Cooperative relationship establishment method and device, storage medium and electronic device

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention provides a cooperative relationship establishment method and device, a storage medium and an electronic device, and the method comprises the steps: receiving a first measurement instruction sent by a first terminal under the condition that the first terminal is located in a service cell, and the first measurement instruction is used for measuring the signal quality of a non-service cell of the first terminal; under the condition that the signal quality measured based on the first measurement instruction meets a preset condition, first cooperative information is determined in the serving cell according to information corresponding to the first control instruction, and the information corresponding to the first control instruction is sent to a non-serving cell to instruct the non-serving cell to generate a second control instruction, determining second cooperative information in the non-serving cell according to the information corresponding to the second control instruction; and instructing the serving cell to establish a first cooperative relationship from the serving cell to the non-serving cell according to the first cooperative information, and instructing the non-serving cell to establish a second cooperative relationship from the non-serving cell to the serving cell according to the second cooperative information.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The embodiments of the present application relate to the field of communications, and more specifically, to a method and apparatus for establishing a cooperation relationship, a storage medium, and an electronic device. Background Art

[0002] With the continuous development of the fifth-generation wireless communication system (5G, Fifth Generation wireless communication system) mobile communication system based on wireless technology, the dynamic terminals of coordinated multipoint transmission / reception (Comp) under 5G can improve network capacity.

[0003] The coordinated multipoint transmission protocol (Comp protocol) of 5G is of the nature of the cell level. The improvement of the anti-interference ability of the terminal at the cell edge is achieved by establishing a connection between the cell edges, for example, between two cells. Summary of the Invention

[0004] The embodiments of the present application provide a method and apparatus for establishing a cooperation relationship, a storage medium, and an electronic device, so as to at least solve the problem in the prior art that the capacity of Comp is limited due to the inability to dynamically establish Comp cooperation between cells through terminals.

[0005] According to an embodiment of the present application, a method for establishing a cooperation relationship is provided, including: when a first terminal is located in a serving cell, receiving a first measurement instruction sent by the first terminal, where the first measurement instruction is used to measure the signal quality of a non-serving cell of the first terminal; when the signal quality measured based on the first measurement instruction meets a preset condition, determining first cooperation information in the serving cell according to information corresponding to a first control instruction, and sending the information corresponding to the first control instruction to the non-serving cell to instruct the non-serving cell to generate a second control instruction, and determining second cooperation information in the non-serving cell according to the information corresponding to the second control instruction; instructing the serving cell to establish a first cooperation relationship from the serving cell to the non-serving cell according to the first cooperation information, and instructing the non-serving cell to establish a second cooperation relationship from the non-serving cell to the serving cell according to the second cooperation information.

[0006] In an exemplary embodiment, before instructing the serving cell to establish a first cooperation relationship from the serving cell to the non-serving cell according to the first cooperation information, the method further includes: determining whether the serving cell has established a third cooperation relationship from the serving cell to the non-serving cell; in the case where the third cooperation relationship has been established, determining the third cooperation relationship as the cooperation relationship to be established by the first terminal; in the case where the third cooperation relationship has not been established, determining to establish a first cooperation relationship from the serving cell to the non-serving cell according to the first cooperation information.

[0007] In an exemplary embodiment, the method further includes: in the case where the first cooperation relationship has been established, determining whether there is an available terminal within the cooperation range indicated by the first cooperation relationship; in the case where there is no available terminal within the cooperation range, determining to delete the first cooperation relationship.

[0008] In an exemplary embodiment, after instructing the serving cell to establish a first cooperation relationship from the serving cell to the non-serving cell according to the first cooperation information, the method further includes: in the case where a second terminal is also located in the serving cell, receiving a second measurement instruction sent by the second terminal, where the second measurement instruction is used to measure the signal quality of the non-serving cell of the second terminal; in the case where the signal quality measured based on the second measurement instruction meets a preset condition and the first cooperation relationship is in an effective state, instructing the serving cell to determine the first cooperation relationship as the cooperation relationship to be established by the second terminal.

[0009] In an exemplary embodiment, after instructing the serving cell to establish a first cooperation relationship from the serving cell to the non-serving cell according to the first cooperation information, and instructing the non-serving cell to establish a second cooperation relationship from the non-serving cell to the serving cell according to the second cooperation information, the method further includes: in the case where a third terminal is located in the non-serving cell, receiving a third measurement instruction sent by the third terminal, where the third measurement instruction is used to measure the signal quality of the serving cell of the third terminal; in the case where the signal quality measured based on the third measurement instruction meets a preset condition, instructing the non-serving cell to determine the second cooperation relationship as the cooperation relationship to be established by the third terminal.

[0010] In an exemplary embodiment, when the signal quality measured based on the first measurement instruction meets a preset condition, first collaborative information is determined in the serving cell according to the information corresponding to the first control instruction, and the first control instruction is sent to the non-serving cell to instruct the non-serving cell to generate a second control instruction, and second collaborative information is determined in the non-serving cell according to the information corresponding to the second control instruction, including: determining whether there is a collaborative relationship between the serving cell and the non-serving cell, and whether the non-serving cell allows the establishment of a second collaborative relationship with the serving cell; when there is no collaborative relationship between the serving cell and the non-serving cell and the non-serving cell allows the establishment of a second collaborative relationship with the serving cell, first collaborative information is determined in the serving cell according to the information corresponding to the first control instruction, and the information corresponding to the first control instruction is sent to the non-serving cell to instruct the non-serving cell to generate a second control instruction, and second collaborative information is determined in the non-serving cell according to the information corresponding to the second control instruction.

[0011] In an exemplary embodiment, after instructing the serving cell to establish a first collaborative relationship from the serving cell to the non-serving cell according to the first collaborative information and instructing the non-serving cell to establish a second collaborative relationship from the non-serving cell to the serving cell according to the second collaborative information, the method further includes: instructing the serving cell to configure the first collaborative information to the cell subsystem corresponding to the serving cell to determine the first collaborative relationship as the collaborative relationship being used by the serving cell; and instructing the non-serving cell to configure the second collaborative information to the cell subsystem corresponding to the non-serving cell to determine the second collaborative relationship as the collaborative relationship being used by the non-serving cell.

