Communication method and device

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention discloses a communication method and device, and the method comprises the steps: receiving coverage configuration information from network equipment, the coverage configuration information comprises a coverage multiple number, and the coverage multiple number is used for indicating at least one of the following items: the number of beams covered by each geographic position in a plurality of geographic positions, the number of served cells at each geographic position, or the number of reference signals which can be received by terminal equipment at each geographic position; and performing communication according to the coverage configuration information. The network device configures the coverage multiple number in the coverage configuration information, so that the terminal device can communicate by using the coverage multiple number. For example, before entering an uncovered geographic location, coverage of the geographic location is requested ahead of time. Or requesting to increase the number of coverage duplication under the condition that the number of coverage duplication is small. Alternatively, the coverage multiple number is requested to be reduced at a geographic position with large signal interference. Therefore, the coverage performance is guaranteed, and the system capacity is improved.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present application relates to the technical field of communication, and in particular to a communication method and device. BACKGROUND

[0002] Non-terrestrial networks (NTN) include satellite networks, high-altitude platforms, and unmanned aerial vehicles, etc. nodes, with global coverage, long-distance transmission, flexible networking, easy deployment, and no geographical restrictions, etc. significant advantages, has been widely used in marine communication, positioning and navigation, disaster relief, scientific experiments, video broadcasting and earth observation, etc. many fields. The ground 5th-generation (5G) mobile communication technology network and satellite network are mutually integrated, complement each other, and jointly constitute a global seamless coverage of sea, land, air, sky, and earth integrated comprehensive communication network, which meets the user's ubiquitous multi-service demand.

[0003] As an important part of NTN, the next-generation satellite network generally presents a super-dense and heterogeneous trend: first, the scale of the satellite network develops from 66 Iridium satellites to 720 OneWeb satellites, and eventually extends to 12000+ Starlink super-dense low earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellations; second, the satellite network presents a heterogeneous characteristic, from the traditional single-layer communication network to the multi-layer communication network, and the function of the communication satellite network tends to be complex and diversified, gradually compatible and supporting navigation enhancement, earth observation, multi-dimensional information on-orbit processing, etc. It is worth noting that for a typical constellation of thousands of satellites, the number of satellites visible to a single geographic area / terminal can reach dozens or even hundreds.

[0004] In the LEO constellation NTN scenario, the number of satellites visible to a single geographic location or terminal device is extremely large. If the idea of "visible coverage" is adopted, that is, if a satellite i is visible to a region z (i belongs to I_z, I_z is the set of all visible satellites in the region), satellite i needs to provide coverage in the region, such as scheduling / planning broadcast beams, such as synchronization signal block (SSB) beams, to cover the geographic region z. It can be predicted that due to the large number of satellites visible to a single region, full SSB planning will affect the SSB coverage performance (such as SSB signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR)), and using more SSB quantity can improve the coverage performance, but will reduce the capacity of the system. SUMMARY

[0005] The embodiments of the present application provide a communication method and device, which can guarantee coverage performance and improve system capacity.

[0006] In a first aspect, the embodiments of the present application provide a communication method, which can be applied to a terminal side, for example, a terminal device or a communication module in the terminal device, or a circuit or chip responsible for communication function in the terminal device (such as a modem chip, also known as a baseband chip, or a system on chip (SoC) chip or a system in package (SIP) chip containing a modem core). Taking the case of applying the method to a terminal device, the method comprises:

[0007] receiving coverage configuration information from a network device, the coverage configuration information comprising a coverage repetition number, the coverage repetition number being used to indicate at least one of the following: a number of beams covering each geographical location in a plurality of geographical locations, a number of cells serving the each geographical location, or a number of reference signals receivable by the terminal device in the each geographical location; and performing communication according to the coverage configuration information.

[0008] The network device configures the coverage repetition number in the coverage configuration information, so that the terminal device can use the coverage repetition number related information to perform communication. For example, before entering a geographical location without coverage, the terminal device requests to cover the geographical location in advance. Or, in the case of a small coverage repetition number, the terminal device requests to increase the coverage repetition number. Or, in a geographical location with large signal interference, the terminal device requests to reduce the coverage repetition number. Thus, the coverage performance is guaranteed, and the system capacity is improved.

[0009] In a possible design, the coverage repetition number is N, the coverage configuration information further comprises M measurement configuration information corresponding to the each geographical location, N is an integer greater than or equal to 0, and M is an integer less than or equal to N. By configuring M measurement configuration information for each geographical location, the coverage performance is guaranteed, and the system capacity is improved.

[0010] In a possible design, the measurement configuration information comprises measurement timing configuration and time offset, the time offset comprises a first offset and a second offset, the first offset is used to adjust the difference in propagation delay between two satellites, and the second offset is used to adjust the signal transmission time between the two satellites serving the terminal device. By configuring the measurement timing configuration and the time offset, the interference between signals is reduced, and the communication quality is improved.

[0011] In one possible design, the coverage configuration information further includes at least one of an identity of each of the geographic locations, an identity of a beam covered by each of the geographic locations, an identity of a cell serving each of the geographic locations, a validity time of the coverage configuration information corresponding to each of the geographic locations, or ephemeris information corresponding to each of the geographic locations.

[0012] In one possible design, when the terminal device is about to enter a second geographic location from a first geographic location among the multiple geographic locations, and the first geographic location has a coverage redundancy greater than 0 and the second geographic location has a coverage redundancy equal to 0, the terminal device sends a first request to the network device, where the first request is used to request the network device to perform at least one of the following operations on the second geographic location: beam coverage on the second geographic location, cell service provision to the second geographic location, or reference signal transmission to the second geographic location. When entering a geographic location with a coverage redundancy of 0, the terminal device requests service provision to the geographic location in advance, thereby ensuring uninterrupted service and improving communication quality.

[0013] In one possible design, when the terminal device is powered on in a third geographic location among the multiple geographic locations, and the third geographic location has a coverage redundancy equal to 0, the terminal device sends a predefined signal to the network device, where the predefined signal is used to request the network device to perform at least one of the following operations on the third geographic location: beam coverage on the third geographic location, cell service provision to the third geographic location, or reference signal transmission to the third geographic location. The terminal device actively requests the network device to provide service in a geographic location without coverage (with a coverage redundancy of 0), thereby reducing energy consumption of the network device.

[0014] In one possible design, when a fourth geographic location among the multiple geographic locations where the terminal device is located has a coverage redundancy greater than 0 and less than a first threshold, the terminal device sends a second request to the network device, where the second request is used to request an increase in the coverage redundancy of the fourth geographic location. By requesting an increase in the coverage redundancy of a geographic location, the terminal device is provided with multi-star coordination or multi-connection services, thereby improving throughput of the terminal device and improving communication efficiency.

[0015] In one possible design, when a fifth geographic location among the multiple geographic locations where the terminal device is located has a coverage redundancy greater than 0 and less than a second threshold during a cell switching process, the terminal device sends a third request to the network device, where the third request is used to request re-execution of at least one of the following operations on the fifth geographic location: beam coverage on the fifth geographic location, cell service provision to the fifth geographic location, or reference signal transmission to the fifth geographic location. By requesting re-coverage during the cell switching process, the switching process is ensured to be uninterrupted, and mobile interruption latency is reduced, thereby improving communication quality.

[0016] In a possible design, the terminal device sends measurement information to the network device when an interference value of a signal of a sixth geographical location in the multiple geographical locations where the terminal device is located is greater than a first threshold or a signal quality of the signal is less than a second threshold, where the measurement information is used to instruct adjustment of a coverage redundancy of the sixth geographical location or re-execution of at least one of the following operations on the sixth geographical location: beam coverage on the sixth geographical location, cell service provision to the sixth geographical location, or reference signal sending to the sixth geographical location. Through interference coordination and resource optimization, communication efficiency and communication quality are improved.

[0017] In a possible design, the terminal device receives assistance information sent by the network device, where the assistance information includes at least one of the following: resource configuration information used for sending the first request, the predefined signal, the first threshold, the second threshold, the first threshold, or the second threshold.

[0018] In a possible design, when the terminal device moves out of an effective area, the terminal device sends a fourth request to the network device, where the fourth request is used to request updating of the coverage configuration information, and the effective area includes at least one geographical location in the multiple geographical locations. Through updating of the coverage configuration information, validity of the coverage configuration information is maintained, thereby improving communication efficiency based on the coverage configuration information.

[0019] In a possible design, when the validity time of the coverage configuration information corresponding to any one of the multiple geographical locations expires, the terminal device sends a fourth request to the network device, where the fourth request is used to request updating of the coverage configuration information. Through updating of the coverage configuration information, validity of the coverage configuration information is maintained, thereby improving communication efficiency based on the coverage configuration information.

[0020] In a possible design, when a number of times that a signal quality of any one of the multiple geographical locations is measured to be less than a third threshold in a preset time period is greater than a third threshold value, the terminal device sends a fifth request to the network device, where the fifth request is used to request updating of the coverage configuration information. Through updating of the coverage configuration information, signal quality of each geographical location is guaranteed, thereby improving communication efficiency.

[0021] In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, which can be applied to a network side, for example, a network device or a communication module in the network device, or a circuit or chip responsible for a communication function in the network device. Taking the case where the method is applied to the network device, the method includes:

[0022] The network device sends coverage configuration information to the terminal device, the coverage configuration information including a coverage repetition number, the coverage repetition number being used to indicate at least one of the following: a number of beams covering each geographical location in a plurality of geographical locations, a number of cells serving the each geographical location, or a number of reference signals receivable by the terminal device in the each geographical location; and the network device performs at least one of the following on the each geographical location according to the coverage configuration information: beam coverage on the each geographical location, cell service provision to the each geographical location, or reference signal transmission to the each geographical location.

