Handover method, mobile handover device and wireless communication system

Abstract

The invention discloses a switching method, a mobile switching device and a wireless communication system. The switching method comprises the following steps: acquiring first position information of user equipment; determining whether the user equipment is located in a switching area of a first cell of the base station based on the first position information; in response to determining that the user equipment is in the switching area, sending a reference signal measurement request to the user equipment; receiving reference signal strength information from the user equipment, wherein the reference signal strength information corresponds to the reference signal measurement request; and switching the user equipment from the first cell to a target cell adjacent to the first cell.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to the field of wireless communications, and more particularly, to a switching method performed by a base station, a mobile switching device, and a wireless communication system. Background Art

[0002] The mobility management of the user equipment (UE) or user terminal in the cell by the base station depends on the configuration of measurement control for the user equipment. The base station sends a downlink reference signal measurement request to the user equipment, and the user equipment responds to the reference signal measurement request and periodically measures the reference signals of the current cell and neighboring cells.

[0003] Since the base station cannot predict when the user equipment will reach the edge of the cell covered by the base station, the user equipment continuously performs reference signal measurement and sends the measured reference signal to the base station only when a predetermined (or optionally, given) condition is met. Such frequent measurement by the user equipment leads to increased power consumption. Summary of the invention

[0004] This Summary is provided to introduce in simplified form a selection of concepts that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features and / or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.

[0005] The present disclosure provides a switching method and a mobile switching device performed by a base station. The base station or the mobile switching device can at least generate a cell switching area model based on the trajectory data of the user equipment, and perform mobility management on the user equipment based on the cell switching area model, thereby significantly reducing the power consumption of the user equipment due to frequent measurements and reducing the probability of service interruption caused by switching of the user equipment.

[0006] According to an example embodiment, a switching method performed by a base station is provided, the switching method comprising: obtaining first location information of a user equipment; determining, based on the first location information, whether the user equipment is within a switching area of ​​a first cell of the base station; in response to determining that the user equipment is within the switching area, sending a reference signal measurement request to the user equipment; receiving reference signal strength information from the user equipment, the reference signal strength information corresponding to the reference signal measurement request; and switching the user equipment from the first cell to a target cell adjacent to the first cell.

[0007] The user equipment is a first user equipment, and the reference signal measurement request is a first reference signal measurement request; and the switching method may also include: in response to determining that the second user equipment is not in the switching area, monitoring the location of the second user equipment without sending a second reference signal measurement request to the second user equipment.

[0008] The reference signal measurement request may include a downlink reference signal measurement request, and the reference signal strength information may include reference signal received power RSRP.

[0009] The step of monitoring the location of the second user equipment may include: estimating the arrival angle based on the uplink arrival direction of the second user equipment; estimating the distance between the second user equipment and the base station based on the uplink arrival delay of the second user equipment; and obtaining the location information of the second user equipment based on the arrival angle and the distance.

[0010] The step of monitoring the location of the second user equipment includes: obtaining location information of the second user equipment based on a positioning reference signal.

[0011] The handover method may further include: determining the handover area, wherein the handover area includes an overlapping area overlapping both the first cell and the target cell.

[0012] The reference signal measurement request is a first reference signal measurement request, and the reference signal strength information is first reference signal strength information; wherein the step of determining the switching area may include: sending a second reference signal measurement request to a test user equipment in the cell; determining that the test user equipment is within the switching area based on receiving the second reference signal strength information from the test user equipment, and the second reference signal strength information corresponds to the second reference signal measurement request; obtaining location information of the test user equipment as switching area location information; and estimating the switching area based on the switching area location information.

[0013] The step of estimating the handover region may include fitting a boundary of the handover region based on the handover region position information.

[0014] The switching area location information indicates multiple locations; the boundary of the switching area includes an inner boundary and an outer boundary, and the step of estimating the switching area may include: using the switching area location information indicating the location closest to the base station among the multiple locations to fit the inner boundary, and using the switching area location information indicating the last location of the test user equipment before switching to the neighboring cell among the multiple locations to fit the outer boundary of the switching area.

[0015] The step of estimating the switching area may include: obtaining a model representing the relationship between a first position and a reference signal strength, the first position being indicated in the switching area position information, and the reference signal strength being based on second reference signal strength information; based on the model, predicting a set of candidate position information, the third reference signal strength information at the second position indicated by the candidate position information being less than a threshold; and fitting the boundary of the switching area based on the set of candidate position information.

[0016] The target cell is a first target cell, and the switching method may further include: updating the switching area, the step of updating the switching area including: in response to determining that the positions of multiple target cells and / or the number of the multiple target cells changes, repeating the step of determining the switching area, the multiple target cells include the first target cell, and the target cell is adjacent to the first cell.

[0017] The step of estimating the handover area includes: obtaining location information of the multiple target cells; and estimating a handover sub-area in the handover area corresponding to each of the multiple target cells based on the handover area location information and the location information of the multiple target cells.

[0018] The multiple target cells may include a first target cell and a second target cell, the first reference signal strength information includes third reference signal strength information corresponding to the first target cell and fourth reference signal strength information corresponding to the second target cell, wherein there is an overlapping area between a first switching sub-area corresponding to the first target cell and a second switching sub-area corresponding to the second target cell, and both the first switching sub-area and the second switching sub-area are included in the switching area, and the switching method may further include: in response to determining that the user equipment is located in the overlapping area, selecting the first target cell based on the third reference signal strength information and the fourth reference signal strength information about the second target cell.

[0019] The target cell may be a first target cell, and the switching method may further include: generating movement trajectory data of a test user equipment based on the switching area location information; wherein the step of switching the user equipment includes: selecting the first target cell based on a comparison of the movement trajectory data with the first location information of the user equipment.

[0020] According to an example embodiment, a mobile switching device in a wireless communication network is provided, the mobile switching device comprising: a memory configured to store information about a switching area of ​​a current cell; and a processing circuit configured to: obtain location information of a user equipment; determine whether the user equipment is within the switching area based on the location information; in response to determining that the user equipment is within the switching area, send a reference signal measurement request to the user equipment; receive reference signal strength information from the user equipment, the reference signal strength information corresponding to the reference signal measurement request; and switch the user equipment from the current cell to a target cell adjacent to the current cell.

[0021] The processing circuit may be further configured to: in response to determining that the user equipment is not within the handover area, monitor the location of the user equipment without sending a reference signal measurement request to the user equipment.

[0022] The processing circuit may be further configured to: determine the handover area, wherein the handover area includes an overlapping area where the current cell overlaps with the target cell.

[0023] The reference signal measurement request is a first reference signal measurement request, the reference signal strength information is first reference signal strength information, and the processing circuit is further configured to: send a second reference signal measurement request to a test user equipment in a current cell; determine, based on second reference signal strength information received from the test user equipment, that the test user equipment is within the switching area, and the second reference signal strength information corresponds to the second reference signal measurement request; obtain location information of the test user equipment as switching area location information; and estimate the switching area based on the switching area location information.