[0012] According to another embodiment of the present application, there is provided an apparatus for establishing a cooperation relationship, including: a receiving module, configured to receive a first measurement instruction sent by the first terminal when the first terminal is located in a serving cell, where the first measurement instruction is used to measure the signal quality of a non-serving cell of the first terminal; a determining module, configured to, when the signal quality measured based on the first measurement instruction meets a preset condition, determine first cooperation information in the serving cell according to the information corresponding to a first control instruction, and send the information corresponding to the first control instruction to the non-serving cell to instruct the non-serving cell to generate a second control instruction, and determine second cooperation information in the non-serving cell according to the information corresponding to the second control instruction; a establishing module, configured to instruct the serving cell to establish a first cooperation relationship from the serving cell to the non-serving cell according to the first cooperation information, and instruct the non-serving cell to establish a second cooperation relationship from the non-serving cell to the serving cell according to the second cooperation information.

[0013] According to still another embodiment of the present application, there is also provided a computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program, where the computer program is configured to execute the steps in any one of the above method embodiments when running.

[0014] According to still another embodiment of the present application, there is also provided an electronic device including a memory and a processor, where the memory stores a computer program, and the processor is configured to run the computer program to execute the steps in any one of the above method embodiments.

[0015] Through this application, since the signal quality of the non-serving cell of the first terminal is determined by the first measurement instruction sent by the first terminal, when the signal quality meets the preset condition, the first collaboration information is determined in the serving cell according to the information corresponding to the first control instruction, and the information corresponding to the first control instruction is sent to the non-serving cell to instruct the non-serving cell to generate a second control instruction, and the second collaboration information is determined in the non-serving cell according to the information corresponding to the second control instruction. Furthermore, the serving cell establishes a first collaboration relationship from the serving cell to the non-serving cell through the first collaboration information, and the non-serving cell establishes a second collaboration relationship from the non-serving cell to the serving cell through the second collaboration information. That is to say, in the solution of the embodiment of this application, first measure the signal quality of the non-serving cell of the first terminal, and then when it is determined that the signal quality from the terminal to the cell meets the preset condition, establish the first collaboration information of the serving cell and the second collaboration information of the non-serving cell, and establish a first collaboration relationship from the serving cell to the non-serving cell through the first collaboration information and establish a second collaboration relationship from the non-serving cell to the serving cell through the second collaboration relationship. Therefore, it is possible to solve the problem in the prior art that the dynamic establishment of CoMP collaboration between cells cannot be carried out through the terminal, resulting in limited CoMP capacity, and achieve the effect of increasing the CoMP capacity. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0016] Figure 1 is a hardware structure block diagram of a base station for a method for establishing a collaboration relationship according to an embodiment of this application;

[0017] Figure 2 is a flowchart of a method for establishing a collaboration relationship according to an embodiment of this application;

[0018] Figure 3 is a communication schematic diagram (one) of two cells according to an embodiment of this application;

[0019] Figure 4 is a communication schematic diagram (two) of two cells according to an embodiment of this application;

[0020] Figure 5 is a communication schematic diagram (three) of two cells according to an embodiment of this application;

[0021] Figure 6 is a communication schematic diagram (four) of two cells according to an embodiment of this application;

[0022] Figure 7 is a communication schematic diagram for establishing a collaboration relationship between cells according to an exemplary embodiment of this application;

[0023] Figure 8 is a communication schematic diagram for deleting a terminal on a collaboration connection between two cells according to an exemplary embodiment of this application;

[0024] Figure 9 It is a structural block diagram of an apparatus for establishing a collaboration relationship according to an embodiment of the present application. Specific embodiments

[0025] In the following, embodiments of the present application will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and in conjunction with the embodiments.

[0026] It should be noted that the terms "first", "second", etc. in the specification and claims of the present application and the above-mentioned drawings are used to distinguish similar objects, and do not necessarily need to describe a specific order or sequence.

[0027] The method embodiments provided in the embodiments of the present application can be executed in a base station. Taking running on a base station as an example, Figure 1 It is a hardware structural block diagram of a base station for a method of establishing a collaboration relationship according to an embodiment of the present application. As Figure 1 shown, the base station may include one or more ( Figure 1 only one is shown in Figure 1 the processor 102 (the processor 102 may include, but is not limited to, a processing device such as a microprocessor (Central Processing Unit, MCU) or a field programmable gate array (Field Programmable Gate Array, FPGA)) and a memory 104 for storing data. Among them, the above-mentioned base station may further include a transmission device 106 for communication functions and an input / output device 108. Those of ordinary skill in the art can understand that Figure 1 the structure shown in Figure 1 is only schematic and does not limit the structure of the above-mentioned base station. For example, the base station may further include more or fewer components than

[0028] shown in

[0029] The transmission device 106 is used to receive or send data via a network. Specific examples of the above-mentioned network may include a wireless network provided by a communication provider of a base station. In one example, the transmission device 106 includes a network adapter (Network Interface Controller, abbreviated as NIC), which can be connected to other network devices through the base station so as to communicate with the Internet. In one example, the transmission device 106 may be a Radio Frequency (RF) module, which is used to communicate with the Internet wirelessly.

[0030] It can be understood that the serving cell and the non-serving cell may be cells of the same base station, or may be cells between different base stations. That is to say, when establishing a cooperation relationship, the serving cell and the non-serving cell can be interconnected and cooperate through the network, without the need to be under the same base station. By reasonably planning and setting network parameters, the cooperation between the serving cell and the non-serving cell of different base stations can be realized to meet the needs of users and improve the network coverage. This application does not limit whether the serving cell and the non-serving cell are cells of the same base station.

[0031] A terminal can only exist in one cell, and there is no concept of a terminal in another interfering cell. Furthermore, the comp protocol between cells cannot be dynamically created based on the terminal, so the comp capacity will be limited. That is to say, Comp in the prior art can only establish cell-level connections between edge cells, and cannot dynamically establish comp cooperation through the terminal, resulting in limited comp capacity, that is, the problem of limited network capacity.

[0032] Aiming at the problem that the comp cooperation between cells cannot be dynamically established through the terminal, resulting in limited comp capacity, in this embodiment, a method for establishing a cooperation relationship is provided, which runs on the Figure 1 base station Figure 2 is a flowchart of the method for establishing a cooperation relationship according to the embodiment of the present application. As Figure 2 shown, the process includes the following steps:

[0033] Step S202, when the first terminal is located in the serving cell, receive the first measurement instruction sent by the first terminal, where the first measurement instruction is used to measure the signal quality of the non-serving cell of the first terminal;

[0034] Step S204: When the signal quality measured based on the first measurement instruction meets the preset conditions, determine first cooperation information in the serving cell according to the information corresponding to the first control instruction, and send the information corresponding to the first control instruction to the non-serving cell to instruct the non-serving cell to generate a second control instruction, and determine second cooperation information in the non-serving cell according to the information corresponding to the second control instruction.