[0023] The network device configures the coverage repetition number in the coverage configuration information, so that the terminal device can communicate using the coverage repetition number. For example, before entering a geographical location without coverage, the terminal device requests coverage in advance for the geographical location. Or in the case of a small coverage repetition number, the terminal device requests an increase in the coverage repetition number. Or in a geographical location with large signal interference, the terminal device requests a decrease in the coverage repetition number. Moreover, the network device provides service to each geographical location based on the coverage repetition number, thereby guaranteeing coverage performance and improving system capacity.

[0024] In a possible design, the coverage repetition number has a quantity of N, and the coverage configuration information further includes M measurement configuration information corresponding to the each geographical location, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 0, and M is an integer less than or equal to N. By configuring M measurement configuration information for each geographical location, coverage performance is guaranteed and system capacity is improved.

[0025] In a possible design, the measurement configuration information includes measurement timing configuration and a time offset, the time offset including a first offset and a second offset, the first offset being used to adjust a difference in propagation delay between two satellites, and the second offset being used to adjust a signal transmission time between the two satellites serving the terminal device. By configuring measurement timing configuration and a time offset, interference between signals is reduced and communication quality is improved.

[0026] In a possible design, the coverage configuration information further includes at least one of the following: an identifier of the each geographical location, an identifier of a beam covering the each geographical location, an identifier of a cell serving the each geographical location, a validity time of coverage configuration information corresponding to the each geographical location, or ephemeris information corresponding to the each geographical location.

[0027] In a possible design, the network device sends assistance information to the terminal device, the assistance information including at least one of the following: resource configuration information used to send the first request, a predefined signal, a first threshold, a second threshold, a first threshold, or a second threshold.

[0028] In a possible design, the coverage configuration information corresponding to a first geographic location in the multiple geographic locations is updated when a valid time of the coverage configuration information expires. By updating the coverage configuration information, the validity of the coverage configuration information is maintained, thereby improving the efficiency of communication based on the coverage configuration information.

[0029] In a possible design, the update information is added to the coverage configuration information corresponding to the first address location, or the update information is used to replace the coverage configuration information corresponding to the first address location. The coverage configuration information is updated in an incremental manner, which can reduce signaling overhead.

[0030] In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication apparatus, which has the functions of the first aspect, for example, the communication apparatus includes modules or units or means corresponding to the operations of the first aspect, and the modules or units or means can be implemented in software, hardware, or a combination of software and hardware. The apparatus includes:

[0031] The receiving module is configured to receive coverage configuration information from a network device, where the coverage configuration information includes a coverage repetition number, and the coverage repetition number is used to indicate at least one of the following: a number of beams covering each geographic location in multiple geographic locations, a number of cells serving the each geographic location, or a number of reference signals receivable by a terminal device in the each geographic location.

[0032] The processing module is configured to perform communication according to the coverage configuration information.

[0033] In a possible design, the coverage repetition number is N, the coverage configuration information further includes M measurement configuration information corresponding to the each geographic location, N is an integer greater than or equal to 0, and M is an integer less than or equal to N.

[0034] In a possible design, the measurement configuration information includes a measurement timing configuration and a time offset, the time offset includes a first offset and a second offset, the first offset is used to adjust a difference in propagation delay between two satellites, and the second offset is used to adjust a signal transmission time between the two satellites, and the two satellites serve the terminal device.

[0035] In a possible design, the coverage configuration information further includes at least one of the following: an identifier of the each geographic location, an identifier of a beam covering the each geographic location, an identifier of a cell serving the each geographic location, a valid time of coverage configuration information corresponding to the each geographic location, or ephemeris information corresponding to the each geographic location.

[0036] In one possible design, the sending module is configured to send, to the network device, a first request when the terminal device is to enter a second geographic location from a first geographic location in the plurality of geographic locations, and the first geographic location has a coverage redundancy greater than 0 and the second geographic location has a coverage redundancy equal to 0, the first request being used to request that at least one of the following be performed for the second geographic location: beam coverage for the second geographic location, cell service provision for the second geographic location, or reference signal transmission to the second geographic location.

[0037] In one possible design, the sending module is configured to send, to the network device, a predefined signal when the terminal device is powered on in a third geographic location in the plurality of geographic locations, and the third geographic location has a coverage redundancy equal to 0, the predefined signal being used to request that at least one of the following be performed for the third geographic location: beam coverage for the third geographic location, cell service provision for the third geographic location, or reference signal transmission to the third geographic location.

[0038] In one possible design, the sending module is configured to send, to the network device, a second request when a fourth geographic location in the plurality of geographic locations in which the terminal device is located has a coverage redundancy greater than 0 and less than a first threshold, the second request being used to request that the coverage redundancy for the fourth geographic location be increased.

[0039] In one possible design, the sending module is configured to send, to the network device, a third request when a fifth geographic location in the plurality of geographic locations in which the terminal device is located has a coverage redundancy greater than 0 and less than a second threshold during a cell handover procedure, the third request being used to request that at least one of the following be performed for the fifth geographic location: beam coverage for the fifth geographic location, cell service provision for the fifth geographic location, or reference signal transmission to the fifth geographic location.

[0040] In one possible design, the sending module is configured to send, to the network device, measurement information when a sixth geographic location in the plurality of geographic locations in which the terminal device is located has an interference value of a signal greater than a first threshold or a signal quality less than a second threshold, the measurement information being used to indicate that at least one of the following be performed for the sixth geographic location: beam coverage for the sixth geographic location, cell service provision for the sixth geographic location, or reference signal transmission to the sixth geographic location.

[0041] In one possible design, the receiving module is further configured to receive assistance information transmitted by the network device, where the assistance information includes at least one of the following: resource configuration information used to transmit the first request, the predefined signal, the first threshold, the second threshold, the first threshold, or the second threshold.

[0042] In one possible design, the sending module is configured to send, to the network device, a fourth request when the terminal device moves out of an effective area, where the effective area includes at least one of the multiple geographic locations, and where the fourth request is used to request updating of the coverage configuration information.

[0043] In one possible design, the sending module is configured to send, to the network device, a fourth request when the validity time of the coverage configuration information corresponding to any one of the multiple geographic locations expires, and where the fourth request is used to request updating of the coverage configuration information.

[0044] In one possible design, the sending module is configured to send, to the network device, a fifth request when the number of times that the signal quality of any one of the multiple geographic locations is measured to be less than a third threshold in a preset time period is greater than a third threshold, and where the fifth request is used to request updating of the coverage configuration information.

[0045] The operations and advantages of the communication apparatus can be the same as those of the method of the first aspect, and thus repeated details are not repeated.

[0046] In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication apparatus, which has the functions of the second aspect, for example, the communication apparatus includes a module or unit or means corresponding to the operations of the second aspect, which can be implemented by software, or by hardware, or by a combination of software and hardware. The apparatus includes:

[0047] The sending module is configured to send, to a terminal device, coverage configuration information, where the coverage configuration information includes a coverage repetition number, and where the coverage repetition number is used to indicate at least one of the following: a number of beams that cover each of multiple geographic locations, a number of cells that serve the each of the multiple geographic locations, or a number of reference signals that a terminal device can receive in the each of the multiple geographic locations.

[0048] The processing module is configured to perform at least one of the following operations on the each of the multiple geographic locations according to the coverage configuration information: beam coverage on the each of the multiple geographic locations, cell service to the each of the multiple geographic locations, or reference signal transmission to the each of the multiple geographic locations.

[0049] In a possible design, the number of the coverage redundancy numbers is N, the coverage configuration information further includes M measurement configuration information corresponding to each geographic location, N is an integer greater than or equal to 0, and M is an integer less than or equal to N.

[0050] In a possible design, the measurement configuration information includes a measurement timing configuration and a time offset, the time offset includes a first offset and a second offset, the first offset is used to adjust a difference between propagation delays of two satellites, and the second offset is used to adjust a signal transmission time between the two satellites.

[0051] In a possible design, the coverage configuration information further includes at least one of the following: an identifier of each geographic location, an identifier of a beam covered by each geographic location, an identifier of a cell served by each geographic location, a valid time of coverage configuration information corresponding to each geographic location, or ephemeris information corresponding to each geographic location.

[0052] In a possible design, the sending module is further configured to send, to the terminal device, assistance information including at least one of the following: resource configuration information used to send the first request, a predefined signal, the first threshold, the second threshold, the first threshold, or the second threshold.

[0053] In a possible design, the processing module is further configured to update the coverage configuration information when a valid time of coverage configuration information corresponding to a first geographic location in the plurality of geographic locations expires.

[0054] In a possible design, the processing module is further configured to add update information to the coverage configuration information corresponding to the first address location, or replace the coverage configuration information corresponding to the first address location with the update information.

[0055] The operations and advantages of the communication apparatus can be refer to the method and advantages of the method in the second aspect, and details are not repeated.

[0056] In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication apparatus, which includes a memory and one or more processors. The memory is configured to store part or all of necessary computer programs or instructions for implementing functions related to the first aspect. The one or more processors are configured to execute the computer programs or instructions, so that the communication apparatus implements the method in any possible design or implementation manner of the first aspect.

[0057] In a possible design, the communication apparatus can further include an interface circuit, and the processor can be configured to communicate with other apparatuses or components through the interface circuit.

[0058] In a possible design, the communication apparatus can further include the memory.