[0024] According to an example embodiment, a wireless communication system is provided, the wireless communication system comprising: a user equipment; and a base station, configured to: obtain location information of the user equipment; determine whether the user equipment is within a switching area of ​​a first cell of the base station based on the location information; send a reference signal measurement request to the user equipment in response to determining that the user equipment is within the switching area; receive reference signal strength information from the user equipment, the reference signal strength information corresponding to the reference signal measurement request; and switch the user equipment from the first cell to a target cell adjacent to the first cell, wherein the user equipment is configured to: periodically perform downlink reference signal strength measurement in response to receiving the reference signal measurement request from the base station to obtain a measured downlink reference signal strength; and send the reference signal strength information to the base station based on the measured downlink reference signal strength satisfying a condition.

[0025] According to an example embodiment, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program, wherein when the computer program is executed by a processor, the above-mentioned switching method is implemented.

[0026] Additional aspects and / or advantages of the inventive concepts will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be apparent from the description, and / or may be learned by practice of example embodiments. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0027] The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present disclosure will become more apparent from the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

[0028] Figure 1 is a diagram illustrating a wireless communication system.

[0029] Figure 2 A typical switching process based on downlink reference signal measurement is shown.

[0030] Figure 3is a flowchart illustrating a handover method performed by a base station according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0031] Figure 4 is a flowchart illustrating a method of determining a handover area of ​​a cell according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0032] Figure 5 is a diagram illustrating determination of a handover region of a cell according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0033] Figure 6 is a diagram illustrating determination of a handover region of a cell according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0034] Figure 7 is a block diagram illustrating a mobile switching device according to an example embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0035] Figure 8 is a block diagram illustrating a user equipment according to an example embodiment of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0036] The following detailed description is provided to help the reader obtain a comprehensive understanding of the methods, devices and / or systems described herein. However, after understanding the disclosure of the present application, various changes, modifications and equivalents of the methods, devices and / or systems described herein will be clear. For example, except for operations that must occur in a specific order (for example, except for operations that are clearly identified as requiring to occur in a specific order), the order of operations described herein is only an example and is not limited to those orders set forth herein, but can be changed as will be clear after understanding the disclosure of the present application. In addition, for greater clarity and simplicity, the description of features known in the art may be omitted.

[0037] The features described herein may be implemented in different forms and should not be construed as being limited to the examples described herein. Rather, the examples described herein have been provided to illustrate only some of the many possible ways to implement the methods, devices, and / or systems described herein that will be clear after understanding the disclosure of the present application.

[0038] The structural or functional description of the examples disclosed herein below is intended only for the purpose of describing the examples, and the examples may be implemented in various forms. The examples are not intended to be limiting, but various modifications, equivalents, and substitutes are also intended to be included within the scope of the claims.

[0039] Although the terms "first" or "second" are used to explain various components, the components are not limited to the terms. These terms should only be used to distinguish one component from another component. For example, according to the concept of the present disclosure, a "first" component may be referred to as a "second" component, or similarly, a "second" component may be referred to as a "first" component.

[0040] It will be understood that when a component is referred to as being “connected to” another component, the component may be directly connected or coupled to the other component or intervening components may be present.

[0041] As used herein, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, the singular form is also intended to include the plural form. It should also be understood that when the terms "include" and / or "comprising" are used in this specification, it indicates the presence of the stated features, integers, operations, elements, components or combinations thereof, but does not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, operations, elements, components and / or groups thereof.

[0042] Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical or scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning (or similar meaning) as commonly understood by a person of ordinary skill in the art to which the examples belong. It will also be understood that, unless expressly so defined herein, terms (such as those defined in general dictionaries) should be interpreted as having a meaning consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art, and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense.

[0043] Hereinafter, examples will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Regarding reference numerals assigned to elements in the drawings, it should be noted that the same elements (or similar elements) will be denoted by the same reference numerals (or similar reference numerals) and redundant descriptions thereof will be omitted.

[0044] Figure 1 is a diagram showing a wireless communication system 100. The wireless communication system 100 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure may be configured so that a user equipment not in a handover area of ​​a base station may no longer frequently perform downlink reference signal strength measurement, thereby reducing power consumption of the user equipment.

[0045] Reference Figure 1 , the wireless communication system 100 may include at least one base station and / or at least one user equipment (UE). Figure 1 The wireless communication system 100 is shown to include two base stations 101 to 102 and three user equipments 201 to 203 (eg, user equipment 201, user equipment 202, and user equipment 203), but this is only an example. The number of base stations and the number of user equipments included in the wireless communication system are not limited thereto.

[0046] A base station can communicate with user equipment and may be referred to by other terms, such as an access point (AP), a Node B, etc. Each base station may provide communication coverage for a specific geographic area. The term "cell" may refer to the coverage area of ​​a base station.

[0047] In this document, "user equipment" and "terminal" are used interchangeably. Examples of user equipment may include, but are not limited to, mobile phones, smart phones, tablet personal computers, personal digital assistant (PDA) devices, handheld devices with wireless communication capabilities, computing devices or other processing devices connected to wireless modems, wearable devices, vehicle-mounted devices, Internet of Vehicles terminals, desktop computers, laptop computers, handheld computing devices, and / or other devices for communicating on wireless systems.

[0048] When the user equipment is in the cell of the base station, the user equipment can establish a connection with the base station to perform wireless communication services. Figure 1 In the example, user equipments 201 to 203 may establish connections with the base station through connections 111, 112 and 212, respectively.

[0049] When the user equipment moves from the current cell to a neighboring cell, the base station performs mobility management on the user equipment. Figure 1 After the user equipment 202 establishes a connection 112 with the current base station 101, the base station 101 sends a measurement control request (e.g., a downlink reference signal measurement request) to the user equipment 202. When the user equipment 202 moves toward the base station 102, the user equipment 202 continuously performs measurements on the downlink reference signal. Specifically, the user equipment 202 continuously measures the downlink reference signal strength information of the base station 101 and the downlink reference signal strength information of the base station 102. When the downlink reference signal strength information (e.g., Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) and / or Signal to Interference plus Noise Ratio (SINR)) measured by the user equipment 202 meets a predetermined (or optionally, given) condition, the user equipment 202 sends the measured reference signal strength information to the base station 101. Based on the measured reference signal strength information, it can be determined that the user equipment 202 is already at the cell edge of the base station 101. The base station 101 performs mobility management on the user equipment 202, so that the user equipment establishes a connection 211 with the base station 102 and disconnects the connection 112 with the base station 101, thereby completing the cell handover.

[0050] Figure 2 A typical switching process based on downlink reference signal measurement is shown.