[0035] Among them, the above-mentioned method for measuring signal quality can be the method of inter-cell interference measurement (i.e., A3 measurement).

[0036] Figure 3 It is a schematic diagram of communication between two cells (one) according to an embodiment of the present application. As Figure 3 shown, both the serving cell and the non-serving cell include: a control plane and a cell subsystem.

[0037] Both the subsystems of the serving cell and the non-serving cell include: a scheduler (Service Processing Area, abbreviated as SPA), a user processing area (user plane) (User Plane Area, abbreviated as UPA), and a physical layer (Physical Layer, abbreviated as PHY). SPA is the area responsible for processing user services and signaling on the base station, mainly including functions such as core network interfaces, control plane processing, and user plane processing. UPA is the area responsible for processing user data transmission on the base station. PHY is the area responsible for processing wireless signal transmission on the base station. As Figure 3 shown:

[0038] When the terminal is located in the serving cell, the information measured by the first measurement instruction is sent to the control plane of the serving cell through ① in Figure 3 . The control plane of the serving cell generates a first control instruction, and the information corresponding to the first control instruction is fed back to the SPA of the serving cell through ② in Figure 3 . The SPA of the serving cell synchronizes the information corresponding to the first control instruction to the cell subsystem of the serving cell through ⑤ in Figure 3 . In addition, the control plane of the serving cell synchronizes the information corresponding to the first control instruction to the control plane of the non-serving cell through ③ in Figure 3 , enabling the non-serving cell to generate a second control instruction, and the information corresponding to the second control instruction is fed back to the SPA of the non-serving cell through ④ in Figure 3 . The SPA of the non-serving cell synchronizes the information corresponding to the second control instruction to the cell subsystem of the non-serving cell through ⑥ in Figure 3 .

[0039] Among them, the information corresponding to the first control instruction may be: cell information of non-serving cells determined based on the serving cell, and the information corresponding to the second control instruction may be: cell information of the serving cell determined based on the non-serving cell.

[0040] Step S206: instruct the serving cell to establish a first cooperation relationship from the serving cell to the non-serving cell according to the first cooperation information, and instruct the non-serving cell to establish a second cooperation relationship from the non-serving cell to the serving cell according to the second cooperation information.

[0041] Among them, the above first cooperation information and second cooperation information are valid data parsed from the first control instruction sent by the control plane, used to create the cooperation relationship between schedulers, and sent to the subsystems of the serving cell and the non-serving cell at the same time. The difference between the first cooperation information and the second cooperation information lies in the different subjects, that is, the serving cell only establishes a cooperation relationship from the serving cell to the non-serving cell through the first cooperation information, while the non-serving cell only establishes a cooperation relationship from the non-serving cell to the serving cell through the second cooperation information. The cooperation information includes but is not limited to variable records, frequencies, data transmission rates, etc. of the serving cell / non-serving cell.

[0042] Furthermore, the first cooperation relationship from the serving cell to the non-serving cell established through the first cooperation information only supports the communication connection from the serving cell to the non-serving cell; while the second cooperation relationship from the non-serving cell to the serving cell established through the second cooperation information only supports the communication connection from the non-serving cell to the serving cell.

[0043] Through the above steps, the signal quality of the non-serving cell of the first terminal is determined by the first measurement instruction sent by the first terminal. When the signal quality meets the preset conditions, the first collaborative information is determined in the serving cell according to the information corresponding to the first control instruction, and the information corresponding to the first control instruction is sent to the non-serving cell to instruct the non-serving cell to generate a second control instruction, and the second collaborative information is determined in the non-serving cell according to the information corresponding to the second control instruction. Furthermore, the serving cell establishes a first collaborative relationship from the serving cell to the non-serving cell through the first collaborative information, and the non-serving cell establishes a second collaborative relationship from the non-serving cell to the serving cell through the second collaborative information. That is to say, in the solution of the embodiment of the present application, first, the signal quality of the non-serving cell of the first terminal is measured, and then when it is determined that the signal quality from the terminal to the cell meets the preset conditions, the first collaborative information of the serving cell and the second collaborative information of the non-serving cell are established, and the first collaborative relationship from the serving cell to the non-serving cell is established through the first collaborative information and the second collaborative relationship from the non-serving cell to the serving cell is established through the second collaborative relationship. Therefore, it is possible to solve the problem in the prior art that the dynamic establishment of COMP collaboration between cells cannot be performed through a terminal, resulting in limited COMP capacity, and achieve the effect of increasing the COMP capacity.

[0044] Optionally, in order to avoid resource waste caused by repeated establishment of collaboration, before instructing the serving cell to establish the first collaborative relationship from the serving cell to the non-serving cell according to the first collaborative information, the method further includes: determining whether the serving cell has already established a third collaborative relationship from the serving cell to the non-serving cell; if the third collaborative relationship has been established, determining the third collaborative relationship as the collaborative relationship to be established by the first terminal; if the third collaborative relationship has not been established, determining to establish the first collaborative relationship from the serving cell to the non-serving cell according to the first collaborative information.

[0045] That is to say, the establishment of the collaborative relationship needs to consider the following conditions: 1) Whether the signal quality of the non-serving cell of the measurement terminal meets the preset conditions; 2) Whether there is a third collaborative relationship established by the serving cell within the collaboration range between the serving cell and the non-serving cell; 3) Whether there is a second terminal on the third collaborative relationship.

[0046] Among them, the above condition 2) is used to prevent repeated establishment of collaborative relationships, that is, the serving cell is only allowed to have one valid collaborative relationship, and at the same time, the invalid collaborative relationship should be deleted.

[0047] That is to say, when the signal quality of the non-serving cell of the measurement terminal meets the preset conditions, there are the following three situations:

[0048] (1) In the case where there is no third collaboration relationship established by the serving cell within the collaboration scope between the serving cell and the non-serving cell, the first collaboration relationship from the serving cell to the non-serving cell can be established according to the first terminal.