[0059] The communication apparatus can be a terminal device, a communication module in the terminal device, or a chip responsible for a communication function in the terminal device, such as a modem chip (also referred to as a baseband chip) or a SoC or SIP chip including a modem module.

[0060] In a seventh aspect, the present application provides a computer readable storage medium, configured to store a computer program, when the computer program is executed, the method in any one of the first aspect to the second aspect is implemented.

[0061] In a possible design, the communication apparatus can further include an interface circuit, and the processor can be configured to communicate with other apparatuses or components through the interface circuit.

[0062] In a possible design, the communication apparatus can further include the memory.

[0063] The communication apparatus can be a network device, a communication module in the network device, or a chip responsible for a communication function in the network device, such as a modem chip (also referred to as a baseband chip) or a SoC or SIP chip including a modem module.

[0064] In a seventh aspect, the present application provides a computer readable storage medium, configured to store a computer program, when the computer program is executed, the method in any one of the first aspect to the second aspect is implemented.

[0065] In an eighth aspect, the present application provides a computer program product including a computer program, when the computer program is executed, the method in any one of the first aspect to the second aspect is implemented.

[0066] In a ninth aspect, the present application provides a communication system including a terminal device and a network device, the terminal device is configured to execute the steps in the first aspect, and the network device is configured to execute the steps in the second aspect.

[0067] In a tenth aspect, a chip or chip system is provided, which includes at least one processor and a communication interface configured to communicate with an external device or an internal device, and the processor is configured to implement the method of any of the above aspects.

[0068] In a possible design, the chip can further include a memory in which a computer program or instructions are stored, and the processor is configured to execute the computer program or instructions stored in the memory or other programs or instructions. When the computer program or instructions are executed, the processor is configured to implement the method of any of the above aspects.

[0069] In a possible design, the chip can be integrated in a terminal device or a network device. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0070] Figure 1 FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a satellite communication system according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0071] Figure 2 FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a non-gazing satellite communication system according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0072] Figure 3 FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a gazing satellite communication system according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0073] Figure 4 FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of coverage performance under different SSB numbers according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0074] Figure 5 FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0075] Figure 6 FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of beam coverage according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0076] Figure 7A FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of an offset according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0077] Figure 7B FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of another offset according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0078] Figure 8 FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of an effective area according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0079] Figure 9 FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of communication based on coverage configuration information according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0080] Figure 10 FIG. 11 is another schematic diagram of communication based on coverage configuration information according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0081] Figure 11 FIG. 12 is still another schematic diagram of communication based on coverage configuration information according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0082] Figure 12is another schematic diagram of communication based on coverage configuration information;

[0083] Figure 13 is a structural schematic diagram of a communication apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0084] Figure 14 is a structural schematic diagram of another communication apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0085] Figure 15 is a structural schematic diagram of a terminal device provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0086] Figure 16 is a structural schematic diagram of a network device provided by an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0087] The following explains the main terms involved in the present application:

[0088] Wave position: The service area of a satellite network is divided into multiple small geographical areas according to geographical position, and each geographical area is called a wave position. The wave position can be represented in different shapes, such as a circle, an ellipse, a square, a rectangle, a polygon (such as a pentagon or a hexagon), etc.

[0089] The technical solutions of the present application can be applied to satellite communication systems, high altitude platform station (HAPS) communication, non-terrestrial network (NTN) systems such as unmanned aerial vehicles, etc., such as integrated communication and navigation (IcaN) systems, global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), and ultra-dense low-orbit satellite communication systems, etc. The satellite communication system can be integrated with a traditional mobile communication system. For example, the mobile communication system can be a 4th generation (4G) communication system (e.g., a long term evolution (LTE) system), a worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) communication system, a 5th generation (5G) communication system (e.g., a new radio (NR) system), and a future mobile communication system, etc.

[0090] As shown in Figure 1 , the satellite network can be a satellite communication system, a high altitude platform station (HAPS) communication system, a non-terrestrial network (NTN) system such as an unmanned aerial vehicle, etc. Figure 1FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a satellite communication system according to an embodiment of the present application. The satellite communication system can include terminal devices and network devices. The terminal device can also be referred to as a user equipment (UE), a mobile station, etc. The network device can include one or more satellites and ground station devices, which can also be referred to as core network devices. The satellite can be a low earth orbit (LEO) satellite, a non-geostationary earth orbit (NGEO) satellite, etc. The satellite communication system includes a satellite 101, a satellite 102, and a satellite 103. Each satellite can provide communication services, navigation services, positioning services, etc. to terminal devices through multiple beams. In this scenario, the satellites are LEO satellites, and the satellite 103 is connected to a ground station device. The satellite covers a service area using multiple beams, and different beams can communicate through one or more of time division, frequency division, and space division. The satellite communicates with the terminal devices through broadcast communication signals, navigation signals, etc. The satellite can communicate with the ground station device wirelessly. The satellite mentioned in the embodiments of the present application can be a satellite base station, can include an orbit receiver or a repeater for relaying information, or can be a network side device carried on a satellite.

[0091] The satellite communication system includes a transparent satellite architecture and a non-transparent satellite architecture. Transparent is also referred to as pipe-through forwarding transmission: that is, the signal only performs frequency conversion on the satellite, and the signal amplification process, and the satellite is transparent to the signal, as if it does not exist. Non-transparent is also referred to as regenerative (onboard access / processing) transmission: that is, the satellite has part or all of the base station functions. For example, Figure 1 The satellite 101 and the satellite 102 in FIG. 1 are non-transparent satellite architectures, and the satellite 103 is a transparent satellite architecture. In addition, the satellite can work in an earth-fixed, quasi earth-fixed mode, or an earth-moving mode.

[0092] The terminal device mentioned in the embodiments of the present application includes various handheld devices, vehicle-mounted devices, wearable devices, computing devices or other processing devices connected to wireless modems with wireless communication functions, and can specifically refer to user equipment (UE), access terminal, user unit, user station, mobile station, mobile station, remote station, remote terminal, mobile device, user terminal, terminal, wireless communication device, user agent or user device. The terminal device can also be a satellite phone, a cellular phone, a smart phone, a wireless data card, a wireless modem, a machine type communication device, a cordless phone, a session initiation protocol (SIP) phone, a wireless local loop (WLL) station, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a handheld device with wireless communication function, a computing device or other processing device connected to a wireless modem, a vehicle-mounted device or a wearable device, a virtual reality (VR) terminal device, an augmented reality (AR) terminal device, a wireless terminal in industrial control, a wireless terminal in self driving, a wireless terminal in remote medical, a wireless terminal in smart grid, a wireless terminal in transportation safety, a wireless terminal in smart city, a wireless terminal in smart home, a terminal device in 5G network or future communication network, etc.

[0093] The ground station device is, for example, a device in a core network (CN) of an existing mobile communication architecture (such as a 3GPP access architecture of a 5G network) or a device in a core network of a future mobile communication architecture. The core network provides an interface to a data network as a bearer network, provides a communication connection, authentication, management, policy control, and bearer for data service for a user equipment (UE). The CN can further include an access and mobility management network element (AMF), a session management network element (SMF), an authentication server network element (AUSF), a policy control node (PCF), a user plane function network element (UPF), and the like. The AMF network element is used to manage the access and mobility of the UE, and is mainly responsible for the authentication of the UE, the mobility management of the UE, and the paging of the UE.

[0094] The network device can also include, but is not limited to, an evolved node B (eNB), a baseband unit (BBU), an access point (AP) in a wireless fidelity (WIFI) system, a wireless relay node, a wireless backhaul node, a transmission point (TP), or a transmission reception point (TRP), and the like. The network device can also be a gNB or a TRP or a TP in a 5G system, or one or a group of antenna panels (including multiple antenna panels) of a base station in a 5G system. In addition, the network device can also be a network node constituting a gNB or a TP, such as a BBU, a distributed unit (DU), and the like. Alternatively, the network device can also be a device that undertakes a network side function in a device-to-device (D2D) communication system, a machine-to-machine (M2M) communication system, an Internet of Things (IoT), a vehicle-to-vehicle communication system, or other communication systems.

[0095] Satellite communication system beam operation mode:

[0096] Taking satellite communication as an example, based on the working mode of the payload (such as beam), it can usually be divided into staring (earth-fixed or quasi-earth fixed) and non-staring (earth-moving) satellite communication systems.

[0097] like Figure 2 As shown, Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of a non-staring satellite communication system. Over a period of time (e.g., times T1, T2, and T3), the satellite beam coverage area moves along with the satellite. For example... Figure 3 As shown, Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of a staring satellite communication system. Over a period of time (e.g., times T1, T2, and T3), the satellite dynamically adjusts its beam direction to ensure that the beam approximately covers the same area of ​​the ground.

[0098] Existing terrestrial networks, generally speaking, do not have the problem of multiple coverage (which can be understood as a single terminal device being served by multiple network devices simultaneously) except for cell edges and hotspot areas. Furthermore, terrestrial networks employ static, scenario-based coverage schemes (such as broadcast beam SSB coverage and data beam channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) coverage), meaning that different numbers of SSBs are deployed in different scenarios to achieve differentiated coverage or capacity requirements. For example, in suburban coverage scenarios, more SSBs can be used to ensure coverage (e.g., using 16 SSBs), while for hotspot areas such as stadiums and pedestrian streets, fewer SSBs (e.g., 8 or 12 SSBs) can be used, increasing system capacity by reducing the number of SSBs.

