Method for path switching, terminal and network-side apparatus

Abstract

To provide a method for path switching which secures a communication quality, a terminal and a network-side apparatus.SOLUTION: A method includes a step S210 of performing switching between at least two paths by a first terminal in a case where a first condition is satisfied. The first condition includes at least one item of: that a path switching instruction, which is transmitted from a network-side apparatus, for instructing the first terminal to perform the switching between the at least two paths is received; that a path switching request for the first terminal to request the network-side apparatus to perform the switching between the at least two paths is transmitted to the network-side apparatus; that a regulation signal which is a signal corresponding to a target path which is one of the at least two paths is detected; that a signal detection result corresponding to the regulation signal is reported; and that the signal detection result satisfies a predefined condition.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] (CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS) The present invention claims priority to a Chinese patent application bearing application number 202110100043.7 and title "Path switching method, terminal and network side equipment" filed with the China Patent Office on January 25, 2021, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

[0002] The present application relates to the technical field of wireless communication, and more particularly to a path switching method, a terminal, and a network side device. [Background technology]

[0003] In related communication technologies, traffic may be transmitted directly between terminals, or may be transmitted via network side equipment such as a core network or a base station. However, in communication situations such as subways and stations, there is a risk that the connection between terminals or between the terminal and the network side equipment may become unstable due to wireless environment interference, etc., which may affect communication quality. Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] The embodiments of the present application provide a path switching method, a terminal, and a network side device that can solve the problem of communication quality being affected due to an unstable connection between terminals or between a terminal and a network side device. [Means for solving the problem]

[0005] In a first aspect, a path switching method is provided which is executed by a first terminal and includes a step of switching between at least two paths when a first condition is satisfied, the first condition including at least one of the following: receiving a path switching instruction transmitted from a network side device to instruct the first terminal to switch between the at least two paths; the first terminal transmitting a path switching request to the network side device to request the network side device to switch between the at least two paths; detecting a specified signal which is a signal corresponding to a target path which is one of the at least two paths; reporting a signal detection result corresponding to the specified signal; and the signal detection result satisfying a predefined condition.

[0006] In a second aspect, a path switching method is provided which is executed by a network side device, and includes a step of allocating and / or activating a target path when a third condition is satisfied, the third condition including any one of: transmitting a path switching instruction to a first terminal for instructing the first terminal to switch between at least two paths; receiving a path switching request transmitted from the first terminal for requesting the network side device to switch between the at least two paths; and receiving a signal detection result notified from the first terminal for instructing a transmission parameter corresponding to a target path, wherein the target path is one of the at least two paths, and the target path is a path corresponding to the path switching instruction, the path switching request, or the signal detection result.

[0007] In a third aspect, a path switching device is provided that has a switching module used to switch between at least two paths when a first condition is satisfied, the first condition including at least one of the following: receiving a path switching instruction transmitted from a network side device to instruct a first terminal to switch between the at least two paths; the first terminal transmitting a path switching request to the network side device to request the network side device to switch between the at least two paths; detecting a specified signal that is a signal corresponding to a target path that is one of the at least two paths; reporting a signal detection result corresponding to the specified signal; and the signal detection result satisfying a predefined condition.

[0008] In a fourth aspect, a path switching device is provided that has a placement module used to place and / or activate a target path when a third condition is satisfied, the third condition including any one of sending a path switching instruction to a first terminal for instructing the first terminal to switch between at least two paths, receiving a path switching request sent from the first terminal for requesting a network side device to switch between the at least two paths, and receiving a signal detection result notified from the first terminal for instructing a transmission parameter corresponding to a target path, wherein the target path is one of the at least two paths, and the target path is a path corresponding to the path switching instruction, the path switching request, or the signal detection result.

[0009] In a fifth aspect, there is provided a terminal comprising a processor, a memory, and a program or instructions stored in the memory and executable by the processor, the program or instructions implementing the steps of the method according to the first aspect when executed by the processor.

[0010] In a sixth aspect, there is provided a network side device comprising a processor, a memory, and a program or instructions stored in the memory and executable by the processor, the program or instructions realizing the steps of the method according to the second aspect when executed by the processor.

[0011] In a seventh aspect, there is provided a readable storage medium storing a program or instructions which, when executed by a processor, performs the steps of the method according to the first aspect or performs the steps of the method according to the second aspect.

[0012] In an eighth aspect, there is provided a chip comprising a processor and a communication interface, the communication interface and the processor being coupled to each other, the processor executing a program or instruction of a network side device to realize the method described in the first aspect or to realize the method described in the second aspect.

[0013] In a ninth aspect, there is provided a computer program product comprising a processor, a memory, and a program or instructions stored in the memory and executable by the processor, the program or instructions, when executed by the processor, performing the steps of the method according to the first aspect or performing the method according to the second aspect. Effect of the Invention

[0014] In an embodiment of the present application, when a first terminal receives a path switching instruction sent from a network side device, or when a path switching request is sent to the network side device, or when a signal detection result is reported, the first terminal switches between at least two paths, thereby realizing effective switching between paths and solving the problem of degraded communication quality due to unstable connections between terminals or between the terminal and the network side device. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0015] [Figure 1]FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a wireless communication system provided in an exemplary embodiment of the present application. [Diagram 2] 1 is a schematic flowchart of a path switching method provided in an exemplary embodiment of the present application; [Diagram 3] 4 is a schematic flowchart of a path switching method provided in another exemplary embodiment of the present application; [Figure 4] 4 is a schematic flowchart of a path switching method provided in yet another exemplary embodiment of the present application; [Figure 5a] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a path switching device provided in an exemplary embodiment of the present application. [Figure 5b] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a path switching device provided in another exemplary embodiment of the present application; [Figure 6a] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a path switching device provided in another exemplary embodiment of the present application; [Figure 6b] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a path switching device provided in another exemplary embodiment of the present application; [Figure 7] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a terminal provided in an exemplary embodiment of the present application. [Figure 8] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a network side device provided in an exemplary embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0016] Hereinafter, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be explicitly described with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present application, and it is to be understood that the described embodiments are not all the embodiments but only some of the embodiments of the present application. All other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art based on the embodiments of the present application all belong to the protection scope of the present application.

[0017] The terms "first", "second", etc. in the specification and claims of the present application are not intended to describe a particular order or sequence, but are intended to distinguish between similar objects. It should be understood that the terms used in this manner may be substituted for each other where appropriate, so that the embodiments of the present application may be performed in an order other than that shown or described herein, and that the objects distinguished by "first" and "second" are generally of one type, and do not limit the number of objects, for example, the first object may be one or more. In the specification and claims, "and / or" indicates at least one of the objects connected, and the symbol " / " generally indicates that the related objects before and after are in an "or" relationship.

[0018] It should be noted that the technology described in the embodiments of the present application is not limited to Long Term Evolution (LTE) / LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) systems, and can be used in other wireless communication systems, such as Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA), Single-carrier Frequency-Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA), and other systems. The terms "system" and "network" in the embodiments of the present application can generally be used interchangeably, and the technology described can be used in the above-mentioned systems and wireless technologies, or in other systems and wireless technologies. However, in the following description, a New Radio (NR) system will be described for illustrative purposes, and NR terminology will be used in most of the following description, but these technologies are applicable to systems other than NR systems, for example, to 6th Generation (6G) communication systems.

[0019] FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a wireless communication system applicable to the embodiment of the present application. The wireless communication system includes a terminal 11 and a network side device 12. Here, the terminal 11 may be called a terminal device or a user terminal (User Equipment, UE), and may be a terminal side device such as a mobile phone, a tablet computer (Tablet Personal Computer), a laptop computer (also called a notebook computer), a personal digital assistant (PDA), a personal digital assistant, a netbook, an ultra-mobile personal computer (UMPC), a mobile Internet device (Mobile Internet Device, MID), a wearable device (Wearable Device) or a vehicle-mounted device (VUE), a pedestrian terminal (PUE), etc., and the wearable device includes a bracelet, an earphone, glasses, etc. It should be noted that the specific type of the terminal 11 is not limited in the embodiment of the present application. The network side device 12 may be a base station or a core network, in which the base station may be called a Node B, an evolved Node B, an access point, a base transceiver station (BTS), a radio base station, a radio transceiver, a basic service set (BSS), an extended service set (ESS), a B node, an evolved B node (eNB), a home B node, a home evolved B node, a wireless local area network (WLAN) access point, a wireless fidelity (WiFi) node, a transmitting receiving point (TRP), or any other suitable term in the above field, and the base station is not limited to a specific technical term as long as the same technical effect can be achieved.