[0049] (2) In the case where there is a third collaboration relationship established by the serving cell within the collaboration scope between the serving cell and the non-serving cell, and there is a second terminal on the third collaboration relationship, it is determined that the third collaboration relationship is valid. At this time, it is not necessary for the serving cell to establish the first collaboration relationship, and only the third collaboration relationship needs to be used as the collaboration relationship to be established by the first terminal in the serving cell.

[0050] (3) In the case where there is a third collaboration relationship established by the serving cell within the collaboration scope between the serving cell and the non-serving cell, and there is no second terminal on the third collaboration relationship, it is determined that the third collaboration relationship is invalid. At this time, the third collaboration relationship needs to be deleted, and the first collaboration relationship from the serving cell to the non-serving cell is established according to the first terminal.

[0051] Optionally, the method further includes: after the first collaboration relationship is established, determining whether there is an available terminal within the collaboration scope indicated by the first collaboration relationship; in the case where there is no available terminal within the collaboration scope, determining to delete the first collaboration relationship.

[0052] In the embodiments of the present invention, after the first collaboration relationship is established, since the first collaboration relationship is a collaboration relationship between the serving cell and the non-serving cell, therefore, it should be determined whether there is an available terminal in the serving cell within the collaboration scope of the first collaboration relationship. In the case where there is no available terminal, the first collaboration relationship should be deleted.

[0053] Similarly, after the second collaboration relationship is established, determining whether there is an available terminal within the collaboration scope indicated by the second collaboration relationship; in the case where there is no available terminal within the collaboration scope indicated by the second collaboration relationship, determining to delete the second collaboration relationship.

[0054] That is to say, after the second collaboration relationship is established, since the second collaboration relationship is a collaboration relationship from the non-serving cell to the serving cell, therefore, it should be determined whether there is an available terminal in the non-serving cell within the collaboration scope of the second collaboration relationship. In the case where there is no available terminal, the second collaboration relationship is deleted.

[0055] That is, in the case where the collaboration relationship has been established, but there is no available terminal within the collaboration scope indicated by the established collaboration relationship, the collaboration relationship should be deleted.

[0056] As can be seen from the above technical solution, when there is a third collaboration relationship between the serving cell and the non-serving cell where the second terminal is located in the serving cell and the second terminal moves out of the collaboration range of the non-serving cell, a deletion operation needs to be performed on the third collaboration relationship. Figure 4 It is a communication schematic diagram (II) of two cells according to an embodiment of the present application. Figure 4 It shows a communication schematic diagram of two cells when there is a third collaboration relationship between the two cells and there is no second terminal on the third collaboration relationship. Specifically,

[0057] Execute attachment Figure 4 The initial conditions of the solution are as follows: Collaboration (equivalent to the third collaboration relationship in the above embodiments of the present application) between cell 1 (equivalent to the serving cell in the above embodiments of the present application) and cell 2 (equivalent to the non-serving cell in the above embodiments of the present application) is normal, and collaborative data can be transmitted. The variable records of cell 1 are: the number of initiating terminals in cell 1 is 1; the number of initiating terminals in cell 2 is 0; the variable records of cell 2 are: the number of initiating terminals in cell 1 is 1, and the number of initiating terminals in cell 2 is 0.

[0058] At this time, the collaborative terminal 1 (equivalent to the second terminal in the above embodiments of the present application) leaves cell 2, that is, there is no terminal device on the collaboration. At this time, the variable records of cell 1 are changed to: the number of initiating terminals in cell 1 is 0, and the number of initiating terminals in cell 2 is 0. The variable records of cell 2 are changed to: the number of initiating terminals in cell 1 is 0, and the number of initiating terminals in cell 2 is 0. Specifically:

[0059] Step S401, cell 1 checks that there is no terminal 1 on the collaboration established corresponding to cell 1 and cell 2, and cell 1 sends a deletion request to cell 2 through the collaboration.

[0060] Step S402, after cell 2 receives the deletion request sent by cell 1 through the collaboration, cell 2 checks that there is no terminal on cell 1 and cell 2, returns a deletion response through the collaboration, and deletes the established collaboration on cell 2. After cell 1 receives the deletion response from cell 2, it deletes the collaboration on cell 1 to complete the resource recovery.

[0061] Step S403, cell 1 and cell 2 each notify the collaborative information being used in their respective subsystems (equivalent to the cell subsystems in the above embodiments of the present application).

[0062] The deletion operation of the collaboration relationship is completed through the above steps.

[0063] Optionally, after instructing the serving cell to establish a first cooperation relationship between the serving cell and the non-serving cell according to the first cooperation information, the method further includes: when the second terminal is also located in the serving cell, receiving a second measurement instruction sent by the second terminal, where the second measurement instruction is used to measure the signal quality of the non-serving cell of the second terminal; when the signal quality measured based on the second measurement instruction meets a preset condition and the first cooperation relationship is in an effective state, instructing the serving cell to determine the first cooperation relationship as the cooperation relationship to be established by the second terminal.

[0064] Figure 5 is a communication schematic diagram (III) of two cells according to an embodiment of the present application, as Figure 5 shown, after establishing a first cooperation relationship between two cells, when it is determined that the second terminal is also located in the serving cell, the following operations can be performed:

[0065] Figure 5 The initial conditions are as follows: The cooperation between cell 1 and cell 2 (equivalent to the first cooperation relationship in the above embodiments of the present application) is normal, and cooperation data can be transmitted. The variable record of cell 1 is: the number of terminals initiated by cell 1 is 1; the number of terminals initiated by cell 2 is 0; the variable record of cell 2 is: the number of terminals initiated by cell 1 is 1, and the number of terminals initiated by cell 2 is 0.

[0066] Step S501, the second terminal is at the edge of cell 1 and needs to measure the signal of the second terminal to the neighboring cell 2 (equivalent to the signal quality of the non-serving cell of the second terminal in the above embodiments of the present application) and report an A3 measurement signaling (equivalent to the second measurement instruction in the above embodiments of the present application) to the base station.

