Communication method, device, storage medium, and program product

Abstract

A communication method and apparatus, a computer-readable storage medium, and a computer program product are provided. The method is used by a first network device to send a request message for conditional handover to a second network device and receive a response message for conditional handover from the second network device. The response message includes indication information, which indicates at least one energy saving mode of a candidate cell of the second network device and at least one configuration information associated with the at least one energy saving mode for the conditional handover. In this manner, a network-energy-saving-triggered conditional handover is implemented, improving energy utilization efficiency.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates generally to the field of telecommunications, and more particularly to communication methods and apparatus, computer-readable storage media, and computer program products. [Background technology]

[0002] With the application and widespread adoption of 5G in various industries, 5G technology is increasingly required to handle more advanced services and applications, such as those with high bandwidth requirements. 5G networks are also becoming denser, using more antennas, larger bandwidths, and more frequency bands. The energy consumption of 5G systems, such as the energy consumption of active array units (AAUs) in the radio access network (RAN), is becoming increasingly high. Therefore, how to implement network energy conservation in 5G systems has become a major research topic in the industry. Summary of the Invention [Means for solving the problem]

[0003] The present disclosure provides a solution for using an energy saving mode during a conditional handover to reduce network energy consumption and improve energy utilization efficiency by using an energy saving mode during a handover between network devices such as base stations.

[0004] According to a first aspect, a communication method is provided. The method may be executed by a first network device or a chip used in the first network device. For illustrative purposes, the following example uses an example in which the method is executed by the first network device. In the method, the first network device transmits a request message for conditional handover to a second network device. Furthermore, the first network device receives a response message for conditional handover from the second network device. The response message includes indication information, which indicates at least one energy saving mode of a candidate cell of the second network device and at least one configuration information associated with the at least one energy saving mode for the conditional handover. In this way, a network-energy-saving-triggered conditional handover is implemented, improving energy utilization efficiency.

[0005] In some implementations, the request message indicates that the conditional handover is a network energy saving triggered conditional handover, thus the conditional handover is triggered by network energy saving, which results in network energy saving and improved energy utilization efficiency.

[0006] In some implementations, the energy saving mode includes cell discontinuous transmission (DTX). The energy saving mode may also include cell discontinuous reception (DRX). The energy saving mode may also include an energy saving state. The energy saving mode may also include a cell load state. Thus, the energy saving mode may be represented in multiple ways to implement energy saving-based conditional handover for different scenarios or application requirements.

[0007] In some implementations, after receiving the response message, the first network device further sends a reconfiguration message to the terminal device, the reconfiguration message including instruction information. In this manner, the network configures for the terminal, allowing the terminal to autonomously perform conditional handover based on network energy saving. In addition, this avoids the base station from triggering a handover procedure for each terminal device when the base station enters or changes its energy saving state, thereby avoiding signaling overhead and signaling storms.

[0008] In some implementations, the reconfiguration message includes identification information of a first energy saving mode of a source cell of the first network device. The reconfiguration message may further include identification information of a second energy saving mode of a candidate cell of the second network device. The reconfiguration message may further include conditional execution conditions associated with the first energy saving mode and the second energy saving mode. The reconfiguration message may further include configuration information associated with the conditional execution conditions. In this manner, the cell energy saving mode of the source base station, the cell energy saving mode of the handover target candidate base station, the conditional handover execution condition, and the configuration information associated with the conditional execution condition can be fully configured for the terminal, thereby allowing the terminal to autonomously perform a conditional handover based on network energy saving.

[0009] In some implementations, the reconfiguration message includes an identification of the energy saving mode of the cell of the first network device. The reconfiguration message may further include a conditional execution condition associated with the first energy saving mode. The reconfiguration message may further include configuration information associated with the conditional execution condition. In this way, the cell energy saving mode of the source base station, the execution condition for the conditional handover, and the configuration information associated with the conditional execution condition can be fully configured for the terminal, allowing the terminal to autonomously perform a conditional handover based on network energy saving under the condition of the current cell energy saving mode of the destination base station. In addition, this avoids the base station from triggering a handover procedure for each terminal device when the base station enters or changes its energy saving state, thereby avoiding signaling overhead and signaling storms.

[0010] In some implementations, the first network device further receives from the second network device an indication of a second energy saving mode for the candidate cell of the second network device. The first network device further transmits the indication of the second energy saving mode for the candidate cell of the second network device to the terminal device. In this way, the source base station can timely notify the terminal device of the status of the candidate base station cell to implement real-time energy saving-based conditional handover and adaptation, thereby facilitating network energy conservation. In addition, the conditional handover execution conditions can be flexibly indicated, allowing the terminal device to dynamically perform conditional handover evaluation. This avoids possible handover failures, effectively improves the handover performance of the terminal device, and ultimately ensures the energy saving effect of the base station.

[0011] In some implementations, the first network device transmits an indication of the second energy saving mode to the terminal device using a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE), where the MAC CE indicates the candidate cells and the corresponding energy saving mode. The first network device further transmits an indication of the second energy saving mode to the terminal device using Layer 1 signaling, where the Layer 1 signaling indicates the candidate cells and the corresponding energy saving mode. In this way, the source base station can more quickly and timely notify the terminal device of the status of the candidate base station cells to implement real-time energy saving-based conditional handover and adaptation, thereby facilitating network energy conservation. In addition, the conditional handover execution conditions can be flexibly indicated, allowing the terminal device to dynamically perform conditional handover evaluation. This avoids possible handover failures, effectively improves the handover performance of the terminal device, and ultimately ensures the energy saving effect of the base station.

[0012] In some implementations, the first network device transmits energy saving mode indication information to the terminal device, where the indication information indicates to suspend, delete, or resume configuration information for conditional handover. In this manner, configuration information for conditional handover that has not been used recently can be shielded, thereby improving the accuracy of the conditional handover.

[0013] In some implementations, when the energy saving mode of the first network device changes, the first network device transmits an energy saving mode indication to the terminal device. When the energy saving mode of the second network device changes, the first network device also transmits an energy saving mode indication to the terminal device. In this way, the terminal device may be notified of the energy saving mode changes of the source base station cell and the candidate base station cell in real time, thereby enabling the terminal to accurately perform energy-saving conditional handover. In addition, the conditional handover execution conditions can be flexibly indicated, allowing the terminal device to dynamically perform conditional handover evaluation. This avoids possible handover failures, effectively improves the handover performance of the terminal device, and ultimately ensures the energy saving effect of the base station.

[0014] In some implementations, the instruction information includes an identifier index of the conditional reconfiguration. The instruction information further includes an instruction to pause or delete the conditional reconfiguration. The instruction information further includes an instruction to continue measuring the at least one candidate cell associated with the conditional reconfiguration without triggering a conditional handover. In this way, configuration information corresponding to an energy saving mode that is not currently used can be accurately masked, thereby improving the accuracy of the conditional handover.

[0015] In some implementations, the instruction information includes an identifier of at least one energy saving mode of a cell of the first network device. The instruction information further includes an identifier of at least one energy saving mode of a cell of the second network device. The instruction information further includes an instruction to pause or delete the conditional reconfiguration. The instruction information further includes an instruction to continue measuring the at least one candidate cell associated with the conditional reconfiguration without triggering a conditional handover. The instruction information further includes an identifier of the at least one candidate cell of the second network device. In this way, configuration information corresponding to recently unused energy saving modes is accurately masked, thereby improving the accuracy of the conditional handover.

[0016] In some implementations, the energy saving mode indication is transmitted by using MAC CE. Alternatively, the energy saving mode indication may be transmitted by using a combination of Layer 1 signaling and an RRC reconfiguration message. In this way, the indication is transmitted by using flexible Layer 1 and Layer 2 signaling, thereby improving efficiency and real-time performance.

[0017] In some implementations, the first network device sends to the terminal device instructions to resume measurements on the cell associated with the conditional reconfiguration and to trigger the conditional handover when the conditional handover conditions are met, thereby accurately restoring the conditional handover of the cell.

[0018] In some implementations, the first network device transmits configuration information to the terminal device, the configuration information being used to configure the terminal device to select a candidate cell that is not in an energy saving mode as a target cell for the conditional handover when it is determined that multiple candidate cells satisfy the conditional handover condition, thereby avoiding the use of a cell that is in an energy saving mode as a target cell whenever possible and improving the reliability of the handover.

[0019] According to a second aspect, a communication method is provided. The method may be executed by a second network device or a chip used in the second network device. The following provides an example in which the execution entity is the second network device. In the method, the second network device receives a request message for conditional handover from the first network device. Furthermore, the second network device transmits a response message for conditional handover to the first network device. The response message includes instruction information, which indicates at least one energy saving mode of a candidate cell of the second network device and at least one configuration information associated with the at least one energy saving mode for the conditional handover. In this way, a network energy saving-triggered conditional handover is implemented, and energy utilization efficiency is improved.

[0020] In some implementations, the request message indicates that the conditional handover is a network energy saving triggered conditional handover, thus the conditional handover is triggered by network energy saving, which results in network energy saving and improved energy efficiency.

[0021] In some implementations, the energy saving mode includes discontinuous transmission (DTX). The energy saving mode further includes discontinuous reception (DRX). The energy saving mode further includes an energy saving state. The energy saving mode further includes a cell load state. Thus, the energy saving mode can be represented in multiple manners to implement energy saving-based conditional handover for different scenarios or application requirements.

[0022] In some implementations, the second network device is a distributed unit of a base station. The distributed unit receives a terminal context setup request message from a central unit of the base station, the terminal context setup request message including instruction information. The distributed unit sends a terminal context setup response message to the central unit, the terminal context setup response message including an energy saving mode of at least one cell of the second network device and a distributed unit configuration corresponding to the energy saving mode of the cell of the second network device. In this way, the central unit and the distributed unit are adapted to implement a base station configuration for performing a conditional handover for network energy saving.

[0023] In some implementations, the distributed unit configuration includes a cell group configuration, allowing for flexible configuration of the energy saving mode of the distributed unit.

[0024] In some implementations, the terminal context setup response message further includes an energy saving mode index of the cell of the second network device. In this manner, the energy saving mode of the distributed unit is flexibly configured.

[0025] In some implementations, the second network device further transmits a response message for the conditional handover to the first network device based on the terminal context setup response message. In this manner, the energy saving mode of the distributed unit of the candidate base station is transmitted to the source base station, and thereby the energy saving mode is transmitted to the terminal device to perform the energy saving conditional handover.

[0026] In some implementations, the response message for the conditional handover includes an energy saving mode of at least one cell of the second network device and configuration information configured for the distributed unit, and the configuration information is transmitted to the terminal device. In this way, the energy saving mode of the distributed unit of the candidate base station is transmitted to the source base station, and thereby the energy saving mode is transmitted to the terminal device to implement the energy saving conditional handover.