[0020] Hereinafter, the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application will be described in detail through specific embodiments and use cases with reference to the drawings.

[0021] FIG. 2 shows a schematic flowchart of a path switching method 200 provided in an exemplary embodiment of the present application, which may be performed by a first terminal, for example, by hardware and / or software implemented in the first terminal, and which includes the following step S210:

[0022] In S210, if a first condition is met, switching is performed between at least two paths.

[0023] Here, the first condition includes at least one of the following items (1) to (5).

[0024] (1) The first terminal receives a path switching instruction transmitted from a network side device.

[0025] Here, the path switching instruction is for instructing the first terminal to switch between the at least two paths. In this embodiment, the path switching instruction may be determined by the network side device based on path transmission parameters notified by the first terminal, or may be determined by a pre-arranged protocol or the like. When the path switching instruction may be determined by the network side device based on path transmission parameters notified by the first terminal, it can be understood that when the transmission parameters indicate that the connection corresponding to the current path of the first terminal is unstable, the network side device may send the path switching instruction to the first terminal to instruct the first terminal to switch paths, and the target path is one of the at least two paths.

[0026] (2) The first terminal transmits a path switching request to the network side device to request the network side device to switch between the at least two paths.

[0027] Here, the path switching request may include one or more pieces of information. For example, as one possible implementation form, the path switching request may include at least one of the following items (2a)-(2i):

[0028] (2a) Identifier (Identity, ID) of the second terminal.

[0029] Here, the second terminal may be a terminal that directly transmits data to the first terminal, or may be a terminal that transmits data to the first terminal via a network side device, and is not limited thereto.

[0030] (2b) an identifier of a target bearer corresponding to the target path;

[0031] (2c) an identifier of a destination network corresponding to the destination path;

[0032] Here, the target network may be a network between the first terminal and the second terminal or between the first terminal and the network side device, such as a Wifi network, a Bluetooth (registered trademark) network, a Sidelink network, a UU network, etc., and is not limited thereto.

[0033] (2d) The target link where the path switch is to be initiated.

[0034] Here, the target link may be a downlink, an uplink, a sidelink, or the like.

[0035] (2e) the target path.

[0036] Here, the target path may be one of the at least two paths, and specifically may be determined by the first terminal. For example, the target path may be determined by the terminal based on transmission parameters such as the communication quality of the path, or may be predefined by the network side device and the first terminal, or may be defined by a protocol, and there is no limitation here.

[0037] (2f) Causes of path switching.

[0038] Here, the causes of the path switching may include maximum permissible exposure (MPE) of laser radiation, specific absorption rate (SAR), terminal power limitations, network coverage limitations, network throughput limitations, signal quality, low battery power, etc., and this embodiment does not impose any limitations thereon.

[0039] For example, when the first terminal detects that laser radiation toward the human body is greater than a threshold during communication, the first terminal can send a path switching request to the network side device to request a path switch, thus ensuring the communication quality of the first terminal and other terminals communicating with it.

[0040] (2h) A method for transmitting the path switching request.

[0041] Here, the path switching request is transmitted by a Medium Access Control-Control Element (MACCE), a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message, an Uplink Control Information (UCI) message, a Non-Access Stratum (NAS) message, or a physical layer signaling (e.g., a Scheduling Request (SR)), etc.

[0042] (2i) First instruction information for instructing the network side device whether or not it is permitted to notify the path switching request.

[0043] Here, the authorization of the network side device may include: before the first terminal sends a path switching request, the first network node (i.e., the network side device) triggers a user authorization procedure to obtain notification authorization, or the second network node (i.e., the network side device) triggers the first terminal to send a path switching request when the first terminal is in a mode according to a mode corresponding to the authorization configuration. It can be understood that the first network node may be the same or different, and is not limited here.

[0044] It should be noted that, as one possible implementation, the first terminal may transmit the identifier of the second terminal and / or the target network identifier to the network side device before transmitting the path switching request, so that the network side device performs a scheduled operation, such as association between terminals, based on the identifier of the second terminal and / or the target network identifier, and further performs path switching, etc., based on the terminals after association, thereby ensuring reliability during path switching.

[0045] (3) A prescribed signal is detected, which is a signal corresponding to a target path, which is one of the at least two paths.

[0046] (4) The signal detection result corresponding to the specified signal is notified.

[0047] (5) The signal detection result satisfies a predefined condition.

[0048] In the above (3)-(5), the prescribed signal may be a scheduling signal, a reference signal (RS), etc., corresponding to the target path. Alternatively, the scheduled signal may be prescribed by negotiation between the network side device and the first terminal, or may be prescribed by a protocol, etc., and is not limited here.

[0049] Optionally, the signal detection result may include Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), interference information, signal-to-noise and interference ratio (SINR), channel quality indicator (CQI), etc., and the interference information may be information related to interference caused by other terminals or devices to the first terminal.

[0050] The predefined conditions may be determined by negotiation between the network side device and the first terminal, or may be determined by a protocol, etc. In this embodiment, the predefined conditions may be different depending on the signal detection result, for example, the predefined conditions may be set based on reference signal received power, interference information, signal to interference power and noise ratio, etc., and are not limited here.

[0051] Regarding (2) and (4) above, it should be noted that the first terminal may directly switch paths locally after sending the path switching request or signal detection result, or may switch paths after receiving response information fed back from the network side device, and this embodiment does not limit this.

[0052] In addition, the target path may be determined by negotiation between the terminal and the network side device, may be pre-configured by the network side device, or may be specified by a protocol, and is not limited here.

[0053] It is necessary to explain that the network side device described in this embodiment may be a core network or a base station, etc. The first terminal and / or the second terminal may be a mobile phone, a smart glass, a smart headset, a smart watch, etc. In addition, the network side device, the first terminal, and the second terminal may refer to the related introduction of the terminal and the network side device in the above wireless communication system, and detailed description will be omitted here to avoid repetition.

[0054] In this embodiment, when the first terminal receives a path switching instruction sent from a network side device, or when it sends a path switching request to the network side device, or when it reports a signal detection result, it switches between at least two paths, thereby achieving effective switching between paths and solving the problem of communication quality being affected due to unstable connections between terminals or between a terminal and a network side device.

[0055] FIG. 3 shows a schematic flowchart of a path switching method 300 provided in an exemplary embodiment of the present application, which may be performed by a first terminal, for example, by hardware and / or software implemented in the first terminal, and which includes the following step S310:

[0056] In S310, if a first condition is met, switching is performed between at least two paths.

[0057] Here, for the implementation procedure of S310, reference can be made to the relevant description in method 200. In addition, as a possible implementation form of this embodiment, the at least two paths may include any one of the paths described in (1)-(9) below.

[0058] (1) A first path for transmitting data from the first terminal to a second terminal.

[0059] In this case, the first terminal and the second terminal may be directly connected to each other via Wifi, Bluetooth (registered trademark), side link, etc. to realize data transmission.

[0060] (2) A second path for the first terminal to transmit data to the second terminal via the network side device.

[0061] In this case, the first terminal and the second terminal are connected via the network side device, for example, by a UU connection.

[0062] In one possible implementation, when the first terminal switches to the second path, the first terminal may further perform at least one of (2a) or (2b) below to adapt when upstream or downstream traffic dynamically switches between different paths.

[0063] (2a) Monitoring downstream scheduling traffic, and determining whether the downstream scheduling traffic needs to be received and / or forwarded according to designation information corresponding to the downstream scheduling traffic.

[0064] Here, the designation information may include at least one of a Radio Network Temporary Identifier (RNTI), a dedicated DCI domain indication, and a specific bit combination in Downlink Control Information (DCI).

[0065] Optionally, the specific bit combination may be a specific combination of values ​​that indicates in a domain such as, but not limited to, resource allocation, a Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) process, etc.

