the present application is provided for ease of understanding and illustration. Figure 7 In the example, the terminal device takes a mobile phone as an example. Figure 7 Only the main components of the terminal device are shown. Figure 7 The terminal device 700 shown includes a processor, a memory, a control circuit and an antenna. Optionally, the terminal device may also include an input and output device. It should be understood that the control circuit may be arranged in the processor or may be located outside the processor and exist independently, and the embodiments of the present application are not limited thereto. The processor is mainly used to process the communication protocol and the communication data, and to control the entire terminal device, execute the software program, and process the data of the software program, for example, to support the terminal device to perform the actions described in the above method embodiment. The memory is mainly used to store software programs and data. The control circuit is mainly used for the conversion between the baseband signal and the radio frequency signal and the processing of the radio frequency signal. The control circuit and the antenna together may also be called a transceiver, which is mainly used for transmitting and receiving radio frequency signals in the form of electromagnetic waves. Input and output devices, such as a touch screen, a display screen, a keyboard, etc., are mainly used to receive data input by the user and output data to the user.

[0169] When the terminal device is turned on, the processor can read the software program in the storage unit, interpret and execute the instructions of the software program, and process the data of the software program. When data needs to be sent wirelessly, the processor performs baseband processing on the data to be sent, and outputs the baseband signal to the RF circuit. The RF circuit performs RF processing on the baseband signal and then sends the RF signal outward in the form of electromagnetic waves through the antenna. When data is sent to the terminal device, the RF circuit receives the RF signal through the antenna, converts the RF signal into a baseband signal, and outputs the baseband signal to the processor. The processor converts the baseband signal into data and processes the data.

[0170] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that for ease of description, Figure 7 Only one memory and processor are shown. In an actual terminal device, there may be multiple processors and memories. The memory may also be referred to as a storage medium or a storage device, etc., which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application. It should be understood that the memory may be integrated in the processor or may be located outside the processor and exist independently, which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0171] As an optional implementation, the processor may include a baseband processor and a central processing unit. The baseband processor is mainly used to process the communication protocol and communication data, and the central processing unit is mainly used to control the entire terminal device, execute software programs, and process software program data. Figure 7 The processor in the can integrate the functions of the baseband processor and the central processing unit. Those skilled in the art can understand that the baseband processor and the central processing unit can also be independent processors, which are interconnected through technologies such as buses. Those skilled in the art can understand that the terminal device can include multiple baseband processors to adapt to different network standards, and the terminal device can include multiple central processing units to enhance its processing capabilities. The various components of the terminal device can be connected through various buses. The baseband processor can also be expressed as a baseband processing circuit or a baseband processing chip. The central processing unit can also be expressed as a central processing circuit or a central processing chip. The function of processing the communication protocol and communication data can be built into the processor, or it can be stored in the storage unit in the form of a software program, and the processor executes the software program to realize the baseband processing function.

[0172] In the embodiment of the present application, the antenna and the control circuit having the transceiver function can be regarded as the transceiver unit 701 of the terminal device 700, for example, for supporting the terminal device to perform the following Figures 4 to 5 The transceiver function performed by the terminal device in the implementation of the method. The processor with processing function is regarded as the processing unit 702 of the terminal device 700, which is Figure 6 The processing unit 610 in FIG. Figure 7As shown, the terminal device 700 includes a transceiver unit 701 and a processing unit 702. The transceiver unit may also be called a transceiver, a transceiver, a transceiver device, etc. Figure 6 . Optionally, the device used to implement the receiving function in the transceiver unit 701 may be regarded as a receiving unit, and the device used to implement the sending function in the transceiver unit 701 may be regarded as a sending unit, that is, the transceiver unit 701 includes a receiving unit and a sending unit, the receiving unit may also be referred to as a receiver, an input port, a receiving circuit, etc., and the sending unit may be referred to as a transmitter, a transmitter, or a transmitting circuit, etc. It is understandable that the transceiver unit may also be an interface circuit.

[0173] The processing unit 702 can be used to execute the instructions stored in the memory to control the transceiver unit 701 to receive signals and / or send signals to complete the functions of the terminal device in the above method embodiment. As an implementation method, the functions of the transceiver unit 701 can be considered to be implemented by a transceiver circuit or a dedicated chip for transceiver.

[0174] It should be understood that Figure 7 The terminal device 700 shown can implement Figures 4 to 5 The method embodiment involves various processes of the terminal device. The operations and / or functions of each module in the terminal device 700 are respectively to implement the corresponding processes in the above method embodiment. For details, please refer to the description in the above method embodiment. To avoid repetition, the detailed description is appropriately omitted here.

[0175] Figure 8 It is a structural diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application. The device 800 may include a processing unit 810 and a transceiver unit 820.