[0027] According to a third aspect, a communication method is provided. The method may be performed by a terminal device or a chip used in the terminal device. For illustrative purposes, the following example uses an example in which the method is performed by the terminal device. In the method, the terminal device receives a reconfiguration message from a first network device. Furthermore, the terminal device performs a conditional handover based on an energy saving mode based on the reconfiguration information. The reconfiguration message includes instruction information, which indicates at least one energy saving mode of a candidate cell of a second network device and at least one configuration information associated with the at least one energy saving mode for the conditional handover. In this way, a network-energy-saving-triggered conditional handover is performed, improving energy utilization efficiency. In addition, the conditional handover execution condition can be flexibly indicated, allowing the terminal device to dynamically perform conditional handover evaluation. This avoids possible handover failures, effectively improves the handover performance of the terminal device, and ultimately ensures the energy saving effect of the base station.

[0028] In some implementations, the reconfiguration message includes an identifier of a first energy saving mode of the source cell of the first network device. The reconfiguration message further includes an identifier of a second energy saving mode of the candidate cell of the second network device. The reconfiguration message further includes the first energy saving mode. The reconfiguration message further includes a conditional execution condition associated with the second energy saving mode. The reconfiguration message also includes a conditional reconfiguration associated with the conditional execution condition. In this way, the energy saving modes of the source cell and the candidate cell are fully represented, thereby enabling the terminal to accurately perform energy-saving conditional handover. In addition, the conditional handover execution condition can be flexibly indicated, allowing the terminal device to dynamically perform conditional handover evaluation. This avoids possible handover failures, effectively improves the handover performance of the terminal device, and ultimately ensures the energy saving effect of the base station.

[0029] In some implementations, the terminal device further receives an energy saving mode indication from the first network device, the indication indicating to suspend, delete, or resume the configuration information for the conditional handover. In this way, the energy saving mode can be flexibly enabled or disabled, and the conditional handover in the energy saving mode can be accurately performed.

[0030] In some implementations, the terminal device further suspends the conditional reconfiguration based on at least one of the first network device and the second network device entering an energy saving mode. The terminal device further resumes the conditional reconfiguration based on at least one of the first network device and the second network device exiting the energy saving mode. In this way, the energy saving mode can be flexibly enabled or disabled, and the conditional handover of the energy saving mode can be accurately performed.

[0031] In some implementations, the terminal device selects a candidate cell that is not in an energy saving mode as the target cell for the conditional handover based on determining multiple candidate target cells that satisfy the conditional handover conditions, thereby improving the success rate and reliability of the conditional handover.

[0032] According to a fourth aspect, a first communication device is provided, the first communication device including a transmitting module configured to transmit a request message for conditional handover to a second communication device. The first communication device further includes a receiving module configured to receive a response message for conditional handover from the second communication device, the response message including indication information indicating at least one energy saving mode of a candidate cell of the second network device and at least one configuration information associated with the at least one energy saving mode for the conditional handover. In this manner, a network energy saving triggered conditional handover is performed, improving energy utilization efficiency.

[0033] According to a fifth aspect, a second communication device is provided. The second communication device includes a receiving module configured to receive a request message for conditional handover from the first communication device. The second communication device further includes a transmitting module configured to transmit a response message for conditional handover to the first network device. The response message includes indication information, the indication information indicating at least one energy saving mode of a candidate cell of the second network device and at least one configuration information associated with the at least one energy saving mode for the conditional handover. In this manner, a network energy saving triggered conditional handover is implemented, improving energy utilization efficiency.

[0034] According to a sixth aspect, there is provided a terminal device including a receiving module configured to receive a reconfiguration message from a first network device. The terminal device further includes a conditional handover module configured to perform an energy saving mode-based conditional handover for the terminal device based on the reconfiguration information. The reconfiguration message includes indication information, the indication information indicating at least one energy saving mode of a candidate cell of a second network device and at least one configuration information associated with the at least one energy saving mode for the conditional handover. In this way, a network energy saving-triggered conditional handover is performed, improving energy utilization efficiency.

[0035] According to a seventh aspect, the present disclosure provides a computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program product that, when executed, performs the methods performed by the remote communication device, the relay terminal device, the terminal device, and the network device according to the previous aspects.

[0036] According to an eighth aspect, there is provided a computer program product, the computer program product comprising computer program code that, when executed, performs the methods performed by the remote communication device, the relay terminal device, the terminal device, and the network device of the previous aspects. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0037] [Figure 1A] 1 is a communication scenario in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented.

[0038] [Figure 1B] 1 is a diagram of discontinuous transmission of a cell and discontinuous reception of a terminal according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0039] [Figure 1C-1] 1 is a schematic flowchart of a conditional handover according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; [Figure 1C-2] 1 is a schematic flowchart of a conditional handover according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0040] [Figure 1D] FIG. 2 is a diagram of a base station having a CD / DU architecture according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0041] [Figure 2A] 1 is a flowchart of the use of network energy saving mode in conditional handover according to certain embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0042] [Figure 2B] FIG. 10 is a diagram of a conditional handover instruction triggered by network energy savings according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0043] [Figure 3] FIG. 10 is a diagram of a base station performing conditional reconfiguration on a terminal according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0044] [Figure 4] FIG. 10 is a diagram of a base station performing conditional reconfiguration for a terminal according to another embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0045] [Figure 5] FIG. 10 illustrates signaling to indicate an energy saving mode using a MAC CE according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0046] [Figure 6] FIG. 10 is a signaling diagram for indicating an energy saving mode using a MAC CE according to another embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0047] [Figure 7]FIG. 10 is a signaling diagram for indicating an energy saving mode using a MAC CE according to yet another embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0048] [Figure 8] 10 is a flowchart for reporting a conditional handover of a network energy saving mode of a terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0049] [Figure 9] 1 is a flowchart of a communication method implemented in a first network device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0050] [Figure 10] 10 is a flowchart of a communication method implemented in a second network device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0051] [Figure 11] 1 is a flowchart of a communication method implemented in a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0052] [Figure 12] 1 is a simplified block diagram of an exemplary device in a possible implementation according to certain embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0053] [Figure 13] 1 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device in a possible implementation according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0054] In order to make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of the present disclosure clearer, the present disclosure will be described in more detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. The specific operation methods, function descriptions, etc. in the method embodiments may also be applied to the device embodiments or system embodiments.

[0055] With the application of 5G in various industries and the widespread adoption of 5G in various geographical regions, 5G technology is increasingly required to handle more advanced services and applications, such as high-bandwidth XR applications, including augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and mixed reality (MR). In addition, 5G networks are also becoming denser, using more antennas, larger bandwidth, and more frequency bands. In this environment, how to implement network energy conservation in 5G systems has become one of the major research topics in the industry.

[0056] Currently, most of the energy consumption in 5G systems comes from the Radio Access Network (RAN), especially the Active Antenna Unit (AAU). Currently, the power consumption of radio access devices is divided into a dynamic portion that is consumed only when data is being transmitted or received, and a static portion that is consumed constantly, even when no data is being transmitted or received. Therefore, it is necessary to introduce base station energy saving techniques into the air interface technology without affecting user performance.

[0057] In view of this, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a communication method using an energy saving mode in a conditional handover. In this method, a first network device transmits a request message for conditional handover to a second network device. Furthermore, the first network device receives a response message for conditional handover from the second network device. The response message includes indication information, which indicates at least one energy saving mode of a candidate cell of the second network device and at least one configuration information associated with the at least one energy saving mode for the conditional handover. In this way, a network energy saving-triggered conditional handover is implemented, and energy utilization efficiency is improved.

[0058] The disclosed embodiments further provide a communication method using an energy saving mode in a conditional handover. In the method, a second network device receives a request message for a conditional handover from a first network device. The second network device then transmits a response message for the conditional handover to the first network device. The response message includes instruction information, which indicates at least one energy saving mode of a candidate cell of the second network device and at least one configuration information associated with the at least one energy saving mode for the conditional handover. In this manner, a network-energy-saving-triggered conditional handover is implemented, improving energy utilization efficiency.

[0059] An embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a communication method using an energy saving mode in a conditional handover. In this method, a terminal device receives a reconfiguration message from a first network device. Furthermore, the terminal device performs a conditional handover based on the energy saving mode based on the reconfiguration information. The reconfiguration message includes instruction information, which indicates at least one energy saving mode of a candidate cell of a second network device and at least one configuration information associated with the at least one energy saving mode for the conditional handover. In this way, a network-energy-saving-triggered conditional handover is performed, improving energy utilization efficiency. In addition, the conditional handover execution conditions can be flexibly indicated, allowing the terminal device to dynamically perform conditional handover evaluation. This avoids possible handover failures, effectively improves the handover performance of the terminal device, and ultimately ensures the energy saving effect of the base station.

[0060] 1A illustrates a communication scenario in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented. Specifically, scenario 100 illustrates a scenario in which a terminal device 105 is handed over between a first network device 101, e.g., a base station, and a second network device 103, e.g., a base station. The terminal device 105 may maintain a connection to the first network device 101, and handover execution conditions are pre-configured by the network. When the handover execution conditions are met, the terminal device 105 is handed over from the first network device 101 to the second network device 103.

[0061] The terminal device 105 shown above may be a user equipment (UE), terminal, access terminal, terminal unit, terminal station, mobile station (MS), remote station, remote terminal, mobile terminal, wireless communication device, terminal agent, terminal device, etc. Alternatively, the terminal device 105 may be a communication chip having a communication module, or a vehicle or in-vehicle device having communication capabilities (e.g., an in-vehicle communication unit or an in-vehicle communication chip). The terminal device 105 may have wireless transceiver functionality and may communicate (e.g., perform wireless communication) with one or more network devices in one or more communication systems and receive network services provided by the network devices. Network devices here include, but are not limited to, the first network device 101 and the second network device 103 shown in the figure.

[0062] The terminal device 105 may be a mobile phone, a cordless phone, a session initiation protocol (SIP) phone, a wireless local loop (WLL) station, a personal digital assistant (PDA) device, a handheld device with wireless communication capabilities, a computing device or another processing device connected to a wireless modem, an in-vehicle device, a wearable device, a terminal device in a 5G network, a terminal device in a future evolved PLMN network, or may be a terminal device in a future 6G or higher network standard.

[0063] Specifically, the terminal device 105 may be a mobile phone, a tablet computer (pad), a computer with a wireless transceiver function, a virtual reality (VR) terminal, an augmented reality (AR) terminal, a wireless terminal in industrial control, a wireless terminal in self-driving, a wireless terminal in remote medical, a wireless terminal in a smart grid, a wireless terminal in transportation safety, a wireless terminal in a smart city, a wireless terminal in a smart home, etc.

[0064] Additionally, the first network device 101, the second network device 103, and the terminal device 105 may be deployed on land, including as indoor devices, outdoor devices, handheld devices, or vehicle-mounted devices. The first network device 101, the second network device 103, and the terminal device 105 may also be deployed on water (e.g., on a ship). Alternatively, the first network device 101, the second network device 103, and the terminal device 105 may be deployed in the air (e.g., on an airplane, balloon, or satellite).