[0051] Reference Figure 2When the user equipment 202 establishes a connection with the base station 101, according to the handover protocol of 3GPP, in operation S201, the base station 101 sends a downlink reference signal measurement request to the user equipment 202. In operation S202, the user equipment 202 (for example, in response to the downlink reference signal measurement request) performs downlink reference signal strength measurement. The user equipment 202 may periodically measure the downlink reference signal strength of the current base station (for example, the base station 101) and the neighboring base stations.

[0052] In operation S203, the user equipment 202 determines whether the condition for sending reference signal strength information (e.g., RSRP, SINR, etc.) to the base station is met. When it is determined that the sending condition is not met (e.g., RSRP is greater than a predetermined (or optionally, given) threshold), the user equipment 202 does not send the measured reference signal strength information to the base station, but continues to perform downlink reference signal strength measurement (e.g., if it is "No" in operation S203, return to operation S202). When the sending condition is met, it indicates that the user equipment has reached the edge area of ​​the cell of the base station 101, but has not left the cell of the base station. Based on the determination that the sending condition is met ("Yes" in operation S203), in operation S204, the user equipment 202 sends the measured reference signal strength information to the base station 101. The user equipment 202 may periodically send the measured reference signal strength information to the base station 101 multiple times. In operation S205, the base station 101 performs terminal service and configuration data switching on the base station 102. In operation S206, the base station 101 sends a cell switching command to the user equipment 202. In operation S207, the user equipment 202 switches to the cell of the base station 102.

[0053] Since the base station cannot predict when the user equipment will reach the edge of the cell covered by the base station, the user equipment will continue to perform reference signal strength measurement after the base station sends a downlink reference signal measurement request until the handover is completed. Such frequent measurements by the user equipment increase power consumption.

[0054] In addition, as the frequency of wireless communication increases and / or the speed of user equipment increases, signal loss will increase, resulting in a decrease in the accuracy of the user equipment's measurement of the current channel. For example, when the user equipment is on a high-speed moving vehicle such as a train, if the base station makes a handover decision at the current moment based on measurements at the past moment, the user equipment may fail to complete the handover to the neighboring cell in time, resulting in service interruption.

[0055] According to the switching method and mobile switching device of the exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, the switching area of ​​the cell can be pre-fitted based on the collected location information of the test user equipment and the corresponding reference signal strength information, and the mobility management of the user equipment is performed based on the obtained switching area. Therefore, when the base station determines that the user equipment is not in the switching area, the user equipment does not need to (or optionally, may not) frequently perform downlink reference signal strength measurement according to the existing switching process, thereby reducing the power consumption of the user equipment.

[0056] In addition, the switching method and mobile switching device according to the exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure can generate mobile track data of the test user equipment based on the location information of the test user equipment and the neighboring cell to which the test user equipment is switched. Therefore, the base station can accurately predict the upcoming cell switching based on the comparison of the mobile track data of the test user equipment with the location information of the currently moving user equipment, and prepare for the switching of the user equipment in advance, thereby optimizing (or improving) mobility management, reducing the probability of service interruption due to the failure of the user equipment to access the neighboring cell, and improving the terminal user experience.

[0057] Refer to the following Figures 3 to 6 The switching method of the present disclosure is described.

[0058] Figure 3 is a flowchart illustrating a handover method performed by a base station according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0059] Reference Figure 3 In operation S310, the base station may determine a switching area of ​​a cell of the base station. Figure 4 This is described in detail.

[0060] Figure 4 1 is a block diagram illustrating a method for determining a handover area of ​​a cell according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. When performing mobility management on a user equipment according to a 3GPP handover protocol, a base station may collect location information and reference signal strength information of a user equipment for estimating a handover area of ​​a cell. The process of performing mobility management on a user equipment according to a 3GPP handover protocol has been described in Figure 2 It is shown in the figure and will not be described in detail here.

[0061] The user equipment for which location information and reference signal strength information are collected for estimation of the handover area is hereinafter referred to as a “test user equipment.” However, this is only for greater clarity, and the test user equipment may be any user equipment within the cell.

[0062] Reference Figure 4In operation S410, the base station may send a reference signal measurement request to a test user equipment in a cell of the base station. In an example, the reference signal measurement request includes a downlink reference signal measurement request.

[0063] In response to the reference signal measurement request (or downlink reference signal measurement control) of the base station, the test user equipment in the cell may perform reference signal strength measurement and send reference signal strength information to the base station when a predetermined (or optionally, given) condition is met (for example, the measured reference signal strength is less than a threshold). In other words, when the test user equipment starts to send reference signal strength information to the base station, it indicates that the test user equipment has reached the edge of the cell.

[0064] In operation S420, whenever the base station receives reference signal strength information in response to a reference signal measurement request from a test user equipment, the base station determines that the test user equipment is in a handover area, and obtains the location information of the test user equipment corresponding to the received reference signal strength information as handover area location information related to the handover area of ​​the cell. In other words, the base station defines the area where the test user equipment to which the reference signal strength information is sent is located as a handover area. In one example, the reference signal strength information may include reference signal received power RSRP. In other examples, the reference signal strength information may include signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR), but is not limited thereto.

[0065] In an example embodiment, when the test user equipment sends reference signal strength information or other service signals to the base station, the base station can estimate the arrival angle α according to the uplink arrival direction of the test user equipment, and estimate the distance d between the test user equipment and the base station according to the uplink arrival delay of the test user equipment, thereby obtaining the location information of the test user equipment based on the arrival angle α and the distance d. In an example embodiment, the base station can estimate the arrival angle α according to the uplink sounding reference signal (SRS) or the reference signal used for base station demodulation. In an example embodiment, the base station can measure the phase and amplitude of the arrival wave through multi-antenna technology, and obtain the arrival angle of the arrival wave (i.e., the arrival angle α) through calculation. This angle represents the direction of the test user equipment relative to the base station. In addition, the base station obtains the time difference (also known as timing advance, Timing Advance) between the test user equipment and the base station by calculating the time difference between the test user equipment receiving and sending signals, and the time difference between the base station receiving and sending signals. Based on this time difference multiplied by the speed of light and divided by 2, the distance d between the test user equipment and the base station can be obtained. The base station may estimate the position of the test user equipment using a triangulation positioning algorithm based on the arrival angle α and the distance d in combination with other information (eg, the position of the base station).

[0066] In an example embodiment, the base station may obtain the location information of the test user equipment based on a positioning reference signal (PRS). DL PRS is a downlink reference signal newly added by 3GPP 5G NR R16 and is specifically used for NR RAT-dependent positioning. It relies on the 5G network and can work independently of satellite positioning. Positioning reference signals are usually sent by base stations and received by user equipment. For example, multiple base stations may send positioning reference signals to the test user equipment at the same time, and the distance between the test user equipment and each base station may be determined based on the time difference between each positioning reference signal arriving at the test user equipment. Combined with the location information of each base station, the location of the test user equipment can be determined. However, this is merely an example of obtaining the location of a user equipment using a positioning reference signal, and the present disclosure is not limited to this.

