Uplink timing maintenance, terminal operation determination method and device, and storage medium

Abstract

The present disclosure provides an uplink timing maintenance, a terminal operation determination method and apparatus, and a storage medium. [Solution] The uplink timing maintenance method includes a step of retaining or discarding a TA corresponding to a target candidate cell in response to determining that a target candidate cell setting used by the terminal has been changed to unusable.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to the field of communications, and in particular to uplink timing maintenance, a terminal operation determination method and apparatus, and a storage medium. [Background technology]

[0002] When the network side device configures one or more candidate cell configurations (or candidate cell group configurations) for the terminal, the terminal can change the candidate cell configuration (or candidate cell group configuration) corresponding to the serving cell (or serving cell group) according to Layer 1 (L1) or Layer 2 (L2) activation or deactivation signaling transmitted from the network side device, or according to a preconfigured trigger event. However, how the terminal processes the uplink timing (Timing Advance, TA) of the candidate cell (or candidate cell group) corresponding to each candidate cell configuration (or candidate cell group configuration) remains an issue to be resolved. Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0003] To overcome the problems existing in the related art, embodiments of the present disclosure provide an uplink timing maintenance, a terminal operation determination method and apparatus, and a storage medium. [Means for solving the problem]

[0004] According to a first aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided an uplink timing maintenance method, the method being performed by a terminal, the method comprising: In response to determining that the target candidate cell configuration used by the terminal has been changed to unusable, the method includes retaining or discarding a TA corresponding to the target candidate cell.

[0005] Optionally, determining that the target candidate cell configuration used by the terminal has been changed to unusable includes: determining, in response to determining that the target candidate cell configuration has been deactivated, that the target candidate cell configuration has been changed to unavailable; and determining that the target candidate cell configuration has been changed to unusable in response to receiving suspension instruction information sent by a network side device; Here, the suspension instruction information is used to instruct the terminal to suspend use of the target candidate cell configuration.

[0006] Optionally, the method further comprises: triggering the terminal to deactivate the target candidate cell configuration in response to receiving change instruction information sent by the network side device, the change instruction information being used to instruct the terminal to change the candidate cell configuration used; and triggering the terminal to deactivate the target candidate cell configuration in response to determining that a preset condition for changing the candidate cell configuration is satisfied.

[0007] Selectively retaining or discarding a TA corresponding to the target candidate cell includes: Retain or discard a TA corresponding to the target candidate cell according to network configuration instruction information sent by a network side device, the network configuration instruction information being used to instruct the terminal to retain or discard a TA corresponding to the target candidate cell; or and retaining or discarding the TA corresponding to the target candidate cell based on protocol conventions.

[0008] Selectively retaining or discarding a TA corresponding to the target candidate cell includes: retaining or discarding a TA corresponding to the target candidate cell according to whether there is a candidate cell activated for use within a target uplink timing group; The target TAG is the TAG in which the target candidate cell is located.

[0009] Optionally, retaining or discarding a TA corresponding to the target candidate cell according to whether there is a candidate cell activated for use in the target uplink timing group TAG includes: In response to determining that there is a candidate cell activated for use within the target TAG, retaining a TA corresponding to the target candidate cell; In response to determining that no candidate cells are activated for use within the target TAG, discarding the TA corresponding to the target candidate cell.

[0010] Selectively retaining or discarding a TA corresponding to the target candidate cell includes: The method includes retaining or discarding a TA corresponding to the target candidate cell according to a cell type of the target candidate cell.

[0011] Optionally, retaining or discarding a TA corresponding to the target candidate cell according to a cell type of the target candidate cell includes: If the cell type of the target candidate cell is a secondary cell (SCell), retaining a TA corresponding to the target candidate cell; If the cell type of the target candidate cell is a primary cell PCell or a primary secondary cell PSCell, discarding the TA corresponding to the target candidate cell.

[0012] Optionally, maintaining a TA corresponding to the target candidate cell includes: Controlling the time calibration timer TAT to continue operation; and controlling the TAT to stop operating but to maintain the TA value corresponding to the target candidate cell.

[0013] Optionally, discarding a TA corresponding to the target candidate cell includes: Controlling the TAT to stop operation, Determining that the TAT has expired; discarding a TA value corresponding to the target candidate cell; Controlling the TAT to stop operation and discarding the TA value corresponding to the target candidate cell; determining that the TAT has expired and discarding the TA value corresponding to the target candidate cell.

[0014] According to a second aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided a terminal operation determination method, the method being executed by a network side device, the method comprising: The method includes determining whether the terminal should retain or discard an uplink timing TA corresponding to a target candidate cell.

[0015] Optionally, the method further comprises: The method further includes a step of transmitting change instruction information to the terminal; The change instruction information is used to instruct the terminal to change the candidate cell settings used.

[0016] Optionally, the method further comprises: The method further includes a step of transmitting a stop use instruction information to the terminal; The suspension instruction information is used to instruct the terminal to suspend use of the target candidate cell configuration.

[0017] Optionally, determining that the terminal retains or discards the uplink timing TA corresponding to the target candidate cell includes: Determine that the terminal retains or discards a TA corresponding to the target candidate cell according to network configuration instruction information sent to the terminal by the network side device, and the network configuration instruction information is used to instruct the terminal to retain or discard a TA corresponding to the target candidate cell; or The method includes determining, based on a protocol agreement, whether the terminal retains or discards a TA corresponding to the target candidate cell.

[0018] Optionally, determining that the terminal retains or discards the uplink timing TA corresponding to the target candidate cell includes: determining that the terminal retains or discards a TA corresponding to the target candidate cell according to whether there is a candidate cell activated for use in a target uplink timing group; The target TAG is the TAG in which the target candidate cell is located.

[0019] Optionally, determining that the terminal retains or discards a TA corresponding to the target candidate cell according to whether there is a candidate cell activated for use in the target uplink timing group TAG, In response to determining that there is a candidate cell activated for use within a target uplink timing group (TAG), determining that the terminal maintains a TA corresponding to the target candidate cell; In response to determining that there is no candidate cell activated for use within the target TAG, the terminal determines to discard a TA corresponding to the target candidate cell; The target TAG is the TAG in which the target candidate cell is located.

[0020] Optionally, determining that the terminal retains or discards the uplink timing TA corresponding to the target candidate cell includes: The method includes determining, according to a cell type of the target candidate cell, whether the terminal retains or discards a TA corresponding to the target candidate cell.

[0021] Optionally, determining that the terminal retains or discards a TA corresponding to the target candidate cell according to a cell type of the target candidate cell includes: If the cell type of the target candidate cell is a secondary cell (SCell), determining that the terminal holds a TA corresponding to the target candidate cell; If the cell type of the target candidate cell is a primary cell PCell or a primary secondary cell PSCell, the terminal determines to discard a TA corresponding to the target candidate cell.