[0065] The first network device 101 and the second network device 103 may be access network devices (also called access network stations). The access network device is a device that provides network access functionality, such as a radio access network (RAN) or a base station. The network device 101 may specifically include a base station (BS), or may include a base station, a radio resource management device configured to control the base station, etc. The first network device 101 and the second network device 103 may further include a relay station, an access point, a base station in a 5G network or an NR base station, a base station in a future evolved PLMN network, etc. The first network device 101 and the second network device 103 may be a wearable device or an in-vehicle device. Alternatively, the first network device 101 and the second network device 103 may be a communication chip having a communication module.

[0066] For example, the first network device 101 and the second network device 103 may include, but are not limited to, a base station (gNodeB, gNB) in 5G, an evolved NodeB (eNB) in a long term evolution (LTE) system, a radio network controller (RNC), a radio controller in a cloud radio access network (CRAN), a base station controller (BSC), a home base station (e.g., a home evolved NodeB or home NodeB, HNB), a baseBand Unit (BBU), a transmitting and receiving point (TRP), a transmitting point (TP), a mobile switching center, or may be an evolved NB (eNB or eNodeB) in LTE, or may be a base station device in a 5G network or an access network device in a future evolved PLMN network, or may be a wearable device or an in-vehicle device.

[0067] In some deployments, a network device may include a central unit (CU) and a distributed unit (DU). The network device may further include an active antenna unit (AAU). The CU implements some network device functions, and the DU implements some other network device functions. For example, the CU is responsible for processing non-real-time protocols and services and implementing radio resource control (RRC) and packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer functions. The DU is responsible for processing physical layer protocols and real-time services and implements radio link control (RLC), media access control (MAC), and physical (PHY) layer functions. The AAU implements some physical layer processing functions, radio frequency processing, and active antenna-related functions. Information at the RRC layer is ultimately converted to or from information at the PHY layer. Therefore, in this architecture, higher layer signaling, such as RRC layer signaling, may be considered to be transmitted by the DU or by the DU and AAU. It may be understood that a network device may be a device including one or more of a CU node, a DU node, and an AAU node. In addition, a CU may be classified as a network device within a radio access network (RAN), or a CU may be classified as a network device within a core network (CN). This is not a limitation of the present disclosure.Examples of network devices include, but are not limited to, a Node B (NodeB or NB), an evolved Node B (eNodeB or eNB), a next generation Node B (gNB), a transmit / receive point (TRP), a remote radio unit (RRU), a radio head (RH), a remote radio head (RRH), an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) node, a low power node such as a femto node, a pico node, a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS), a network controlled repeater, etc.

[0068] Additionally, the first network device 101 and the second network device 103 may be connected to a core network (CN) device, which may be configured to provide core network services to the first network device 101, the second network device 103, and the terminal device 105. The core network device may correspond to different devices in different systems. For example, in 3G, the core network device may correspond to a serving general packet radio service (GPRS) support node (SGSN) and / or a gateway GPRS support node (GGSN). In 4G, the core network device may correspond to a mobility management entity (MME) and / or a serving gateway (S-GW). In 5G, core network devices may support functions such as access and mobility management function (AMF), session management function (SMF), and user plane function (UPF).

[0069] Cell discontinuous transmission (DTX) / discontinuous reception (DRX) is an effective technique for implementing base station energy saving. A base station may configure periodic cell DTX / DRX for a UE in a connected state. Cell DTX / DRX may include an active cycle and a non-active cycle. In a DTX / DRX inactive cycle, the base station may not transmit / receive some periodic signals / channels, such as UE-specific signals / channels, to achieve base station energy saving effects.

[0070] Cell DTX / DRX parameters include cycle, start slot / offset, and on duration. Cell DTX and cell DRX parameters may be configured together. For example, cell DTX and cell DRX may use the same time to simplify system design. Alternatively, cell DTX and cell DRX may be configured separately to provide flexibility.

[0071] 1B is a diagram illustrating discontinuous transmission of a cell and discontinuous reception of a terminal according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In scenario 110, before time point 111, the base station enables cell DTX / DRX. After time point 111, the base station disables cell DTX / DRX.

[0072] The terminal device DRX may be aligned with the base station's cell DTX. For example, in FIG. 1B , terminal device 1's DRX on time 115 and terminal device 2's DRX on time 117 are within the base station's cell DTX on time 113, so the base station does not need to transmit at least a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) or a Physical Downlink Share Channel (PDSCH) during DTX off times other than 113. Therefore, the base station is in an energy saving state during the DTX off times.

[0073] The handover between UE DRX and cell DTX / DRX may be indicated by Layer 1 (L1) or Layer 2 (L2) signaling, or by Layer 3 (Radio Resource Control, RRC), for example, using L1 PDCCH Downlink Control Information (DCI) signaling or L2 Media Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE) signaling. For example, a base station may send L2 or L1 or L1 group signaling to indicate to the UE to enter or leave cell DTX / DRX state at the next time, or to handover between different cell DTX / DRX configurations / modes.

[0074] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, DTX on is equivalent to DTX active and corresponds to active time. DTX off is equivalent to DTX non-active and corresponds to inactive time. UE DRX and UE Connected Mode DRX (C-DRX) may be interchangeable.

[0075] Conditional Handover (CHO) reduces the probability of handover failure and improves handover reliability. In a conventional handover, a source base station sends a handover command to a UE to instruct the UE to perform a handover. CHO allows the source base station to send a handover command to the UE in advance, so that the UE autonomously decides to initiate handover execution after finding a base station among the destination candidate base stations that meets the handover trigger conditions. The handover command may include the radio parameter configuration of the destination candidate base station, handover execution conditions, etc. In this way, the probability of handover success can be increased.

[0076] CHO can be defined as a handover procedure that is executed by a UE when one or more handover execution conditions are met. After receiving the CHO configuration, the UE starts to perform the condition verification. Once the handover is executed, the UE stops performing the condition verification.

[0077] The CHO configuration includes a configuration of CHO candidate cells generated by the destination candidate base station and a handover execution condition generated by the source base station.

[0078] The handover execution condition includes one or two execution conditions and corresponds to a measurement identifier (MeasID). For example, the MeasID may include CHO event A3 or A5.

[0079] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the handover execution condition may be defined using the condExecutionCond-r16 field. ConditionalReconfiguration-r16 ::= SEQUENCE { attemptCondReconfig-r16 ENUMERATED {true} OPTIONAL, -- Cond CHO condReconfigToRemoveList-r16 CondReconfigToRemoveList-r16 OPTIONAL, -- Need N condReconfigToAddModList-r16 CondReconfigToAddModList-r16 OPTIONAL, -- Need N ... } CondReconfigToRemoveList-r16 ::= SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofCondCells-r16)) OF CondReconfigId-r16 CondReconfigToAddModList-r16 ::= SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofcondCells-r16)) OF CondReconfigToAddMod-r16 CondReconfigToAddMod-r16 ::= SEQUENCE { condReconfigId-r16 CondReconfigId-r16, condExecutionCond-r16 SEQUENCE (SIZE(1..2)) OF MeasId OPTIONAL, -- Need M OCTET STRING (CONTAINING RRCReconfiguration) OPTIONAL, -- Cond condReconfigAdd OCTET STRING (CONTAINING CondReconfigExecCondSCG-r17) OPTIONAL, -- Need M

[0080] 1C-1 and 1C-2 are schematic flowcharts of a conditional handover according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In an embodiment of the present disclosure, FIG. 1C-1 and 1C-2 specifically show a conditional handover procedure between base stations in AMF / UPF based on Xn interface communication.

[0081] In procedure 120, there are terminal device 105, source base station 121, destination base station 123, other candidate base stations 125, Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) 127, and User Plane Function (UPF) 129. Terminal device 105 is the same as terminal device 105 in FIG. 1A. Source base station 121 may be a specific implementation of first network device 101 in FIG. 1A, and destination base station 123 and other candidate base stations 125 may be specific implementations of second network device 103 in FIG. 1A. Destination base station 123 and other candidate base stations 125 may be collectively referred to as "candidate base stations."

[0082] At 131, user data is transmitted between the terminal device 105 and the source base station 121. At 133, the user data is transmitted between the source base station 121 and the UPF 129. At 135, the AMF 127 provides mobility control information to the source base station 121, the destination base station 123, and other candidate base stations 125. At step 137, the terminal device 105 and the source base station 121 perform measurement control and reporting. For example, the terminal device 105 may measure channel conditions and report the channel conditions to the source base station 121. At 139, the source base station 121 decides to perform a conditional handover.

[0083] At 141a and 141b, the source base station 121 separately transmits request messages for conditional handover, e.g., a first handover request 141a and a second handover request 141b, to multiple candidate base stations, including the destination base station 123 and other candidate base stations 125. In an embodiment of the present disclosure, one handover request message may be for one candidate cell. The destination base station 123 and the other candidate base stations 125 may each include multiple cells. Thus, the first handover request 141a and the second handover request 141b are indicated by using multiple arrows. At 142a, the destination base station 123 performs admission control and grants the first handover request, and at 143a, transmits a response message, e.g., a first handover response, to the source base station 121. The first handover response may include a conditional handover candidate cell configuration at the destination base station 123, e.g., Network Energy Saving (NES) mode information or an energy saving mode index of the candidate cell. At 142b, the other candidate base station 125 performs admission control and grants the second handover request, and at 143b, transmits a response message, e.g., a second handover response, to the source base station 121. The second handover response may include a conditional handover candidate cell configuration at the other candidate base station 125, e.g., NES mode information or an energy saving mode index of the candidate cell. In an embodiment of the present disclosure, one handover response message may be used for one candidate cell. The destination base station 123 and the other candidate base station 125 may each include multiple cells. Therefore, the first handover request 141a and the second handover request 141b are indicated by using multiple arrows.

[0084] At 144, the source base station 121 sends a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message to the terminal device 105, where the radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message includes one or more CHO candidate cells and CHO execution conditions corresponding to the one or more candidate cells. At 145, the terminal device 105 sends an RRC reconfiguration complete message to the source base station 121. At 147, the source base station 121 sends the previous state to the other candidate base stations 125. At 153, the AMF 127 sends user data to the source base station 121 and the other candidate base stations 125.

[0085] After receiving the reconfiguration message at 144, the terminal device 105 continues to maintain its connection to the source base station 121 and evaluates the CHO execution conditions for the candidate cells at 149. If at least one CHO candidate cell satisfies the conditional handover execution condition, the terminal device 105 detaches from the source cell at 151, disconnects from the source cell, applies the stored configuration of the selected target cell from the candidate cell, synchronizes to the target cell, for example, in the destination base station 123, and sends an RRC reconfiguration complete message to the target cell. After successfully completing the handover procedure, the terminal device 105 releases the stored CHO configuration. At 155, the terminal device 105, the source base station 121, the destination base station 123, and the other candidate base stations 125 terminate the conditional handover. Specifically, at 155a, the destination base station 123 sends a "Handover Success" message to the source base station 123 to notify the source base station 121 that the terminal device 105 has successfully accessed the target cell of the destination base station 121, and at 155b, the source base station 121 sends a sequence number status to the destination base station 123. At 155c, the source base station 121 sends a "Handover Cancel" message to the other candidate base station 125 to cancel the CHO to the other candidate base station 125.