[0066] (2b) monitoring upstream traffic and determining whether or not said upstream traffic needs to be transmitted and / or forwarded according to scheduling rules;

[0067] Here, the scheduling rule may be determined based on the size of the number of transmission bits, the size of the remaining power margin, etc., for example, when the number of transmission bits is greater than a threshold, the first terminal transmits the uplink traffic, and when the number of transmission bits is not greater than the threshold, the first terminal forwards the uplink traffic, etc., and is not limited here.

[0068] In addition, the scheduling rule may be determined through negotiation between the network side device and the first terminal, may be configured by the network side device, or may be specified by a protocol.

[0069] In another possible implementation form, when the first terminal switches to the second path and the first terminal and the second terminal are located in a scheduled group, or when the network side device transmits a DCI message in a Single Cell Point To Multipoint (SC-PTM) manner, the first terminal monitors the DCI message that the network side device transmits to the second terminal, and can further determine whether to perform path switching and whether to forward / receive traffic data, etc., based on the DCI message, which can be specifically executed based on the DCI message.

[0070] (3) A third path for proxying upstream transmission corresponding to the first terminal to the second terminal.

[0071] In this case, the upstream transmission and downstream transmission corresponding to the first terminal are separated, that is, in this embodiment, the terminal is defined to perform upstream separated transmission between different paths, thereby providing further flexibility in path switching and ensuring communication quality.

[0072] In one possible implementation, when a first uplink channel corresponding to the first terminal satisfies a second condition, the first uplink channel corresponding to the first terminal is represented by the second terminal, where the first uplink channel may include at least one of a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH), a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH), a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH), and a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS).

[0073] In this embodiment, in order to ensure that the network side device and the first terminal have a unified understanding of the proxy condition (i.e., the second condition), the first terminal may transmit to the network side device first information including a second condition at the time of proxy for making the second terminal proxy the first uplink channel corresponding to the first terminal. In one possible implementation form, the second condition may include at least one of the following items (3a)-(3e).

[0074] (3a) The number of transmitted bits is greater than a first predetermined value.

[0075] (3b) The Power Headroom Report (PHR) is less than a second predetermined value.

[0076] Here, in the above (1) and (2), the first and second predetermined values ​​may be set by a network side device or may be defined by a protocol, and are not limited here.

[0077] (3c) Transmitting information corresponding to a specific bearer.

[0078] (3d) Transmitting information corresponding to a specific logical channel.

[0079] Here, the specific bearer and the specific logical channel described in (3c) and (3d) above may be configured by the network side device or may be defined by a protocol, and are not limited here, whereby the specific logical channel may include PUSCH, PUCCH, etc.

[0080] (3e) Includes UCI.

[0081] It can be understood that the second condition may include, but is not limited to, those described in (3a)-(3e) above. For example, in one implementation, the first terminal may further report a corresponding uplink limitation, in which case, if the scheduling of the network side equipment exceeds the corresponding uplink limitation, a corresponding proxy procedure is triggered.

[0082] It should be noted that when a first uplink channel corresponding to the first terminal is represented by the second terminal, the value of the designated parameter corresponding to the first uplink channel is increased by a third predetermined value (e.g., delta) compared to the transmission by the first terminal, and the designated parameter is the minimum value of K1 and K2.

[0083] In the procedure for implementing the above means, it can be understood that the first terminal needs to inform the network side device of the third predetermined value (delta) so that the network side device's scheduling satisfies a restriction corresponding to the minimum value of K1 / K2+the third predetermined value. As a result, when the network side device schedules PUSCH, PUCCH, etc. with normal K1 / K2, if the second terminal transmits directly, the second terminal transmits with K1 / K2, and if the first terminal transmits on behalf of the second terminal, the first terminal increases Delta from the received K1 / K2 value and transmits.

[0084] In contrast, when the first terminal transmits a second uplink channel on behalf of the second terminal, the value of the designated parameter corresponding to the second uplink channel is increased by a third predetermined value compared to the transmission by the second terminal, and the designated parameter is the minimum value of K1 and K2.

[0085] In the above implementation means, when the uplink channel of the first terminal is represented by the second terminal, all or part of the uplink transmission of the first terminal may be represented by the second terminal, and is not limited thereto.

[0086] (4) A fourth path that includes the first path and the second path, and when the first path and the second path are held simultaneously, the connection corresponding to the first path or the connection corresponding to the second path is in a suspended state.

[0087] In this case, if a UU connection and a side link connection are simultaneously maintained between the first terminal and the second terminal, one of the UU connection and the side link is in a suspended state.

[0088] (5) A fifth path for the first terminal to transmit data to the network side device.

[0089] Here, the fifth path differs from the second path in that the first terminal does not need to transmit data to the network side device to the second terminal, whereas the first terminal needs to transmit data to the network side device to the second terminal in the second path.

[0090] In one possible implementation form, similar to the above-mentioned second path, when the first terminal switches to the fifth path and the first terminal and the second terminal are located in a scheduled group, or when the network side device transmits a DCI message in the SC-PTM method, the first terminal monitors the DCI message that the network side device transmits to the second terminal, and further determines whether to perform path switching and whether to forward / receive traffic data, etc., based on the DCI message, which can be specifically executed based on the DCI message.

[0091] (6) A sixth path for the first terminal to transmit data to the network side device via the second terminal.

[0092] Here, the sixth path differs from the first path in that the second terminal needs to transmit data sent from the first terminal to the network side device in the sixth path, whereas the second terminal does not need to transmit data sent from the first terminal to the network side device in the first path.

[0093] (7) A seventh path for the first terminal to transfer data of the second terminal to the network side device.

[0094] (8) An eighth path for the first terminal to proxy upstream transmission of the second terminal.

[0095] (9) A ninth path obtained by swapping the order of the first terminal and the second terminal in a designated path, which is one of the first path to the eighth path.

[0096] For example, if the designated path is the first path, the ninth path is for the second terminal to transmit data to the first terminal. For example, if the designated path is the second path, the ninth path is for the second terminal to transmit data to the first terminal via the network side device.

[0097] As a possible implementation, refer to FIG. 3 again based on the above-listed first to ninth passes, and the implementation procedure of S310 may include steps S311 and S312, the contents of which are as follows:

[0098] In S311, if a first condition is satisfied, a target path is determined depending on whether the first terminal and the second terminal are in different cells.

[0099] For example, if the first terminal and the second terminal are located in the same cell, the first terminal and the second terminal can normally apply the above-mentioned various paths, but if the first terminal is located in cell 1 and the second terminal switches from cell 1 to cell 2, the above-mentioned sixth path does not apply to the path switching scene of the first terminal.

[0100] In this embodiment, depending on the communication scenario and transmission parameters, the target path may be one of the first path to the sixth path.

[0101] In S312, the path is switched to the target path.

[0102] Here, if the first terminal and the second terminal can normally apply the above various paths, the first terminal may switch from the current path to the target path, or may directly activate the target path, and there is no restriction here.

[0103] Furthermore, in order to realize smooth path switching, the first terminal may further transmit second information to the network side device, where the second information includes at least one of the following items (1) to (4):

[0104] (1) An association relationship between the first terminal and the second terminal. For example, the association relationship may be whether the first terminal and the second terminal have the same bearer, whether they are located in the same cell, whether they are banded together, etc., and is not limited here.

[0105] In this embodiment, the first terminal and the second terminal having a related relationship may synchronize the path switching when performing the path switching. It should be noted that, in consideration of the problem that the first terminal and the second terminal may be connected to different cells depending on the switching trigger, this embodiment proposes two kinds of solutions shown in (1a) and (1b) below.

[0106] (1a) The first terminal can further determine whether to transmit directly to the cell or to forward the signal to the second terminal and then transmit the signal to a network side device, depending on whether the first terminal and the second terminal are in different cells.

[0107] In this case, if the first terminal and the second terminal transmit related information to their corresponding cells, the connection between the first terminal and the second terminal becomes unavailable.

[0108] (1b) Nodes cooperate to determine forwarding relationships.

[0109] For example, in downlink scheduling traffic, the first terminal is located in cell 1, the second terminal is located in cell 2, and traffic arriving at cell 1 is first transferred to cell 2, then transmitted from cell 2 to the second terminal, and finally transmitted from the second terminal to the first terminal. Or, in a predefined switching scenario, the first terminal / base station (gNB) notifies the network side device (core network) of the corresponding association relationship and the relationship of the belonging cells, and the core network transmits a data packet to the corresponding cell according to the association relationship between the first terminal and the second terminal and the relationship of the belonging cells.