[0067] Once the test user equipment is at the edge of the base station, the test user equipment will periodically send reference signal strength information to the base station, so that the base station can obtain multiple locations of the test user equipment when receiving the reference signal strength information, and store the location information of the test user equipment and the corresponding reference signal strength information in pairs.

[0068] A fixed memory space may be allocated to each test user equipment to record its location information and reference signal strength information.

[0069] For example, for the user equipment 202, when determining the location information of the test user equipment based on the arrival angle α and the distance d, the base station may use “user equipment 202——{[α 1 , d 1 ],[α 2 , d 2 ], ...}". When the user equipment 202 switches from the cell of the current base station to the neighboring cell, the base station marks the location information recorded at the last moment of the switching as [α ho , d ho ]. At this point, the process of recording the location information of the user equipment 202 is completed.

[0070] A loop coverage method can be used to record multiple location information of the test user equipment to reduce the memory space. For example, when the data [α m , d m ] has reached the end of the memory space, new data [α m+1 , d m+1 ] can overwrite the data at the head of the memory space [α 1 , d 1 ].

[0071] When the user equipment 202 is switched from the base station 101 to the base station 102, the base station 101 may represent the moving trajectory data of the user equipment 202 as: 1 , d 1 ],[α 2 , d 2 ], ..., [α ho , d ho ]}. When a loop coverage method is used to record the movement trajectory data of the test user equipment, assuming that the memory space can store at most M groups of data for a test user equipment, then from the last data [α ho , d ho ]The data of group M traced back is the movement trajectory data of the test user equipment.

[0072] The base station may also store reference signal strength information of multiple test user equipments in a similar manner.

[0073] The location information and the reference signal strength information may be stored as a data pair. For example, for the user equipment 202, the base station may store the location information and the reference signal strength information as a data pair. 1 , d 1 , RSRP 1 ],[α 2 , d 2 , RSRP 2 ], ...}". When the user equipment 202 switches from the cell of the current base station to the neighboring cell, the base station records the information at the last moment of the switching as [α ho , d ho , RSRP ho ].

[0074] In operation S430, a handover area of ​​a cell of the base station may be estimated based on the handover area location information.

[0075] Various classification, regression or clustering algorithms (including but not limited to support vector machine, random forest, gradient boosting, k-means, etc.) can be used to perform regression prediction or fitting of the switching area of ​​the cell of the base station based on the switching area location information to generate information about the switching area.

[0076] In an example embodiment, the input data X input to the neural network model may be a multidimensional vector including location information of the test user device. In one example, the input data X may be a vector consisting of [α i , d i ], where i is an index. In another example, the input data X may be the location coordinates of the test user equipment indicated by the PRS signal [x i ,yi The output data (or label) Y may be the corresponding reference signal strength information RSRP i . In another example, the output data (or label) Y may be 1 or -1, wherein 1 indicates that the test user equipment is in the switching area, and -1 indicates that the user equipment is not in the switching area. According to an example embodiment, a neural network model may be trained using training data including training input data (e.g., a multidimensional vector) that matches corresponding training output data (e.g., corresponding reference signal strength information). As a result of the training, a functional relationship for determining whether the test user equipment is in the switching area may be obtained based on the positioning reference signal information of the test user equipment, or feature values ​​such as α / d / RSRP, such as Y=f(X).

[0077] However, this is merely an example, and the present inventive concept is not limited thereto.

[0078] In example embodiments, regression prediction or fitting regarding the switching region may be performed based on a convolutional neural network, a support vector machine (SVM), a support vector machine regression (SVR), or the like.

[0079] In an example embodiment, a model representing the relationship between position and reference signal strength can be obtained based on the obtained switching area position information and the corresponding reference signal strength information; based on the model, a set of candidate position information is predicted, wherein the reference signal strength information at the position indicated by the candidate position information is less than a threshold; and based on the set of candidate position information, the boundary of the switching area is fitted.

[0080] For example, the reference signal strength information RSRP can be obtained. i The location information of the test user's device [α i , d i ] or [x i ,y i ] between the linear or nonlinear functional relationship between the model. The predicted reference signal strength information RSRP at which the model can be solved i All candidate positions that are less than the threshold are selected, and the handover region is fitted based on the candidate positions. In another example, reference signal strength information RSRP can be used to identify the handover region. For example, when the predicted RSRP is less than the threshold, it can be determined that the test user equipment is located in the handover region.

[0081] In an exemplary embodiment, because the base station defines the area where the test user equipment to which the reference signal strength information is sent is located as the handover area, the base station may determine the handover area based on the test user equipment (eg, RSRP iThe handover area boundary is obtained by using various fitting algorithms. The handover area boundary can be indicated by the position information.

[0082] The test user equipment in the switching area will periodically send reference signal strength information to the base station, so that the base station can obtain multiple location information of the test user equipment in the switching area. For example, when the test user moves to the edge of the cell and the reference signal strength meets the predetermined conditions configured by the base station (for example, less than a predetermined threshold), the test user equipment will feedback the downlink reference signal strength information to the base station, so that the base station knows that the test user has arrived in the switching area. Therefore, the base station starts to configure the downlink PRS of the test user equipment to obtain the location information of the test user equipment. Optionally, the base station can use the base station multi-antenna measurement technology to obtain the arrival angle α, distance d and reference signal strength information RSRP of the test user equipment. As mentioned above, the base station can obtain the location information of the test user equipment based on this information. When the test user equipment switches from the current cell to the adjacent cell, its multiple location information can be represented as having coordinates (for example, [x i ,y i ] or [α i , d i ]). Various fitting algorithms (eg, least squares method) or machine learning algorithms may be used to estimate the boundary of the position scatter diagram as the boundary of the switching area of ​​the cell.

[0083] In one example, the handover area of ​​the base station may be estimated as an irregular annular area centered on the base station. In this case, the boundary of the handover area may include an inner boundary and an outer boundary. The handover area location information (or location coordinates) indicating the location closest to the base station in the obtained handover area location information may be used to fit the inner boundary of the handover area, and the last location coordinates indicating the test user equipment before switching to the target cell in the obtained handover area location information (for example, [α ho , d ho ]) to fit the outer boundary of the handover area. Based on the inner boundary and outer boundary of the handover area, a handover area map of the base station can be generated.