[0022] Optionally, determining that the terminal maintains an uplink timing TA corresponding to a target candidate cell includes: The terminal determines that the time calibration timer TAT is controlled to continue operating; and determining that the terminal controls a TAT to stop operating but maintains a TA value corresponding to the target candidate cell.

[0023] Optionally, determining that the terminal discards the uplink timing TA corresponding to the target candidate cell includes: The terminal determines that the TAT is to be controlled to stop operation; determining that the terminal determines that the TAT has expired; determining that the terminal discards a TA value corresponding to the target candidate cell; The terminal controls a TAT to stop operating, and determines to discard a TA value corresponding to the target candidate cell; the terminal determining that a TAT has expired and determining to discard a TA value corresponding to the target candidate cell.

[0024] According to a third aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided an uplink timing maintenance apparatus, the apparatus being applied to a terminal, comprising: The device further includes a maintenance module configured to retain or discard a TA corresponding to the target candidate cell in response to determining that a target candidate cell setting used by the device has been changed to unusable.

[0025] According to a fourth aspect of the embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided a terminal operation determination apparatus, the apparatus being applied to a network side device, The terminal includes a determining module configured to determine whether to keep or discard the uplink timing TA corresponding to the target candidate cell.

[0026] According to a fifth aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, the storage medium storing a computer program for executing any of the above-mentioned terminal-side uplink timing maintenance methods.

[0027] According to a sixth aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, and the storage medium stores a computer program for executing any of the above-mentioned network-side device-side terminal operation determination methods.

[0028] According to a seventh aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided an uplink timing maintenance apparatus, the apparatus including: a processor; and a memory used to store instructions executable by the processor, the processor configured to perform any of the above-mentioned terminal-side uplink timing maintenance methods.

[0029] According to an eighth aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided a terminal operation determination apparatus, the apparatus including a processor and a memory used to store instructions executable by the processor, the processor being configured to execute any of the above-mentioned network side device side terminal operation determination methods.

[0030] It is to be understood that the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the present disclosure. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0031] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments consistent with the present invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention. [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a schematic flowchart of an uplink timing TA maintenance method according to an example embodiment. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is a schematic flow chart of another uplink timing TA maintenance method according to an example embodiment. [Figure 3] FIG. 3 is a schematic flow chart of another uplink timing TA maintenance method according to an example embodiment. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is a schematic flowchart of another terminal operation determination method according to an exemplary embodiment. [Figure 5] FIG. 5 is a schematic flowchart of another terminal operation determination method according to an exemplary embodiment. [Figure 6] FIG. 6 is a schematic flowchart of another terminal operation determination method according to an exemplary embodiment. [Figure 7] FIG. 7 is a block diagram of an uplink timing TA maintenance device according to an exemplary embodiment. [Figure 8] FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a terminal operation determination device according to an exemplary embodiment. [Figure 9]FIG. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of an uplink timing TA maintenance device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 10] FIG. 10 is a schematic block diagram of a terminal operation determination device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0032] Illustrative examples are described in detail herein, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. When the following description refers to the drawings, like numbers in different drawings refer to the same or similar elements unless otherwise indicated. The embodiments described in the following illustrative examples do not represent all embodiments consistent with the present invention. Rather, they are merely examples of apparatus and methods consistent with aspects of the present invention as detailed in the appended claims.

[0033] The terminology used in this disclosure is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the disclosure. As used in this disclosure and the appended claims, the singular forms "a," "said," and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Also, as used herein, the term "and / or" is understood to refer to and include all possible combinations of at least one of the associated listed items.

[0034] In the present disclosure, terms such as first, second, and third may be used to describe various pieces of information, but it is understood that the information should not be limited to these terms. These terms are used only to distinguish between the same types of information. For example, first information could be referred to as second information, and similarly, second information could be referred to as first information, without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Depending on the context, the word "if" as used herein may be interpreted as "when," "if," or "in response to determining."

[0035] Before introducing the solution provided by the present disclosure, we first introduce the modification of a dynamic cell (or a dynamic cell group).

[0036] In a 5th Generation Mobile Communication Technology (5G) system, a network side device can provide a terminal with multiple candidate cells (or candidate cell groups). Then, the network side device can control the terminal to change among the multiple candidate cells (or candidate cell groups) through L1 or L2 signaling, for example, to control the terminal to change the operating cell (or operating cell group) from candidate cell #1 (or candidate cell group #1) to candidate cell #2 (or candidate cell group #2).

[0037] Among these, L1 signaling includes, but is not limited to, Downlink Control Information (DCI), and L2 signaling includes, but is not limited to, Media Access Control Element (MAC CE).

[0038] Among these, one serving cell (or serving cell group) can correspond to one or more candidate cells (or candidate cell groups).

[0039] The 5G system will adopt a dual connectivity (DC) architecture, which will include two groups of cells (or cell groups):

[0040] Master Cell Group (MCG): corresponds to the master node (MN) on the network side.

[0041] Secondary Cell Group (SCG): corresponds to a secondary node (SN) on the network side.

[0042] Among these, the MCG includes one Primary Cell (PCell) and one or more Secondary Cells (SCells). The SCG includes one Primary Secondary Cell (PSCell) and one or more SCells. Among these, the PCell and PSCell are sometimes collectively called Special Cells (SpCells).

[0043] In the current system, each cell (or cell group) is assigned one serving cell configuration (or serving cell group configuration), i.e., ServCellConfig. Among these, one serving cell identifier (or serving cell group identifier), i.e., ServCellIndex, is associated with the serving cell configuration (or serving cell group configuration), which is used to uniquely identify one serving cell (or serving cell group) within a terminal. Among these, the serving cell (or serving cell group) identifier of the PCell is "0". One serving cell (or serving cell group) is associated with one Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) entity, which includes multiple HARQ processes.

[0044] In addition, in a 5G system, a terminal can change its serving cell (or serving cell group) based on a condition preset by the network side and a preset cell (or cell group) corresponding to the condition. For example, when a terminal satisfies a preset condition such as a specific measurement event, the terminal changes its serving cell (or serving cell group) to a preset cell (or cell group). Here, mobility processes triggered by conditions include: Conditional Handover (CHO), Conditional Primary Secondary Cell (or Cell Group) Addition (Conditional PSCell Addition, CPA), and and a conditional primary secondary cell (or cell group) change (Conditional PSCell Change, CPC).

[0045] The terminal may also change a specific cell configuration (or cell group configuration) after satisfying a preset condition according to an instruction from the network side device. For example, the terminal may change its PCell configuration from candidate cell configuration #1 (or candidate cell group configuration #1) to candidate cell configuration #2 (or candidate cell group configuration #2).

[0046] Let me introduce the TA again.

[0047] After receiving the downlink signal, the terminal can determine the position of the downlink signal subframe. To avoid uplink interference, the network side device needs to ensure that signals transmitted from different terminals arrive at the network side device at a certain time. Therefore, the network side device needs to set an uplink timing advance (TA) for the terminal's uplink transmission. After receiving the TA value, when the terminal wants to transmit an uplink signal, the terminal advances the TA value based on the downlink subframe position and transmits the uplink signal.