[0099] As mentioned earlier, in the LEO constellation NTN scenario, the number of satellites visible to a single geographic location / terminal device is extremely large. If the idea of ​​"visibility equals coverage" is adopted, that is, if satellite i is visible in a certain area z (i belongs to I_z, where I_z is the set of all visible satellites in that area), then satellite i needs to provide coverage in that area (e.g., scheduling / planning SSB beams to cover that geographic area z). It is foreseeable that, due to the large number of visible satellites in a single area, planning SSBs for all of them would affect SSB coverage (e.g., SSBSINR). While using a larger number of SSBs can improve coverage performance, it would sacrifice system capacity. Figure 4 As shown, Figure 4is a schematic diagram of coverage performance under different SSB numbers. Taking the maximum of 9 satellites visible in a target area as an example, when 8-SSB / 12-SSB / 16-SSB (N-SSB refers to the maximum SSB number used in planning) planning is performed, the coverage performance of the SSB is poor (i.e., the probability of SSB SINR being less than -6 is large), and when 64-SSB planning is performed, although the coverage performance of the SSB is improved to a certain extent (i.e., the probability of SSB SINR being less than -6 is about 20%), more system capacity is sacrificed.

[0100] Therefore, under a typical constellation configuration, the "visible coverage strategy" limits the coverage performance of the network. Moreover, when the network size is further increased, the interference of the SSB becomes uncontrollable, and the SSB SINR performance is severely degraded.

[0101] To solve the above technical problems, the embodiments of the present application provide the following solutions.

[0102] As shown in Figure 5 , Figure 5 is a flowchart of a communication method provided by the embodiments of the present application, which mainly includes the following steps:

[0103] S501, the terminal device receives coverage configuration information from the network device, wherein the coverage configuration information includes a coverage redundancy.

[0104] The coverage redundancy is used to indicate at least one of the following: the number of beams covering each geographical location in a plurality of geographical locations, the number of cells serving the each geographical location, or the number of reference signals that the terminal device can receive in the each geographical location.

[0105] The coverage configuration information can also be referred to as coverage map information. Covering a geographical location can be understood as that the loss of the terminal device in the geographical location is less than a predetermined threshold (such as 164 dB). Alternatively, covering a geographical location can be understood as that the signal quality received by the terminal device in the geographical location is greater than a predetermined threshold, and the signal quality can be reference signal received power (RSRP), reference signal received quality (RSRQ), or SINR, etc. For example, the predetermined threshold can be -6 dB or other values. The beam can be a broadcast beam (such as an SSB beam) or a data beam (such as a CSI-RS beam). The beam coverage can be SSB coverage or CSI-RS coverage, etc.

[0106] For example, as shown in Figure 6 , Figure 6is a schematic diagram of beam coverage. The target area is divided into multiple geographic locations, each geographic location can be represented by a reference location and a distance threshold, and the area within the distance threshold from the reference location can be regarded as a geographic location. Each geographic location has different coverage multiplicity, and different color depths represent different coverage multiplicity. No color represents that the coverage multiplicity of a certain geographic location is 0, that is, the number of beams covering the geographic location is 0, or the number of cells serving the geographic location is 0, or the number of reference signals that the terminal device can receive in the geographic location is 0.

[0107] Optionally, the number of coverage multiplicities is N, N corresponds to different cells or transmission reception points (TRPs). The coverage configuration information further includes M measurement configuration information corresponding to each geographic location, N is a non-negative integer, and M is an integer less than or equal to N. The measurement configuration information can be SSB measurement configuration information. If the number of coverage multiplicities of a geographic location is N, it means that the geographic location has N times of coverage (for example, N times of SSB coverage), each coverage can correspond to one or more beams covered, or each coverage can correspond to one or more cells served, or each coverage can correspond to one or more TRPs served, or each coverage can correspond to one or more reference signals that can be received.

[0108] Further, the measurement configuration information includes measurement timing configuration and time offset, the time offset includes a first offset and a second offset, the first offset is used to adjust the propagation delay difference between two satellites, and the second offset is used to adjust the signal transmission time between the two satellites, and the two satellites serve the terminal device. The measurement timing configuration can be SSB-based measurement timing configuration (SMTC).

[0109] The first offset represents the propagation delay difference between two different satellites to a preset location (a point within a certain geographical location). Adjusting this propagation delay difference ensures signal synchronization. Simultaneous SSB transmission by two satellites may cause interference. If the coverage multiplicity of a geographical location is greater than or equal to 1, the SSB signal transmission time needs to be coordinated with network equipment. The second offset represents the time adjustment amount of the target satellite's signal transmission time relative to the reference satellite's signal transmission time. If the coverage multiplicity of the terminal device's current geographical location is 1, the reference satellite can be a satellite providing service to the current geographical location, and the target satellite can be a satellite providing service to geographical locations adjacent to the current geographical location. If the coverage multiplicity of the current geographical location is greater than 1, the reference satellite can be one satellite providing service to the current geographical location, and the target satellite can be another satellite providing service to the current geographical location or a satellite providing service to geographical locations adjacent to the current geographical location. The signal transmission time can be at least one of a predefined time slot, symbol, frame, subframe, or reference time.

[0110] like Figure 7A As shown, Figure 7A This is a schematic diagram of an offset. Satellite 1 (SAT-1) and Satellite 2 (SAT-2) can simultaneously provide services to the same geographical location. The propagation delay from SAT-1 to the terminal device at the preset location is delay 1, and the propagation delay from SAT-2 to the terminal device at the preset location is delay 2. The first offset is delay 1 minus delay 2. For example... Figure 7B As shown, Figure 7B This is a diagram illustrating another type of offset. Satellite 1 (SAT-1) and Satellite 2 (SAT-2) can simultaneously provide services to the same geographic location, or Satellite 1 can provide services to one geographic location while Satellite 2 provides services to another geographic location. SAT-2 is the reference satellite, with a signal transmission time of T1. SAT-1 is the target satellite, with a signal transmission time of T2. The first offset is T2 minus T1.

[0111] Optionally, the coverage configuration information further comprises at least one of the following: an identifier of each geographical location, an identifier of a beam covered by each geographical location, an identifier of a cell served by each geographical location, a validity time of the coverage configuration information corresponding to each geographical location, or ephemeris information corresponding to each geographical location. The geographical location can also be referred to as a beam position, and the identifiers of the plurality of geographical locations can be represented by beam position B1, beam position B2, or beam position B3, and so on. Each geographical location can comprise N-fold coverage, and each fold of coverage can correspond to one or more beams, and the identifier of the beam can be an SSB index. The identifier of the cell can be a physical cell identifier (PCI). The coverage configuration information can comprise one or more validity times, and the validity time can be a time point, and when the time point is not exceeded, the coverage configuration information is valid, and when the time point is exceeded, the coverage configuration information is automatically invalidated, or the validity time of the coverage configuration information can be a time period (including a first time point and a second time point), and the coverage configuration information starts to take effect when the first time point is reached, and the coverage configuration information is automatically invalidated when the second time point is exceeded. Each geographical location can comprise N-fold coverage, and each fold of coverage can correspond to one or more satellite identifiers or one or more ephemeris information, and the ephemeris information can be timing advance (TA) information, valid service time, scheduling offset information, polarization configuration information, and so on, and can be extended to system information block (SIB) 19.

[0112] As shown in Table 1, Table 1 is a coverage configuration information table. The plurality of geographical locations can comprise beam position B1, beam position B2, beam position B3, and so on, and the coverage configuration information corresponding to each geographical location comprises coverage multiplicity and SSB coverage configuration, and the SSB coverage configuration comprises SSB index, SMTC, offset, PCI, and validity time. The coverage multiplicity of beam position B1 is 2, and the corresponding SSB coverage configuration is: SSB N1: SMTC1, offset1, PCI1, validity time1 and SSB N2: SMTC2, offset2, PCI2, validity time2. The coverage multiplicity of beam position B2 is 3, and the corresponding SSB coverage configuration is: SSB N3: SMTC3, offset3, PCI3, validity time3; SSB N4: SMTC4, offset4, PCI4, validity time4 and SSB N5: SMTC5, offset5, PCI5, validity time5. The coverage multiplicity of beam position B3 is 1, and the corresponding SSB coverage configuration is: SSB N6: SMTC6, offset6, PCI6, validity time6.

[0113] Table 1

[0114]

[0115]

[0116] Optionally, the terminal device can update the coverage configuration information. The terminal device updating the coverage configuration information can include the following ways:

[0117] The first way is that when the terminal device moves out of an effective area, a fourth request is sent to the network device, the fourth request being used to request updating the coverage configuration information, the effective area including at least one of the multiple geographic locations. The network device can configure the effective area for the terminal device. The effective area can be issued in the form of a reference location and a preset distance threshold, or in the form of a geographic location identifier set (such as a beam set), which is not limited in the present application. For example, as shown in Figure 8 , it is a schematic diagram of an effective area. An effective area (a circular area) is represented by a reference location and a preset distance threshold. Within the effective area, the coverage configuration information is not updated, and when moving out of the effective area, the coverage configuration information is updated. Further, the coverage configuration information of all geographic locations can be updated, or only the coverage configuration information of geographic locations outside the effective area can be updated. Figure 8 The second way is that when the valid time of the coverage configuration information corresponding to any one of the multiple geographic locations expires, a fourth request is sent to the network device, the fourth request being used to request updating the coverage configuration information. Further, only the coverage configuration information whose valid time expires can be updated, or all coverage configuration information can be updated. For example, as shown in Table 1, if the valid time 1 of the coverage configuration information corresponding to beam 1 expires, the coverage configuration information corresponding to beam 1 can be updated, or all coverage configuration information corresponding to beams B1, B2 and B3 can be updated.