[0086]

[0013] Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a solution for performing conditional handover in the context of energy saving in a base station. If a candidate cell supports one or more NES modes, instructions may be executed between the source base station and the candidate base station and between the base station and the terminal device to support conditional handover for energy saving sensing. The energy saving modes may include two states, an NES mode-on state and an NES mode-off state, or may include multiple NES modes in the NES mode-on state, or may include changing between multiple NES modes.

[0087] After the CHO NES mode of a candidate cell changes, the conditional reconfiguration performed by the terminal device 105 is no longer appropriate or needs to be updated to a conditional reconfiguration of another NES mode. If a CHO RRC change is triggered every time a candidate cell triggers an NES mode change, it will cause large air interface signaling overhead, reduce the effective CHO gain, and make it difficult to achieve good system energy saving effects. When the candidate base station uses a central unit / distributed unit (CU / DU) architecture, a CHO that can support energy saving sensing needs to be considered.

[0088] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, when the source cell of the source base station 121 enables the energy saving mode, or when the destination base station 123 and other candidate base stations 125 enable the energy saving mode, the following scenario may be considered: After entering the energy saving mode, the source base station 121 expects to hand over the terminal device 105 to a cell of a neighboring base station in a cycle in which DTX / DRX is disabled to reduce system load. CHO may be used to improve the handover success rate. In this case, the conditional handover execution condition of the terminal device 105 is related to the NES mode of the source cell.

[0089] When configuring the CHO execution condition after the candidate cell enters the NES mode, the source base station 121 may avoid handing over the terminal device 105 to the candidate cell as much as possible to avoid the case where data transmission cannot be performed after the handover.

[0090] When the source cell and candidate cells of the source base station support multiple NES modes, the base station may dynamically change the NES mode by using L1 / L2 signaling, thereby allowing the terminal device 105 to support conditional handover of energy-saving sensing in multiple modes.

[0091] FIG. 1D is a diagram of a base station having a CD / DU architecture according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0092] At 170, 5G core network 171 is connected to gNBs 175 and 177 in 5G radio access network 173 through an NG interface. gNB 175 may be an implementation of first network device 101 of FIG. 1A, and gNB 177 may be an implementation of second network device 103 of FIG. 1A. gNB 177 includes a gNB central unit (CU) 179 and gNB distributed units (DUs) 181 and 183. gNB 175 is connected to gNB central unit (CU) 179 through an Xn-C interface, and gNB central unit 179 is separately connected to gNB distributed units 181 and 183 through an F1 interface. The gNB central unit is a logical node that implements the functions of Radio Resource Control (RRC), Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP), and Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP). The gNB distributed units implement the functions of Radio Link Control (RLC), Media Access Control (MAC), and Physical Layer (PHY). A gNB distributed unit controls one or multiple cells, and one cell can belong to only one gNB distributed unit.

[0093] FIG. 2A is a schematic flow chart of the use of a network energy saving mode in a conditional handover according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0094] In procedure 200, the first network device 101 transmits (203) a request for conditional handover message 205 to the second network device 103. The request for conditional handover message 205 may correspond to the first handover request 141a and the second handover request 141b in FIGS. 1C-1 and 1C-2. The request for conditional handover message 205 indicates that the conditional handover is triggered by network energy saving. In this manner, the conditional handover can be triggered in a network energy saving manner, thereby reducing energy consumption and improving energy utilization efficiency.

[0095] After receiving (207) the request for conditional handover message 205, the second network device 103 sends (208) to the first network device 101 a response message for conditional handover 210. The response message for conditional handover 210 may correspond to the first handover request acknowledgment 143a and the second handover request acknowledgment 143b in FIGS. 1C-1 and 1C-2. The response message 210 includes indication information indicating at least one energy saving mode of a candidate cell of the second network device 103 and at least one configuration information associated with the at least one energy saving mode for conditional handover.

[0096] After receiving (212) the response message for conditional handover 210, the first network device 101 sends (213) a reconfiguration message 215 to the terminal device 105, where the reconfiguration message 215 includes instruction information. The reconfiguration message 215 may correspond to the RRC reconfiguration 144 in FIGS. 1C-1 and 1C-2. After receiving (217) the reconfiguration message 215, the terminal device 105 performs a conditional handover based on the energy saving mode based on the reconfiguration message 215 in step 219. In this manner, the energy saving mode of the candidate cell of the second network device 103 may be transmitted to the terminal device 105, whereby the terminal device 105 autonomously initiates a conditional handover in the energy saving mode, thereby reducing energy consumption, improving energy utilization efficiency, and ensuring system energy saving requirements. Additionally, this avoids the base station from triggering a handover procedure for each terminal device when the base station enters or changes the energy saving state, thereby avoiding signaling overhead and signaling storms. Those skilled in the art may understand that the first network device 101 may receive the response message for conditional handover 210 directly from the second network device 103, or may receive the response message for conditional handover 210 from the second network device 103 via a core network or a relay device. This is not a limitation in the present disclosure.

[0097] FIG. 2B is a diagram of a conditional handover indication triggered by network energy savings, according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0098] The conditional handover indication 220 indicates to the second network device 103 of the destination base station, for example, that a conditional handover request is triggered by energy saving of the base station. The conditional handover indication 220 may include a conditional handover trigger (CHO trigger) 221 and enumerated configuration information ENUMERATED(CHO-NES-initiation, ...).

[0099] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, specific implementations of the energy saving mode in the instruction information include cell discontinuous transmission (DTX) and cell discontinuous reception (DRX). Cell discontinuous transmission (DTX) may include a cycle, an offset, and a duration. Cell discontinuous reception (DRX) may also include a cycle, an offset, and a duration. In multiple energy saving modes, multiple cell DTX / DRX modes may exist, and different cell discontinuous transmission / reception modes may have different cycles, offsets, or durations. The energy saving mode may include an energy saving state, such as off, deep sleep, normal sleep, slight sleep, or on. The energy saving mode may also include a cell load state, such as 0%, 20%, 40%, 60%, or 80%. Therefore, the energy saving mode may be expressed in multiple ways to adapt to different application scenarios and have flexibility. In an embodiment of the present disclosure, for one or more energy saving modes, the energy saving mode in the indication information may be indicated using an energy saving mode index. For example, for multiple cell DTX / DRX modes, the index of a first cell DTX / DRX mode is 0, the index of a second cell DTX / DRX mode is 1, and so on. In another example, for multiple cell DTX / DRX modes, one energy saving mode index is associated with one cell DTX / DRX mode. Those skilled in the art may understand that the energy saving mode may further include other modes, and the energy saving state and the cell load state may further include other values. This is not a limitation of the present disclosure.

[0100] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the current energy saving mode of the source cell of the first network device 101 may be specifically identified by using cell DTX, cell DRX, energy saving status, or cell load status, or by using an energy saving mode index. For example, the second network device 103 of the destination base station may perform an interaction based on the energy saving mode of node interaction and obtain the energy saving mode configuration of the source cell of the first network device 101 based on the index. In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the indication information may further include the number of energy saving modes supported by the source cell of the first network device 101 and the configuration of each energy saving mode. Specific implementations of the energy saving modes are as described above. In this way, the second network device 103 can conveniently obtain the energy saving mode of the source cell of the first network device 101.

[0101] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, when the second network device 103 is in the CU / DU split architecture shown in FIG. 1D, after receiving the request message 205 including the indication information of FIG. 2A, the CU of the second network device 103 sends a terminal context setup request message to the DU. The terminal context setup request message includes the indication information. The DU sends a terminal context setup response message to the CU, where the terminal context setup response message includes the NES modes of the cells of one or more DUs and the DU configuration information corresponding to the NES modes.

[0102] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the NES mode of the DU's cell and the DU configuration information corresponding to the NES mode may be realized as the current NES mode of the DU's candidate cell and the corresponding cell group configuration (CellGroupConfig).In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the NES mode of the DU's cell and the DU configuration information corresponding to the NES mode may alternatively be realized as all NES modes supported by the DU's candidate cell and the corresponding cell group configuration (CellGroupConfig). Candidate cell NES mode 1, CellGroupConfig 1 Candidate cell NES mode 2, CellGroupConfig 2

[0103] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the NES mode of the DU's cell and the DU configuration information corresponding to the NES mode may alternatively be realized as a non-NES mode of the candidate cell and CellGroupConfig 1. In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the NES mode may also include a non-energy saving mode.

[0104] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the cell group configuration may be implemented as a distributed unit configuration.

[0105] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the NES mode of the DU's cell and the DU configuration information corresponding to the NES mode may alternatively be implemented as follows: The current NES mode of the candidate cell is indicated based on all NES modes supported by the DU's candidate cell. In an embodiment of the present disclosure, in a CU / DU architecture, the DU may notify the CU of a change in the NES mode, and the CU notifies the terminal device 105 of the change using the source cell of the first network device 101.

[0106] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the reconfiguration message includes identification information of a first energy saving mode of the source cell of the first network device 101. The reconfiguration message may further include identification information of a second energy saving mode of the candidate cell of the second network device 103. The reconfiguration message may further include conditional execution conditions associated with one or both of the first energy saving mode and the second energy saving mode. The reconfiguration message may further include configuration information associated with the conditional execution conditions. In this manner, the terminal device 105 can obtain complete configuration information and conditional execution condition-related information of the first network device 101 and the second network device 103, thereby allowing the terminal device 105 to accurately perform the conditional handover of the energy saving mode.

[0107] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the response message 210 in FIG. 2A includes one or more NES modes of the candidate cells of the second network device 103 and configuration information for conditional handover associated with the NES modes. The configuration information may include a conditional RRC reconfiguration including a cell group configuration. That is, the one or more NES modes and the configuration information for conditional handover associated with the NES modes and used for the conditional handover may be implemented as follows: The NES mode 1 of the candidate cell includes the RRCReconfiguration condition of CellGroupConfig1. The NES mode 2 of the candidate cell includes the RRCReconfiguration condition of CellGroupConfig2. …

[0108] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the NES mode of the candidate cell and the conditional reconfiguration information corresponding to the NES mode may be realized as a non-NES mode of the candidate cell and CellGroupConfig 1 of the non-NES mode. In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the NES mode may also include a non-energy saving mode.

[0109] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the cell group configuration may be implemented as a distributed unit configuration.