[0048] Regarding the acquisition of the TA value, the terminal only needs to acquire the TA value in the uplink out-of-synchronization state, so the terminal can initiate the random access process either by itself or by the network side. The PRACH channel on which the random access request message of this random access process is transmitted adopts the initial default TA value specified by the protocol, for example, TA=0. The network side issues the TA value to the terminal in the random access response.

[0049] Regarding TA value maintenance, since the location of the terminal is constantly changing, it is necessary to maintain the validity of the TA value. To maintain the TA value on the network side, a time alignment timer (TAT) is set for the TA value of the terminal, the TAT is started when a TA command is issued to the terminal, and the network side device issues a new TA value to the terminal before the timer expires. The terminal starts or restarts the TAT when it receives a TA value according to the timer set by the network side device. When the timer expires, it determines that this TA value is invalid, the terminal enters an uplink out-of-synchronization state, and is unable to transmit uplink signals in uplink out-of-synchronization cells.

[0050] Since multiple cells are configured in a terminal and different cells may have different TAs, cells with different TA values ​​can be divided into different TA groups (TA Groups, TAGs). A TAG consisting of cells with the same TA as the SpCell is called a Primary TA Group (PTAG), and a TAG consisting of cells with the same TA as the SCell is called a Secondary TA Group (STAG). When the PTAG TAT expires, the terminal's behavior is as follows: clearing the HARQ buffers of all serving cells; Informing the Radio Resource Control (RRC) layer to release Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) resources of all serving cells; Informing the RRC layer to release Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) resources of all serving cells; Clearing the configured downlink license and the configured uplink license, Clearing Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) resources used for semi-persistent Channel State Information (CSI) reporting; determining that all active TAT timers have expired; and retaining the TA values ​​NTA of all TAGs.

[0051] Here, all TAGs include, but are not limited to, PTAGs and STAGs.

[0052] When the STAG TAT expires, the terminal's behavior with respect to the cells belonging to this STAG is as follows: Clearing all HARQ buffers; notifying the RRC layer to release PUCCH resources; Informing the RRC layer to release SRS resources; Clearing the configured downlink license and the configured uplink license, Clearing PUSCH resources used for semi-persistent CSI reporting; and maintaining the TA value NTA of this STAG.

[0053] To solve the technical problems of the present disclosure, the present disclosure provides a method and apparatus for uplink timing maintenance and terminal operation determination, and a storage medium, which allow a network side device and a terminal to consistently understand the uplink timing maintenance status of the terminal and ensure high availability.

[0054] It should be noted that in the embodiments of the present disclosure, the participating candidate cells may refer to candidate cells or candidate cell groups, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

[0055] In the following, the uplink timing TA maintenance method provided by the present disclosure from the terminal side will be first described.

[0056] An embodiment of the present disclosure provides an uplink timing TA maintenance method. Referring to FIG. 1, FIG. 1 is a flowchart of an uplink timing TA maintenance method according to an embodiment, which is performed by a terminal and may include the following steps:

[0057] In step 101, in response to determining that the target candidate cell configuration used by the terminal has been changed to unusable, retain or discard a TA corresponding to the target candidate cell.

[0058] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, a target candidate cell is associated with the target candidate cell configuration, and the target candidate cell configuration is a candidate cell configuration currently used by a terminal, where if the target candidate cell configuration includes a configuration for a candidate cell, the candidate cell is a target candidate cell, and the target candidate cell is associated with the target candidate cell configuration.

[0059] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the network side device can provide one or more candidate cell configurations to the terminal.

[0060] In one possible implementation, the network side device may provide one or more candidate cell configurations to the terminal through an RRC Reconfiguration message.

[0061] If the currently used target candidate cell setting is changed and made unusable based on the candidate cell setting provided by the network side, the terminal can retain or discard the TA corresponding to the target candidate cell associated with the target candidate cell setting.

[0062] In one possible implementation, the terminal determines that the target candidate cell configuration has been changed to unavailable if it determines that the target candidate cell configuration has been deactivated.

[0063] Specifically, when a terminal receives change instruction information sent by a network side device, the change instruction information instructs the terminal to change a candidate cell setting used. For example, if the change instruction information instructs the terminal to change a candidate cell setting corresponding to the terminal's PCell from an in-use target candidate cell setting (e.g., candidate cell setting #1) to candidate cell setting #2, the change instruction information can trigger the terminal to deactivate the target candidate cell setting. After the target candidate cell is deactivated, the terminal can determine that the target candidate cell setting has been changed to unavailable, and perform an operation to change the target candidate cell setting to unavailable.

[0064] Here, the change instruction information may be Downlink Control Information (DCI), MAC CE, or an RRC message.

[0065] Specifically, when the terminal determines that a preset condition for changing the candidate cell configuration is satisfied, for example, when the terminal's measurement result for the Pcell satisfies an A3 event and the terminal determines that the preset condition is satisfied, the terminal can trigger the terminal to deactivate the target candidate cell configuration. After the target candidate cell is deactivated, the terminal can determine that the target candidate cell configuration has been changed to unusable, and perform an operation to change the target candidate cell configuration to unusable.

[0066] In another possible implementation form, when a terminal receives suspension instruction information sent by a network side device, and the suspension instruction information is information instructing the terminal to stop using the target candidate cell setting, the terminal can determine that the target candidate cell setting has been changed to unusable, and perform an operation to change the target candidate cell setting to unusable.

[0067] Of course, the above is merely an exemplary description, and the terminal may also determine that the target candidate cell setting in use has been changed to unusable based on other circumstances.

[0068] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the terminal operation of changing the target candidate cell configuration to unusable includes, but is not limited to, at least one of changing the candidate cell configuration corresponding to the target candidate cell and deactivating the target candidate cell configuration.

[0069] For example, when changing the candidate cell setting corresponding to the target candidate cell, the candidate cell setting corresponding to the terminal's PCell may be changed to the target candidate cell setting, that is, from candidate cell setting #1 to candidate cell setting #2.

[0070] As another example, when the target candidate cell configuration is deactivated, the target candidate cell configuration corresponding to the terminal's PCell, i.e., candidate cell configuration #1, may be deactivated.

[0071] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, when a terminal changes the target candidate cell configuration to unavailable, the terminal may be triggered to retain or discard the TA corresponding to the target candidate cell.

[0072] In the above embodiment, if the target candidate cell configuration used by the terminal is changed to unavailable, the terminal can handle the uplink timing, so that the uplink timing is maintained in the terminal and availability is high.

[0073] In some optional embodiments, referring to FIG. 2, FIG. 2 is a flowchart of an uplink timing TA maintenance method according to one embodiment, which is performed by a terminal and may include the following steps:

[0074] In step 201, in response to determining that the target candidate cell configuration used by the terminal has been changed to unusable, retain or discard the TA corresponding to the target candidate cell according to network configuration indication information sent by the network side device.