[0118] The third way is that when the number of times that the signal quality of any one of the multiple geographic locations is measured to be less than a third threshold within a preset time period is greater than a third threshold value, a fifth request is sent to the network device, the fifth request being used to request updating the coverage configuration information. Further, the network device can be requested to adjust the coverage number of the geographic location, or the network device can be requested to re-perform at least one of the following operations on the geographic location: beam coverage on the geographic location, providing cell service to the geographic location, or sending a reference signal to the geographic location. The third threshold and the third threshold value can be preset or configured by the network device to the terminal device.

[0119]

[0120] ​Optionally, the network device can update the coverage configuration information. Specifically, the network device can configure one or more valid times of the coverage configuration information corresponding to each geographical location, and different update methods can be used in different valid times. When the valid time of the coverage configuration information corresponding to any one of the geographical locations expires, the coverage configuration information can be updated.

[0121] Further, if the valid time of the coverage configuration information corresponding to the geographical location k in the plurality of geographical locations expires, the network device can update the coverage configuration information corresponding to the geographical location k stored by itself. The update information is added to the coverage configuration information corresponding to the geographical location k; or the update information is used to replace or cover the coverage configuration information corresponding to the geographical location k. Moreover, the network device can distribute the update information to the terminal device, so that the terminal device can also add the update information to the coverage configuration information corresponding to the geographical location k, or use the update information to replace or cover the coverage configuration information corresponding to the geographical location k. The update information is the updated coverage configuration information corresponding to part of the geographical locations (geographical location k), rather than the coverage configuration information corresponding to all geographical locations, that is, the coverage configuration information is updated in an incremental manner (such as candidate configuration or delta configuration), which can reduce signaling overhead.

[0122] For example, as shown in Table 1, the coverage configuration information corresponding to the wave position B1 includes two different valid times: time T1 and time T2. If time T1 is reached, the update information corresponding to the wave position B1 can be added to the coverage configuration information corresponding to the wave position B1 in Table 1. As shown in Table 2, the update information (SSB N7: SMTC7, offset7, PCI7, valid time7) is added to the SSB coverage configuration corresponding to the wave position B1, and the coverage redundancy is increased, and the coverage configuration information corresponding to other wave positions remains unchanged.

[0123] Table 2

[0124]

[0125] If time T2 is reached, the update information corresponding to the wave position B1 can be used to replace the coverage configuration information corresponding to the wave position B1 in Table 1. As shown in Table 3, the update information (SSB N8: SMTC8, offset8, PCI8, valid time8) can be used to replace the SSB coverage configuration (SSB N1: SMTC1, offset1, PCI1, valid time1 and SSB N2: SMTC2, offset2, PCI2) corresponding to the wave position B1, and the coverage redundancy is reduced. The coverage configuration information corresponding to other wave positions remains unchanged.

[0126] Table 3

[0127]

[0128] S502, the network device can perform at least one of the following operations on each geographical location according to the coverage configuration information: beam coverage on the geographical location, providing cell service to the geographical location, or sending a reference signal to the geographical location.

[0129] S503, the terminal device communicates according to the coverage configuration information.

[0130] In the first case, when the terminal device is about to enter a second geographical location from a first geographical location in the plurality of geographical locations, and the coverage redundancy of the first geographical location is greater than 0, and the coverage redundancy of the second geographical location is equal to 0, a first request is sent to the network device, the first request being used to request at least one of the following operations on the second geographical location: beam coverage on the second geographical location, providing cell service to the second geographical location, or sending a reference signal to the second geographical location. When entering a geographical location with a coverage redundancy of 0, the service is ensured not to be interrupted by requesting to provide service to the geographical location in advance.

[0131] Further, whether the terminal device is about to leave the first geographical location can be determined according to a reference location in the first geographical location and a current location of the terminal device, and when the distance between the current location of the terminal device and the reference location in the first geographical location exceeds a preset threshold, it is determined that the terminal device is about to leave the first geographical location. And whether the terminal device is about to enter the second geographical location can be determined according to a reference location in the second geographical location and a current location of the terminal device, and when the distance between the current location of the terminal device and the reference location in the second geographical location is less than the preset threshold, it is determined that the terminal device is about to enter the second geographical location. Wherein, the reference location and the preset threshold can be pre-set, or can be configured by the network device to the terminal device.

[0132] The network device can pre-configure resource configuration information for sending the first request to the terminal device, such as radio resource control (RRC) reporting, medium access control-control element (MAC-CE) reporting, physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), uplink control information (UCI), physical uplink sharing channel (PUSCH) reporting, etc. The terminal device can send the first request to the network device based on the resource configuration information.

[0133] For example, as shown in FIG. 1, Figure 9 Figure 9 is a schematic diagram of communication based on coverage configuration information. The multiple geographic locations include geographic location B1 and geographic location B2, satellite 1 (SAT-1) provides service to geographic location B1, the coverage beam is SSB#3, and the coverage redundancy of geographic location B1 is 1; no satellite provides service to geographic location B2, and the coverage redundancy of geographic location B2 is 0. When the terminal device is about to move out of geographic location B1 and enter geographic location B2, a request can be sent to SAT-1 in advance, requesting to provide service to geographic location B2. After receiving the request, SAT-1 can notify satellite 2 (SAT-2) to provide service to geographic location B2. Wherein, providing service can include beam coverage to geographic location B2, providing cell service to geographic location B2, or sending a reference signal to geographic location B2.

[0134] ​In the second case, when the terminal device is powered on in a third geographic location among the plurality of geographic locations, and the coverage redundancy of the third geographic location is equal to 0, a predefined signal is sent to the network device, the predefined signal being used to request at least one of the following operations to be performed on the third geographic location: beam coverage on the third geographic location, cell service provided to the third geographic location, or reference signal sent to the third geographic location. The network device can periodically detect the predefined signal, and if the predefined signal is successfully detected, start to perform at least one of the following operations on the third geographic location: beam coverage (broadcasting SSB and system message SIB1, etc.) on the third geographic location, cell service provided to the third geographic location, or reference signal sent to the third geographic location. The predefined signal can be pre-configured or pre-configured by the network device to the terminal device. The predefined signal can be a chirp signal, a pulse signal, a predefined preamble format, etc. The terminal device actively requests the network device to provide service through the predefined signal in the geographic location with the coverage redundancy of 0, thereby reducing the energy consumption of the network device.

[0135] For example, as shown in FIG. 13, Figure 10 Figure 10 is another schematic diagram of communication based on coverage configuration information. The plurality of geographic locations include geographic location B1 and geographic location B2. At the last time point, the terminal device is in a powered-off state, and the satellites (SAT-1, SAT-2, and SAT-N) do not provide service to the geographic location B1 and the geographic location B2. At the current time point, the terminal device is powered on and detects that there is no service, and thus sends a predefined signal. After the SAT-2 detects the predefined signal, the SAT-2 performs at least one of the following operations on the geographic location B1 and the geographic location B2: beam coverage on the geographic location B1 and the geographic location B2, cell service provided to the geographic location B1 and the geographic location B2, or reference signal sent to the geographic location B1 and the geographic location B2. In this way, the terminal device can obtain the service provided by the SAT-2.

[0136] ​In a third case, when the coverage redundancy of a fourth geographical location among the multiple geographical locations where the terminal device is located is greater than 0 and less than a first threshold, a second request is sent to the network device, the second request being used to request to increase the coverage redundancy of the fourth geographical location. Optionally, the terminal device can report the supported connection number to the network device, and the network device can reconfigure the coverage redundancy of the fourth geographical location according to the supported connection number of the terminal device. Further, the network device can reconfigure the beam coverage of the fourth geographical location, re-provide cell service to the fourth geographical location, or re-send a reference signal to the fourth geographical location according to the supported connection number. The coverage redundancy of the fourth geographical location reconfigured by the network device can be less than or equal to the supported connection number of the terminal device. The first threshold can be pre-set or pre-configured by the network device to the terminal device. By requesting to increase the coverage redundancy of the geographical location, the terminal device is provided with multi-satellite coordination or multi-connection services, thereby improving the throughput of the terminal device and improving the communication efficiency.

[0137] For example, as shown in FIG. 3B, Figure 11 Figure 11 is another schematic diagram of communication based on the coverage configuration information. The multiple geographical locations include a geographical location B1 and a geographical location B2. The terminal device is located in the geographical location B1. At the last time point, the coverage redundancy of the geographical location B1 is 1, and only the satellite 1 (SAT-1) provides services to the terminal device. Therefore, the terminal device sends a request to the SAT-1 to increase the coverage redundancy of the geographical location B1 and reports the supported connection number N1. At the current time point, the satellite 1 (SAT-1), the satellite 2 (SAT-2), and the satellite N (SAT-N) provide services to the geographical location B1, and the coverage redundancy of the geographical location B1 is N1. In this way, the satellite 1 (SAT-1), the satellite 2 (SAT-2), and the satellite N (SAT-N) can provide multi-satellite coordination or multi-connection services to the terminal device.

[0138] ​In a fourth case, when the coverage redundancy of a fifth geographical location among the multiple geographical locations where the terminal device is located during the cell handover process is greater than 0 and less than a second threshold, a third request is sent to the network device, and the third request is used to request that at least one of the following operations is performed on the fifth geographical location again: beam coverage is performed on the fifth geographical location, cell service is provided to the fifth geographical location, or a reference signal is sent to the fifth geographical location. After the network device receives the third request, the network device can perform beam coverage on the fifth geographical location again, provide cell service to the fifth geographical location again, or send a reference signal to the fifth geographical location again. Further, the network device can provide non-cell-defined synchronization signal block (NCD-SSB) coverage or handover synchronization signal block (HO-SSB) coverage to the fifth geographical location. The second threshold can be pre-set or pre-configured by the network device to the terminal device. By requesting the coverage to be provided again during the cell handover process, the communication quality is improved by ensuring that the cell handover process is not interrupted and the mobile interruption delay is reduced.