[0084] Figure 5 is a diagram illustrating determination of a handover region of a cell according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0085] Reference Figure 5, assuming that base station 1 has recorded the location information and corresponding reference signal strength information of 7 test user equipments (or terminals) that switch from base station 1 to base station 2 in the cell, the base station can estimate the switching area of ​​the cell based on these location information and corresponding reference signal strength information. In addition, the base station can generate movement trajectory data for each test user equipment based on the location information. Figure 5 Seven test user equipments are shown, but this is only an example, and the number of test user equipments in a cell is not limited thereto.

[0086] The handover area of ​​the cell may be located between the cell of base station 1 (or referred to as the source cell) and the cell of the adjacent base station 2 (or referred to as the target cell). The handover area may include an overlapping area between the source cell and the target cell (e.g., an area overlapping both the source cell and the target cell). A user equipment in the cell of base station 1 sends reference signal strength information to base station 1 when entering the handover area, and switches from the cell of base station 1 to the cell of base station 2 when leaving the handover area and moving toward the cell of base station 2.

[0087] The handover area of ​​the cell may include a handover area boundary. The handover area boundary may be indicated by location information. By obtaining location information of a large number of test user equipments that switch from the current cell to the neighboring cell (for example, the location closest to the base station and the location when switching to the target cell in the location information), the boundary of the handover area of ​​the cell may be estimated to obtain the range of the handover area of ​​the cell.

[0088] Figure 6 is a diagram illustrating determination of a handover region of a cell according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0089] For the plurality of neighboring base stations, a handover region (eg, a handover sub-region) corresponding to each of the plurality of neighboring base stations among the handover regions of the cell of the current base station may be generated. Figure 6 , when there are four neighboring base stations (i.e., base stations 2 to 5) around base station 1, based on the reference Figure 4 The described method generates a handover area (eg, a handover sub-area) corresponding to each neighboring base station in the handover area of ​​the cell of the base station 1.

[0090] The location information of multiple neighboring base stations (or neighboring cells) can be obtained, and based on the collected location information of the test user equipment (e.g., switching area location information) and the location information of the neighboring base stations, the switching areas (e.g., switching sub-areas) corresponding to the respective neighboring cells within the switching area of ​​the base station are estimated.

[0091] In an example embodiment, base station 1 may obtain the location coordinates of all base stations adjacent to it through an interface between base stations (e.g., an X2 interface), thereby generating a base station map. Then, base station 1 may obtain the location information of a test user equipment that switches from base station 1 to each of the base stations (i.e., base station 2 to base station 5) to generate movement trajectory data, thereby estimating a switching area (e.g., a switching sub-area) corresponding to each of the base stations in the switching area of ​​the cell of base station 1.

[0092] Figure 6 The handover region (eg, handover sub-region) corresponding to each of the base stations 2 to 5 in the handover region of the base station 1 is exemplarily shown. Figure 6 In FIG. 1 , each switching region (eg, switching sub-region) is shown as a rectangle, but this is only an example, and the shape of the switching region (eg, switching sub-region) is not limited thereto.

[0093] In an example embodiment, there may be an overlapping area between the various handover areas (e.g., handover sub-areas). For example, when the test user equipment is located in the overlapping area between the handover area (e.g., handover sub-area) corresponding to base station 3 and the handover area (e.g., handover sub-area) corresponding to base station 4, the test user equipment may be handed over to base station 3 or base station 4 later.

[0094] When the test user equipment is located in the above-mentioned overlapping area, since the reference signal strength information sent by the test user equipment to the base station 1 includes not only the reference signal strength information for the base station 1, but also the reference signal strength information for the base stations 3 and 4, the base station 1 can select the target base station or target cell to which the test user equipment will be handed over based on the reference signal strength information for the base stations 3 and 4. For example, the base station 1 can select the base station with a larger RSRP among the base stations 3 and 4 as the target base station to which the user equipment will be handed over. However, this is only an example, and the inventive concept is not limited thereto.

[0095] The base station 1 can dynamically maintain the handover area of ​​the base station 1 .

[0096] When it is determined that the position and / or number of target cells adjacent to the cell of the base station has changed (for example, based on information received from the target cell through an interface between base stations (for example, an X2 interface)), the base station may re-perform operations S410 to S430 of determining a switching area for the cell.

[0097] When a specific user equipment switches from base station 1 to base station 2 without being located in the switching area between base station 1 and base station 2, the base station redetermines the switching area based on the location information of the specific user equipment. When the location information of the test user equipment exists for more than a predetermined (or optionally, given) time, the movement trajectory data of the test user equipment may be deleted from the memory space of base station 1.

[0098] After the handover area of ​​the cell is estimated, the base station may store the handover area model of the cell or information about the handover area of ​​the cell in a memory.

[0099] Return to reference Figure 3 After the base station has determined the switching area of ​​the cell, in operation S320, the base station may obtain the location information of the user equipment in the cell of the base station. As described above, the base station may obtain the location information of the user equipment based on the arrival angle α and the distance d when performing normal service communication with the user equipment, or obtain the location information of the user equipment based on the positioning reference signal PRS.

[0100] In operation S330, the base station may determine whether the user equipment is located in a handover area of ​​the cell of the base station based on the location information of the user equipment.

[0101] In an example embodiment, based on a handover area model representing a relationship between location information within a handover area and corresponding reference signal strength information, the base station may obtain predicted reference signal strength information based on the location information of the user equipment and compare it with a threshold value. When the predicted reference signal strength information is less than the threshold value, the base station may determine that the user equipment is within the handover area.

[0102] In an example embodiment, based on estimated boundary information of the handover area or a handover area map, the base station may determine whether the user equipment is within the handover area based on the location information of the user equipment.

[0103] When it is determined that the user equipment is within the handover area of ​​the cell (eg, "yes" in operation S330), in operation S350, the base station performs handover and mobility management on the user equipment according to the 3GPP handover protocol. Figure 2, the base station may send a reference signal measurement request to the user equipment, receive reference signal strength information corresponding to the reference signal measurement request from the user equipment, and switch the user equipment from the cell of the base station to the adjacent target cell. According to an example embodiment, the base station may switch the user equipment by the following steps: generating a handover request message (e.g., including terminal transactions and configuration data), sending a handover request message to the adjacent target cell, receiving a confirmation message in response to the handover request message (e.g., including configuration data used by the user equipment connected to the adjacent target cell), generating a handover command message (e.g., including configuration data used by the user equipment connected to the adjacent target cell), and sending a handover command message to the user equipment. According to an example embodiment, the user equipment may receive the handover command message, establish a connection with the adjacent target cell (e.g., using the received configuration data), generate a first signal, process the first signal to perform one or more of modulation, up-conversion, filtering, amplification and / or encryption on the first signal, and send the processed first signal to an external device (e.g., to the base station to report the handover completion). Additionally or alternatively, the user equipment may receive a second signal from an external device, process the second signal to perform one or more of demodulation, down-conversion, filtering, amplification, and / or decryption on the second signal, and perform further operations based on the processed second signal. For example, the further operations may include providing the processed second signal to a corresponding application executed on the user equipment, storing the processed second signal, sending a response signal to an external device (e.g., based on the processing result of the corresponding application executed on the user equipment), etc. One or more.