[0075] In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the operation of determining that the target candidate cell configuration used by the terminal has been changed to unusable and the operation of deactivating the target candidate cell configuration performed by the terminal are the same as the method provided in step 101 above, and therefore will not be described again here.

[0076] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, when a terminal determines that a target candidate cell configuration used by the terminal has been changed to unusable, the terminal may retain or discard a TA corresponding to the target candidate cell according to network configuration instruction information sent by a network side device, where the network configuration instruction information is used to instruct the terminal to retain or discard a TA corresponding to the target candidate cell.

[0077] In one possible implementation, the network configuration instruction information is used to instruct the terminal to retain or discard the TA corresponding to the target candidate cell depending on whether there is a candidate cell activated for use within the target TAG.

[0078] Correspondingly, the terminal, based on the network configuration indication information, if there is a candidate cell activated for use in the target uplink timing group TAG, maintains a TA corresponding to the target candidate cell, where the target TAG is the TAG in which the target candidate cell is located.

[0079] For example, if the target candidate cell setting for SCell#1 used by the terminal is candidate cell setting #1, the target TAG to which SCell#1 belongs is STAG#1, STAG#1 includes SCell#1 and SCell#2, and further, SCell#2 is still activated and in use, the terminal can retain the TA corresponding to STAG#1.

[0080] If there is no candidate cell activated for use within a target uplink timing group (TAG) based on the network configuration indication information, the terminal may discard a TA corresponding to the target candidate cell, where the target TAG is the TAG in which the target candidate cell is located.

[0081] For example, if the target candidate cell setting for SCell#1 used by the terminal is candidate cell setting#1, the target TAG to which SCell#1 belongs is STAG#1, STAG#1 includes SCell#1 and SCell#2, and further, SCell#2 is not activated for use, the terminal can discard the TA corresponding to STAG#1.

[0082] In another possible implementation, the network configuration indication information is used to instruct the terminal to keep or discard the TA corresponding to the target candidate cell according to the cell type of the target candidate cell.

[0083] Correspondingly, the terminal, according to the network configuration indication information, if the cell type of the target candidate cell is a secondary cell SCell, retains a TA corresponding to the target candidate cell.

[0084] If the cell type of the target candidate cell is a primary cell PCell or a primary secondary cell PSCell, discard the TA corresponding to the target candidate cell.

[0085] In one possible implementation, maintaining a TA corresponding to a target candidate cell may include, but is not limited to, at least one of: controlling a time calibration timer TAT to continue operating; controlling the TAT to stop operating but to maintain a TA value corresponding to the target candidate cell.

[0086] For example, if a terminal holds a TA corresponding to STAG#1, the terminal can control the TAT to continue operating and / or can control the TAT to stop operating but to hold the TA value corresponding to STAG#1.

[0087] In one possible implementation, discarding the TA corresponding to the target candidate cell may include, but is not limited to, at least one of: controlling the TAT to stop operating; determining that the TAT has expired; discarding the TA value corresponding to the target candidate cell; controlling the TAT to stop operating and discarding the TA value corresponding to the target candidate cell; determining that the TAT has expired; and discarding the TA value corresponding to the target candidate cell.

[0088] For example, when a terminal discards a TA corresponding to STAG#1, the terminal can perform at least one of the following: controlling the TAT to stop operating; determining that the TAT has expired; discarding the TA value corresponding to STAG#1; controlling the TAT to stop operating and discarding the TA value corresponding to STAG#1; determining that the TAT has expired and discarding the TA value corresponding to STAG#1.

[0089] In the above embodiment, when the target candidate cell configuration used by the terminal is changed to unavailable, the terminal can process the uplink timing according to the network configuration indication information sent by the network side device, thereby achieving the purpose of the terminal maintaining the uplink timing and achieving high availability.

[0090] In some optional embodiments, referring to FIG. 3, FIG. 3 is a flowchart of an uplink timing TA maintenance method according to an embodiment, which is performed by a terminal and may include the following steps:

[0091] In step 301, in response to determining that the target candidate cell configuration used by the terminal has been changed to unusable, the TA corresponding to the target candidate cell is retained or discarded according to protocol rules.

[0092] In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the operation of determining that the target candidate cell configuration used by the terminal has been changed to unusable and the operation of deactivating the target candidate cell configuration performed by the terminal are the same as the method provided in step 101 above, and therefore will not be described again here.

[0093] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, if a terminal determines that the target candidate cell configuration used by the terminal has been changed to unusable, the terminal may retain or discard the TA corresponding to the target candidate cell based on protocol specifications.

[0094] In one possible implementation, the protocol provides that the terminal retains or discards the TA corresponding to the target candidate cell depending on whether there is a candidate cell activated for use within the target TAG.

[0095] Correspondingly, if there is a candidate cell activated for use within a target TAG according to protocol specifications, the terminal will retain a TA corresponding to the target candidate cell, where the target TAG is the TAG in which the target candidate cell is located.

[0096] For example, if the target candidate cell setting for SCell#1 used by the terminal is candidate cell setting #1, the target TAG to which SCell#1 belongs is STAG#1, STAG#1 includes SCell#1 and SCell#2, and further, SCell#2 is still activated and in use, the terminal can retain the TA corresponding to STAG#1.

[0097] The terminal may discard a TA corresponding to a target candidate cell if there is no candidate cell activated for use within a target uplink timing group TAG based on protocol conventions, where the target TAG is the TAG in which the target candidate cell is located.

[0098] For example, if the target candidate cell setting for SCell#1 used by the terminal is candidate cell setting#1, the target TAG to which SCell#1 belongs is STAG#1, STAG#1 includes SCell#1 and SCell#2, and further, SCell#2 is not activated for use, the terminal can discard the TA corresponding to STAG#1.

[0099] In another possible implementation, the protocol provides that the terminal retains or discards the TA corresponding to the target candidate cell according to the cell type of the target candidate cell.

[0100] Correspondingly, the terminal, according to protocol rules, if the cell type of the target candidate cell is a secondary cell SCell, maintains a TA corresponding to the target candidate cell.

[0101] If the cell type of the target candidate cell is a primary cell PCell or a primary secondary cell PSCell, discard the TA corresponding to the target candidate cell.

[0102] In one possible implementation, maintaining a TA corresponding to a target candidate cell may include, but is not limited to, at least one of: controlling a time calibration timer TAT to continue operating; controlling the TAT to stop operating but to maintain a TA value corresponding to the target candidate cell.

[0103] In one possible implementation, discarding the TA corresponding to the target candidate cell may include, but is not limited to, at least one of: controlling the TAT to stop operating; determining that the TAT has expired; discarding the TA value corresponding to the target candidate cell; controlling the TAT to stop operating and discarding the TA value corresponding to the target candidate cell; determining that the TAT has expired; and discarding the TA value corresponding to the target candidate cell.

[0104] In the above embodiment, if the target candidate cell configuration used by the terminal is changed to unavailable, the terminal can process the uplink timing according to the protocol convention, thereby achieving the purpose of the terminal maintaining the uplink timing and achieving high availability.