[0110] Further, for example, in upstream traffic, the gNB may also forward the corresponding information as described in (1b), and a detailed description will be omitted here.

[0111] (2) A network association method adopted when realizing the association relationship between the first terminal and the second terminal, wherein the network association method is any one of Wifi, Bluetooth, Sidelink, and UUlink.

[0112] (3) Identifier information that is an identifier of a network and / or an identifier of a network device corresponding to the network association method.

[0113] (4) A first measurement corresponding to the target path, where the first measurement may include, but is not limited to, RSRP, interference situation, SINR, CQI, etc.

[0114] In response to this, the network side device can determine surveying layout information based on the received second information and transmit the surveying layout information to the first terminal, whereby the first terminal performs a survey based on the surveying layout information to obtain surveying results, and further reports the surveying results to the network side device, where the surveying layout information may include network identifier information and / or a second survey amount, and the second survey amount and the first survey amount may be the same or different.

[0115] Optionally, the step of the first terminal reporting the survey result includes: (4a) reporting said survey results by UCI on layer 1; (4b) broadcasting said measurement results by a MAC CE on layer 2; (4c) reporting said measurement results by RRC on layer 3; The method may include at least one step (4d) of reporting the survey results by a NAS message.

[0116] In this embodiment, it can be understood that the path switching instruction transmitted by the network side device may be determined by the network side device based on the survey result.

[0117] Furthermore, in a path switching method according to an embodiment of the present application, the network side device can configure and / or activate a target path after sending a path switching instruction, receiving a path switching request or a signal detection result, and the target path is a path corresponding to the path switching instruction, the path switching request or the signal detection result.

[0118] Optionally, when the network side device configures and / or activates a target path, it may include at least one of the following (1)-(4):

[0119] (1) Associating the first terminal with a second terminal, and transmitting related information between network nodes corresponding to the first terminal and the second terminal.

[0120] For example, the first terminal can transmit RNTI information of itself and the second terminal directly to the network side device, and the network side device associates the first terminal and the second terminal based on the RNTI information, and in this embodiment, the "association" may be understood as banding, etc.

[0121] It should be noted that if the first terminal and the second terminal are associated by a core network, the core network needs to transmit banding information to the corresponding base station.

[0122] (2) An identifier is assigned to a target bearer, which is a bearer corresponding to the target path.

[0123] For example, the network side equipment may assign a specific identifier to a bearer arranged to be transferred from a first terminal to a second terminal or a bearer arranged to be transferred from the second terminal to the first terminal, and in this way the second terminal may cause a transfer to the first terminal based on the received traffic bearer information, or the first terminal may cause a transfer to the second terminal based on the received traffic bearer information.

[0124] (3) After the association, third information including the same bearer information and / or RNTI (eg, SC-PTM RNTI) is configured in the first terminal and the second terminal.

[0125] In this case, after the network side device configures and / or activates the target path, it can further send second instruction information to the first terminal to instruct the first terminal on the receiving method and / or transmitting method of the transmission data.

[0126] For example, the network side device may transmit the second instruction information via signaling such as RRC, MAC CE, etc., to instruct / notify the first terminal and / or the second terminal how to receive or transmit corresponding data (e.g., uplink transmission, downlink transmission, sidelink transmission, etc.), for example, the second instruction information may be transmitted directly to the network side device, or received directly from the network side device, or forwarded from another terminal, or received from another terminal, or received simultaneously from two links, etc.

[0127] In the path switching method described above, the switching procedure for switching between at least two paths and the information notification procedure related to the switching procedure are permitted by the user and / or the network, and will not be described in detail in this embodiment.

[0128] 4 shows a schematic flowchart of a path switching method 400 provided in an exemplary embodiment of the present application, where the method 400 may be performed by a network side device, for example, by hardware and / or software implemented in the network side device, and the network side device may be a core network or a base station, etc. In this embodiment, the method 400 includes any one of the following:

[0129] In S410, if a third condition is met, the target path is placed and / or activated.

[0130] Here, the third condition includes any one of the following items (1) to (3). (1) A path switching instruction was sent to the first terminal to instruct the first terminal to switch between at least two paths. (2) A path switching request transmitted from the first terminal is received, the path switching request being for requesting the network side device to switch between the at least two paths. (3) A signal detection result for indicating a transmission parameter corresponding to a target path, which is broadcast from the first terminal, is received.

[0131] Here, the target path described in the above S410 may be one of the at least two paths, and the target path is a path corresponding to the path switching instruction, the path switching request, or the signal detection result.

[0132] In one possible implementation form, the path is any one of a first path for the first terminal to transmit data to the second terminal, a second path for the first terminal to transmit data to the second terminal via the network side device, a third path for the second terminal to substitute for the upstream transmission corresponding to the first terminal, a fourth path including the first path and the second path, in which the connection corresponding to the first path or the connection corresponding to the second path is in a suspended state when the first path and the second path are held simultaneously, a fifth path for the first terminal to transmit data to the network side device, a sixth path for the first terminal to transmit data to the network side device via the second terminal, a seventh path for the first terminal to transfer data of the second terminal to the network side device, an eighth path for the first terminal to substitute for the upstream transmission of the second terminal, and a ninth path obtained by swapping the order of the first terminal and the second terminal in a designated path which is one of the first path to the eighth path.

[0133] In another possible implementation form, the path switching request includes at least one item of an identifier of a second terminal, an identifier of a target bearer corresponding to the target path, an identifier of a target network corresponding to the target path, a target link for which path switching is to be caused, a cause for causing path switching, a transmission method of the path switching request, and first instruction information for indicating whether the network side device is authorized to report the path switching request.

[0134] In yet another possible implementation form, the step of configuring and / or activating a target path includes at least one of the following steps: associating the first terminal and the second terminal and communicating related information between network nodes corresponding to the first terminal and the second terminal; assigning an identifier to a target bearer, which is a bearer corresponding to the target path; and configuring the same bearer information and / or third information including a Radio Network Temporary Identifier RNTI in the first terminal and the second terminal after association.

[0135] In yet another possible implementation form, after the step of configuring and / or activating the target path, the method further includes a step of transmitting second instruction information to the first terminal for instructing the first terminal on the method of receiving and / or transmitting transmission data.

[0136] In yet another possible implementation form, prior to the step of receiving a path switching request or a signal detection result transmitted from the first terminal, the method further includes a step of receiving an identifier of a second terminal and / or an identifier of a target network transmitted from the first terminal.

[0137] In yet another possible implementation form, before the step of sending a path switching instruction to the first terminal, the method further includes a step of receiving second information sent from the first terminal, the second information including at least one of an association relationship between the first terminal and the second terminal, a network association method adopted when realizing the association relationship between the first terminal and the second terminal, identifier information which is an identifier of a network and / or an identifier of a network equipment corresponding to the network association method, and a first measurement corresponding to the target path.

[0138] In yet another possible implementation, the network association method includes any one of Wifi, Bluetooth, Sidelink, and UUlink.

[0139] In yet another possible implementation form, before the step of sending a path switching instruction to the first terminal, the method further includes a step of receiving first information including a second condition for proxying a first uplink channel corresponding to the first terminal to a second terminal.

[0140] In yet another possible implementation form, the second condition includes at least one of the following: the number of transmission bits is greater than a first predetermined value, the power margin report PHR is smaller than a second predetermined value, transmitting information corresponding to a specific bearer, transmitting information corresponding to a specific logical channel, and including uplink control information UCI.

[0141] In yet another possible implementation form, before the step of sending a path switching instruction to the first terminal, the method further includes a step of sending survey configuration information including network identifier information and / or second surveying information to the first terminal, and a step of receiving survey results obtained by the first terminal conducting a survey based on the survey configuration information, and the path switching instruction is determined by the network side equipment based on the survey results.

[0142] It should be noted that for the implementation procedures of each implementation form given in this embodiment, reference may be made to the relevant descriptions in the method 200 and the method 300, and detailed descriptions thereof will be omitted here to avoid repetition.