[0104] The base station may also generate movement track data of the test user equipment located in the handover area based on multiple pieces of location information of the test user equipment obtained when estimating the handover area. When determining that the current user equipment is located in the handover area, the base station may predict in advance the cell to which the user equipment will be switched based on the comparison between the location information of the user equipment and the movement track data of the test user equipment, and configure the corresponding handover information.

[0105] In an example embodiment, when there are roads, railways, rivers, etc. near the base station, when estimating the handover area, the base station will collect similar moving trajectories from a large number of test user equipments, and these test user equipments are likely to be handed over from the current base station to the same target base station (or a similar target base station). Therefore, the base station can establish a moving trajectory database based on this information, which includes the moving trajectory of the test user equipment and the target cell information to be finally handed over.

[0106] When it is determined that the user equipment is already in the switching area, the base station can obtain multiple location information of the user equipment when receiving the reference signal strength information sent by the user equipment to generate the current movement trajectory of the user equipment. The base station can compare the current movement trajectory of the user equipment with the movement trajectory database of the test user equipment. When the similarity between the current movement trajectory of the user equipment and the movement trajectory of a specific test user equipment in the database exceeds a threshold (for example, 80%), the base station can predict the target cell to which the user equipment is about to switch based on the target cell to which the test user equipment will be switched, and perform terminal service and configuration data switching with the target cell in advance, thereby reducing the probability that the base station will not be able to complete the cell switching in time due to the excessively high movement speed of the user equipment.

[0107] When it is determined that the user equipment is not within the handover area of ​​the cell (eg, "No" in operation S330), in operation S340, the base station monitors the location of the user equipment without sending a reference signal measurement request to the user equipment.

[0108] For example, for a user equipment initially residing in the cell of base station 1, base station 1 first determines whether the user equipment is in any handover area of ​​base station 1. If the user equipment is not in any handover area, base station 1 does not send a downlink reference signal measurement request to the user equipment (or delays it), so the user equipment does not need to (or does not) frequently measure the reference signal received power of the current cell and the neighboring cells. In other words, for a user equipment that is not in a handover area, Figure 2 Operations S201 to S203 shown in FIG. 1 are not performed (or are delayed).

[0109] Although base station 1 does not perform downlink reference signal measurement control on the user equipment, base station 1 always (or periodically) detects the location of the user equipment. In an exemplary embodiment, the base station can obtain the location information of the user equipment through the arrival angle α and the distance d when the user equipment performs a communication service (or periodic communication), or obtain the location information of the user equipment based on the positioning reference signal PRS. In this case, the user equipment does not need (or may not) additionally measure and send the location information and reference signal strength information, but the base station 1 can keep monitoring the location of the user equipment to determine whether the user equipment enters the handover area.

[0110] When the user equipment moves to a handover area of ​​base station 1 (for example, to a handover area between base station 1 and base station 2), base station 1 performs handover and mobility management on the user equipment according to the 3GPP handover protocol, and hands over the user equipment from the cell of base station 1 to the cell of base station 2. When the user equipment leaves the handover area and enters the cell of base station 2, base station 1 stops the reference signal measurement control of the user equipment.

[0111] In an exemplary embodiment, when the user equipment is not in any handover area of ​​the base station 1 but sends a radio resource control re-establishment (RRC Re-establishment, also known as RRE) signal to the terminal, the base station 1 performs handover and mobility management on the user equipment in accordance with the 3GPP handover protocol. If the user equipment is later switched to a known neighboring cell, the base station 1 updates the handover area of ​​the cell based on the movement trajectory of the user equipment. If the user equipment is later switched to an unknown neighboring cell, the base station 1 adds a handover area between the cell and the unknown neighboring cell based on the movement trajectory information of the user equipment. If the user equipment subsequently stays in the cell of the base station 1 for a long time (for example, for more than a threshold time length), this may indicate that the user equipment is faulty. The base station 1 may perform handover and mobility management on the user equipment in accordance with the 3GPP handover protocol without performing the handover method disclosed in the present application on the user equipment.

[0112] Figure 7 is a block diagram illustrating a mobile switching device 700 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0113] like Figure 7 As shown in , the mobile switching device 700 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure may be a base station, an access point, a B node, etc., or may be a part of a base station, an access point, a B node, etc.

[0114] The mobile switching device 700 may include a switching area determining unit 710 , a switching unit 720 , and / or a memory 730 .

[0115] By acquiring location information and reference signal strength information of a large number of test user equipments that switch from the current cell to the neighboring cell, the handover area determination unit 710 can estimate the handover area of ​​the cell.

[0116] The handover area determination unit 710 may send a reference signal measurement request to a test user equipment in the cell. Whenever reference signal strength information corresponding to the reference signal measurement request is received from the test user equipment, the handover area determination unit 710 may determine that the test user equipment is in the handover area, and obtain location information of the test user equipment corresponding to the received reference signal strength information as handover area location information related to the handover area of ​​the cell. The handover area determination unit 710 may estimate the handover area of ​​the cell based on the handover area location information.

[0117] The switching unit 720 may perform mobility management on the user equipment in the cell. The switching unit 720 may obtain the location information of the user equipment; based on the location information of the user equipment, determine whether the user equipment is in the switching area of ​​the current cell; when it is determined that the user equipment is in the switching area of ​​the current cell, the switching unit 720 sends a reference signal measurement request to the user equipment, receives reference signal strength information corresponding to the reference signal measurement request from the user equipment, and switches the user equipment from the current cell to a target cell adjacent to the current cell. When it is determined that the user equipment is not in the switching area of ​​the current cell, the switching unit 720 monitors the location of the user equipment without sending (or delaying sending) a reference signal measurement request to the user equipment.

[0118] The memory 730 may store location information of the user equipment, reference signal strength information, and information about a handover area of ​​a cell.

[0119] Figure 8 is a block diagram illustrating a user device 800 according to an example embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0120] like Figure 8 As shown in FIG. 8 , a user device 800 according to an example embodiment of the present disclosure may include a processor 810 and / or a memory 820 .

[0121] The processor 810 may control the overall operation of the user equipment and may control some or all of the internal elements of the user equipment. The processor 810 may be implemented as a wireless communication baseband processor, a communication processor CP (Communication Processor), a general processor, an application processor (AP), a dedicated integrated circuit, a field programmable gate array, etc., but the example embodiments are not limited thereto. The processor 810 may be configured to achieve energy saving according to the switching method disclosed herein.