[0105] Next, a method for determining terminal operation provided by the present disclosure from the network-side device side will be described.

[0106] An embodiment of the present disclosure provides a terminal operation determination method. Referring to Figure 4, Figure 4 is a flowchart of a terminal operation determination method according to an embodiment, where the method is performed by a network side device. Here, the network side device includes, but is not limited to, a 4G base station, a 5G base station, a mobile node, an information network node, etc. The method may include the following steps:

[0107] In step 401, the terminal determines to retain or discard the uplink timing TA corresponding to a target candidate cell, and the target candidate cell is associated with a target candidate cell configuration that has been changed to be unavailable for the terminal.

[0108] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, a target candidate cell is associated with the target candidate cell configuration, and the target candidate cell configuration is a candidate cell configuration currently used by a terminal, where if the target candidate cell configuration includes a configuration for a candidate cell, the candidate cell is a target candidate cell, and the target candidate cell is associated with the target candidate cell configuration.

[0109] When the target candidate cell configuration used by the terminal is changed to unusable, the network side device can determine that the terminal retains or discards the TA corresponding to the target candidate cell associated with the target candidate cell configuration.

[0110] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the network side device can provide one or more candidate cell configurations to the terminal.

[0111] In one possible implementation, the network side device may provide one or more candidate cell configurations to the terminal through an RRC Reconfiguration message.

[0112] In one possible implementation form, the network side device may transmit change instruction information to the terminal instructing the terminal to change the candidate cell setting used, and upon receiving the change instruction information, the terminal triggers the terminal to perform deactivation of the target candidate cell setting, thereby changing the target candidate cell setting to unusable.

[0113] In another possible implementation form, if the network side device determines that the terminal meets the preset conditions for changing the candidate cell setting, it can determine that the terminal side has triggered deactivation of the target candidate cell setting, and the target candidate cell setting is changed to unavailable.

[0114] In another possible implementation form, the network side device may transmit to the terminal a suspension instruction information instructing the terminal to stop using the target candidate cell configuration, and in this case, the network side device may determine that the terminal side has changed the target candidate cell configuration to unusable based on the suspension instruction information.

[0115] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, when the network side device determines that the target candidate cell configuration currently used by the terminal has been changed and made unusable, the network side can determine that the terminal will retain or discard the TA corresponding to the target candidate cell associated with the target candidate cell configuration based on the network configuration indication information or protocol convention sent by the network side to the terminal.

[0116] In the above embodiment, the network side device can determine whether the terminal will retain or discard the uplink timing TA corresponding to the target candidate cell according to the network configuration instruction information or protocol convention sent by the network side to the terminal, so that the network side device and the terminal can consistently understand the uplink timing maintenance status of the terminal and ensure high availability.

[0117] In some optional embodiments, referring to Figure 5, Figure 5 is a flowchart of a terminal operation determination method according to an embodiment, where the method is performed by a network side device, where the network side device includes, but is not limited to, a 4G base station, a 5G base station, a MN, an SN, etc. The method may include the following steps:

[0118] In step 501, the terminal determines whether to retain or discard a TA corresponding to the target candidate cell according to network configuration instruction information sent by the network side device to the terminal.

[0119] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, a target candidate cell is associated with the target candidate cell configuration, and the target candidate cell configuration is a candidate cell configuration currently used by a terminal, where if the target candidate cell configuration includes a configuration for a candidate cell, the candidate cell is a target candidate cell, and the target candidate cell is associated with the target candidate cell configuration.

[0120] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the network configuration instruction information is used to instruct the terminal to retain or discard the TA corresponding to the target candidate cell.

[0121] In one possible implementation, the network configuration instruction information is used to instruct the terminal to retain or discard the TA corresponding to the target candidate cell depending on whether there is a candidate cell activated for use within the target TAG.

[0122] Correspondingly, if the network side device determines that there is a candidate cell activated for use in the target uplink timing group TAG, it determines that the terminal will hold a TA corresponding to the target candidate cell, where the target TAG is the TAG in which the target candidate cell is located.

[0123] Alternatively, if the network side device determines that there is no candidate cell activated for use in the target uplink timing group TAG, the network side device determines that the terminal discards the TA corresponding to the target candidate cell, where the target TAG is the TAG in which the target candidate cell is located.

[0124] In another possible implementation, the network configuration indication information is used to instruct the terminal to keep or discard the TA corresponding to the target candidate cell according to the cell type of the target candidate cell.

[0125] Correspondingly, if the network side device determines that the cell type of the target candidate cell is a secondary cell SCell, it may determine that the terminal maintains a TA corresponding to the target candidate cell.

[0126] If the network side device determines that the cell type of the target candidate cell is a primary cell PCell or a primary secondary cell PSCell, the network side device may determine that the terminal discards the TA corresponding to the target candidate cell.

[0127] In one possible implementation form, the network side device determining that the terminal maintains an uplink timing TA corresponding to the target candidate cell may include, but is not limited to, at least one of: determining that the terminal controls a time calibration timer TAT to continue operating; and determining that the terminal controls a TAT to stop operating but maintains a TA value corresponding to the target candidate cell.

[0128] In one possible implementation form, the network side device determining that the terminal discards the uplink timing TA corresponding to the target candidate cell includes, but is not limited to, at least one of: determining that the terminal controls a TAT to stop operating; determining that the terminal determines that the TAT has expired; determining that the terminal discards the TA value corresponding to the target candidate cell; determining that the terminal controls a TAT to stop operating and discards the TA value corresponding to the target candidate cell; and determining that the terminal determines that the TAT has expired and discards the TA value corresponding to the target candidate cell.

[0129] In the above embodiment, the network side device can determine whether the terminal will retain or discard the uplink timing TA corresponding to the target candidate cell according to the network configuration instruction information sent by the network side to the terminal, so that the network side device and the terminal can consistently understand the uplink timing maintenance status of the terminal and ensure high availability.

[0130] In some optional embodiments, referring to Figure 6, Figure 6 is a flowchart of a terminal operation determination method according to an embodiment, where the method is performed by a network side device, where the network side device includes, but is not limited to, a 4G base station, a 5G base station, a MN, an SN, etc. The method may include the following steps:

[0131] In step 601, the terminal determines whether to retain or discard the TA corresponding to the target candidate cell according to a protocol rule.

[0132] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, a target candidate cell is associated with the target candidate cell configuration, and the target candidate cell configuration is a candidate cell configuration currently used by a terminal, where if the target candidate cell configuration includes a configuration for a candidate cell, the candidate cell is a target candidate cell, and the target candidate cell is associated with the target candidate cell configuration.

[0133] In one possible implementation, the protocol provides that the terminal retains or discards the TA corresponding to the target candidate cell depending on whether there is a candidate cell activated for use within the target TAG.

[0134] Correspondingly, if the network side device determines that there is a candidate cell activated for use in the target uplink timing group TAG, it determines that the terminal retains a TA corresponding to the target candidate cell, where the target TAG is the TAG in which the target candidate cell is located.