[0110] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, an NES mode may be implemented as an NES mode index corresponding to the NES mode. The NES index is a value in an ascending NES mode sequence. For example, in one or more NES modes, the index value corresponding to the first NES mode is 0, the index value corresponding to the second NES mode is 1, and so on. In another example, one NES mode index is associated with one NES mode. For example, the configuration information may include a conditional RRC reconfiguration including a cell group configuration. That is, the one or more NES mode indexes and the configuration information associated with the NES mode indexes and used for conditional handover may be implemented as follows: The NES mode index 1 of the candidate cell includes the RRCReconfiguration condition of CellGroupConfig1. The NES mode index 2 of the candidate cell includes the RRCReconfiguration condition of CellGroupConfig2. …

[0111] In this manner, the NES mode and configuration information of the candidate cells of the second network device 102 may be fully transmitted to the first network device 101 to facilitate accurate NES mode conditional handover.

[0112] 2A, the first network device 101 sends 213 a reconfiguration message 215, such as an RRC reconfiguration message, to the terminal device 105. The reconfiguration message 215 may include indication information indicating at least one energy saving mode of a candidate cell of the second network device 103 and at least one configuration information associated with the at least one energy saving mode for conditional handover.

[0113] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, for a candidate cell of the second network device 103, the reconfiguration message 215 may include one or more cell NES modes and a target cell conditional RRC reconfiguration associated with the cell's NES mode.

[0114] In some implementations, the reconfiguration message 215 includes an identification of a first energy saving mode of a source cell of the first network device 101. The reconfiguration message 215 may further include an identification of a second energy saving mode of a candidate cell of the second network device 103. The reconfiguration message 215 may further include conditional execution conditions associated with the first energy saving mode and the second energy saving mode. The reconfiguration message 215 may further include configuration information associated with the conditional execution conditions. In this manner, the cell energy saving mode of the first network device 101, the cell energy saving mode of the second network device 103, the conditional handover execution condition, and the configuration information associated with the conditional execution condition can be fully configured for the terminal, whereby the terminal device 105 autonomously performs a conditional handover based on the network energy saving.

[0115] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, for each candidate cell, a list may be configured for the terminal device 105, with each list element including the energy saving mode of the source cell, the energy saving mode of the candidate cell, a measurement identifier, and a conditional RRC reconfiguration.

[0116] 3 illustrates a conditional reconfiguration performed by a base station for a terminal according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In 300, a list may be configured for a terminal device 105 for a candidate cell 301, with the list elements including a source cell network energy saving mode 1 303 and a source cell network energy saving mode 2 305. The source cell network energy saving mode 1 303 corresponds to a candidate cell network energy saving mode 1 307 and a candidate cell energy saving mode 2 309. If the source cell of the first network device 101 has M source cell network energy saving modes and the candidate cell of the second network device 103 has N candidate cell network energy saving modes, M*N combinations of source cell network energy saving modes and candidate cell network energy saving modes may be generated. The candidate cell energy saving mode 1 307 corresponds to a measurement identifier (MeasID) 1a 311 and / or a measurement identifier 2a 313. The measurement identifiers indicate conditional handover events (CHO events) A3 and A5, reference signal types, trigger quantities, etc. If either measurement identifier 1a 311 or measurement identifier 2a 313 is met, the terminal device 105 may perform a conditional handover. Measurement identifier 1a 311 and / or measurement identifier 2a 313 correspond to a conditional RRC reconfiguration 319. Candidate cell energy saving mode 2 309 corresponds to measurement identifier 1b 315 and measurement identifier 2b 317. If either measurement identifier 1b 315 or measurement identifier 2b 317 is met, the terminal device 105 may perform a conditional handover. Measurement identifiers 1b 315 and 2b 317 correspond to a conditional RRC reconfiguration 321.In this way, the cell energy saving mode of the first network device 101, the cell energy saving mode of the second network device 103, the conditional handover execution conditions, and configuration information associated with the conditional execution conditions can be fully configured for the terminal, whereby the terminal device 105 autonomously performs the conditional handover based on the network energy saving.

[0117] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, in one possible implementation, different measurement IDs are configured for different candidate cell network energy saving modes and / or different source cell network energy saving modes, thereby making one or more of the conditional trigger time, reference signal type, trigger amount, A3 threshold or A5 threshold, and their hysteresis values ​​different. In another possible implementation, the same measurement ID is configured for different candidate cell network energy saving modes. However, for different network energy saving modes, the conditional trigger time, reference signal type, trigger amount, A3 threshold or A5 threshold, and their hysteresis values ​​may be set to different values. For example, A3 threshold 1 is configured for energy saving mode 1 of the source cell, and A3 threshold 2 is configured for energy saving mode 2 of the source cell. In another example, A3 threshold 1 is configured for energy saving mode 1 of the target cell, and A3 threshold 2 is configured for energy saving mode 2 of the target cell.

[0118] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the reconfiguration message 215 includes identification information of the energy saving mode of the cell of the first network device 101. The reconfiguration message may further include a conditional execution condition associated with the first energy saving mode. The reconfiguration message may further include configuration information associated with the conditional execution condition. In this way, the terminal device 105 can obtain complete configuration information and conditional execution condition-related information of the first network device 101, so that the terminal device 105 can accurately perform the conditional handover of the energy saving mode.

[0119] FIG. 4 illustrates a conditional reconfiguration performed by a base station for a terminal according to another embodiment of the present disclosure. At 400, a list may be configured for a terminal device 105 for a current candidate cell 401, with each list element including a source cell network energy saving mode 1 403 and a source cell network energy saving mode 2 405. The source cell network energy saving mode 1 403 corresponds to a measurement identifier 1a 411 and a measurement identifier 2a 413. The source cell network energy saving mode 2 405 corresponds to a measurement identifier 1b 415 and / or a measurement identifier 2b 417. The measurement identifiers indicate conditional handover events (CHO events) A3 and A5, reference signal types, trigger quantities, etc. If either the measurement identifier 1a 411 or the measurement identifier 2a 413 is satisfied, the terminal device 105 may perform a conditional handover. If either measurement identifier 1b 415 or measurement identifier 2b 417 is satisfied, the terminal device 105 may perform a conditional handover. Measurement identifier 1a 411 and measurement identifier 2a 413 correspond to a conditional RRC reconfiguration 419. Measurement identifier 1b 415 and measurement identifier 2b 417 correspond to a conditional RRC reconfiguration 421. In this way, the terminal device 105 can obtain complete configuration information and conditional execution condition-related information of the first network device 101, so that the terminal device 105 accurately performs a conditional handover in energy saving mode.

[0120] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the reconfiguration message 215 may indicate the current energy saving mode of the source cell. In an embodiment of the present disclosure, a conditional handover may be performed based on measurement results, and different NES modes may correspond to different measurement identifiers. For example, when the source cell of the first network device 101 is in a light sleep state and the terminal device 105 is expected to remain in the source cell, the A5 threshold may be set to a small value. When the source cell is in a deep sleep state and the terminal device 105 is expected to be handed over to a candidate cell, the A5 threshold may be set to a large value. Similarly, for energy saving states such as off, normal sleep, or on, the A5 threshold may be adjusted accordingly. For other energy saving modes, such as cell load conditions or cell DTX / DRX, the A5 threshold or A3 threshold may also be adjusted accordingly. This is not a limitation of the present disclosure.

[0121] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, in one possible implementation, different measurement IDs are configured for different network energy saving modes of the source cell, thereby varying one or more of the conditional trigger time, reference signal type, trigger amount, A3 threshold or A5 threshold, and hysteresis value of the network energy saving modes of the source cell. In another possible implementation, the same measurement ID is configured for different network energy saving modes of the source cell. However, the conditional trigger time, reference signal type, trigger amount, A3 threshold or A5 threshold, hysteresis value, etc. may be set to different values ​​for the different network energy saving modes. For example, A3 threshold 1 is configured for energy saving mode 1 of the source cell, and A3 threshold 2 is configured for energy saving mode 2 of the source cell.

[0122] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, in the CU / DU architecture of the second network device 102 shown in FIG. 1D , to enable the CU to accurately generate the NES-conditional handover execution conditions, the interaction procedure between the CU and the DU may further include the following steps: The CU / DU sends an F1 interface message, such as an F1 setup request or a gNB-DU configuration update message. The DU sends the NES mode supported or configured by each cell, or the current NES mode of each cell, to the CU. A specific implementation of the energy saving mode includes cell discontinuous transmission (DTX) of the DU and may also include cell discontinuous reception (DRX). The cell discontinuous transmission (DTX) may include a cycle, an offset, and a duration. The cell discontinuous reception (DRX) may also include a cycle, an offset, and a duration. The energy saving mode may include an energy saving state, such as off, deep sleep, normal sleep, slight sleep, or on. The energy saving mode may also include a cell load state, for example, 0%, 20%, 40%, 60%, or 80%. Therefore, the energy saving mode may be expressed in multiple ways to adapt to different application scenarios and have flexibility. Those skilled in the art may understand that the cell energy saving mode of the DU may further include other modes, and the energy saving state and cell load state may further include other values. This is not a limitation of the present disclosure.

[0123] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the first network device 101 further receives, from the second network device 103, an indication of a second energy saving mode for the candidate cell of the second network device 103. Furthermore, the first network device 101 transmits, to the terminal device 105, an indication of the second energy saving mode for the candidate cell of the second network device 103. The first network device 101 may transmit, to the terminal device 105, an indication of the second energy saving mode for the candidate cell of the second network device 103 before the evaluation-conditional handover condition 149 in FIGS. 1C-1 and 1C-2, or may transmit, after the evaluation-conditional handover condition 149 in FIGS. 1C-1 and 1C-2, an indication of the second energy saving mode for the candidate cell of the second network device 103. In this way, for example, the first network device 101 of the source base station can timely notify the terminal device 105 of the cell status of the second network device 103 of the candidate base station to perform real-time energy saving based conditional handover and adaptation, thereby facilitating network energy savings.

[0124] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the indication of the second energy saving mode of the candidate cell of the second network device 103 sent by the first network device 101 to the terminal device 105 may be the current energy saving mode that the second network device 103 has updated from a specific energy saving mode, may be the energy saving mode that was used when the second network device 103 was initialized, or may be an energy saving mode obtained in another manner, which is not limited in the present disclosure.

[0125] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the first network device 101 uses a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) to send an indication of the second energy saving mode to the terminal device 105, where the MAC CE indicates the candidate cells and the corresponding energy saving mode. Alternatively, the first network device 101 may send the indication of the second energy saving mode to the terminal device 105 by using Layer 1 signaling, where the Layer 1 signaling indicates the candidate cells and the corresponding energy saving mode. In this way, for example, the first network device 101 acting as a source base station can more quickly inform the terminal device of the cell status of the second network device 103 acting as a candidate base station to perform real-time energy saving-based conditional handover and adaptation, thereby facilitating network energy conservation. Furthermore, RRC signaling storms are avoided.