[0176] The communication device 800 provided in this application may correspond to the above Figures 4 to 5 The process executed by the first network device in the method embodiment and the functions of each unit / module in the communication device can be found in the above description, and the detailed description is appropriately omitted here.

[0177] It should be understood that Figure 8 The communication device described may be a network side device, or may be a chip or integrated circuit that can be used in the network device side.

[0178] It should be understood that the network side device can represent any network device that communicates with the terminal device, or it can represent the whole composed of multiple network devices that communicate with the terminal device. The embodiments of the present application are not limited to this.

[0179] The network device 900 may include one or more radio frequency units, such as a remote radio unit (RRU) 910 and one or more baseband units (BBU) 920 (also referred to as digital units, DU). The RRU may be referred to as a transceiver unit 910. Figure 8 The transceiver unit 820 in the embodiment corresponds to the transceiver unit 820 in the embodiment. Optionally, the transceiver unit can also be called a transceiver, a transceiver circuit, or a transceiver, etc., which can include at least one antenna 911 and a radio frequency unit 912. The RRU part is mainly used for receiving and transmitting radio frequency signals and converting radio frequency signals into baseband signals. The BBU part is mainly used for baseband processing, controlling the base station, etc. The RRU and BBU can be physically arranged together or physically separated, that is, a distributed base station. It can be understood that the transceiver unit can also be an interface circuit.

[0180] The BBU 920 is the control center of the base station, which can also be called a processing unit 920. Figure 8 Corresponding to the processing unit 810 in , it is mainly used to complete the baseband processing function.

[0181] In one example, the BBU920 may be composed of one or more single boards, and multiple single boards may jointly support a wireless access network of a single access standard (such as an LTE network), or may respectively support wireless access networks of different access standards (such as an LTE network, a 5G network, or other networks). The BBU920 also includes a memory 921 and a processor 922. The memory 921 is used to store necessary instructions and data. The processor 922 is used to control the base station to perform necessary actions. It should be understood that the memory may be integrated in the processor, or may be located outside the processor and exist independently, and the embodiments of the present application are not limited to this. The memory 921 and the processor 922 may serve one or more single boards. In other words, a memory and a processor may be separately set on each single board. It is also possible that multiple single boards share the same memory and processor. In addition, necessary circuits may be set on each single board.

[0182] It should be understood that Fig. 9 The network device 900 shown can implement Figures 4 to 5 The method embodiment involves various processes of the network device. The operations and / or functions of each module in the network device 900 are respectively to implement the corresponding processes in the above method embodiment. For details, please refer to the description in the above method embodiment. To avoid repetition, the detailed description is appropriately omitted here.

[0183] An embodiment of the present application also provides a processing device, including a processor and an interface; the processor is used to execute the communication method in any of the above method embodiments.

[0184] It should be understood that the above-mentioned processing device can be a chip. For example, the processing device can be a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a system on chip (SoC), a central processor unit (CPU), a network processor (NP), a digital signal processor (DSP), a microcontroller unit (MCU), a programmable logic device (PLD) or other integrated chips.

[0185] In the implementation process, each step of the above method can be completed by an integrated logic circuit of hardware in a processor or an instruction in the form of software. The steps of the method disclosed in conjunction with the embodiment of the present application can be directly embodied as a hardware processor for execution, or a combination of hardware and software modules in a processor for execution. The software module can be located in a storage medium mature in the art such as a random access memory, a flash memory, a read-only memory, a programmable read-only memory or an electrically erasable programmable memory, a register, etc. The storage medium is located in a memory, and the processor reads the information in the memory and completes the steps of the above method in conjunction with its hardware. To avoid repetition, it is not described in detail here.

[0186] It can be understood that the memory in the embodiments of the present application can be a volatile memory or a non-volatile memory, or can include both volatile and non-volatile memories. Among them, the non-volatile memory can be a read-only memory (ROM), a programmable read-only memory (PROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), or a flash memory. The volatile memory can be a random access memory (RAM), which is used as an external cache. By way of example and not limitation, many forms of RAM are available, such as static RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double data rate SDRAM (DDR SDRAM), enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), synchronous link DRAM (SLDRAM), and direct RAM (DR RAM). It should be noted that the memory of the systems and methods described herein is intended to include, but is not limited to, these and any other suitable types of memory.

[0187] An embodiment of the present application also provides a communication system, which includes the aforementioned network device and terminal device.

[0188] An embodiment of the present application further provides a computer-readable medium on which a computer program is stored. When the computer program is executed by a computer, the method in any of the above method embodiments is implemented.

[0189] The embodiment of the present application also provides a computer program product, which implements the method in any of the above method embodiments when executed by a computer.