[0143] In an embodiment, when a network side device sends a path switching instruction, or receives a path switching request, or receives a signal detection result, the network side device configures and / or activates a target path, thereby solving the problem of communication quality being degraded due to an unstable connection between terminals or between a terminal and a network side device.

[0144] In addition, in the path switching method provided in the embodiment of the present application, the execution subject may be a path switching device, or may be a control module for executing the path switching method in the path switching device. In the embodiment of the present application, the path switching device provided in the embodiment of the present application will be described by taking the path switching device executing the path switching method as an example.

[0145] FIG. 5a shows a block diagram of a path switching device 500 provided in an exemplary embodiment of the present application, the device 50 including a switching module 510 used for switching between at least two paths when a first condition is met, the first condition including at least one of the following: receiving a path switching instruction sent from a network side device to instruct a first terminal to switch between the at least two paths; the first terminal sending a path switching request to the network side device to request the network side device to switch between the at least two paths; detecting a specified signal, which is a signal corresponding to a target path, which is one of the at least two paths; reporting a signal detection result corresponding to the specified signal; and the signal detection result satisfying a predefined condition.

[0146] In one possible implementation form, the path is any one of a first path for the first terminal to transmit data to the second terminal, a second path for the first terminal to transmit data to the second terminal via the network side device, a third path for the second terminal to proxy the upstream transmission corresponding to the first terminal, a fourth path including the first path and the second path, and in which the connection corresponding to the first path or the connection corresponding to the second path is in a suspended state when the first path and the second path are held simultaneously, a fifth path for the first terminal to transmit data to the network side device, a sixth path for the first terminal to transmit data to the network side device via the second terminal, a seventh path for the first terminal to transfer data of the second terminal to the network side device, an eighth path for the first terminal to proxy the upstream transmission of the second terminal, and a ninth path obtained by swapping the order of the first terminal and the second terminal in a designated path, which is one of the first path to the eighth path.

[0147] In yet another possible implementation form, the path switching request includes at least one item of an identifier of a second terminal, an identifier of a target bearer corresponding to the target path, an identifier of a target network corresponding to the target path, a target link for which path switching is to be caused, the target path, a cause for causing path switching, a transmission method of the path switching request, and first instruction information for indicating whether the network side device is authorized to report the path switching request.

[0148] In yet another possible implementation, the causes for the path switching include at least one of a maximum allowable laser radiation exposure, a terminal power limitation, a network coverage limitation, and a network throughput limitation.

[0149] In yet another possible implementation form, when a first condition is met, a switching procedure in which the switching module switches between at least two paths and an information notification procedure related to the switching procedure are authorized to a user and / or authorized to a network.

[0150] In yet another possible implementation, referring to FIG. 5b, the apparatus 500 further comprises a first sending module 520 used for sending an identifier of the second terminal and / or a target network identifier to the network side equipment.

[0151] In yet another possible implementation form, the switching module 510 is used to perform a step of determining a target path and a step of switching to the target path depending on whether the first terminal and the second terminal are in different cells.

[0152] In yet another possible implementation form, the switching module 510 is used to have the second terminal substitute the first uplink channel corresponding to the first terminal when the first uplink channel corresponding to the first terminal satisfies a second condition.

[0153] In yet another possible implementation form, referring again to FIG. 5b, the device 500 further includes a second transmitting module 530 used for transmitting first information to the network side equipment, the first information including a second condition at the time of proxying for allowing the second terminal to proxy the first uplink channel corresponding to the first terminal.

[0154] In yet another possible implementation form, the second condition includes at least one of the following: the number of transmission bits is greater than a first predetermined value, the power margin report PHR is smaller than a second predetermined value, transmitting information corresponding to a specific bearer, transmitting information corresponding to a specific logical channel, and including uplink control information UCI.

[0155] In yet another possible implementation form, when a first uplink channel corresponding to the first terminal is represented by the second terminal, the value of a designated parameter corresponding to the first uplink channel is increased by a third predetermined value compared to transmission by the first terminal, and the designated parameter is the minimum value of K1 and K2.

[0156] In yet another possible implementation form, when switching to the second path, the switching module 510 is further used for at least one of the steps of monitoring downlink scheduling traffic and determining whether the downlink scheduling traffic needs to be received and / or forwarded based on the specification information corresponding to the downlink scheduling traffic, and monitoring uplink traffic and determining whether the uplink traffic needs to be transmitted and / or forwarded based on the scheduling rule.

[0157] In yet another possible implementation form, the specific information includes at least one of a radio network temporary identifier RNTI, a dedicated DCI domain indication, and a specific bit combination in downlink control information DCI.

[0158] In yet another possible implementation form, when switching to the second path, the device further includes a first receiving module 540 used to receive second instruction information sent from the network side equipment for instructing the receiving method and / or the transmitting method of the transmission data.

[0159] In yet another possible implementation form, when the target path is the second path or the fifth path, the switching module 510 is further used to monitor a DCI message sent by the network side equipment to the second terminal when the first terminal and the second terminal are located in a scheduled group, or when the network side equipment sends a DCI message according to the SC-PTM method.

[0160] In yet another possible implementation form, referring again to FIG. 5b, the device 500 further includes a third transmitting module 550 used for transmitting second information to the network side equipment, the second information including at least one of the association relationship between the first terminal and the second terminal, a network association method adopted when realizing the association relationship between the first terminal and the second terminal, identifier information which is an identifier of a network and / or an identifier of a network equipment corresponding to the network association method, and a first measurement corresponding to the target path.

[0161] In yet another possible implementation, the network association method includes any one of Wifi, Bluetooth, Sidelink, and UUlink.

[0162] In yet another possible implementation form, referring again to FIG. 5b, the device 500 further comprises a second receiving module 560 used to perform the steps of receiving survey configuration information including network identifier information and / or second surveying measurements sent from a network side equipment, and reporting survey results obtained by surveying based on the survey configuration information, and the path switching instruction is determined by the network side equipment based on the surveying results.

[0163] In yet another possible implementation form, the second receiving module 560 is used for at least one of the steps of reporting the survey results by UCI on layer 1, reporting the survey results by a media access control layer control element MAC CE on layer 2, reporting the survey results by a radio resource control RRC on layer 3, and reporting the survey results by a NAS message.

[0164] The path switching device 500 in the embodiment of the present application may be a device, or a component, integrated circuit, or chip in a terminal. The device may be a portable terminal or a non-portable terminal. By way of example, the portable terminal may include, but is not limited to, the types of terminals 11 listed above, and the non-portable terminal may be a server, a network attached storage (NAS), a personal computer (PC), a television (TV), an automated teller machine or a kiosk, etc., and is not specifically limited in the embodiment of the present application.

[0165] The path switching device 500 in the embodiment of the present application may be a device having an operating system. The operating system may be an Android operating system, an ios operating system, or other possible operating systems, and is not specifically limited in the embodiment of the present application.

[0166] The path switching device 500 provided in the embodiment of the present application can realize each process implemented in the method embodiment of Figures 2 to 3, and achieve similar technical effects, so detailed description will be omitted here to avoid repetition.

[0167] FIG. 6a shows a path switching device 600 provided in an exemplary embodiment of the present application, the device 60 including a configuration module 610 used for configuring and / or activating a target path when a third condition is met, the third condition including any one of sending a path switching instruction to a first terminal for instructing the first terminal to switch between at least two paths, receiving a path switching request sent from the first terminal for requesting a network side device for the first terminal to switch between the at least two paths, and receiving a signal detection result notified from the first terminal for indicating a transmission parameter corresponding to a target path, the target path being one of the at least two paths, and the target path being a path corresponding to the path switching instruction, the path switching request, or the signal detection result.

[0168] In one possible implementation form, the path is any one of a first path for the first terminal to transmit data to the second terminal, a second path for the first terminal to transmit data to the second terminal via the network side device, a third path for the second terminal to substitute for the upstream transmission corresponding to the first terminal, a fourth path including the first path and the second path, in which the connection corresponding to the first path or the connection corresponding to the second path is in a suspended state when the first path and the second path are held simultaneously, a fifth path for the first terminal to transmit data to the network side device, a sixth path for the first terminal to transmit data to the network side device via the second terminal, a seventh path for the first terminal to transfer data of the second terminal to the network side device, an eighth path for the first terminal to substitute for the upstream transmission of the second terminal, and a ninth path obtained by swapping the order of the first terminal and the second terminal in a designated path which is one of the first path to the eighth path.