[0067] Step S502, the base station receives the A3 measurement and finds that it meets the Comp threshold (equivalent to the preset condition in the above embodiments of the present application), queries the existing cooperation on cell 1 and cell 2, adds 1 to the progressive number of terminals on cell 1, and at the same time synchronizes the progressive number of terminals established by cell 1 to cell 2 through cooperation. At this time, the variable record of cell 1 is: the number of terminals initiated by cell 1 is 2; the number of terminals initiated by cell 2 is 0; the variable record of cell 2 is: the number of terminals initiated by cell 1 is 2, and the number of terminals initiated by cell 2 is 0. Cell 2 receives the cooperation data to synchronize the number of terminals 2 established by cell 1, and cell 2 directly saves the number of terminals 2 in its own variable of the number of terminals established by cell 1.

[0068] Step S503, the second terminal normally transmits cooperation data through the cooperation between cell 1 and cell 2.

[0069] In another alternative embodiment of the embodiment of the present invention, after establishing a first cooperation relationship and a second cooperation relationship between two cells, the operations that can be performed when it is determined that a third terminal is located in a non-serving cell are as follows:

[0070] Optionally, after instructing the serving cell to establish a first cooperation relationship from the serving cell to the non-serving cell according to the first cooperation information, and instructing the non-serving cell to establish a second cooperation relationship from the non-serving cell to the serving cell according to the second cooperation information, the method further includes: when the third terminal is located in the non-serving cell, receiving a third measurement instruction sent by the third terminal, where the third measurement instruction is used to measure the signal quality of the serving cell of the third terminal; when the signal quality measured based on the third measurement instruction meets a preset condition, instructing the non-serving cell to determine the second cooperation relationship as the cooperation relationship to be established by the third terminal.

[0071] It can be understood that when the first cooperation relationship and the second cooperation relationship are cooperation relationships between a serving cell and a non-serving cell, the first cooperation relationship is a channel from the serving cell to the non-serving cell created with the serving cell as the main body, and the second cooperation relationship is a channel from the non-serving cell to the serving cell created with the non-serving cell as the main body. The first cooperation relationship and the second cooperation relationship together form a complete channel between the serving cell and the non-serving cell. On this basis, if there is a third terminal located in the non-serving cell, only the cooperation relationship between the non-serving cell and the serving cell needs to be changed. That is, when there is a third terminal located in the non-serving cell, measure the signal quality of the serving cell of the third terminal. When the signal quality meets the preset condition, only need to use the second cooperation relationship as the cooperation relationship to be established by the third terminal, without considering the first cooperation relationship.

[0072] Among them, in practical applications, the cell where the terminal is located is the serving cell, and the cell that establishes a cooperation relationship with the terminal is the non-serving cell. In this embodiment, to avoid confusing the concepts of the serving cell and the non-serving cell, the serving cell and the non-serving cell in this embodiment are both based on the serving cell and the non-serving cell of the first terminal. That is, in this embodiment, the cell where the first terminal is located is the serving cell, and the cell that establishes a cooperation relationship with the serving cell of the first terminal is the non-serving cell. That is to say, the serving cell and the non-serving cell described in this embodiment are fixed. Further, the serving cell where the third terminal is located in practical applications should be the non-serving cell based on the first terminal in this embodiment; the non-serving cell of the third terminal in practical applications should be the serving cell based on the first terminal in this embodiment. According to the above technical solution, after establishing the first cooperation relationship and the second cooperation relationship, when it is determined that the third terminal is located in the non-serving cell, the following operations need to be performed:

[0073] Figure 6 It is a communication schematic diagram (IV) of two cells according to an embodiment of the present application. As Figure 6 shown, after establishing a first cooperation relationship and a second cooperation between two cells, when it is determined that the third terminal is located in a non-serving cell:

[0074] Figure 6 The initial conditions are as follows: The cooperation between cell 1 and cell 2 is normal and cooperative data can be transmitted. The variable record of cell1 is: the number of terminals initiated by cell1 is 2; the number of terminals initiated by cell2 is 0; the variable record of cell2 is: the number of terminals initiated by cell1 is 2, and the number of terminals initiated by cell2 is 0.

[0075] Step S601: The third terminal is on cell 2 and at the edge of cell 2. It measures the signal of neighboring cell 1 (equivalent to the signal quality of the serving cell of the third terminal in the present application) and reports a measurement signaling A3 (equivalent to the third measurement instruction in the present application) to the base station to which cell 2 belongs.

[0076] Step S602: The base station to which cell 2 belongs discovers according to the A3 measurement that the signal quality of cell 1 of the third terminal meets the Comp threshold. When checking the cooperation relationship from cell 2 to cell 1 determined through cell 2 that already exists on cell 2 (equivalent to the second cooperation relationship in the present application), the progressive number 1 of the terminals initiated by cell 2 is saved on cell 2, and the number 1 of the terminals initiated by cell 2 is synchronized to cell 1 through cooperation. At this time, the variable record of cell1 is: the number of terminals initiated by cell1 is 2; the number of terminals initiated by cell2 is 1; the variable record of cell2 is: the number of terminals initiated by cell1 is 2, and the number of terminals initiated by cell2 is 1. Cell 1 saves the number 1 of the cooperative terminals initiated by cell 2.

[0077] Step S603: The third terminal normally transmits cooperative data through the cooperation between cell 1 and cell 2.

[0078] Optionally, determining first cooperation information in the serving cell according to information corresponding to the first control instruction, and sending the information corresponding to the first control instruction to the non-serving cell to instruct the non-serving cell to generate a second control instruction, and determining second cooperation information in the non-serving cell according to the information corresponding to the second control instruction, includes: determining whether there is a cooperation relationship between the serving cell and the non-serving cell, and whether the non-serving cell allows establishing a second cooperation relationship with the serving cell; in the case that there is no cooperation relationship between the serving cell and the non-serving cell, and the non-serving cell allows establishing a second cooperation relationship with the serving cell, determining first cooperation information in the serving cell according to the information corresponding to the first control instruction, and sending the information corresponding to the first control instruction to the non-serving cell to instruct the non-serving cell to generate a second control instruction, and determining second cooperation information in the non-serving cell according to the information corresponding to the second control instruction.

[0079] It can be understood that the conditions for determining the first cooperation information of the serving cell and the second cooperation information of the non-serving cell are: determining whether there is a cooperation relationship between the serving cell and the non-serving cell, and whether the non-serving cell allows establishing a first cooperation relationship with the serving cell. Only when there is no cooperation relationship between the serving cell and the non-serving cell, and the non-serving cell allows establishing a first cooperation relationship with the serving cell, can the first cooperation information and the second cooperation information be determined.