[0135] Alternatively, if the network side device determines that there is no candidate cell activated for use in the target uplink timing group TAG, the network side device determines that the terminal discards the TA corresponding to the target candidate cell, where the target TAG is the TAG in which the target candidate cell is located.

[0136] In another possible implementation, the protocol provides that the terminal retains or discards the TA corresponding to the target candidate cell according to the cell type of the target candidate cell.

[0137] Correspondingly, if the cell type of the target candidate cell is a secondary cell SCell, the network side device may determine that the terminal holds a TA corresponding to the target candidate cell.

[0138] If the cell type of the target candidate cell is a primary cell PCell or a primary secondary cell PSCell, the network side device may determine that the terminal discards the TA corresponding to the target candidate cell.

[0139] In one possible implementation form, the network side device determining that the terminal maintains an uplink timing TA corresponding to the target candidate cell may include, but is not limited to, at least one of: determining that the terminal controls a time calibration timer TAT to continue operating; and determining that the terminal controls a TAT to stop operating but maintains a TA value corresponding to the target candidate cell.

[0140] In one possible implementation form, the network side device determining that the terminal discards the uplink timing TA corresponding to the target candidate cell includes, but is not limited to, at least one of: determining that the terminal controls a TAT to stop operating; determining that the terminal determines that the TAT has expired; determining that the terminal discards the TA value corresponding to the target candidate cell; determining that the terminal controls a TAT to stop operating and discards the TA value corresponding to the target candidate cell; and determining that the terminal determines that the TAT has expired and discards the TA value corresponding to the target candidate cell.

[0141] In the above embodiment, the network side device can determine, based on a protocol convention, whether the terminal will retain or discard the uplink timing TA corresponding to the target candidate cell, so that the network side device and the terminal can consistently understand the uplink timing maintenance status of the terminal, and ensure high availability.

[0142] The methods provided by the present disclosure are further illustrated by the following examples.

[0143] Example 1: An uplink timing TA maintenance and terminal operation determination method includes the following steps:

[0144] Step 1: A network side device provides one or more candidate cell configurations to a terminal through an RRC Reconfiguration message.

[0145] Step 2: The terminal processes uplink timing according to the candidate cell configuration in step 1 when the currently used target candidate cell configuration is changed.

[0146] In this case, the trigger conditions for changing the target candidate cell setting currently used by this terminal include any of the following:

[0147] Condition 1: The terminal receives change instruction information sent by a network side device. This change instruction information may be a DCI, MAC CE, or RRC message, for example, to change the PCell configuration of the terminal from candidate cell configuration #1 to candidate cell configuration #2.

[0148] In this case, the terminal determines that the target candidate cell configuration, i.e., candidate cell configuration #1, has changed to unusable.

[0149] Condition 2: The terminal satisfies a preset condition for changing the candidate cell setting.

[0150] For example, if the measurement result for the PCell of the terminal satisfies the A3 event, the terminal changes the PCell configuration from candidate cell configuration #1 to candidate cell configuration #2.

[0151] Even in this case, the terminal can determine that the target candidate cell configuration, i.e., candidate cell configuration #1, has changed to be unusable.

[0152] Condition 3: The terminal receives suspension instruction information sent by a network side device, the suspension instruction information being used to instruct the terminal to suspend use of the target candidate cell configuration.

[0153] Even in this case, the terminal can determine that the target candidate cell configuration, i.e., candidate cell configuration #1, has changed to be unusable.

[0154] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the terminal operation of changing the target candidate cell configuration to unusable includes, but is not limited to, at least one of changing the candidate cell configuration corresponding to the target candidate cell and deactivating the target candidate cell configuration.

[0155] Among them, the operation of the terminal to handle uplink timing includes any of the following:

[0156] If the target candidate cell setting is changed to unusable (including, but not limited to, when the target candidate cell setting is deactivated or when a stop use instruction message sent from the network side device is received), the terminal retains or discards the TA corresponding to the target candidate cell based on the network setting instruction information or protocol conventions sent by the network side device.

[0157] For example, if the PCell configuration is changed from candidate cell configuration #1 to candidate cell configuration #2, the uplink timing of the target candidate cell associated with the target candidate cell configuration, i.e., candidate cell configuration #1, is retained or discarded.

[0158] Among these, maintaining the uplink timing corresponding to the target candidate cell may include at least one of controlling a time calibration timer TAT to continue operating, or controlling the TAT to stop operating but to maintain the TA value corresponding to the target candidate cell.

[0159] Among these, discarding the TA corresponding to the target candidate cell may include at least one of: controlling the TAT to stop operating; determining that the TAT has expired; discarding the TA value corresponding to the target candidate cell; controlling the TAT to stop operating and discarding the TA value corresponding to the target candidate cell; determining that the TAT has expired; and discarding the TA value corresponding to the target candidate cell.

[0160] When the target candidate cell configuration is changed to unavailable, if there is a candidate cell activated for use in the TAG corresponding to the target candidate cell according to the network configuration indication information or protocol convention sent by the network side device, the terminal will retain the TA corresponding to the target candidate cell. Furthermore, the specific operation of retaining the TA corresponding to the target candidate cell has been described above, and will not be described again here.

[0161] When the target candidate cell configuration is changed to unavailable, if there is no candidate cell activated for use in the TAG corresponding to the target candidate cell according to the network configuration indication information or protocol convention sent by the network side device, the terminal discards the TA corresponding to the target candidate cell. Furthermore, the specific operation of discarding the TA corresponding to the target candidate cell has been described above and will not be described again here.

[0162] In the above embodiment, when the target candidate cell configuration used by the terminal is changed to unavailable, the terminal can process the uplink timing, and the network side device can determine that the terminal will retain or discard the TA corresponding to the target candidate cell according to the network configuration indication information or protocol convention sent from the network side device to the terminal, so that the network side device and the terminal can consistently understand the uplink timing maintenance status of the terminal and ensure high availability.

[0163] Corresponding to the above-mentioned embodiment of the method for realizing the application function, the present disclosure also provides an embodiment of the apparatus for realizing the application function.

[0164] Referring to FIG. 7, FIG. 7 is a block diagram of an uplink timing maintenance apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment, where the apparatus is applied to a terminal, and the apparatus includes the following modules:

[0165] The maintenance module 701 is configured to retain or discard a TA corresponding to a target candidate cell in response to determining that a target candidate cell configuration used by the terminal has been changed to unusable.

[0166] Referring to FIG. 8, FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a terminal operation determination apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment, where the apparatus is applied to a network-side device, and the apparatus includes the following modules:

[0167] The determining module 801 is configured to determine whether the terminal keeps or discards the uplink timing TA corresponding to the target candidate cell.

[0168] The device embodiments basically correspond to the method embodiments, so for relevant details, please refer to the partial description of the method embodiments. The device embodiments described above are merely exemplary, and the units described above as individual components may or may not be physically separated, and the components shown as units may or may not be physical units, and may be located in one place or distributed across multiple network units. To achieve the objectives of the disclosed solution, some or all of the modules can be selected according to actual needs. Those skilled in the art can understand and implement this method without any creative effort.