[0126] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, when MAC CE is used, each MAC CE command may indicate the current NES mode of only one candidate cell of the second network device 103. The MAC CE includes a cell ID and a corresponding NES mode. In an embodiment of the present disclosure, when MAC CE is used, each MAC CE command may alternatively indicate the current NES mode of one or more candidate cells. In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the NES mode may be expressed as an NES mode index. For example, the NES index is a value of an ascending NES mode sequence. For example, in one or more NES modes, the index value corresponding to the first NES mode is 0, the index value corresponding to the second NES mode is 1, and so on. In another example, one NES mode index is associated with one NES mode. For example, NES Mode 1, NES Mode Index 1 NES Mode 1, NES Mode Index 2 …

[0127] FIG. 5 illustrates signaling indicating an energy saving mode using a MAC CE according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In signaling 500, C0 through C7 in the first row identify eight candidate cells. Ci=0, (0≦i≦7) indicates that the current NES mode of candidate cell i remains unchanged. Ci=1 indicates that the current NES mode of candidate cell i changes. If N values ​​in C0 through C7 are 1, N rows for "Network Energy Saving Mode of Cell i" follow, indicating the current network energy saving modes of the N updated cells, respectively. If C0 through C7 are all 0, this indicates that no NES mode change will occur in any cell, and zero rows for "Network Energy Saving Mode of Cell i" follow. That is, there are no subsequent rows for "Network Energy Saving Mode of Cell i." If one of C0 through C7 is 1, there is one row for "Network Energy Saving Mode of Cell i." If two of C0 to C7 are 1, there are two rows for "Network Energy Saving Mode of Cell i." The rest can be inferred by analogy. In this way, by using the MAC CE, the status of the candidate cell can be quickly updated to the terminal device 105. In this way, the conditional handover execution conditions can be flexibly indicated, and the terminal device 105 can dynamically perform conditional handover evaluation. This avoids possible handover failures, effectively improves the handover performance of the terminal device, and ultimately ensures the energy saving effect of the base station.

[0128] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, when an L1 command is used, a cell index and a corresponding NES mode index may be indicated in L1 signaling. In an embodiment of the present disclosure, to indicate the NES mode index, the L1 downlink control information (DCI) may include one or more bits, each corresponding to an NES state. When the bit value is "1," it indicates that the corresponding current NES mode is activated. However, in a reconfiguration message 215, such as an RRC reconfiguration command, the bit length of the L1 command and / or the bit position of each NES mode in the L1 DCI may be indicated. In this way, by using the L1 command, the status of the candidate cell can be quickly updated for the terminal device 105. In this way, the conditional handover execution condition can be flexibly indicated, and the terminal device 105 can dynamically perform conditional handover evaluation. This avoids possible handover failures, effectively improves the handover performance of the terminal device, and ultimately ensures energy savings for the base station.

[0129] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, when the NES mode of the source cell of the first network device 101 is updated or when the current NES mode of the source cell of the first network device 101 needs to be transmitted, the first network device 101 sends a MAC CE or L1 command and a source cell NES mode update to the terminal device 105. In this way, the terminal device 105 updates both the source cell NES mode and the candidate cell NES mode, thereby enabling the conditional handover to be performed accurately.

[0130] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, when the energy saving mode of the first network device 101 changes or the current NES mode of the source cell of the first network device 101 needs to be transmitted, the first network device 101 transmits energy saving mode indication information to the terminal device 105. When the energy saving mode of the second network device 103 changes, the first network device 101 also transmits energy saving mode indication information to the terminal device 105. The first network device 101 may transmit the energy saving mode indication information to the terminal device 105 before the evaluation-conditional handover condition 149 in FIGS. 1C-1 and 1C-2, or may transmit the energy saving mode indication information after the evaluation-conditional handover condition 149 in FIGS. 1C-1 and 1C-2. In this way, the terminal device may be notified of the energy saving mode changes of the source base station cell and the candidate base station cell in real time, so that the terminal can accurately perform the energy saving conditional handover.

[0131] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, when the energy saving mode of the first network device 101 changes or the current NES mode of the source cell of the first network device 101 needs to be transmitted, the first network device 101 sends energy saving mode indication information to the terminal device 105 in a system message broadcast manner. In this way, the terminal device can be notified of the energy saving mode change of the source base station cell in real time, so that the terminal can accurately perform energy saving conditional handover.

[0132] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the first network device 101 sends energy saving mode instruction information to the terminal device 105, where the instruction information indicates to suspend, delete, or resume configuration information for conditional handover. In this way, configuration information for conditional handover that is not currently used can be masked, thereby improving the accuracy of the conditional handover.

[0133] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the instruction information includes an identifier index of the conditional reconfiguration, and the instruction information further includes an instruction to suspend or delete the conditional reconfiguration. In this way, configuration information corresponding to an energy saving mode that is not currently used can be accurately masked, thereby improving the accuracy of the conditional handover.

[0134] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, when the first network device 101 configures conditional handover reconfiguration information for the terminal device 105 and decides to change one or more configurations in the conditional handover, the first network device 101 transmits dynamic indication information, for example, MAC CE or L1 signaling, to the terminal device 105. The condition for transmitting the dynamic indication may be as follows: The first network device 101 receives the NES mode of a candidate cell of the second network device 103 and finds that the conditional handover configuration configured for the terminal device 105 needs to be suspended or deleted. Alternatively, the condition for transmitting the dynamic indication may be as follows: The first network device 101 decides to change the NES mode of the source cell and finds that the conditional handover configuration configured for the terminal device 105 needs to be suspended or deleted. Alternatively, the condition for transmitting the dynamic indication may be as follows: The first network device 101 discovers, based on cell load or interference conditions, that a conditional handover configuration configured for the terminal device 105 needs to be suspended or deleted.

[0135] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the dynamic instruction information may include a reconfiguration identifier or index (condReconfigID). The dynamic instruction information may also include a pause or delete instruction. After receiving the dynamic instruction information, the terminal device 105 may pause or delete the condition verification for the reconfiguration identifier or index, for example, stop an activated timer.

[0136] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the instruction information includes an identifier of at least one energy saving mode of a cell of the first network device 101. The instruction information further includes an identifier of at least one energy saving mode of a cell of the second network device 103. The instruction information further includes an instruction to suspend or delete the conditional reconfiguration. The instruction information further includes an instruction to continue measuring the at least one candidate cell associated with the conditional reconfiguration without triggering a conditional handover. The instruction information further includes an identifier of the at least one candidate cell of the second network device 103. In this way, configuration information corresponding to energy saving modes that are not currently used is accurately masked, thereby improving the accuracy of the conditional handover.

[0137] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the dynamic indication information may include an energy saving mode of the source cell. The dynamic indication information may include an energy saving mode of the candidate cell. The dynamic indication information may include a pause or delete indication. The dynamic indication information may include a candidate cell ID or candidate cell index. After receiving the dynamic indication information, the terminal device 105 may pause or delete the conditional verification for the NES mode of the source cell or the NES mode of the candidate cell.

[0138] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the terminal device 105 pausing its evaluation of a candidate cell may be implemented by deleting the CHO configuration of the candidate cell. Alternatively, the terminal device 105 pausing its evaluation of a candidate cell may be implemented by pausing measurements of a target cell. Alternatively, the terminal device 105 pausing its evaluation of a candidate cell may be implemented by continuing to measure the candidate cell but not triggering CHO. That is, the terminal device 105 is not handed over to the candidate cell.

[0139] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the first network device 101 transmits to the terminal device 105 instructions to resume measurements on the cell related to the conditional reconfiguration and trigger a conditional handover when the conditional handover conditions are met, thereby accurately restoring the conditional handover of the cell.

[0140] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, after the conditional verification for a specific candidate cell is suspended or deleted, the second network device 103 may further send another dynamic instruction information to instruct the terminal device 105 to resume evaluating the candidate cell. The terminal device 105 may resume evaluating the candidate cell by continuing to measure the target cell. Alternatively, the terminal device 105 may resume evaluating the candidate cell by triggering a CHO. That is, if a CHO condition is met, the terminal device 105 may be handed over to the candidate cell.

[0141] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, in addition to the second network device 103 sending dynamic indication information to the terminal device 105, the terminal device 105 may also determine to suspend evaluation of a candidate cell when the candidate cell enters the NES mode. The terminal device 105 may determine whether the candidate cell enters the "NES mode" based on the configuration of the first network device 101. For example, the first network device 101 notifies the terminal device 105 of the DTX / DRX configuration of the candidate cell. When the candidate cell is in a DTX / DRX inactive state, the terminal device 105 determines that the candidate cell enters the "NES mode." Alternatively, the terminal device 105 may determine that the candidate cell enters the "NES mode" based on the terminal device 105's monitoring of the candidate cell, for example, detection of a reference signal or system message of the candidate cell.

[0142] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, if the terminal device 105 does not obtain a cell NES mode update of the first network device 101 or a cell NES mode update of the second network device 103 using the energy saving mode indication information, the terminal device 105 can autonomously suspend or delete the conditional handover configuration.

[0143] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, when receiving a response message from the second network device that does not include instruction information indicating at least one energy saving mode of a candidate cell of the second network device to be used for a conditional handover and at least one configuration information associated with the at least one energy saving mode for the conditional handover, the first network device 101 may send dynamic instruction information, for example, MAC CE or L1 signaling, to the terminal device 105 to indicate that the configuration information for the conditional handover should be suspended, deleted, or resumed.

[0144] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the energy saving mode indication is transmitted using MAC CE. Alternatively, the energy saving mode indication may be transmitted by using a combination of Layer 1 signaling and an RRC reconfiguration message. In this way, the indication is transmitted by using flexible Layer 1 and Layer 2 signaling, thereby improving efficiency and real-time performance. Those skilled in the art may understand that the energy saving mode indication may alternatively be transmitted only by using an RRC reconfiguration message. This is not a limitation of the present disclosure.

[0145] 6 is a signaling diagram indicating an energy saving mode by using a MAC CE according to another embodiment of the present disclosure. The MAC CE command 600 includes C0 to C7, where C, (0≦i≦7) is used to instruct suspending or deleting the corresponding conditional RRC reconfiguration or conditional handover execution condition when condReconfigID=i. Alternatively, C may be used to indicate that the corresponding conditional RRC reconfiguration or conditional handover execution condition remains unchanged when condReconfigID=i. When the C field is set to 0, it instructs the terminal device 105 to suspend or delete the conditional RRC reconfiguration or conditional handover execution condition corresponding to condReconfigID. When the C field is set to 1, it indicates to the terminal device 105 to resume the conditional RRC reconfiguration or conditional handover execution condition.

[0146] FIG. 7 is a signaling diagram indicating an energy saving mode by using a MAC CE according to yet another embodiment of the present disclosure. In the MAC CE command 700, TNES (Target Network Energy Saving) i (0≦i≦7) is used to indicate that the execution condition for the candidate cell's NES mode index value i is to be suspended or deleted. Alternatively, TNESi is used to indicate that the execution condition for the candidate cell's NES mode index value i remains unchanged. i is configured in ascending order of the candidate cell's NES modes. When the TNESi field is set to 0, it instructs the terminal device 105 to suspend or delete the conditional handover execution condition for the NES mode of the corresponding candidate cell. When the TNESi field is set to 1, it instructs the terminal device 105 to resume the conditional handover execution condition for the NES mode of the corresponding candidate cell.