[0080] Optionally, after instructing the serving cell to establish a first cooperation relationship from the serving cell to the non-serving cell according to the first cooperation information, and instructing the non-serving cell to establish a second cooperation relationship from the non-serving cell to the serving cell according to the second cooperation information, the method further includes: instructing the serving cell to configure the first cooperation information to a cell subsystem corresponding to the serving cell to determine the first cooperation relationship as the cooperation relationship currently used by the serving cell; and instructing the non-serving cell to configure the second cooperation information to a cell subsystem corresponding to the non-serving cell to determine the second cooperation relationship as the cooperation relationship currently used by the non-serving cell.

[0081] It should be noted that after establishing a first cooperation relationship from the serving cell to the non-serving cell and a cooperation relationship from the non-serving cell to the serving cell, the first cooperation relationship and the second cooperation relationship can be synchronized to the cell subsystems of the serving cell and the non-serving cell respectively, that is, synchronizing the first cooperation information corresponding to the first cooperation relationship to the cell subsystem of the serving cell in the serving cell, and synchronizing the second cooperation information corresponding to the second cooperation relationship to the cell subsystem of the non-serving cell in the non-serving cell.

[0082] Through the description of the above embodiments, those skilled in the art can clearly understand that the method according to the above embodiments can be implemented by means of software plus a necessary general hardware platform. Of course, it can also be implemented by hardware, but in many cases, the former is a better implementation method. Based on such an understanding, the technical solution of the present application, in essence, or the part that contributes to the prior art, can be embodied in the form of a software product. The computer software product is stored in a storage medium (such as a read-only memory / random access memory (ROM / RAM), magnetic disk, optical disk), and includes several instructions to enable a terminal device (which can be a mobile phone, computer, server, or network device, etc.) to execute the methods described in various embodiments of the present application.

[0083] To better understand the process of the above method for establishing a collaboration relationship, the following further describes the implementation process of the above method for establishing a collaboration relationship in combination with optional embodiments, but it is not used to limit the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application.

[0084] The main modules included in the base station in the exemplary embodiments of the present application:

[0085] 1) Establishment module, which establishes collaboration according to the emergence of cell-edge terminals from scratch.

[0086] 2) Deletion module, which deletes collaboration according to the disappearance of cell-edge terminals.

[0087] 3) Synchronization module, which synchronizes the terminal information on the collaboration to the peer end.

[0088] 4) Configuration module, which configures the collaboration information to their respective subsystems.

[0089] According to the above four modules, communication between cells can be achieved. For example:

[0090] 1) Establish collaboration between cells:

[0091] Figure 7 is a communication schematic diagram for establishing a collaboration relationship between cells according to an exemplary embodiment of the present application, as Figure 7 shown:

[0092] Figure 7 The initial conditions are as follows: There is no collaboration between cell 1 and cell 2. The variable records of cell1 are: the number of terminals initiated by cell1 is 0; the number of terminals initiated by cell2 is 0. The variable records of cell2 are: the number of terminals initiated by cell1 is 0, and the number of terminals initiated by cell2 is 0.

[0093] Step S701: When the terminal at the edge of the serving cell detects that the signal of the non-serving cell appears from non-existence, it reports to the base station, and the base station establishes cooperation in the serving cell through the establishment module.

[0094] For example: When the terminal is at the edge of Cell 1 and measures the signal of neighboring Cell 2, it reports the A3 measurement signaling to the base station. After receiving the A3 measurement, the base station finds that it meets the Comp threshold and queries that there is no cooperation between Cell 1 and Cell 2. It continues to query that Cell 2 allows the establishment of relevant cooperation information in the configured neighbor cell list, so it configures the cooperation of Cell 1 and establishes a cooperation connection with Cell 2.

[0095] Step S702: The base station of the serving cell synchronizes the cooperation information of the serving cell to the control plane of the cooperation peer through the control plane signaling, and also establishes the cooperation of the non-serving cell through the establishment module at the peer end. Specifically:

[0096] After receiving the control information transmitted from Cell 1 (i.e., the information corresponding to the first control instruction of this application), Cell 2 configures the cooperation of Cell 2 and establishes a cooperation connection with Cell 1.

[0097] Step S703: The serving cell and the non-serving cell configure their respective subsystems according to the cooperation establishment situation. Specifically:

[0098] Cell 1 and Cell 2 respectively notify the cooperation information being used in their respective subsystems. The above cooperation information is: The variable record of cell1 is: the number of terminals initiated by cell1 is 1; the number of terminals initiated by cell2 is 0; the variable record of cell2 is: the number of terminals initiated by cell1 is 1, and the number of terminals initiated by cell2 is 0. Based on this, Cell 1 and Cell 2 perform normal comp cooperation and transmit data normally.

[0099] 2) Delete the cooperation between cells:

[0100] (1) When the terminal at the edge of the serving cell detects that the signal of the non-serving cell disappears from existence and reports to the base station, or the base station cannot detect the signal of the terminal at the edge of the serving cell, the base station sends a deletion request to the peer cooperation (non-serving cell cooperation) through the existing cooperation channel.

[0101] (2) The non-serving cell responds to the deletion through the cooperation feedback and deletes the cooperation through the deletion module.

[0102] (3) After receiving the deletion response, the serving cell deletes the cooperation of the serving cell through the deletion module.

[0103] (4) The serving cell and the non-serving cell configure their respective subsystems according to the cooperation deletion situation.

[0104] When it is determined that there is no signal between two cells and there is no terminal communicating on the cooperation between the two cells, the cooperation can be directly deleted. Further, when it is determined that only the terminals on the cooperation between two cells need to be deleted, the operations performed are different from the above operations of deleting cooperation. Figure 7 It is a communication schematic diagram of deleting terminals on the cooperation connection between two cells according to an exemplary embodiment of the present application, as Figure 7 shown:

[0105] Figure 8 The initial conditions are as follows: The cooperation between cell 1 and cell 2 is normal and can transmit cooperation data. The variable record of cell1 is: the number of terminals initiated by cell1 is 2; the number of terminals initiated by cell2 is 1; the variable record of cell2 is: the number of terminals initiated by cell1 is 2, and the number of terminals initiated by cell2 is 1.