[0139] For example, as shown in FIG. 4, Figure 12 Figure 12 is another schematic diagram of communication based on coverage configuration information. The multiple geographical locations include geographical location B1 and geographical location B2. The terminal device is located at geographical location B1. At the last time point, the coverage redundancy of geographical location B1 is 1, and only satellite 1 (SAT-1) provides service to the terminal device, and the coverage beam is SSB#4. At the current time point, the terminal device performs cell handover, and therefore sends a request to satellite 1 to perform beam coverage on geographical location B1 again, or to provide cell service to geographical location B1 again, or to send a reference signal to geographical location B1 again. After satellite 1 receives the request, satellite 2 (SAT-2) is notified to provide service to geographical location B1, and therefore satellite 2 provides NCD-SSB coverage to geographical location B1, and geographical location B1 switches from SSB#4 coverage to NCD-SSB coverage.

[0140] ​In a fifth case, when an interference value of a signal of a sixth geographical location in the plurality of geographical locations where the terminal device is located is greater than a first threshold or a signal quality is less than a second threshold, the network device is sent measurement information, and the measurement information is used to instruct adjustment of a coverage redundancy of the sixth geographical location or re-execution of at least one of the following operations on the sixth geographical location: beam coverage on the sixth geographical location, cell service provision to the sixth geographical location, or reference signal transmission to the sixth geographical location. The measurement information can include a measurement value of SSB SINR or a zero-power channel state information interference measurement value (CSI-IM). The first threshold and the second threshold can be pre-set or pre-configured by the network device to the terminal device. Through interference coordination and resource optimization, communication efficiency and communication quality are improved.

[0141] The adjustment of the coverage redundancy of the sixth geographical location can include reduction of the coverage redundancy of the sixth geographical location or increase of the coverage redundancy of the sixth geographical location. For example, too many coverage redundancies can cause signal interference, and too few coverage redundancies can cause poor signal quality. Therefore, when the interference value of the signal of the sixth geographical location is greater than the first threshold, the coverage redundancy of the sixth geographical location can be reduced. When the signal quality of the sixth geographical location is less than the second threshold, the coverage redundancy of the sixth geographical location can be increased.

[0142] Optionally, the network device can send auxiliary information to the terminal device. The terminal device can receive the auxiliary information sent by the network device, and the auxiliary information includes at least one of the following: resource configuration information used to send the first request, the predefined signal, the first threshold, the second threshold, the first threshold, or the second threshold.

[0143] In the embodiments of the present application, the network device configures the coverage redundancy in the coverage configuration information, so that the terminal device can use the coverage redundancy related information for communication. For example, before entering a geographical location without coverage, the terminal device requests coverage for the geographical location in advance. Or in the case of less coverage redundancy, the terminal device requests to increase the coverage redundancy. Or in the case of large signal interference, the terminal device requests to reduce the coverage redundancy. Therefore, the coverage performance is guaranteed, and the system capacity is improved.

[0144] It can be understood that the methods and operations implemented by the terminal device in the above-mentioned various method embodiments can also be implemented by components (such as chips or circuits) that can be used for the terminal device, and the methods and operations implemented by the network device can also be implemented by components (such as chips or circuits) that can be used for the network device.

[0145] The embodiments of the present application can divide the functional modules of the terminal device or the network device according to the above method examples. For example, each functional module can be divided according to each function, or two or more functions can be integrated into one processing module. The integrated module can be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of a software functional module. It should be noted that the division of the modules in the embodiments of the present application is illustrative, and is only a logical functional division. In actual implementation, another division mode can be used. The following will be described by taking the division of each functional module according to each function as an example.

[0146] The above, in combination with Figure 5 The method provided by the embodiments of the present application is described in detail. The following, in combination with Figures 13-14 The communication device provided by the embodiments of the present application is described in detail. It should be understood that the description of the device embodiments corresponds to the description of the method embodiments, and therefore, the content not described in detail can be referred to the method embodiments described above. In order to be brief, the description is not repeated here.

[0147] Please refer to Figure 13 , Figure 13 is a structural schematic diagram of a communication device provided by the embodiments of the present application. The communication device can implement the steps or processes performed by the terminal device corresponding to the method embodiments described above. In a possible design, the communication device can include a receiving module 1301, a processing module 1302, and a sending module 1303. Optionally, the communication device can further include a storage module for storing device program code and / or data.

[0148] The communication device can be a terminal device or a communication module in the terminal device, or a circuit or chip responsible for the communication function in the terminal device.

[0149] The receiving module 1301 is configured to receive coverage configuration information from a network device, wherein the coverage configuration information includes a coverage repetition number, and the coverage repetition number is used to indicate at least one of the following: a number of beams covering each geographical location in a plurality of geographical locations, a number of cells serving the each geographical location, or a number of reference signals that can be received by a terminal device in the each geographical location.

[0150] The processing module 1302 is configured to perform communication according to the coverage configuration information.

[0151] Optionally, the number of the coverage repetition number is N, the coverage configuration information further includes M measurement configuration information corresponding to the each geographical location, the N is an integer greater than or equal to 0, and the M is an integer less than or equal to N.

[0152] The optional measurement configuration information includes a measurement timing configuration and a time offset, the time offset includes a first offset and a second offset, the first offset is used to adjust a difference in propagation delay between two satellites, and the second offset is used to adjust a signal transmission time between the two satellites, and the two satellites serve the terminal device.

[0153] Optionally, the coverage configuration information further includes at least one of the following: an identifier of each geographical location, an identifier of a beam covered by each geographical location, an identifier of a cell served by each geographical location, a valid time of coverage configuration information corresponding to each geographical location, or ephemeris information corresponding to each geographical location.

[0154] Optionally, the sending module 1303 is configured to send a first request to the network device when the terminal device is about to enter a second geographical location from a first geographical location in the plurality of geographical locations, the coverage redundancy of the first geographical location is greater than 0, and the coverage redundancy of the second geographical location is equal to 0, the first request being used to request at least one of the following operations performed on the second geographical location: beam coverage on the second geographical location, cell service provided to the second geographical location, or reference signal sent to the second geographical location.

[0155] Optionally, the sending module 1303 is configured to send a predefined signal to the network device when the terminal device is powered on in a third geographical location in the plurality of geographical locations, and the coverage redundancy of the third geographical location is equal to 0, the predefined signal being used to request at least one of the following operations performed on the third geographical location: beam coverage on the third geographical location, cell service provided to the third geographical location, or reference signal sent to the third geographical location.

[0156] Optionally, the sending module 1303 is configured to send a second request to the network device when the coverage redundancy of a fourth geographical location in the plurality of geographical locations where the terminal device is located is greater than 0 and less than a first threshold, the second request being used to request an increase in the coverage redundancy of the fourth geographical location.

[0157] Optionally, the sending module 1303 is configured to send a third request to the network device when the coverage redundancy of a fifth geographical location in the plurality of geographical locations where the terminal device is located is greater than 0 and less than a second threshold during a cell handover process, the third request being used to request at least one of the following operations performed on the fifth geographical location: beam coverage on the fifth geographical location, cell service provided to the fifth geographical location, or reference signal sent to the fifth geographical location.

[0158] Optionally, the sending module 1303 is configured to send, to the network device, measurement information when an interference value of a signal of a sixth geographical location in the multiple geographical locations where the terminal device is located is greater than a first threshold or a signal quality is less than a second threshold, the measurement information being used to indicate adjusting a coverage number of the sixth geographical location or re-performing at least one of the following operations on the sixth geographical location: beam coverage on the sixth geographical location, cell service provision to the sixth geographical location, or reference signal transmission to the sixth geographical location.

[0159] Optionally, the receiving module 1301 is further configured to receive auxiliary information sent by the network device, the auxiliary information including at least one of the following: resource configuration information used to send the first request, the predefined signal, the first threshold, the second threshold, the first threshold, or the second threshold.

[0160] Optionally, the sending module 1303 is configured to send, to the network device, a fourth request when the terminal device moves out of an effective area, the fourth request being used to request updating the coverage configuration information, and the effective area including at least one geographical location in the multiple geographical locations.

[0161] Optionally, the sending module 1303 is configured to send, to the network device, a fourth request when an effective time of coverage configuration information corresponding to any one of the multiple geographical locations expires, the fourth request being used to request updating the coverage configuration information.

[0162] Optionally, the sending module 1303 is configured to send, to the network device, a fifth request when a number of times of measuring a signal quality of any one of the multiple geographical locations being less than a third threshold within a preset time period is greater than a third threshold, the fifth request being used to request updating the coverage configuration information.

[0163] In a possible design, when the communication apparatus is a terminal device or a communication module in a terminal device, the functions of the receiving module 1301 and the sending module 1303 can be implemented by a transceiver circuit. The functions of the processing module 1302 can be implemented by one or more processors. Specifically, the processor can include a Modem chip, or a System on Chip (SoC) chip or a SIP chip including a Modem core.

[0164] In a possible design, when the communication apparatus is a circuit or a chip responsible for communication functions in a terminal device, such as a Modem chip or a System on Chip (SoC) chip including a Modem core or a System in Package (SIP) chip, the receiving module 1301 and the sending module 1303 can be implemented by interface circuits or data transceiver circuits on the chip. The processing module 1302 can be implemented by circuitry including one or more processors or processor cores in the chip.