[0147] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the L1 DCI command includes a one-bit or multi-bit condReconfigID indication. Each bit corresponds to one condReconfigID. When the value of a bit is "1", it indicates that the corresponding condReconfigID is suspended or deleted. The RRC reconfiguration message may indicate the bit position of each condReconfigID in the L1 condReconfigID indication field. The RRC reconfiguration message may also indicate the length of the corresponding DCI.

[0148] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, based on the updated NES mode, the first network device 101 may dynamically suspend, delete, or resume the terminal device 105's evaluation of the conditional handover execution condition. In this way, the terminal device 105's current conditional handover execution condition can be quickly enabled or disabled, thereby avoiding possible handover failure. In addition, dynamic signaling MAC CE or L1 DCI is used to avoid higher layer RRC signaling overhead. After performing the condition resumption, the terminal device 105 may continue to perform the condition evaluation.

[0149] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the first network device 101 may transmit configuration information to the terminal device 105. The configuration information is used to configure the terminal device 105 to select a candidate cell that is not in an energy saving mode as a target cell for the conditional handover when it is determined that multiple candidate cells satisfy the conditional handover condition. This can avoid using a cell that is in an energy saving mode as a target cell as much as possible and improve the reliability of the handover. Alternatively, the terminal device 105 may not be configured based on the configuration information, and may autonomously select a candidate cell that is not in an energy saving mode as a target cell for the conditional handover when it is determined that multiple candidate cells satisfy the conditional handover condition. When selecting a target cell, the terminal device 105 may set priorities for the multiple candidate cells and select the target cell based on the priorities.

[0150] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the first network device 101 can transmit configuration information to the terminal device 105. The configuration information is used to configure the terminal device 105 to select a candidate cell with a higher priority as a target cell for conditional handover when it determines that multiple candidate cells satisfy the conditional handover condition. The configuration information includes the priority of the target cell, for example: Candidate cell 1, priority 1 Candidate cell 2, priority 2 …

[0151] In this way, the terminal device 105 selects a cell with a higher priority as the target cell, which improves the reliability of the handover and saves system energy.

[0152] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, when configuring a terminal device 105 to perform an energy saving mode conditional handover, the first network device 101 and the second network device 103 configure the conditional handover command used to perform network energy saving only for terminal devices 105 that have NES mode capability. Thus, the network devices may be aware of the capabilities of the terminal device 105.

[0153] 8 is a schematic flowchart of a terminal reporting a conditional handover of a network energy saving mode according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In procedure 800, a network 801 may be a specific implementation of the first network device 101.

[0154] In procedure 800, the network 801 sends a user equipment capability request to the terminal device 105 in 803. The terminal device 105 sends user equipment capability information to the network 801 in 805. In the user equipment capability information (UE Capability Information), the terminal device 105 reports to the network 801 the CHO capabilities supported by the terminal device 105 and in a network energy saving state. The CHO capability under a network energy saving condition may be implemented as follows: The terminal device 105 supports a network energy saving conditional handover, including an energy saving mode, an execution condition, and a candidate cell configuration. The CHO capability under a network energy saving condition may be implemented as follows: The terminal device 105 supports a conditional handover between an FDD source cell in NES mode and a TDD candidate cell in NES mode. The CHO capability in a network energy saving state may be implemented as follows: The terminal device 105 supports conditional handover between a source cell in NES mode Frequency Range (FR) 1 and a candidate cell in NES mode FR 2. The CHO capability in the network energy saving state may be implemented as follows: When a candidate cell is configured as a candidate cell for conditional handover in the energy saving state, regardless of whether the terminal device 105 supports conditional handover in a handover failure or re-establishment process.

[0155] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, in addition to obtaining user equipment capability information from the terminal device 105, the first network device (e.g., a base station) can also establish an RRC connection when the terminal device 105 accesses the network. A core network element (e.g., an AMF) sends the CHO capability under a network energy saving condition to the base station in a UE context setup request.

[0156] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, in an Xn handover process, the source base station may alternatively send the CHO capability of the terminal device 105 to the target base station. Alternatively, in an NG handover process, the AMF sends the CHO capability of the terminal device 105 to the destination base station by using a handover request message. In this way, the first network device 101 can configure the network energy saving handover condition configuration only for the terminal device 105 that supports the network energy saving conditional handover, to avoid erroneous configuration by the base station, thereby implementing the energy saving base station conditional handover.

[0157] 9 is a flowchart of a communication method implemented in a first network device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Procedure 900 corresponds to the communication method performed by the first network device 101 of FIG. 2A.

[0158] At 910 , the first network device 101 sends a request message for conditional handover to the second network device 103 .

[0159] At 920, the first network device 101 receives a response message for conditional handover from the second network device 103, the response message including indication information, the indication information indicating at least one energy saving mode of a candidate cell of the second network device 103 and at least one configuration information associated with the at least one energy saving mode for the conditional handover.

[0160] In some embodiments, the request message indicates that the conditional handover is a network energy saving triggered conditional handover. In some embodiments, the energy saving mode includes cell discontinuous transmission (DTX). The energy saving mode also includes cell discontinuous reception (DRX). The energy saving mode further includes an energy saving state. The energy saving mode further includes a cell load state. In some embodiments, after receiving the response message, the first network device 101 further sends a reconfiguration message to the terminal device 105, the reconfiguration message including the indication information.

[0161] In some embodiments, the configuration message includes an identification of a first energy saving mode of a source cell of the first network device 101. The configuration message further includes an identification of a second energy saving mode of a candidate cell of the second network device 103. The configuration message further includes conditional execution conditions associated with the first energy saving mode and the second energy saving mode. The configuration message further includes configuration information associated with the conditional execution conditions.

[0162] In some embodiments, the reconfiguration message includes an identification of an energy saving mode of a cell of the first network device 101. The reconfiguration message further includes a conditional execution condition associated with the first energy saving mode. The reconfiguration message further includes configuration information associated with the conditional execution condition.

[0163] In some embodiments, the first network device 101 further receives, from the second network device 103, an indication of the second energy saving mode of the candidate cell of the second network device 103. Further, the first network device 101 transmits to the terminal device 105 an indication of the second energy saving mode for the candidate cell of the second network device 103.

[0164] In some embodiments, the first network device 101 transmits an indication of the second energy saving mode to the terminal device 105 by way of a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE), where the MAC CE indicates the candidate cells and the corresponding energy saving mode. The first network device 101 transmits an indication of the second energy saving mode to the terminal device 105 by way of layer 1 signaling, where the layer 1 signaling indicates the candidate cells and the corresponding energy saving mode.

[0165] In some embodiments, the first network device 101 sends an energy saving mode indication to the terminal device 105, the indication indicating to suspend, delete, or resume configuration information for the conditional handover. In some embodiments, the first network device 101 sends the energy saving mode indication to the terminal device 105 when the energy saving mode of the first network device 101 and the energy saving mode of the second network device 103 change.

[0166] In some embodiments, the instruction information includes an identifier index of the conditional reconfiguration. The instruction information further includes an instruction to suspend or delete the conditional reconfiguration. The instruction information further includes an instruction to continue measuring the at least one candidate cell associated with the conditional reconfiguration without triggering a conditional handover. In some embodiments, the instruction information includes an identifier of at least one energy saving mode of a cell of the first network device 101. The instruction information further includes an identifier of at least one energy saving mode of a cell of the second network device 103. The instruction information further includes an instruction to suspend or delete the conditional reconfiguration. The instruction information further includes an instruction to continue measuring the at least one candidate cell associated with the conditional reconfiguration without triggering a conditional handover. The instruction information further includes an identifier of at least one candidate cell of the second network device 103.

[0167] In some embodiments, the indication of the energy saving mode may be transmitted by using MAC CE or by using a combination of Layer 1 signaling and an RRC reconfiguration message.

[0168] In some embodiments, the first network device 101 sends to the terminal device 105 an indication to be used to: resume measurements on cells associated with the conditional reconfiguration and trigger a conditional handover when a conditional handover condition is met. In some embodiments, the first network device 101 sends to the terminal device 105 configuration information to be used to configure the terminal device 105 to select a candidate cell that is not in an energy saving mode as a target cell for the conditional handover when it determines that multiple candidate cells meet the conditional handover condition.

[0169] 10 is a flowchart of a communication method implemented in a second network device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Procedure 1000 corresponds to the communication method performed by the second network device 103 of FIG. 2A.

[0170] At 1010 , the second network device 103 receives a request message for conditional handover from the first network device 101 .

[0171] At 1020, the second network device 103 sends a response message for conditional handover to the first network device 101, where the response message includes indication information indicating at least one energy saving mode of a candidate cell of the second network device 103 and at least one configuration information associated with the at least one energy saving mode for conditional handover.

[0172] In some embodiments, the request message indicates that the conditional handover is a network energy saving triggered conditional handover. In some embodiments, the energy saving mode includes discontinuous transmission DTX. The energy saving mode further includes discontinuous reception DRX. The energy saving mode further includes an energy saving state. The energy saving mode further includes a cell load state.

[0173] In some embodiments, the second network device 103 is a distributed unit of a base station. The distributed unit receives a terminal context setup request message from a central unit of the base station, the terminal context setup request message including indication information. The distributed unit sends a terminal context setup response message to the central unit, the terminal context setup response message including an energy saving mode of at least one cell of the second network device 103 and a distributed unit configuration corresponding to the energy saving mode of the cell of the second network device 103. In some embodiments, the distributed unit configuration includes a cell group configuration.

[0174] In some embodiments, the terminal context setup response message further includes an energy saving mode index of a cell of the second network device 103. In some embodiments, the second network device 103 sends a response message for conditional handover to the first network device 101 based on the terminal context setup response message. In some embodiments, the response message for conditional handover includes an energy saving mode of at least one cell of the second network device 103 and configuration information configured for the distributed unit. The configuration information is sent to the terminal device 105.

[0175] 11 is a flowchart of a communication method implemented in a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Procedure 1100 corresponds to the communication method performed by the terminal device 105 of FIG. 2A.

[0176] At 1110, the terminal device 105 receives a reconfiguration message from the first network device 101, the reconfiguration message including indication information, the indication information indicating at least one energy saving mode of a candidate cell of the second network device 103 and at least one configuration information associated with the at least one energy saving mode for conditional handover.

[0177] At 1120, the terminal device 105 performs an energy saving mode-based conditional handover based on the reconfiguration information.

[0178] In some embodiments, the reconfiguration message includes an identifier of a first energy saving mode of a source cell of the first network device 101. The reconfiguration message further includes an identifier of a second energy saving mode of a candidate cell of the second network device 103. The reconfiguration message further includes conditional execution conditions associated with the first energy saving mode and the second energy saving mode. The reconfiguration message also includes a conditional reconfiguration associated with the conditional execution conditions.