[0169] In another possible implementation form, the path switching request includes at least one item of an identifier of a second terminal, an identifier of a target bearer corresponding to the target path, an identifier of a target network corresponding to the target path, a target link for which path switching is to be caused, a cause for causing path switching, a transmission method of the path switching request, and first instruction information for indicating whether the network side device is authorized to report the path switching request.

[0170] In yet another possible implementation form, the configuration module 610 is used for at least one of the steps of associating the first terminal and the second terminal and transmitting related information between network nodes corresponding to the first terminal and the second terminal, assigning an identifier to a target bearer, which is a bearer corresponding to the target path, and configuring the same bearer information and / or third information including a radio network temporary identifier RNTI to the first terminal and the second terminal after association.

[0171] In yet another possible implementation form, referring to FIG. 6b, the device 600 further includes a fourth transmitting module 620 for transmitting second instruction information to the first terminal for instructing the first terminal on the receiving and / or transmitting manner of the transmission data.

[0172] In yet another possible implementation form, referring again to FIG. 6b, the device 600 further comprises a third receiving module 630 used to receive an identifier of the second terminal and / or an identifier of the target network transmitted from the first terminal.

[0173] In yet another possible implementation form, the third receiving module 630 is further used to receive second information transmitted from the first terminal, the second information including at least one of an association relationship between the first terminal and the second terminal, a network association method adopted when realizing the association relationship between the first terminal and the second terminal, identifier information which is an identifier of a network and / or an identifier of a network equipment corresponding to the network association method, and a first survey corresponding to the target path.

[0174] In yet another possible implementation, the network association method includes any one of Wifi, Bluetooth, Sidelink, and UUlink.

[0175] In yet another possible implementation form, the third receiving module 630 is further used to receive first information including a second condition for proxying the first uplink channel corresponding to the first terminal to a second terminal.

[0176] In yet another possible implementation form, the second condition includes at least one of the following: the number of transmission bits is greater than a first predetermined value, the power margin report PHR is smaller than a second predetermined value, transmitting information corresponding to a specific bearer, transmitting information corresponding to a specific logical channel, and including uplink control information UCI.

[0177] In yet another possible implementation form, referring again to FIG. 6b, the device 600 further includes a fifth transmitting module 640 used for transmitting survey configuration information including network identifier information and / or second surveying information to a first terminal, and a fourth receiving module 650 used for receiving survey results obtained by the first terminal conducting surveying based on the survey configuration information, and the path switching instruction is determined by the network side equipment based on the surveying results.

[0178] The path switching device 600 in the embodiment of the present application may be a device, or may be an element, an integrated circuit or a chip in a network side device.

[0179] The path switching device 600 in the embodiment of the present application may be a device having an operating system. The operating system may be an Android operating system, an ios operating system, or other possible operating systems, and is not specifically limited in the embodiment of the present application.

[0180] The path switching device 600 provided in the embodiment of the present application can implement each step implemented in the embodiment of the method 400, and achieve the same technical effects, and thus detailed descriptions thereof will be omitted here to avoid repetition.

[0181] 7 shows a schematic diagram of a hardware configuration for implementing a terminal according to an embodiment of the present application. The terminal 700 includes, but is not limited to, elements such as a radio frequency unit 701, a network module 702, an audio output unit 703, an input unit 704, a sensor 705, a display unit 706, a user input unit 707, an interface unit 708, a memory 709, and a processor 710.

[0182] Those skilled in the art can understand that the terminal 700 may further include a power source (e.g., a battery) for powering each component, and the power source may be logically connected to the processor 710 through a power management system, thus realizing functions such as charge / discharge management and power consumption management through the power management system. The structure of the terminal shown in FIG. 7 is not intended to limit the terminal, and the terminal may include more or fewer components than those shown, or a combination of some components, or a different component arrangement, and detailed descriptions thereof will be omitted here.

[0183] It should be understood that in the embodiment of the present application, the input unit 704 may include a graphics processing unit (GPU) 7041 for processing image data of static or video captured by an image capture device (e.g., a camera) in a video capture mode or an image capture mode, and a microphone 7042. The display unit 706 may include a display panel 7061, which may be arranged in the form of a liquid crystal display, an organic light emitting diode, etc. The user input unit 707 includes a touch panel 7071 and other input devices 7072. The touch panel 7071 is also called a touch screen. The touch panel 7071 may include two parts: a touch detection device and a touch controller. The other input devices 7072 may include, but are not limited to, a physical keyboard, a function button (e.g., a volume control button, a switch button, etc.), a trackball, a mouse, and a control lever, and detailed description thereof will be omitted here.

[0184] In the embodiment of the present application, the high frequency unit 701 receives downlink data from the network side device, processes the data in the processor 710, and transmits uplink data to the network side device. Typically, the high frequency unit 701 includes, but is not limited to, an antenna, at least one amplifier, a receiver-transmitter, a coupler, a low-noise amplifier, a duplexer, etc.

[0185] The memory 709 can be used to store software programs or commands and various data. The memory 709 may mainly include an area for storing programs or commands and a data storage area, which can store an operating system, applications or commands required for at least one function (e.g., audio playback function, image playback function, etc.). The memory 709 may also include a high-speed random access memory or a non-volatile memory, among which the non-volatile memory may be a read-only memory (ROM), a programmable read-only memory (PROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), or a flash memory. For example, at least one magnetic disk storage device, a flash memory device, or other non-volatile solid-state storage device may be included.

[0186] The processor 710 may include one or more processing units, and may selectively integrate an application processor that mainly processes an operating system, a user interface, and applications or commands, etc., and a modem processor that mainly processes wireless communications, such as a baseband processor, in the processor 710. It is understood that the modem processor may not be integrated into the processor 710.

[0187] Here, the processor 710 is used to switch between at least two paths when a first condition is satisfied, and the first condition includes at least one of the following: receiving a path switching instruction sent from a network side device to instruct the first terminal to switch between at least two paths; the first terminal sending a path switching request to the network side device to request the network side device to switch between at least two paths; detecting a specified signal, which is a signal corresponding to a target path, which is one of the at least two paths; reporting a signal detection result corresponding to the specified signal; and the signal detection result satisfying a predefined condition.

[0188] In an embodiment of the present application, when a terminal receives a path switching instruction sent from a network side device, or when a terminal sends a path switching request to the network side device, or when a signal detection result is reported, the terminal switches between at least two paths, thereby realizing effective switching between paths and solving the problem of communication quality being affected due to unstable connections between terminals or between a terminal and a network side device.

[0189] 8 shows a network side device 800 provided in an embodiment of the present application. The network side device 800 includes an antenna 801, a radio frequency device 802, and a baseband device 803. The antenna 801 is connected to the radio frequency device 802. In the uplink direction, the radio frequency device 802 receives information through the antenna 801, and transmits the received information to the baseband device 803 for processing. In the downlink direction, the baseband device 803 processes the information to be transmitted and transmits it to the radio frequency device 802, and the radio frequency device 802 processes the received information before transmitting it via the antenna 801.

[0190] The above-mentioned frequency band processing device may be in a baseband device 803 , and the method performed by the network side device in the above-mentioned embodiment can be realized in the baseband device 803 , which includes a processor 804 and a memory 805 .

[0191] The baseband device 803 may, for example, include at least one baseband board having multiple chips installed thereon, and as shown in FIG. 8, one of the chips may, for example, be a processor 804 connected to a memory 805 to call a program in the memory 805 to perform the operations of the network device as shown in the above method embodiments.

[0192] The baseband device 803 may further include a network interface 806 for communicating with the radio frequency device 802, the interface being, for example, a common public radio interface (abbreviated as CPRI).

[0193] Specifically, the network side device of the embodiment of the present invention further includes a command or program stored in memory 805 and operable by processor 804, and processor 804 can call the command or program in memory 805 to execute the method performed by each module shown in Figures 6a and 6b, and achieve similar technical effects, and detailed description thereof will be omitted here to avoid repetition.

[0194] An embodiment of the present application further provides a readable storage medium storing a program or instructions, which, when executed by a processor, can realize each step of the above-mentioned path switching method embodiment and achieve similar technical effects, and detailed description thereof will be omitted here to avoid repetition.