[0169] Correspondingly, the present disclosure provides a computer-readable storage medium, which stores a computer program for performing the uplink timing maintenance method according to any one of the above claims.

[0170] Correspondingly, the present disclosure provides a computer-readable storage medium, which stores a computer program for executing the terminal operation determination method according to any one of the above claims.

[0171] Correspondingly, the present disclosure provides an uplink timing maintenance apparatus, the apparatus comprising: a processor; a memory used to store instructions executable by the processor; The processor is configured to execute the uplink timing maintenance method described in any one of the above terminal side.

[0172] 9 is a block diagram of an uplink timing TA maintenance device 900 according to an exemplary embodiment. For example, the device 900 may be a terminal such as a mobile phone, a tablet computer, an e-book reader, a multimedia playback device, a wearable device, an in-vehicle user equipment, an iPad, a smart TV, etc.

[0173] Referring to FIG. 9 , the device 900 may include one or more of the following components: a processing component 902, a memory 904, a power component 906, a multimedia component 908, an audio component 910, an input / output (I / O) interface 912, a sensor component 916, and a communication component 918.

[0174] The processing component 902 generally controls the overall operation of the device 900, including operations related to display, calls, random data access, camera operation, and recording operation. The processing component 902 may include one or more processors 920 that execute instructions to complete all or some of the steps of the uplink timing TA maintenance method described above. Additionally, the processing component 902 may include one or more modules that facilitate interaction between the processing component 902 and other components. For example, the processing component 902 may include a multimedia module that facilitates interaction between the multimedia component 908 and the processing component 902. As another example, the processing component 902 may read executable instructions from a memory to implement the steps of the uplink timing TA maintenance method provided by each of the above embodiments.

[0175] Memory 904 is configured to store various types of data to support operation on device 900. Examples of such data include instructions for any applications or methods operating on device 900, contact data, phone book data, messages, photos, videos, etc. Memory 904 may be implemented by any type of volatile or non-volatile storage device, such as static random access memory (SRAM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), read-only memory (ROM), magnetic memory, flash memory, magnetic or optical disk, or a combination thereof.

[0176] The power supply component 906 provides power to the various components of the device 900. The power supply component 906 may include a power management system, one or more power sources, and other components associated with generating, managing, and distributing power to the device 900.

[0177] The multimedia component 908 includes a display screen that provides an output interface between the device 900 and a user. In some embodiments, the multimedia component 908 includes one front and / or rear camera. When the device 900 is in an operational mode, such as a photo mode or a video mode, the front and / or rear camera can receive multimedia data from an external device. Each of the front and rear cameras may be a fixed optical lens system and may have a focal length and optical zoom capability.

[0178] The audio component 910 is configured to output and / or input audio signals. For example, the audio component 910 includes a microphone (MIC) configured to receive external audio signals when the device 900 is in an operational mode such as a call mode, a recording mode, and a voice recognition mode. The received audio signals may be further stored in the memory 904 or transmitted via the communication component 918. In some embodiments, the audio component 910 also includes a speaker for outputting audio signals.

[0179] The I / O interface 912 provides an interface between the processing component 902 and a peripheral interface module such as a keyboard, click wheel, buttons, etc. These buttons include, but are not limited to, a home button, volume buttons, start button, and lock button.

[0180] The sensor component 916 includes one or more sensors for providing status assessments of various aspects of the device 900. For example, the sensor component 916 can detect whether the device 900 is open or closed, the relative positions of components such as the display and keypad of the device 900, and changes in the position of the device 900 or its components, the presence or absence of user contact with the device 900, the orientation or acceleration / deceleration of the device 900, and temperature changes of the device 900. The sensor component 916 can include a proximity sensor configured to detect the presence of a nearby object without physical contact. The sensor component 916 may also include an optical sensor, such as a CMOS or CCD image sensor for use in imaging applications. In some examples, the sensor component 916 can also include an acceleration sensor, a gyroscope sensor, a magnetic sensor, a pressure sensor, or a temperature sensor.

[0181] The communication component 918 is configured to facilitate wired or wireless communication between the device 900 and other devices. The device 900 can access wireless networks based on communication standards such as Wi-Fi, 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G, or 6G, or a combination thereof. In one exemplary embodiment, the communication component 918 receives broadcast signals or broadcast-related information over a broadcast channel from an external broadcast management system. In one exemplary embodiment, the communication component 918 also includes a near-field communication (NFC) module that facilitates short-range communication. For example, the NFC module can be implemented based on Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology, Integral Data Association (IrDA) technology, Ultra Wideband (UWB) technology, Bluetooth (BT) technology, and other technologies.

[0182] In an exemplary embodiment, the apparatus 900 is implemented by one or more application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), digital signal processors (DSPs), digital signal processing devices (DSPDs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), controllers, microcontrollers, microprocessors, or other electronic components and is configured to perform any of the above uplink timing TA maintenance methods at the terminal side.

[0183] In an exemplary embodiment, a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium, such as memory 904, containing instructions is also provided, which are executed by processor 920 of apparatus 900 to complete the above-described uplink timing TA maintenance method. For example, the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium may be a ROM, a random access memory (RAM), a CD-ROM, a magnetic tape, a floppy disk, an optical data storage device, etc.

[0184] Correspondingly, the present disclosure provides a terminal operation determination device, the device comprising: a processor; a memory used to store instructions executable by the processor; The processor is configured to execute any one of the terminal operation determination methods described above on the network-side device side.

[0185] 10, which is a schematic structural diagram of a terminal operation determination apparatus 1000 according to an exemplary embodiment. The apparatus 1000 may be provided as a network-side device. Referring to FIG. 10, the apparatus 1000 includes a processing component 1022, a wireless transmit / receive component 1024, an antenna component 1026, and a wireless interface-specific signal processing part. The processing component 1022 may further include at least one processor.

[0186] One of the processors in the processing component 1022 is configured to execute any of the terminal operation determination methods described above.

[0187] Other embodiments of the present disclosure will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of the specification and practice of the invention disclosed herein. This disclosure is intended to cover any variations, uses, or modifications of the present disclosure which follow the general principles of the present disclosure and include common knowledge or customary techniques in the art that are not disclosed in the present disclosure. It is intended that the specification and examples be considered as exemplary only, with the true scope and spirit of the present disclosure being indicated by the following claims.

[0188] It should be understood that the present invention is not limited to the exact construction described above and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and that various modifications and changes can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention, the scope of which is limited only by the appended claims.

Claims

1. executed by the terminal, In response to determining that the target candidate cell configuration used by the terminal has been changed to unusable, the method includes retaining or discarding a Timing Advance (TA) corresponding to the target candidate cell.