[0122] The memory 820 may include a volatile memory and / or a non-volatile memory. The memory 820 may store various data generated and used by the user device. For example, the memory 820 may store an operating system and / or an application program (e.g., an application program associated with the method of the inventive concept) for controlling the operation of the user device.

[0123] According to the switching method and mobile switching device of the exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, it is possible to predetermine or estimate the switching area of ​​the cell based on the collected user equipment trajectory data, and perform mobility management on the user equipment based on the switching area. Therefore, when the user equipment is not in the switching area, it is not necessary to frequently perform signal strength measurements according to the existing 3GPP switching protocol, thereby reducing the power consumption of the user equipment. In addition, after estimating the switching area of ​​the cell, the base station can accurately predict the upcoming cell switching event, configure the user equipment to switch to the target cell through HO (hand over), or configure the user equipment in advance to enter the dual connection (Dual Connective) or coordinated multipoint transmission / reception (CoMP) state. Therefore, even if the user equipment moves at high speed, the base station can reduce the probability of service interruption due to the failure of the user equipment to access the target cell, thereby improving the terminal user experience.

[0124] The devices, units, modules and other components described herein are implemented by hardware components. Examples of hardware components that can be used to perform the operations described in this application include, where appropriate, controllers, sensors, generators, drivers, memories, comparators, arithmetic logic units, adders, subtractors, multipliers, dividers, integrators and / or any other electronic components configured to perform the operations described in this application. In other examples, one or more hardware components in the hardware components that perform the operations described in this application are implemented by computing hardware (e.g., by one or more processors or computers). A processor or computer may be implemented by one or more processing elements (such as logic gate arrays, controllers, arithmetic logic units, digital signal processors, microcomputers, programmable logic controllers, field programmable gate arrays, programmable logic arrays, microprocessors and / or any other device or combination of devices configured to respond and execute instructions in a limited manner to achieve the desired result). In one example, a processor or computer includes or is connected to one or more memories storing instructions or software executed by a processor or computer. A hardware component implemented by a processor or a computer may execute instructions or software (such as an operating system (OS) and one or more software applications running on the OS) for performing the operations described in this application. The hardware component may also access, manipulate, process, create and store data in response to the execution of instructions or software. For simplicity, the singular term "processor" or "computer" may be used in the description of the examples described in this application, but in other examples, multiple processors or computers may be used, or the processor or computer may include multiple processing elements, or multiple types of processing elements, or both. For example, a single hardware component, or two or more hardware components may be implemented by a single processor, or two or more processors, or a processor and a controller. One or more hardware components may be implemented by one or more processors, or a processor and a controller, and one or more other hardware components may be implemented by one or more other processors, or another processor and another controller. One or more processors, or a processor and a controller may implement a single hardware component, or two or more hardware components. The hardware components may have any one or more of different processing configurations, examples of which include: a single processor, independent processors, parallel processors, single instruction single data (SISD) multiprocessing, single instruction multiple data (SIMD) multiprocessing, multiple instruction single data (MISD) multiprocessing, and / or multiple instruction multiple data (MIMD) multiprocessing.

[0125] The methods for performing the operations described in this application are performed by computing hardware (e.g., by one or more processors or computers), which is implemented as executing instructions or software as described above to perform the operations performed by the methods described in this application. For example, a single operation, or two or more operations may be performed by a single processor, or two or more processors, or a processor and a controller. One or more operations may be performed by one or more processors, or a processor and a controller, and one or more other operations may be performed by one or more other processors, or another processor and another controller. One or more processors, or a processor and a controller may perform a single operation, or two or more operations.

[0126] Instructions or software for controlling a processor or computer to implement hardware components and perform the methods described above may be written as a computer program, code segment, instruction, or any combination thereof to individually or collectively instruct or configure a processor or computer to operate as a machine or special-purpose computer to perform operations performed by the hardware components and methods described above. In one example, the instructions and / or software include machine code (such as machine code generated by a compiler) that is directly executed by a processor or computer. In another example, the instructions or software include high-level code that is executed by a processor or computer using an interpreter. A person of ordinary skill in the art or a programmer may easily write instructions and / or software based on the block diagrams and flow charts shown in the accompanying drawings and the corresponding descriptions in the specification, which disclose algorithms for performing operations performed by the hardware components and methods described above.

[0127] The instructions or software for controlling a processor or computer to implement the hardware components and perform the methods described above, as well as any associated data, data files, and data structures, may be recorded, stored, or fixed in or on one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media. Examples of non-transitory computer-readable storage media include: read-only memory (ROM), random access programmable read-only memory (PROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), random access memory (RAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), flash memory, non-volatile memory, CD-ROM, CD-R, CD+R, CD-RW, CD+RW, DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, DVD-RAM, BD-ROM, BD-R, BD-RLTH, BD-RE, At least one of a Blu-ray or optical disk storage device, a hard disk drive (HDD), a solid state drive (SSD), a flash memory, a card memory (such as a multimedia card or a micro card (e.g., Secure Digital (SD) or Extreme Digital (XD))), a magnetic tape, a floppy disk, a magneto-optical data storage device, an optical data storage device, a hard disk, a solid state disk, and / or any other device, any other device configured to store instructions or software and any associated data, data files and / or data structures in a non-transitory manner and provide the instructions or software and any associated data, data files and / or data structures to a processor or computer so that the processor or computer can execute the instructions.

[0128] Conventional apparatus and methods for managing the mobility of user equipment involve the user equipment performing continuous (or repeated periodic) reference signal strength measurements to determine whether handover to a cell of a different base station is appropriate. These continuous (or repeated) measurements result in excessive resource consumption (e.g., power, processor, memory, bandwidth, etc.).

[0129] However, according to example embodiments, improved apparatus and methods for managing the mobility of user equipment connected to a base station are provided. For example, the improved apparatus and methods may involve comparing the location information of the user equipment with the handover area of ​​the cell of the base station. In response to determining that the user equipment is located within the handover area, the base station may only send a request to the user equipment to perform a reference signal strength measurement. Otherwise, the base station may avoid the user equipment from performing the reference signal strength measurement by suppressing (or delaying the sending of) the request. Therefore, the improved apparatus and methods can overcome the shortcomings of conventional apparatus and methods to at least reduce the number of reference signal strength measurements performed by the user equipment, thereby reducing resource consumption (e.g., power, processor, memory, bandwidth, etc.).

[0130] According to an example embodiment, the operations described herein as being performed by each of base stations 1 to 5, each of terminals 1 to 7, wireless communication system 100, each of base stations 101 and 102, each of user equipment 201 to 203, mobile switching device 700, switching area determination unit 710, switching unit 720, user equipment 800, and / or processor 810 may be performed by a processing circuit. As used in the present disclosure, the term "processing circuit" may refer to hardware including, for example, a logic circuit; a hardware / software combination (such as a processor that executes software); or a combination thereof. For example, the processing circuit may more specifically include, but is not limited to, a central processing unit (CPU), an arithmetic logic unit (ALU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), a digital signal processor, a microcomputer, a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a system on a chip (SoC), a programmable logic unit, a microprocessor, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), and the like.