[0195] Here, the processor is the processor in the terminal described in the above embodiment. The readable storage medium includes a computer readable storage medium such as a computer read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a magnetic disk, or an optical disk.

[0196] The embodiments of the present application include a processor and a communication interface, and the communication interface is coupled to the processor, and the processor executes a program or instruction of a network side device to realize each step of the above-mentioned path switching method embodiments. The embodiments of the present application further provide a chip that can achieve similar technical effects, and detailed description thereof will be omitted here to avoid repetition.

[0197] It should be understood that the chip described in the embodiments of the present application may be referred to as a system chip, a chip system, a system on a chip, or the like.

[0198] An embodiment of the present application further provides a computer program product comprising a processor, a memory, and a program or instruction stored in the memory and executable by the processor, which, when the program or instruction is executed by the processor, can realize each step of the above-mentioned path switching method embodiment and achieve similar technical effects, and detailed description thereof will be omitted here to avoid repetition.

[0199] It should be noted that in this specification, the terms "comprise", "consist of" or any other variants are intended to include a non-exclusive inclusion, whereby a process, method, article or apparatus that includes a set of elements includes not only those elements, but also other elements not expressly stated or inherent to such process, method, article or apparatus. Unless otherwise specified, an element limited by the phrase "comprises a" does not exclude the presence of other identical elements in the process, method, article or apparatus that includes the element. It should also be noted that the scope of the method and apparatus in the embodiments of this application is not limited to performing functions in the order shown or discussed, but may include performing functions substantially simultaneously or in the reverse order depending on such functions, for example, the described method may be performed in a different order than described, and various steps may be added, omitted or combined. Also, features described with reference to any example may be combined in other examples.

[0200] From the above description of the embodiments, those skilled in the art can clearly understand that the methods of the above embodiments can be realized in the form of a combination of software and a necessary common hardware platform, and of course, they can be realized by hardware, but in many cases the former is a more preferred embodiment. Based on this view, the technical solutions of the present application can be substantially or in part contributed to the prior art can be embodied in the form of a software product, which is stored in a storage medium (e.g., ROM / RAM, magnetic disk, optical disk) and includes a number of instructions for causing a terminal (which may be a mobile phone, a computer, a server, an air conditioner, or a network device, etc.) to execute the methods described in the embodiments of the present application.

[0201] Although the examples of the present application have been described above with reference to the drawings, the present application is not limited to the above-mentioned specific embodiments, which are merely illustrative and not limiting. Based on the suggestions of the present application, many forms that a person skilled in the art can make without departing from the spirit of the present application and the scope of protection of the claims are all within the scope of protection of the present application.

Claims

1. A path switching method performed by a first terminal, comprising: switching between at least two paths when a first condition is satisfied; The first condition is: receiving a path switching instruction transmitted from a network side device to instruct the first terminal to switch between the at least two paths; the first terminal transmits to the network side device a path switching request for requesting the network side device to switch between the at least two paths; detecting a prescribed signal corresponding to a target path, the target path being one of the at least two paths; notifying a signal detection result corresponding to the specified signal; the signal detection result satisfies a predefined condition.

2. The path is: a first path for transmitting data from the first terminal to a second terminal; a second path for the first terminal to transmit data to the second terminal via the network side device; a third path for proxying an upstream transmission corresponding to the first terminal to the second terminal; a fourth path including the first path and the second path, in which, when the first path and the second path are held simultaneously, a connection corresponding to the first path or a connection corresponding to the second path is in a suspended state; a fifth path for the first terminal to transmit data to the network side device; a sixth path for transmitting data from the first terminal to the network side device via the second terminal; a seventh path for the first terminal to transfer data of the second terminal to the network side device; an eighth path for the first terminal to substitute for the second terminal in upstream transmission; The method according to claim 1 , wherein the path is at least one of a ninth path obtained by swapping the order of the first terminal and the second terminal in a designated path that is one of the first path to the eighth path.

3. The path switching request includes: An identifier of the second terminal; an identifier of a target bearer corresponding to the target path; an identifier of a destination network corresponding to the destination path; The target link where the path switching is to occur, The target path, Reasons for path switching: A method of transmitting the path switching request; The method of claim 1 , further comprising at least one of first indication information for indicating whether the network side device is permitted to broadcast the path switching request.

4. The causes of the above path switching are: Maximum permissible exposure to laser radiation, Terminal power limit, Network coverage limits, The method of claim 3 , including at least one network throughput limitation.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the switching procedure for switching between the at least two paths and the information reporting procedure related to the switching procedure are user-authorized and / or network-authorized.

6. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the step of transmitting an identifier of the second terminal and / or a target network identifier to the network side equipment.

7. The step of switching between at least two paths includes: determining a target path depending on whether the first terminal and the second terminal are in different cells; and switching to the target path.

8. When the target path is the third path, the step of switching between at least two paths includes:

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising the step of: causing a first uplink channel corresponding to the first terminal to be represented by the second terminal when the first uplink channel corresponding to the first terminal satisfies a second condition.

9. before the step of having the second terminal represent a first uplink channel corresponding to the first terminal; 9. The method according to claim 8, further comprising the step of transmitting, to the network side device, first information including the second condition at the time of proxying for allowing the second terminal to proxy the first uplink channel corresponding to the first terminal.

10. The second condition is: the number of transmitted bits is greater than a first predetermined value; The power headroom report PHR is smaller than a second predetermined value; transmitting information corresponding to a specific bearer; transmitting information corresponding to a particular logical channel; The method according to claim 8 or 9, comprising at least one of the following: including upstream control information UCI.

11. 9. The method of claim 8, wherein when a first uplink channel corresponding to the first terminal is represented by the second terminal, a value of a designated parameter corresponding to the first uplink channel is increased by a third predetermined value compared to transmission by the first terminal, and the designated parameter is the minimum value of K1 and K2.

12. When switching to the second path, monitoring downstream scheduling traffic, and determining whether the downstream scheduling traffic needs to be received and / or forwarded according to designation information corresponding to the downstream scheduling traffic; and b) monitoring upstream traffic and determining whether said upstream traffic needs to be transmitted and / or forwarded according to a scheduling rule.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the designated information includes at least one of a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI), a dedicated DCI domain indication, and a specific bit combination in downlink control information (DCI).

14. When switching to the second path, The method according to claim 2 , further comprising the step of receiving second instruction information transmitted from the network side device for instructing a receiving method and / or a transmitting method of transmission data.

15. When switching to the second path or the fifth path, The method of claim 7, further comprising: monitoring a DCI message transmitted by the network side equipment to the second terminal when the first terminal and the second terminal are located in a scheduled group, or when the network side equipment transmits a DCI message in a single-cell one-to-multiple SC-PTM manner.

16. The method further includes a step of transmitting second information to the network side device; The second information is an association relationship between the first terminal and the second terminal; a network association scheme adopted when implementing the association relationship between the first terminal and the second terminal; Identifier information that is an identifier of a network and / or an identifier of a network device corresponding to the network association method; The method of claim 1 , including at least one first survey corresponding to the target path.

17. receiving survey configuration information including network identifier information and / or second survey information transmitted from a network side device; The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the step of: notifying a survey result obtained by surveying based on the survey arrangement information, wherein the path switching instruction is determined by the network side device based on the survey result.

18. The step of reporting the survey result includes: reporting said survey results by UCI on layer 1; reporting said measurement results by a media access control layer control element (MAC CE) on layer 2; reporting said measurement results by a radio resource control (RRC) on layer 3; and b. announcing said survey results by a non-access stratum NAS message.

19. A path switching method executed by a network side device, comprising: placing and / or activating the target path if a third condition is satisfied; The third condition is: sending a path switching instruction to a first terminal to instruct the first terminal to switch between at least two paths; receiving a path switching request transmitted from the first terminal for requesting the network side device to switch between the at least two paths; receiving a signal detection result for indicating a transmission parameter corresponding to a target path, the signal detection result being notified from the first terminal; The path switching method, wherein the target path is one of the at least two paths, and the target path is a path corresponding to the path switching instruction, the path switching request, or the signal detection result.