[0106] Step S801, assume that a cooperation connection has been established between cell 1 and cell 2, and there are 3 terminal information in cell 1 and cell 2. Among them, 2 are initiated by cell 1 and 1 is initiated by cell 2, and they are saved in different variables on cell 1 and cell 2 respectively. At this time, terminal 1 is on cell 1, and the cooperation of terminal 1 is cell 2. When the position of terminal 1 changes and it leaves cell 2, the cooperation of terminal 1 needs to be deleted. The number of terminals initiated by cell 1 on cell 1 is reduced by 1 and becomes 1.

[0107] Step S802, cell 1 synchronizes the latest number of terminals initiated by cell 1 to cell 2 through cooperation. Cell 2 receives the updated number of terminals sent by cell 1 and updates the variable of the number of terminals initiated by cell 1 on cell 2 to 1. At this time, the variable record of cell1 is: the number of terminals initiated by cell1 is 1; the number of terminals initiated by cell2 is 1; the variable record of cell2 is: the number of terminals initiated by cell1 is 1, and the number of terminals initiated by cell2 is 1.

[0108] Through the above exemplary embodiment in which whether the Comp cooperation resource is established depends on the existence of edge terminals (equivalent to terminal 1 in step S801), the effect of saving resources can be achieved. At the same time, for newly added configured cooperative neighboring cells (for example: the cooperative neighboring cell of cell 1 in the above step S801 is cell 2, and the cooperative neighboring cell of cell 2 is cell 1), Comp cooperation can be dynamically established, and thus Comp services can be flexibly performed. It also improves the capacity of the system, especially the capacity of Comp services.

[0109] In this embodiment, a device for establishing a cooperation relationship is further provided. This device is used to implement the above embodiments and preferred implementation manners, and those that have been described will not be repeated here. As used hereinafter, the term "module" can be a combination of software and / or hardware that realizes a predetermined function. Although the devices described in the following embodiments are preferably implemented in software, implementation in hardware, or a combination of software and hardware is also possible and contemplated.

[0110] Figure 9 is a structural block diagram of a device for establishing a cooperation relationship according to an embodiment of the present application. As Figure 9 shown, the device includes:

[0111] A receiving module 92, configured to receive a first measurement instruction sent by the first terminal when the first terminal is located in the serving cell, where the first measurement instruction is used to measure the signal quality of a non-serving cell of the first terminal;

[0112] A determining module 94, configured to determine first cooperation information in the serving cell according to the information corresponding to the first control instruction and send the information corresponding to the first control instruction to the non-serving cell to instruct the non-serving cell to generate a second control instruction and determine second cooperation information in the non-serving cell according to the information corresponding to the second control instruction when the signal quality measured based on the first measurement instruction meets a preset condition;

[0113] An establishing module 96, configured to instruct the serving cell to establish a first cooperation relationship from the serving cell to the non-serving cell according to the first cooperation information, and instruct the non-serving cell to establish a second cooperation relationship from the non-serving cell to the serving cell according to the second cooperation information.

[0114] In an exemplary embodiment, the determining module 94 is further configured to determine whether a third cooperation relationship from the serving cell to the non-serving cell has been established in the serving cell; if the third cooperation relationship has been established, determine the third cooperation relationship as the cooperation relationship to be established by the first terminal; if the third cooperation relationship has not been established, determine to establish a first cooperation relationship from the serving cell to the non-serving cell according to the first cooperation information.

[0115] In an exemplary embodiment, the device further includes: a deleting module, configured to determine whether there is an available terminal within the cooperation range indicated by the first cooperation relationship when the first cooperation relationship has been established; if there is no available terminal within the cooperation range, determine to delete the first cooperation relationship.

[0116] In an exemplary embodiment, the establishing module 96 is further configured to, when the second terminal is also located in the serving cell, receive a second measurement instruction sent by the second terminal, where the second measurement instruction is used to measure the signal quality of the non-serving cell of the second terminal; and when the signal quality measured based on the second measurement instruction meets a preset condition and the first collaboration relationship is in an effective state, instruct the serving cell to determine the first collaboration relationship as the collaboration relationship to be established by the second terminal.

[0117] In an exemplary embodiment, the establishing module 96 is further configured to, when the third terminal is located in the non-serving cell, receive a third measurement instruction sent by the third terminal, where the third measurement instruction is used to measure the signal quality of the serving cell of the third terminal; and when the signal quality measured based on the third measurement instruction meets a preset condition, instruct the non-serving cell to determine the second collaboration relationship as the collaboration relationship to be established by the third terminal.

[0118] In an exemplary embodiment, the determining module 94 is further configured to determine whether there is a collaboration relationship between the serving cell and the non-serving cell, and whether the non-serving cell allows the establishment of a second collaboration relationship with the serving cell; when there is no collaboration relationship between the serving cell and the non-serving cell and the non-serving cell allows the establishment of a second collaboration relationship with the serving cell, determine first collaboration information in the serving cell according to the information corresponding to the first control instruction, and send the information corresponding to the first control instruction to the non-serving cell to instruct the non-serving cell to generate a second control instruction, and determine second collaboration information in the non-serving cell according to the information corresponding to the second control instruction.

[0119] In an exemplary embodiment, the establishing module 96 is further configured to instruct the serving cell to configure the first collaboration information to the cell subsystem corresponding to the serving cell to determine the first collaboration relationship as the collaboration relationship being used by the serving cell; and instruct the non-serving cell to configure the second collaboration information to the cell subsystem corresponding to the non-serving cell to determine the second collaboration relationship as the collaboration relationship being used by the non-serving cell.

[0120] It should be noted that the above-mentioned various modules can be implemented by software or hardware. For the latter, it can be achieved in the following ways, but not limited thereto: the above-mentioned modules are all located in the same processor; or, the above-mentioned various modules are respectively located in different processors in any combination form.

[0121] An embodiment of the present application further provides a computer-readable storage medium, in which a computer program is stored, and the computer program is configured to execute the steps in any one of the above method embodiments when running.

[0122] In an exemplary embodiment, the above computer-readable storage medium may include, but is not limited to: various media such as USB flash drives, read-only memories (ROMs for short), random access memories (RAMs for short), mobile hard disks, magnetic disks, or optical discs that can store computer programs.

[0123] An embodiment of the present application further provides an electronic device, including a memory and a processor. A computer program is stored in the memory, and the processor is configured to run the computer program to execute the steps in any one of the above method embodiments.