[0190] In the above embodiments, it can be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware or any combination thereof. When implemented using software, it can be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When the computer instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, the process or function described in the embodiment of the present application is generated in whole or in part. The computer may be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable device. The computer instructions 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 instructions may be transmitted from a website site, computer, server or data center by wired (e.g., coaxial cable, optical fiber, digital subscriber line (digital subscriber line, DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) mode to another website site, computer, server or data center. The computer-readable storage medium may be any available medium that a computer can access or a data storage device such as a server or data center that includes one or more available media integrated. The available medium may be a magnetic medium (eg, a floppy disk, a hard disk, a magnetic tape), an optical medium (eg, a high-density digital video disc (DVD)), or a semiconductor medium (eg, a solid state disk (SSD)).

[0191] The network devices in the above-mentioned various device embodiments completely correspond to the network devices or terminal devices in the terminal devices and method embodiments, and the corresponding modules or units perform the corresponding steps. For example, the sending module (transmitter) method performs the sending steps in the method embodiment, and the receiving module (receiver) performs the receiving steps in the method embodiment. The other steps except sending and receiving can be performed by the processing module (processor). The functions of the specific modules can refer to the corresponding method embodiments. The sending module and the receiving module can form a transceiver module, and the transmitter and the receiver can form a transceiver to jointly realize the transceiver function; the processor can be one or more.

[0192] In the present application, "at least one" means one or more, and "plurality" means two or more. "And / or" describes the association relationship of associated objects, indicating that three relationships may exist. For example, A and / or B can mean: A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone, 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" or similar expressions refers to any combination of these items, including any combination of single or plural items. For example, at least one of a, b, or c can mean: a, b, c, ab, ac, bc, or abc, where a, b, c can be single or multiple.

[0193] The terms "component", "module", "system", etc. used in this specification are used to represent computer-related entities, hardware, firmware, a combination of hardware and software, software, or software in execution. For example, a component can be, but is not limited to, a process running on a processor, a processor, an object, an executable file, an execution thread, a program and / or a computer. By way of illustration, both applications running on a computing device and a computing device can be components. One or more components may reside in a process and / or an execution thread, and a component may be located on a computer and / or distributed between two or more computers. In addition, these components may be executed from various computer-readable media having various data structures stored thereon. Components may, for example, communicate through local and / or remote processes according to signals having one or more data packets (e.g., data from two components interacting with another component between a local system, a distributed system and / or a network, such as the Internet interacting with other systems through signals).

[0194] Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the various illustrative logical blocks and steps described in conjunction with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented in electronic hardware, or in a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether these functions are performed in hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Professional and technical personnel may use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered beyond the scope of this application.

[0195] Those skilled in the art can clearly understand that, for the convenience and brevity of description, the specific working processes of the systems, devices and units described above can refer to the corresponding processes in the aforementioned method embodiments and will not be repeated here.

[0196] In the several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, devices and methods can be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are only schematic. For example, the division of the units is only a logical function division. There may be other division methods in actual implementation, such as multiple units or components can be combined or integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored or not executed. Another point is that the mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed can be through some interfaces, indirect coupling or communication connection of devices or units, which can be electrical, mechanical or other forms.

[0197] The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separated, and the components shown as units may or may not be physical units, that is, they may be located in one place or distributed on multiple network units. Some or all of the units may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of this embodiment.

[0198] In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist physically separately, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit.

[0199] The above is only a specific implementation of the present application, but the protection scope of the present application is not limited thereto. Any person skilled in the art who is familiar with the present technical field can easily think of changes or substitutions within the technical scope disclosed in the present application, which should be included in the protection scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application should be based on the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that: The method comprises: The terminal device receives first information from the first network device, where the first information includes first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate one or more candidate cells, where the first information is used to activate conditional switching of the one or more candidate cells, where the serving cell currently accessed by the terminal device is the first cell, and where the first cell belongs to the first network device; The terminal device determines a target cell according to the first switching condition and the first information, and the target cell belongs to the one or more candidate cells.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that Before the terminal device receives the first information from the first network device, the method further includes: The terminal device receives first configuration information from the first network device, where the first configuration information is used to configure the first switching condition for the terminal device, and / or the first configuration information is used to configure the one or more candidate cells for the terminal device.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: The first switching condition includes that the terminal device has obtained the timing advance TA value of the candidate cell, and / or the beam quality or reference signal quality of the candidate cell meets the first condition.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that The determining the target cell according to the first switching condition and the first information includes: Respectively obtain the timing advance TA value of the one or more candidate cells; A candidate cell among the one or more candidate cells that meets the first switching condition is determined as the target cell.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that The determining the target cell according to the first switching condition and the first information includes: Determine, according to one or more of the priority information of the one or more candidate cells, the ability of the terminal device to maintain the timing advance TA value, and the beam measurement results of the one or more candidate cells, the candidate cell for which the TA value needs to be obtained, wherein the first information also includes the priority information of the one or more candidate cells; Respectively obtain the TA values ​​of the candidate cells for which the TA values ​​need to be obtained; A candidate cell that satisfies the first switching condition among the candidate cells for which the TA value needs to be obtained is determined as the target cell.