[0131] The various operations of the above methods may be performed by any suitable device capable of performing the operations, such as the above processing circuits. For example, as described above, the operations of the above methods may be performed by various hardware and / or software implemented in some form of hardware (e.g., processor, ASIC, etc.).

[0132] The software may include an ordered listing of executable instructions for implementing logical functions and may be contained in any "processor readable medium" for use by or in conjunction with an instruction execution system, apparatus or device (such as a single-core processor or multi-core processor, or a system including a processor).

[0133] The blocks or operations and / or functions of the methods or algorithms described in conjunction with the example embodiments disclosed herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in software modules executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. If implemented in software, these functions may be stored or transmitted as one or more instructions or codes on a tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium (e.g., memory 730 and / or memory 820). The software module may reside in a random access memory (RAM), flash memory, read-only memory (ROM), electrically programmable ROM (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), registers, a hard disk, a removable disk, a CD ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art.

[0134] In an example embodiment, the processing circuit may perform specific operations (e.g., operations described herein as being performed by a neural network model) through artificial intelligence and / or machine learning. As an example, the processing circuit may implement an artificial neural network (e.g., a neural network model) that is trained on a set of training data through, for example, supervised, unsupervised, and / or reinforcement learning models, wherein the processing circuit may process feature vectors to provide outputs based on the training. Such an artificial neural network may utilize various artificial neural network organizations and processing models (such as convolutional neural networks (CNNs), recurrent neural networks (RNNs) that optionally include long short-term memory (LSTM) units and / or gated recurrent units (GRUs), stacked deep neural networks (S-DNNs), state-space dynamic neural networks (S-SDNNs), deconvolution networks, deep belief networks (DBNs), and / or restricted Boltzmann machines (RBMs)). Alternatively or additionally, the processing circuit may include other forms of artificial intelligence and / or machine learning (e.g., linear and / or logistic regression, statistical clustering, Bayesian classification, decision trees, dimensionality reduction (such as principal component analysis), and expert systems; and / or combinations thereof (including ensembles such as random forests)).

[0135] Herein, a machine learning model (e.g., a neural network model) may have any structure that is trainable (e.g., using training data). For example, a machine learning model may include an artificial neural network, a decision tree, a support vector machine, a Bayesian network, a genetic algorithm, and the like. The machine learning model will now be described with primary reference to an artificial neural network, but the example embodiments are not limited thereto. Non-limiting examples of artificial neural networks may include a convolutional neural network (CNN), a region-based convolutional neural network (R-CNN), a region proposal network (RPN), a recurrent neural network (RNN), a stacked deep neural network (S-DNN), a state-space dynamic neural network (S-SDNN), a deconvolution network, a deep belief network (DBN), a restricted Boltzmann machine (RBM), a fully convolutional network, a long short-term memory (LSTM) network, a classification network, and the like.

[0136] Although example embodiments have been described, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure as defined by the claims.

Claims

1. A handover method performed by a base station, the handover method comprising: Obtaining first location information of a user device; Based on the first location information, determining whether the user equipment is in a handover area of ​​a first cell of the base station; In response to determining that the user equipment is within the handover area, sending a reference signal measurement request to the user equipment; receiving reference signal strength information from a user equipment, the reference signal strength information corresponding to a reference signal measurement request; and The user equipment is handed over from the first cell to a target cell adjacent to the first cell.

2. The switching method according to claim 1, wherein: The user equipment is a first user equipment, and the reference signal measurement request is a first reference signal measurement request; and The switching method further includes: In response to determining that the second user equipment is not within the handover area, the location of the second user equipment is monitored without sending a second reference signal measurement request to the second user equipment.

3. The switching method according to claim 1, further comprising: determining the switching region, The handover area includes an overlapping area that overlaps both the first cell and the target cell.

4. The switching method according to claim 3, wherein: The reference signal measurement request is a first reference signal measurement request, and the reference signal strength information is first reference signal strength information; The step of determining the switching area comprises: Sending a second reference signal measurement request to a test user equipment in the cell; determining that the test user equipment is within the handover area based on receiving second reference signal strength information from the test user equipment, the second reference signal strength information corresponding to a second reference signal measurement request; Obtaining location information of the test user equipment as handover area location information; Based on the handover area location information, the handover area is estimated.

5. The switching method according to claim 4, in, The step of estimating the handover region includes: fitting a boundary of the handover region based on the handover region position information.

6. The switching method according to claim 5, wherein: The switching area location information indicates a plurality of locations; The boundaries of the switching region include an inner boundary and an outer boundary, and The step of estimating the switching area comprises: fitting an inner boundary using handover area location information indicating a location closest to the base station among the plurality of locations, and An outer boundary of the handover area is fitted using handover area location information indicating a last location of the test user equipment among the plurality of locations before handover to the neighboring cell.

7. The switching method according to claim 5, wherein: The step of estimating the switching area comprises: obtaining a model representing a relationship between a first position and a reference signal strength, the first position being indicated in the handover region position information, and the reference signal strength being based on the second reference signal strength information; Based on the model, predicting a set of candidate position information, where third reference signal strength information at a second position indicated by the candidate position information is less than a threshold; Based on the set of candidate position information, the boundary of the switching area is fitted.

8. A mobile switching device in a wireless communication network, comprising: A memory configured to store information about a handover area of ​​a current cell; as well as The processing circuit is configured to: Obtaining location information of user equipment; Determining whether the user equipment is within the switching area based on the location information; In response to determining that the user equipment is within the handover area, sending a reference signal measurement request to the user equipment; receiving reference signal strength information from a user equipment, the reference signal strength information corresponding to a reference signal measurement request; and Handover of user equipment from a current cell to a target cell adjacent to the current cell.

9. A wireless communication system, comprising: User equipment; as well as The base station is configured as: Obtaining location information of user equipment; Determining, based on the location information, whether the user equipment is within a handover area of ​​a first cell of the base station; In response to determining that the user equipment is within the handover area, sending a reference signal measurement request to the user equipment; receiving reference signal strength information from a user equipment, the reference signal strength information corresponding to a reference signal measurement request; and Handing over the user equipment from the first cell to a target cell adjacent to the first cell, The user equipment is configured as follows: In response to receiving a reference signal measurement request from a base station, periodically performing downlink reference signal strength measurement to obtain measured downlink reference signal strength; and Based on the measured downlink reference signal strength meeting the condition, the reference signal strength information is sent to the base station. 10 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions, wherein when the instructions are executed by a processing circuit, the processing circuit is caused to perform the switching method according to any one of claims 1 to 7.

Images