[0124] In an exemplary embodiment, the above electronic device may further include a transmission device and input / output devices, where the transmission device is connected to the above processor, and the input / output devices are connected to the above processor.

[0125] Specific examples in this embodiment may refer to the examples described in the above embodiments and exemplary embodiments, and will not be elaborated here.

[0126] Obviously, those skilled in the art should understand that the above modules or steps of the present application can be implemented by a general-purpose computing device. They can be concentrated on a single computing device or distributed on a network composed of multiple computing devices. They can be implemented by program codes executable by the computing device, so that they can be stored in a storage device and executed by the computing device. And in some cases, the steps shown or described can be executed in a different order than here, or they can be separately made into individual integrated circuit modules, or multiple modules or steps among them can be made into a single integrated circuit module to implement. In this way, the present application is not limited to any specific combination of hardware and software.

[0127] The above are only the preferred embodiments of the present application and are not used to limit the present application. For those skilled in the art, the present application can have various changes and modifications. Any modification, equivalent replacement, improvement, etc. made within the principle of the present application shall be included in the protection scope of the present application.

Claims

1. A method for establishing a collaborative relationship, characterized in that, Including: When the first terminal is located in the serving cell, receiving a first measurement instruction sent by the first terminal, where the first measurement instruction is used to measure the signal quality of a non-serving cell of the first terminal; When the signal quality measured based on the first measurement instruction meets a preset condition, determining first cooperation information in the serving cell according to information corresponding to a first control instruction, and sending the information corresponding to the first control instruction to the non-serving cell to instruct the non-serving cell to generate a second control instruction, and determining second cooperation information in the non-serving cell according to the information corresponding to the second control instruction; Instructing the serving cell to establish a first cooperation relationship from the serving cell to the non-serving cell according to the first cooperation information, and instructing the non-serving cell to establish a second cooperation relationship from the non-serving cell to the serving cell according to the second cooperation information.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, Before the instructing the serving cell to establish the first cooperation relationship from the serving cell to the non-serving cell according to the first cooperation information, the method further includes: Determining whether a third cooperation relationship from the serving cell to the non-serving cell has been established; When the third cooperation relationship has been established, determining the third cooperation relationship as the cooperation relationship to be established by the first terminal; When the third cooperation relationship has not been established, determining to establish the first cooperation relationship from the serving cell to the non-serving cell according to the first cooperation information.

3. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The method further includes: When the first cooperation relationship has been established, determining whether there is an available terminal within the cooperation range indicated by the first cooperation relationship; When there is no available terminal within the cooperation range, determining to delete the first cooperation relationship.

4. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, After the instructing the serving cell to establish the first cooperation relationship from the serving cell to the non-serving cell according to the first cooperation information, the method further includes: When a second terminal is also located in the serving cell, receiving a second measurement instruction sent by the second terminal, where the second measurement instruction is used to measure the signal quality of the non-serving cell of the second terminal; When the signal quality measured based on the second measurement instruction meets the preset condition and the first cooperation relationship is in an effective state, instructing the serving cell to determine the first cooperation relationship as the cooperation relationship to be established by the second terminal.

5. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, After the instructing the serving cell to establish the first cooperation relationship from the serving cell to the non-serving cell according to the first cooperation information, and instructing the non-serving cell to establish the second cooperation relationship from the non-serving cell to the serving cell according to the second cooperation information, the method further includes: When a third terminal is located in the non-serving cell, receiving a third measurement instruction sent by the third terminal, where the third measurement instruction is used to measure the signal quality of the serving cell of the third terminal; When the signal quality measured based on the third measurement instruction meets a preset condition, instruct the non-serving cell to determine the second collaboration relationship as the collaboration relationship to be established by the third terminal.

6. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, Determining first collaboration information in the serving cell according to the information corresponding to the first control instruction, and sending the information corresponding to the first control instruction to the non-serving cell to instruct the non-serving cell to generate a second control instruction, and determining second collaboration information in the non-serving cell according to the information corresponding to the second control instruction, includes: Determining whether there is a collaboration relationship between the serving cell and the non-serving cell, and whether the non-serving cell allows the establishment of a second collaboration relationship with the serving cell; When there is no collaboration relationship between the serving cell and the non-serving cell, and the non-serving cell allows the establishment of a second collaboration relationship with the serving cell, determining first collaboration information in the serving cell according to the information corresponding to the first control instruction, and sending the information corresponding to the first control instruction to the non-serving cell to instruct the non-serving cell to generate a second control instruction, and determining second collaboration information in the non-serving cell according to the information corresponding to the second control instruction.

7. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, After instructing the serving cell to establish a first collaboration relationship from the serving cell to the non-serving cell according to the first collaboration information, and instructing the non-serving cell to establish a second collaboration relationship from the non-serving cell to the serving cell according to the second collaboration information, the method further includes: Instructing the serving cell to configure the first collaboration information to the cell subsystem corresponding to the serving cell to determine the first collaboration relationship as the collaboration relationship being used by the serving cell; and Instructing the non-serving cell to configure the second collaboration information to the cell subsystem corresponding to the non-serving cell to determine the second collaboration relationship as the collaboration relationship being used by the non-serving cell.

8. An apparatus for establishing a collaborative relationship, characterized in that, Includes: A receiving module, configured to receive a first measurement instruction sent by the first terminal when the first terminal is located in the serving cell, where the first measurement instruction is used to measure the signal quality of the non-serving cell of the first terminal; A determining module, configured to, when the signal quality measured based on the first measurement instruction meets a preset condition, determine first collaboration information in the serving cell according to the information corresponding to the first control instruction, and send the information corresponding to the first control instruction to the non-serving cell to instruct the non-serving cell to generate a second control instruction, and determine second collaboration information in the non-serving cell according to the information corresponding to the second control instruction; An establishing module, configured to instruct the serving cell to establish a first collaboration relationship from the serving cell to the non-serving cell according to the first collaboration information, and instruct the non-serving cell to establish a second collaboration relationship from the non-serving cell to the serving cell according to the second collaboration information.

9. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, A computer program is stored in the computer-readable storage medium, wherein when the computer program is executed by a processor, the steps of the method described in any one of claims 1-7 are implemented.

10. An electronic device, comprising a memory, a processor, and a computer program stored on the memory and executable on the processor, characterized in that, When the processor executes the computer program, the steps of the method described in any one of claims 1-7 are implemented.

Images