6. The method according to claim 4 or 5, characterized in that: The respectively obtaining the TA value of the one or more candidate cells, or the respectively obtaining the TA value of the candidate cell for which the TA value needs to be obtained, includes: The terminal device calculates the TA value of the first candidate cell according to the downlink arrival time difference of the synchronization signal block (SSB) of the first candidate cell; The terminal device receives the TA value of the first candidate cell sent by the first network device; or The terminal device obtains a contention-free random access (CFRA) resource sent by the first network device, and obtains a TA value of the first candidate cell based on the CFRA resource; The one or more candidate cells include the first candidate cell, or the candidate cells for which the TA value needs to be obtained include the first candidate cell.

7. The method according to claim 4 or 5, characterized in that: The first information further includes TA value acquisition information, and the respectively acquiring the TA values ​​of the one or more candidate cells, or the respectively acquiring the TA values ​​of the candidate cells for which the TA values ​​need to be acquired, includes: The TA value of the one or more candidate cells is acquired according to the TA value acquisition information, or the TA value of the candidate cell for which the TA value needs to be acquired is acquired according to the TA value acquisition information.

8. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that The TA value acquisition information includes a TA value of the first candidate cell; The TA value acquisition information indicates a CFRA resource used to acquire a TA value of the first candidate cell; or The TA value acquisition information is used to instruct the terminal device to autonomously acquire the TA value of the first candidate cell. The one or more candidate cells include the first candidate cell, or the candidate cells for which the TA value needs to be obtained include the first candidate cell.

9. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that The first information also includes one or more candidate beam identifiers or reference signal identifiers corresponding to each of the one or more candidate cells, and one or more uplink resource identifiers corresponding one to one with the one or more candidate beam identifiers or reference signal identifiers.

10. A communication method, characterized in that: include: A first network device sends first information to a terminal device, the first information including first indication information, the first indication information being used to indicate one or more candidate cells, the first information being used to activate conditional switching of the one or more candidate cells, the first information being further used to instruct the terminal device to determine a target cell based on a first switching condition and the first information, the target cell belonging to the one or more candidate cells, the service cell currently accessed by the terminal device being a first cell, and the first cell belonging to the first network device.

11. The method according to claim 10, characterized in that Before the first network device sends the first information to the terminal device, the method further includes: The first network device sends first configuration information to the terminal device, where the first configuration information is used to configure the first switching condition for the terminal device, and / or the first configuration information is used to configure the one or more candidate cells for the terminal device.

12. The method according to claim 10 or 11, characterized in that: The first switching condition includes that the terminal device has obtained the timing advance TA value of the candidate cell, and / or the beam quality or reference signal quality of the candidate cell meets the first condition.

13. The method according to any one of claims 10 to 12, characterized in that The first information also includes priority information of the one or more candidate cells, and the first information is specifically used to instruct the terminal device to determine the target cell according to the first switching condition and the priority information of the one or more candidate cells.

14. The method according to any one of claims 10 to 13, characterized in that The first information also includes TA value acquisition information, and the TA value acquisition information is used to indicate the resource or method for the terminal device to acquire the TA value of the candidate cell.

15. The method according to claim 14, characterized in that The TA value acquisition information includes a TA value of the first candidate cell; The TA value acquisition information indicates a contention-free random access (CFRA) resource for acquiring a TA value of the first candidate cell; or The TA value acquisition information is used to instruct the terminal device to autonomously acquire the TA value of the first candidate cell; The one or more candidate cells include the first candidate cell.

16. The method according to any one of claims 10 to 15, characterized in that The first information also includes one or more candidate beam identifiers or reference signal identifiers corresponding to each of the one or more candidate cells, and one or more uplink resource identifiers corresponding one to one with the one or more candidate beam identifiers or reference signal identifiers.

17. A communication device, characterized in that: include: A processor coupled to a memory, the memory being used to store a computer program, the processor being used to run the computer program so that the communication device performs the method according to any one of claims 1 to 9.

18. A communication device, characterized in that: include: A processor coupled to a memory, the memory being used to store a computer program, the processor being used to run the computer program so that the communication device performs the method according to any one of claims 10 to 16.

19. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that: A computer program is stored thereon, and when the computer program is executed by a computer, the computer is caused to implement the method according to any one of claims 1 to 9 or 10 to 16.

20. A computer program product comprising instructions, characterized in that When the computer program product is run on a computer, the computer is caused to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 9 or 10 to 16.

21. A chip, characterized in that: The chip includes a processor and a data interface, and the processor reads instructions stored in a memory through the data interface to execute the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 9 or 10 to 16.

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