[0165] It should be noted that the implementation of each module can also correspond to the description of the method embodiments shown in FIG. 13, and perform the methods and functions performed by the terminal device in the above embodiments. Figure 5

[0166] Please refer to Figure 14 , Figure 14 is another structural diagram of a communication apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present application. The communication apparatus can implement the steps or processes performed by the network device in the above method embodiments. In a possible design, the communication apparatus can include a sending module 1401 and a processing module 1402. Optionally, the communication apparatus can further include a storage module for storing device program codes and / or data.

[0167] The communication apparatus can be the network side device in the above embodiments, for example, a network device or a communication module in a network device, or a circuit or a chip responsible for communication functions in a network device.

[0168] The sending module 1401 is configured to send, to a terminal device, coverage configuration information including a coverage repetition number, where the coverage repetition number is used to indicate at least one of the following: a number of beams covering each of a plurality of geographic locations, a number of cells serving the each of the geographic locations, or a number of reference signals receivable by the terminal device in the each of the geographic locations.

[0169] The processing module 1402 is configured to perform at least one of the following operations on the each of the geographic locations according to the coverage configuration information: beam coverage on the each of the geographic locations, cell service provision to the each of the geographic locations, or reference signal transmission to the each of the geographic locations.

[0170] Optionally, the coverage repetition number is N, the coverage configuration information further includes M measurement configuration information corresponding to the each of the geographic locations, the N is an integer greater than or equal to 0, and the M is an integer less than or equal to N.

[0171] ​Optionally, the measurement configuration information comprises a measurement timing configuration and a time offset, the time offset comprises a first offset and a second offset, the first offset is used to adjust a difference of propagation time delay between two satellites, and the second offset is used to adjust a difference of signal transmission time between the two satellites, the two satellites serving the terminal device.

[0172] Optionally, the coverage configuration information further comprises at least one of the following: an identifier of each geographical location, an identifier of a beam covered by each geographical location, an identifier of a cell served by each geographical location, a valid time of coverage configuration information corresponding to each geographical location, or ephemeris information corresponding to each geographical location.

[0173] Optionally, the sending module 1401 is further configured to send, to the terminal device, assistance information, the assistance information comprising at least one of the following: resource configuration information used to send the first request, a predefined signal, the first threshold, the second threshold, the first threshold, or the second threshold.

[0174] Optionally, the processing module 1402 is further configured to update the coverage configuration information when a valid time of coverage configuration information corresponding to a first geographical location in the plurality of geographical locations expires.

[0175] Optionally, the processing module 1402 is further configured to add update information to the coverage configuration information corresponding to the first address location, or replace the coverage configuration information corresponding to the first address location with the update information.

[0176] In a possible design, when the communication apparatus is a network device or a communication module in a network device, the function of the processing module 1402 can be implemented by one or more processors. Specifically, the processor can include a Modem chip, or a System on Chip (SoC) chip or a SIP chip containing a Modem core. The function of the sending module 1401 can be implemented by a transceiver circuit.

[0177] In a possible design, when the communication apparatus is a circuit or chip responsible for communication functions in a network device, such as a Modem chip or a System on Chip (SoC) chip or a SIP chip containing a Modem core, the function of the processing module 1402 can be implemented by a circuit system including one or more processors or processor cores in the above-mentioned chip. The function of the sending module 1401 can be implemented by an interface circuit or a data transceiver circuit on the above-mentioned chip.

[0178] It should be noted that the implementation of each module can also correspond to the description of the corresponding method embodiment shown in Figure 5 The method embodiment shown in

[0179] Figure 15 is a structural schematic diagram of a terminal device provided by an embodiment of the present application. The terminal device can be applied to a system as shown in Figure 1 , performs the functions of the terminal device in the above method embodiments, or implements the steps or processes performed by the terminal device in the above method embodiments.

[0180] As shown in Figure 15 , the terminal device includes a processor 1501 and a transceiver 1502. The transceiver 1502 includes a transmitter 1521, a receiver 1522, and an antenna 1523. The receiver 1522 can be configured to receive transmission control information through the antenna 1523, and the transmitter 1521 can be configured to send transmission feedback information to a network device through the antenna 1523. Optionally, the terminal device further includes a memory 1503. The processor 1501, the transceiver 1502, and the memory 1503 can communicate with each other through internal connection paths to transfer control and / or data signals. The memory 1503 is configured to store a computer program, and the processor 1501 is configured to call and run the computer program from the memory 1503 to control the transceiver 1502 to transceive signals. Optionally, the terminal device can further include an antenna for transmitting uplink data or uplink control signaling output by the transceiver 1502 through wireless signals.

[0181] The processor 1501 and the memory 1503 can be integrated into one processing device, and the processor 1501 is configured to execute program codes stored in the memory 1503 to implement the above functions. In specific implementation, the memory 1503 can also be integrated in the processor 1501 or independent of the processor 1501. The processor 1501 in the terminal device corresponds to the processing module in Figure 13 .

[0182] The transceiver 1502 can correspond to the receiving module and the sending module in Figure 13 , and can also be referred to as a transceiving unit or a transceiving module. The transceiver 1502 can include a receiver (or receiver, receiving circuit) and a transmitter (or transmitter, transmitting circuit). The receiver is configured to receive signals, and the transmitter is configured to transmit signals.

[0183] It should be understood that the terminal device as shown in Figure 15 is capable of implementing each process involving the terminal device in the method embodiments as shown in Figure 5 . The operations and / or functions of each module in the terminal device are respectively to implement the corresponding processes in the above method embodiments. For specific details, reference can be made to the description in the above method embodiments, and detailed description is appropriately omitted here to avoid repetition.

[0184] The processor 1501 can be used to perform the actions described in the foregoing method embodiments that are implemented internally by the terminal device, and the transceiver 1502 can be used to perform the actions described in the foregoing method embodiments that are sent or received by the terminal device to or from the network device. For details, see the descriptions in the foregoing method embodiments, which will not be described here again.

[0185] The processor 1501 can be a central processing unit, a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor, an application specific integrated circuit, a field programmable gate array, or other programmable logic device, transistor logic device, hardware component, or any combination thereof. It can implement or execute the various exemplary logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the disclosure. The processor 1501 can also be a combination of computing functions, such as a combination of one or more microprocessors, a combination of a digital signal processor and a microprocessor, and the like. The terminal device can also include a communication bus, which can be a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) bus or an extended industry standard architecture (EISA) bus, etc. The bus can be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, etc. The communication bus is used to realize the connection communication between the components. The transceiver 1502 in the embodiments of the present application is used for signaling or data communication with other node devices. The memory 1503 can include volatile memory, such as non-volatile random access memory (NVRAM), phase change RAM (PRAM), magnetoresistive RAM (MRAM), etc., and can also include non-volatile memory, such as at least one magnetic disk storage device, electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory device, such as NOR flash memory or NAND flash memory, semiconductor device, such as solid state disk (SSD), etc. The memory 1503 can also be at least one storage device located away from the processor 1501. The memory 1503 can also optionally store a set of computer program codes or configuration information. Optionally, the processor 1501 can also execute the programs stored in the memory 1503. The processor can cooperate with the memory and the transceiver to perform any of the methods and functions of the terminal device described in the foregoing embodiments.

[0186] Figure 16 is a structural schematic diagram of a network device provided by an embodiment of the present application. The network device can be applied to a system as shown in Figure 1 , performs the functions of the network device in the above method embodiments, or implements the steps or processes performed by the network device in the above method embodiments.

[0187] As shown in Figure 16 , the network device includes a processor 1601 and a transceiver 1602. The transceiver 1602 includes a transmitter 1621, a receiver 1622, and an antenna 1623. The transmitter 1621 can be used to send transmission control information to the terminal device through the antenna 1623, and the receiver 1622 can be used to receive transmission feedback information sent by the terminal device through the antenna 1623. Optionally, the network device further includes a memory 1603. Wherein, the processor 1601, the transceiver 1602 and the memory 1603 can communicate with each other through internal connection paths to transfer control and / or data signals, the memory 1603 is used to store a computer program, and the processor 1601 is used to call and run the computer program from the memory 1603 to control the transceiver 1602 to transceive signals. Optionally, the network device can also include an antenna for sending uplink data or uplink control signaling output by the transceiver 1602 through wireless signals.

[0188] The above processor 1601 can correspond to the processing module in Figure 14 . The processor 1601 can be integrated with the memory 1603 as a processing device, and the processor 1601 is used to execute the program code stored in the memory 1603 to realize the above functions. In specific implementation, the memory 1603 can also be integrated in the processor 1601 or independent of the processor 1601.

[0189] The above transceiver 1602 can correspond to the sending module in Figure 14 , and can also be called a transceiving unit or a transceiving module. The transceiver 1602 can include a receiver (or receiver, receiving circuit) and a transmitter (or transmitter, transmitting circuit). Wherein, the receiver is used to receive signals, and the transmitter is used to transmit signals.

[0190] It should be understood that Figure 16 the network device shown in Figure 5 can realize each process involving the network device in the method embodiment. The operation and / or function of each module in the network device is respectively to realize the corresponding process in the above method embodiment. For details, please refer to the description in the above method embodiment, and the detailed description is appropriately omitted here to avoid repetition.

[0191] The processor 1601 described above can be used to perform the actions implemented internally by the network device as described in the preceding method embodiments, while the transceiver 1602 can be used to perform the actions described in the preceding method embodiments of sending data from the network device to the terminal device or receiving data from the terminal device. For details, please refer to the descriptions in the preceding method embodiments; they will not be repeated here.