20. The path is: a first path for transmitting data from the first terminal to a second terminal; a second path for the first terminal to transmit data to the second terminal via the network side device; a third path for proxying an upstream transmission corresponding to the first terminal to the second terminal; a fourth path including the first path and the second path, in which, when the first path and the second path are held simultaneously, a connection corresponding to the first path or a connection corresponding to the second path is in a suspended state; a fifth path for the first terminal to transmit data to the network side device; a sixth path for transmitting data from the first terminal to the network side device via the second terminal; a seventh path for the first terminal to transmit data of the second terminal to the network side device; an eighth path for the first terminal to substitute for the second terminal in upstream transmission; 20. The method according to claim 19, wherein the path is any one of the first path to the eighth path, and a ninth path obtained by swapping the order of the first terminal and the second terminal in a designated path that is one of the first path to the eighth path.

21. The path switching request includes: An identifier of the second terminal; an identifier of a target bearer corresponding to the target path; an identifier of a destination network corresponding to the destination path; The target link where the path switching is to occur, Reasons for path switching: A method of transmitting the path switching request; The method according to claim 19, comprising at least one of first indication information for indicating whether the network side device is permitted to broadcast the path switching request.

22. The step of placing and / or activating a target path comprises: associating the first terminal with a second terminal and transmitting associated information between network nodes corresponding to the first terminal and the second terminal; attaching an identifier to a target bearer, the target bearer being a bearer corresponding to the target path; and b. configuring the same bearer information and / or third information including a radio network temporary identifier RNTI in the first terminal and the second terminal after association.

23. After the step of placing and / or activating the target path, The method according to claim 19, further comprising the step of transmitting second instruction information to the first terminal for instructing the first terminal on a method of receiving and / or transmitting transmission data.

24. Before receiving a path switching request or a signal detection result transmitted from the first terminal, 20. The method of claim 19, further comprising the step of receiving an identifier of a second terminal and / or an identifier of a target network transmitted from the first terminal.

25. Before the step of transmitting a path switching instruction to the first terminal, The method further includes receiving second information transmitted from the first terminal; The second information is an association relationship between the first terminal and the second terminal; a network association method adopted when implementing the association relationship between the first terminal and the second terminal; Identifier information that is an identifier of a network and / or an identifier of a network device corresponding to the network association method; The method of claim 19 including at least one first survey corresponding to the target path.

26. Before the step of transmitting a path switching instruction to the first terminal, 20. The method of claim 19, further comprising the step of receiving first information including a second condition for proxying a first uplink channel corresponding to the first terminal to a second terminal.

27. The second condition is: the number of transmitted bits is greater than a first predetermined value; The power headroom report PHR is smaller than a second predetermined value; transmitting information corresponding to a specific bearer; transmitting information corresponding to a particular logical channel; 27. The method of claim 26, comprising at least one of including upstream control information UCI.

28. Before the step of transmitting a path switching instruction to the first terminal, sending survey configuration information including network identifier information and / or second survey measurements to the first terminal; The method according to claim 19, further comprising a step of receiving a survey result obtained by the first terminal surveying based on the survey configuration information, and the path switching instruction is determined by the network side equipment based on the survey result.

29. a switching module adapted to switch between at least two paths when a first condition is satisfied; The first condition is: receiving a path switching instruction transmitted from a network side device to instruct the first terminal to switch between the at least two paths; the first terminal transmits to the network side device a path switching request for requesting the network side device to switch between the at least two paths; detecting a prescribed signal corresponding to a target path, the target path being one of the at least two paths; notifying a signal detection result corresponding to the specified signal; The signal detection result satisfies a predefined condition.

30. The path is: a first path for transmitting data from the first terminal to a second terminal; a second path for the first terminal to transmit data to the second terminal via the network side device; a third path for proxying an upstream transmission corresponding to the first terminal to the second terminal; a fourth path including the first path and the second path, in which, when the first path and the second path are held simultaneously, a connection corresponding to the first path or a connection corresponding to the second path is in a suspended state; a fifth path for the first terminal to transmit data to the network side device; a sixth path for transmitting data from the first terminal to the network side device via the second terminal; a seventh path for the first terminal to transmit data of the second terminal to the network side device; an eighth path for the first terminal to substitute for the second terminal in upstream transmission; The device according to claim 29, which is any one of a ninth path obtained by swapping the order of the first terminal and the second terminal in a designated path that is one of the first path to the eighth path.

31. The path switching request includes: An identifier of the second terminal; an identifier of a target bearer corresponding to the target path; an identifier of a destination network corresponding to the destination path; The target link where the path switching is to occur, The target path, Reasons for path switching: A method of transmitting the path switching request; 30. The apparatus according to claim 29, comprising at least one of first indication information for indicating whether the network side device is authorized to broadcast the path switching request.

32. The apparatus according to claim 29, further comprising: a first sending module used for sending an identifier of a second terminal and / or a target network identifier to the network side equipment.

33. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the switching module is used to perform the steps of determining a target path and switching to the target path depending on whether the first terminal and the second terminal are in different cells.

34. 34. The device of claim 33, wherein the switching module is used to cause the second terminal to proxy a first uplink channel corresponding to the first terminal when the first uplink channel corresponding to the first terminal satisfies a second condition.

35. The device according to claim 34, further comprising: a second transmitting module used for transmitting first information to the network side equipment, the first information including a second condition for proxying the first uplink channel corresponding to the first terminal to the second terminal.

36. The device described in claim 29, further comprising a second receiving module used to perform the steps of receiving survey arrangement information including network identifier information and / or second surveying measurements transmitted from a network side equipment, and reporting survey results obtained by surveying based on the survey arrangement information, wherein the path switching instruction is determined by the network side equipment based on the surveying results.

37. a placement module adapted to place and / or activate a target path when a third condition is satisfied; The third condition is: sending a path switching instruction to a first terminal to instruct the first terminal to switch between at least two paths; receiving a path switching request transmitted from the first terminal for requesting a network side device to switch between the at least two paths; receiving a signal detection result for indicating a transmission parameter corresponding to a target path, the signal detection result being notified from the first terminal; A path switching device, wherein the target path is one of the at least two paths, and the target path is a path corresponding to the path switching instruction, the path switching request, or the signal detection result.

38. The path is: a first path for transmitting data from the first terminal to a second terminal; a second path for the first terminal to transmit data to the second terminal via the network side device; a third path for proxying an upstream transmission corresponding to the first terminal to the second terminal; a fourth path including the first path and the second path, in which, when the first path and the second path are held simultaneously, a connection corresponding to the first path or a connection corresponding to the second path is in a suspended state; a fifth path for the first terminal to transmit data to the network side device; a sixth path for transmitting data from the first terminal to the network side device via the second terminal; a seventh path for the first terminal to transmit data of the second terminal to the network side device; an eighth path for the first terminal to substitute for the second terminal in upstream transmission; 38. The apparatus according to claim 37, wherein the path is any one of the first path to the eighth path, and a ninth path obtained by swapping the order of the first terminal and the second terminal in a designated path, which is one of the first path to the eighth path.

39. The path switching request includes: An identifier of the second terminal; an identifier of a target bearer corresponding to the target path; an identifier of a destination network corresponding to the destination path; The target link where the path switching is to occur, Reasons for path switching: A method of transmitting the path switching request; The apparatus according to claim 37, comprising at least one of first indication information for indicating whether the network side device is authorized to broadcast the path switching request.

40. The placement module includes: associating the first terminal with a second terminal and transmitting associated information between network nodes corresponding to the first terminal and the second terminal; attaching an identifier to a target bearer, the target bearer being a bearer corresponding to the target path; and placing third information including the same bearer information and / or radio network temporary identifier RNTI in the first terminal and the second terminal after association.

41. A terminal comprising a processor, a memory, and a program or instructions stored in the memory and executable by the processor, the program or instructions implementing the steps of the path switching method according to any one of claims 1 to 18 when executed by the processor.

42. A network side device comprising a processor, a memory, and a program or instructions stored in the memory and executable by the processor, the network side device realizing the steps of the path switching method described in any one of claims 19 to 28 when the program or instructions are executed by the processor.

43. A readable storage medium storing a program or instructions, which, when executed by a processor, realizes the path switching method according to any one of claims 1 to 18, or realizes the steps of the path switching method according to any one of claims 19 to 28.

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