1. An uplink timing (TA) maintenance method comprising:

2. Determining that the target candidate cell configuration used by the terminal has been changed to unusable includes: determining, in response to determining that the target candidate cell configuration has been deactivated, that the target candidate cell configuration has been changed to unavailable; and determining that the target candidate cell configuration has been changed to unusable in response to receiving suspension instruction information sent by a network side device; Here, the suspension instruction information is used to instruct the terminal to suspend use of the target candidate cell configuration.

2. The method of claim 1 .

3. triggering the terminal to deactivate the target candidate cell configuration in response to receiving change instruction information sent by the network side device, the change instruction information being used to instruct the terminal to change the candidate cell configuration used; and triggering the terminal to deactivate the target candidate cell configuration in response to determining that a preset condition for changing the candidate cell configuration is satisfied.

3. The method of claim 2.

4. Retaining or discarding a TA corresponding to the target candidate cell includes: Retain or discard a TA corresponding to the target candidate cell according to network configuration instruction information sent by a network side device, the network configuration instruction information being used to instruct the terminal to retain or discard a TA corresponding to the target candidate cell; or and retaining or discarding the TA corresponding to the target candidate cell based on protocol conventions.

2. The method of claim 1 .

5. Retaining or discarding a TA corresponding to the target candidate cell includes: including retaining or discarding TA corresponding to the target candidate cell according to whether there is a candidate cell activated for use within the target uplink timing group (TAG); wherein the target TAG is the TAG where the target candidate cell is located The method according to claim 1, characterized in that.

6. Retaining or discarding TA corresponding to the target candidate cell according to whether there is a candidate cell activated for use within the target uplink timing group (TAG) means retaining TA corresponding to the target candidate cell in response to determining that there is a candidate cell activated for use within the target TAG; and discarding TA corresponding to the target candidate cell in response to determining that there is no candidate cell activated for use within the target TAG, and includes The method according to claim 5, characterized in that.

7. Retaining or discarding TA corresponding to the target candidate cell means including retaining or discarding TA corresponding to the target candidate cell according to the cell type of the target candidate cell The method according to claim 1, characterized in that.

8. Retaining or discarding TA corresponding to the target candidate cell according to the cell type of the target candidate cell means when the cell type of the target candidate cell is a secondary cell (SCell), retaining TA corresponding to the target candidate cell; and when the cell type of the target candidate cell is a primary cell (PCell) or a primary secondary cell (PSCell), discarding TA corresponding to the target candidate cell, and includes The method according to claim 7, characterized in that.

9. Retaining TA corresponding to the target candidate cell means controlling the time calibration timer TAT to continue operating; controlling TAT to stop operating but retaining the TA value corresponding to the target candidate cell, and includes at least one of The method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that.

10. Discarding TA corresponding to the target candidate cell means controlling TAT to stop operating; determining that TAT has expired discarding the TA value corresponding to the target candidate cell; controlling a TAT to stop operation and discard a TA value corresponding to the target candidate cell; determining that the TAT has expired and discarding the TA value corresponding to the target candidate cell.

9. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 8.

11. It is performed by the network side device, The method includes determining whether the terminal retains or discards an uplink timing (TA) corresponding to a target candidate cell. A method for determining a terminal operation, comprising:

12. The method further includes a step of transmitting change instruction information to the terminal; The change instruction information is used to instruct the terminal to change the candidate cell settings used.

12. The method of claim 11 .

13. The method further includes a step of transmitting a stop use instruction information to the terminal; The suspension instruction information is used to instruct the terminal to suspend use of the target candidate cell configuration.

12. The method of claim 11 .

14. Determining whether the terminal retains or discards the uplink timing TA corresponding to the target candidate cell includes: Determine that the terminal retains or discards a TA corresponding to the target candidate cell based on network configuration instruction information sent to the terminal by the network side device, and the network configuration instruction information is used to instruct the terminal to retain or discard a TA corresponding to the target candidate cell; or determining whether the terminal will retain or discard a TA corresponding to the target candidate cell based on a protocol agreement; 12. The method of claim 11 .

15. Determining whether the terminal retains or discards the uplink timing TA corresponding to the target candidate cell includes: determining that the terminal retains or discards a TA corresponding to the target candidate cell according to whether there is a candidate cell activated for use in a target uplink timing group (TAG); The target TAG is the TAG in which the target candidate cell is located.

12. The method of claim 11 .

16. Determining that the terminal keeps or discards a TA corresponding to the target candidate cell according to whether there is a candidate cell activated for use in the target uplink timing group TAG, In response to determining that there is a candidate cell activated for use within a target uplink timing group (TAG), determining that the terminal maintains a TA corresponding to the target candidate cell; In response to determining that there is no candidate cell activated for use within the target TAG, the terminal determines to discard a TA corresponding to the target candidate cell; The target TAG is the TAG in which the target candidate cell is located.

16. The method of claim 15.

17. Determining whether the terminal retains or discards the uplink timing TA corresponding to the target candidate cell includes: and determining whether the terminal retains or discards a TA corresponding to the target candidate cell according to a cell type of the target candidate cell.

12. The method of claim 11 .

18. Determining that the terminal retains or discards a TA corresponding to the target candidate cell according to a cell type of the target candidate cell includes: If the cell type of the target candidate cell is a secondary cell (SCell), determining that the terminal holds a TA corresponding to the target candidate cell; If a cell type of the target candidate cell is a primary cell PCell or a primary secondary cell PSCell, determining that the terminal discards a TA corresponding to the target candidate cell.

18. The method of claim 17.

19. Determining that the terminal maintains an uplink timing TA corresponding to a target candidate cell includes: determining that the terminal controls a time calibration timer TAT to continue operating; and determining that the terminal controls a TAT to stop operating but maintains a TA value corresponding to the target candidate cell.

19. The method according to any one of claims 11 to 18.

20. Determining that the terminal discards the uplink timing TA corresponding to the target candidate cell includes: determining that the terminal controls the TAT to stop operating; determining that the terminal determines that the TAT has expired; determining that the terminal discards a TA value corresponding to the target candidate cell; The terminal controls a TAT to stop operating and determines to discard a TA value corresponding to the target candidate cell; the terminal determining that a TAT has expired and determining to discard a TA value corresponding to the target candidate cell.

19. The method according to any one of claims 11 to 18.

21. Applies to the terminal, and a maintenance module configured to retain or discard a TA corresponding to the target candidate cell in response to determining that a target candidate cell setting used by the terminal has been changed to be unusable. An uplink timing maintenance device characterized by:

22. Applied to network side devices, The terminal includes a determining module configured to determine whether to retain or discard an uplink timing TA corresponding to the target candidate cell. A terminal operation determination device characterized by:

23. a processor and a memory used to store instructions executable by the processor; The processor is configured to perform the uplink timing maintenance method according to any one of claims 1 to 10 above. An uplink timing maintenance device characterized by:

24. a processor and a memory used to store instructions executable by the processor; The processor is configured to execute the terminal operation determination method according to any one of claims 11 to 20 above. A terminal operation determination device characterized by:

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