[0192] The processor 1601 can be any of the processors mentioned above. The network device may also include a communication bus, which can be a PCI bus (Peripheral Component Interconnect Standard) or an EISA bus (Extended Industry Standard Architecture). The bus can be divided into an address bus, a data bus, and a control bus. The communication bus is used to enable communication between these components. In this embodiment, the transceiver 1602 is used for signaling or data communication with other devices. The memory 1603 can be any of the memory types mentioned above. Optionally, the memory 1603 can also be at least one storage device located remotely from the processor 1601. The memory 1603 stores a set of computer program code or configuration information, and the processor 1601 executes the program in the memory 1603. The processor can cooperate with the memory and the transceiver to execute any of the methods and functions of the network device in the above embodiments.

[0193] This application also provides a chip system including a processor for supporting network devices or terminal devices to implement the functions involved in any of the above embodiments, such as generating or processing the overlay configuration information involved in the above methods.

[0194] In one possible design, the chip system may further include a memory for storing necessary computer programs and data for the network device or terminal device. The chip system may be composed of chips or may include chips and other discrete components. The inputs and outputs of the chip system correspond to the receiving and transmitting operations of the network device or terminal device in the method embodiments, respectively.

[0195] According to the method provided in the embodiments of this application, this application also provides a computer program product, which includes: a computer program that, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform... Figure 5 The method of any one of the embodiments shown.

[0196] According to the method provided in the embodiments of this application, this application also provides a computer-readable medium storing a computer program, which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform... Figure 5 The method of any one of the embodiments shown.

[0197] In the above embodiments, all or part of the embodiments can be implemented by software, hardware, firmware or any combination thereof. When implemented by software, all or part of the embodiments can be implemented in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When the computer instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, all or part of the processes or functions described in the embodiments of the present application are generated. The computer can be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable devices. The computer instructions can be stored in a computer readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer readable storage medium to another computer readable storage medium, for example, the computer instructions can be transmitted from one website, computer, server or data center to another website, computer, server or data center through wired (such as coaxial cable, optical fiber, digital subscriber line (DSL)) or wireless (such as infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) mode. The computer readable storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device such as a server, data center, etc. integrated with one or more available media sets. The available media can be magnetic media (such as floppy disk, hard disk, magnetic tape), optical media (such as high-density digital video disc (digital video disc, DVD)), or semiconductor media (such as solid state disc (solid state disc, SSD)) and the like.

[0198] The above is only a specific implementation of the present application, but the protection scope of the present application is not limited thereto. Any person skilled in the art can easily think of changes or replacements within the technical range disclosed in the present application, which should be covered within the protection scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application should be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that, The method includes: Receive coverage configuration information from a network device, the coverage configuration information including coverage weight, the coverage weight being used to indicate at least one of the following: the number of beams covered in each of a plurality of geographic locations, the number of cells served in each geographic location, or the number of reference signals that the terminal device can receive in each geographic location; Communication is performed based on the coverage configuration information.

2. The method as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The number of coverage layers is N, and the coverage configuration information also includes M measurement configuration information corresponding to each geographic location, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 0, and M is an integer less than or equal to N.

3. The method as described in claim 2, characterized in that, The measurement configuration information includes measurement timing configuration and time offset. The time offset includes a first offset and a second offset. The first offset is used to adjust the propagation delay difference between the two satellites, and the second offset is used to adjust the signal transmission time between the two satellites. The two satellites serve the terminal device.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1-3, characterized in that, The coverage configuration information also includes at least one of the following: the identifier of each geographic location, the identifier of the beam covered by each geographic location, the identifier of the cell served by each geographic location, the validity period of the coverage configuration information corresponding to each geographic location, or the ephemeris information corresponding to each geographic location.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1-4, characterized in that, The method for communicating based on the coverage configuration information includes: When the terminal device is about to enter the second geographical location from the first geographical location among the plurality of geographical locations, and the coverage weight of the first geographical location is greater than 0 and the coverage weight of the second geographical location is equal to 0, the terminal device sends a first request to the network device. The first request is used to request the second geographical location to perform at least one of the following operations: provide beam coverage to the second geographical location, provide cell service to the second geographical location, or send a reference signal to the second geographical location.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1-4, characterized in that, The method for communicating based on the coverage configuration information includes: When the terminal device is powered on in the third geographical location among the plurality of geographical locations and the coverage weight of the third geographical location is equal to 0, it sends a predefined signal to the network device. The predefined signal is used to request the third geographical location to perform at least one of the following operations: perform beam coverage on the third geographical location, provide cell service to the third geographical location, or send a reference signal to the third geographical location.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1-4, characterized in that, The method for communicating based on the coverage configuration information includes: When the coverage weight of the fourth geographical location among the plurality of geographical locations where the terminal device is located is greater than 0 and less than the first threshold, a second request is sent to the network device. The second request is used to request an increase in the coverage weight of the fourth geographical location.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1-4, characterized in that, The method for communicating based on the coverage configuration information includes: When the coverage overlap of the fifth geographical location among the plurality of geographical locations where the terminal device is located is greater than 0 and less than the second threshold during cell handover, a third request is sent to the network device. The third request is used to request that at least one of the following operations be performed again on the fifth geographical location: beam coverage of the fifth geographical location, cell service provided to the fifth geographical location, or reference signal sent to the fifth geographical location.

9. The method according to any one of claims 1-4, characterized in that, The method for communicating based on the coverage configuration information includes: When the interference value of the signal of the sixth geographical location among the plurality of geographical locations where the terminal device is located is greater than a first threshold or the signal quality is less than a second threshold, measurement information is sent to the network device. The measurement information is used to indicate the adjustment of the coverage multiple of the sixth geographical location or to re-perform at least one of the following operations on the sixth geographical location: to perform beam coverage on the sixth geographical location, to provide cell service to the sixth geographical location, or to send a reference signal to the sixth geographical location.

10. The method according to any one of claims 5-9, characterized in that, The method further includes: The network device receives auxiliary information, which includes at least one of the following: resource configuration information for sending the first request, the predefined signal, the first threshold, the second threshold, the first threshold, or the second threshold.

11. The method according to any one of claims 1-10, characterized in that, The method further includes: When the terminal device moves outside the effective area, it sends a fourth request to the network device. The fourth request is used to request an update to the coverage configuration information. The effective area includes at least one of the plurality of geographical locations.

12. The method according to any one of claims 1-10, characterized in that, The method further includes: When the validity period of the coverage configuration information corresponding to any one of the plurality of geographical locations expires, a fourth request is sent to the network device, the fourth request being used to request an update to the coverage configuration information.

13. The method according to any one of claims 1-10, characterized in that, The method further includes: When the number of times the signal quality of any of the multiple geographical locations is measured to be less than the third threshold within a preset time period exceeds the third threshold, a fifth request is sent to the network device. The fifth request is used to request an update to the coverage configuration information.

14. A communication method, characterized in that, The method includes: Send coverage configuration information to the terminal device. The coverage configuration information includes coverage weight, which is used to indicate at least one of the following: the number of beams covered in each of a plurality of geographic locations, the number of cells served in each geographic location, or the number of reference signals that the terminal device can receive in each geographic location. Based on the coverage configuration information, perform at least one of the following operations for each geographic location: provide beam coverage for each geographic location, provide cell service to each geographic location, or send a reference signal to each geographic location.

15. The method as described in claim 14, characterized in that, The number of coverage layers is N, and the coverage configuration information also includes M measurement configuration information corresponding to each geographic location, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 0, and M is an integer less than or equal to N.

16. The method as described in claim 15, characterized in that, The measurement configuration information includes measurement timing configuration and time offset. The time offset includes a first offset and a second offset. The first offset is used to adjust the propagation delay difference between the two satellites, and the second offset is used to adjust the signal transmission time between the two satellites. The two satellites serve the terminal device.

17. The method according to any one of claims 14-16, characterized in that, The coverage configuration information also includes at least one of the following: the identifier of each geographic location, the identifier of the beam covered by each geographic location, the identifier of the cell served by each geographic location, the validity period of the coverage configuration information corresponding to each geographic location, or the ephemeris information corresponding to each geographic location.

18. The method according to any one of claims 14-17, characterized in that, The method further includes: Send auxiliary information to the terminal device, the auxiliary information including at least one of the following: resource configuration information for sending the first request, a predefined signal, a first threshold, a second threshold, a first limit, or a second limit.

19. The method according to any one of claims 14-18, characterized in that, The method further includes: When the validity period of the coverage configuration information corresponding to the first geographical location among the plurality of geographical locations expires, the coverage configuration information is updated.

20. The method as described in claim 19, characterized in that, Updating the coverage configuration information includes: Add the updated information to the overlay configuration information corresponding to the first address location; or Replace the overlay configuration information corresponding to the first address location with the updated information.

21. A communication device, characterized in that, It includes a memory and a processor, the memory being used to store a computer program, and the processor running the computer program to cause the communication device to perform the method of any one of claims 1-13.

22. A communication device, characterized in that, It includes a memory and a processor, the memory being used to store a computer program, and the processor running the computer program to cause the communication device to perform the method of any one of claims 14-20.

23. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, The computer-readable storage medium includes a computer program that, when executed by a processor, causes the method of any one of claims 1-13 or any one of claims 14-20 to be implemented.

24. A chip, characterized in that, The chip includes a processor and a communication interface, the communication interface being used to communicate with external or internal devices, and the processor being used to implement the method as claimed in any one of claims 1-13 or any one of claims 14-20.

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