[0179] In some embodiments, the terminal device 105 further receives energy saving mode indication information from the first network device 101, the indication information indicating pausing, deleting, or resuming configuration information for the conditional handover. In some embodiments, the terminal device 105 suspends the conditional reconfiguration based on at least one of the first network device 101 and the second network device 103 entering the energy saving mode. The terminal device 105 resumes the conditional reconfiguration based on at least one of the first network device 101 and the second network device 103 exiting the energy saving mode. In some embodiments, the terminal device 105 selects a candidate cell that is not in the energy saving mode as the target cell for the conditional handover based on determining that multiple candidate target cells satisfy the conditional handover condition.

[0180] In the foregoing embodiments provided in the present disclosure, the methods provided in the embodiments of the present disclosure are described separately in terms of a network device, a terminal device, and interactions between the network device and the terminal device. To implement the functions in the methods provided in the foregoing embodiments of the present disclosure, the network device and the terminal device may include hardware structures and / or software modules, and may implement the functions in the form of a hardware structure, a software module, or a combination of a hardware structure and a software module. Whether a function in the functions is performed using a hardware structure, a software module, or a combination of a hardware structure and a software module depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution.

[0181] 12 and 13 are structural diagrams of possible communication devices according to certain embodiments of the present disclosure. The communication device may implement the functions of the terminal device or network device in the aforementioned method embodiments. Therefore, the beneficial effects of the aforementioned method embodiments may also be realized. In this embodiment of the present disclosure, the communication device 1200 may be the first network device 101, the second network device 103, and the terminal device 105 shown in FIGS. 1A and 2A.

[0182] 12, the communication device 1200 includes a transceiver module 1201 and a processing module 1202. The communication device 1200 may be configured to implement the functionality of the first network device 101 in the method embodiment shown in FIG.

[0183] 2A , the transceiver module 1201 is configured to transmit a request message for conditional handover to the second network device 103. The transceiver module 1201 is further configured to receive a response message for conditional handover from the second network device 103, the response message including indication information. The indication information indicates at least one energy saving mode of a candidate cell of the second network device 103 and at least one configuration information associated with the at least one energy saving mode for the conditional handover.

[0184] 2A , the transceiver module 1201 is configured to receive a request message for conditional handover from the first network device 101. The transceiver module 1201 is further configured to transmit a response message for conditional handover to the first network device 101, the response message including indication information. The indication information indicates at least one energy saving mode of a candidate cell of the second network device 103 and at least one configuration information associated with the at least one energy saving mode for the conditional handover.

[0185] 2A , the transceiver module 1201 is configured to receive a reconfiguration message from the first network device 101. The reconfiguration message includes instruction information indicating at least one energy saving mode of a candidate cell of the second network device 103 and at least one configuration information associated with the at least one energy saving mode for a conditional handover. The transceiver module 1201 is further configured to perform a conditional handover based on the energy saving mode based on the reconfiguration information.

[0186] As shown in FIG. 13 , the communication device 1300 includes a processor 1310 and an interface circuit 1320. The processor 1310 and the interface circuit 1320 are coupled to each other. It may be understood that the interface circuit 1320 may be a transceiver or an input / output interface. Optionally, the communication device 1300 may further include a memory 1330 configured to store instructions to be executed by the processor 1310, to store input data required by the processor 1310 to execute the instructions, or to store data generated after the processor 1310 executes the instructions. Optionally, the processor 1310 and the memory 1330 may be integrated, for example, into a system on chip (SOC) or another integrated device. Optionally, the interface circuit 1320 may alternatively be integrated, for example, into a system on chip SOC of a chip, or another integrated device.

[0187] When the communication device 1300 is configured to perform the method in the above-described method embodiments, the processor 1310 is configured to perform the functions of the above-described processing module 1202, and the interface circuit 1320 is configured to perform the functions of the above-described transceiver module 1201.

[0188] When the communication device is a chip used in a terminal device, the chip in the terminal device implements the functions of the terminal device in the above-described method embodiment. The chip in the terminal device receives information from another module (e.g., a radio frequency module or an antenna) in the terminal device, and the information is transmitted to the terminal device by the network device. Alternatively, the chip in the terminal device transmits information to another module (e.g., a radio frequency module or an antenna) in the terminal device, and the information is transmitted to the network device by the terminal device.

[0189] When the communication device is a chip used in a network device, the chip in the network device implements the functions of the network device in the aforementioned method embodiments. The chip in the network device receives information from another module (e.g., a radio frequency module or an antenna) in the network device, and the information is transmitted to the network device by the terminal device. Alternatively, the chip in the network device transmits information to another module (e.g., a radio frequency module or an antenna) in the network device, and the information is transmitted to the terminal device by the network device.

[0190] It may be understood that the processor in embodiments of the present disclosure may be a central processing unit (CPU), or may be another general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, a transistor logic device, a hardware component, or any combination thereof. A general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor or any conventional processor, etc.

[0191] An embodiment of the present invention provides a communication system. The communication system may include a remote communication device, a relay communication device, and a communication device in the embodiments shown in Figures 2A, 2B, and 2C, and may include a network device in the embodiment shown in Figure 2B. Optionally, the communication devices and the network device in the communication system may perform a communication method shown in any one of Figures 2A, 2B, and 2C.

[0192]

[0010] The present disclosure also provides a circuit, which may be coupled to a memory and configured to perform the procedures associated with the terminal device or the network device in any one of the aforementioned method embodiments. The chip system may include the chip and may further include another component, such as a memory or a transceiver.

[0193] It should be understood that the processor referred to in the embodiments of the present disclosure may be a CPU, or may be another general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, a discrete gate or transistor logic device, a discrete hardware component, etc. The general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, or the processor may be any conventional processor, etc.

[0194] Furthermore, it should be understood that the memory referred to in the embodiments of the present disclosure may be volatile or nonvolatile memory, or may include both volatile and nonvolatile memory. Nonvolatile memory may be read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), or flash memory. Volatile memory may be random access memory (RAM) used as an external cache. By way of example and not limitation, many forms of RAM may be used, such as static random access memory (static RAM, SRAM), dynamic random access memory (dynamic RAM, DRAM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (synchronous DRAM, SDRAM), double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory (double data rate SDRAM, DDR SDRAM), enhanced synchronous dynamic random access memory (enhanced SDRAM, ESDRAM), synchronous link dynamic random access memory (synchlink DRAM, SLDRAM), and direct rambus dynamic random access memory (direct rambus RAM, DR RAM).

[0195] It should be noted that when the processor is a general-purpose processor, a DSP, an ASIC, an FPGA or another programmable logic device, a discrete gate, a transistor logic device, or a discrete hardware component, the memory (storage module) is integrated into the processor.

[0196] It should be noted that memory as described herein is intended to include, without being limited to, these and any other suitable types of memory.

[0197] It should be understood that the sequence numbers of the above processes do not refer to the execution sequence in various embodiments of the present disclosure, and the execution order of the processes should be determined based on the functions and internal logic of those processes, and should not be construed as any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0198] In combination with the examples described in the embodiments disclosed herein, it should be recognized that the modules and algorithm steps can be implemented by electronic hardware or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether a function is performed by hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Those skilled in the art may use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered to go beyond the scope of the present disclosure.

[0199] For the sake of convenience, it can be clearly understood that the specific work processes of the above-mentioned systems, devices and modules can be referred to the corresponding processes in the above-mentioned method embodiments, and the details will not be described again in this specification.

[0200] In some embodiments provided in the present disclosure, it should be understood that the disclosed communication methods and devices may be implemented in other ways. For example, the described device embodiments are merely examples. For example, the modular division is merely a logical functional division, and other divisions may be used in actual implementation. For example, multiple modules or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted or not implemented. In addition, the shown or described mutual couplings or direct couplings or communication connections may be implemented by using some interfaces. Indirect couplings or communication connections between devices or units may be implemented in electronic, mechanical, or other forms.

[0201] Modules described as separate parts may or may not be physically separate, and parts denoted as modules may or may not be physical modules, and may be located in one location or distributed over multiple network units. Some or all of the units may be selected based on actual requirements to achieve the objectives of the solutions of the embodiments.

[0202] Furthermore, the functional modules in the embodiments of the present disclosure may be integrated into a single processing module, or each module may exist physically alone, or two or more modules may be integrated into a single module.

[0203] When a function is implemented in the form of a software functional module and sold or used as an independent product, the function may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the present disclosure may essentially contribute to the technical solution, or part of the technical solution may be embodied in the form of a software product. A computer software product is stored in a storage medium and includes some instructions for instructing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, a network device, etc.) to perform all or part of the steps of the method described in the embodiments of the present disclosure. A computer-readable storage medium may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer. The following provides examples but does not impose limitations. The computer-readable medium may include random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), universal serial bus flash disk, removable hard disk, or other optical or disc storage medium, or other magnetic storage device, or any other medium that can carry or store expected program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer.

[0204] As used herein, the term "comprises" and similar terms should be understood as open inclusion, i.e., "including, but not limited to." The term "based on" should be understood as "based at least in part on." The term "an embodiment" or "this embodiment" should be understood as "at least one embodiment." Terms such as "first," "second," etc. may refer to different objects or the same object and are used merely to distinguish the designated objects and do not imply a particular spatial order, chronological order, importance order, etc., of the designated objects. In some embodiments, values, processes, selected items, determined items, devices, apparatus, means, parts, components, etc. are referred to as "optimal," "lowest," "highest," "minimum," "maximum," etc. It should be understood that such descriptions are intended to indicate that a selection may be made from among many available functional choices, and that such a choice need not be better, lower, higher, smaller, larger, or otherwise preferred in other or all aspects than other choices. As used herein, the term "determining" may cover a variety of actions. For example, "determining" may include computing, calculating, processing, exporting, examining, looking up (e.g., looking up in a table, database, or another data structure), finding, etc. Additionally, "determining" may include receiving (e.g., receiving information), accessing (e.g., accessing data in a memory), etc. Additionally, "determining" may include parsing, selecting, choosing, establishing, etc.

[0205] The above description is merely a specific implementation aspect of the present disclosure and is not intended to limit the protection scope of the embodiments of the present disclosure. Any variations or replacements that can be easily thought up by those skilled in the art within the technical scope disclosed in the embodiments of the present disclosure will fall within the protection scope of the embodiments of the present disclosure.

Claims

1. 1. A method of communication comprising: determining a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message, the RRC reconfiguration message including an identification of an energy saving mode of a source cell and configuration information associated with the energy saving mode and a conditional execution condition, the energy saving mode of the source cell including at least one of cell discontinuous transmission (DTX), cell discontinuous reception (DRX), or cell shutdown; transmitting the radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message; A method comprising:

2. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the configuration information associated with the conditional execution condition includes a measurement identifier, the measurement identifier being associated with the energy saving mode of the source cell, and the measurement identifier indicating a conditional handover event, a reference signal type, and a trigger amount.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the conditional handover event is an A3 event or an A5 event.

4. The method further comprises: sending an indication of the energy saving mode, the indication indicating that the energy saving mode of the source cell is updated or that the source cell enters the energy saving mode; instructing to perform a conditional handover evaluation; The method of any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising:

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the indication information is carried in Layer 1 signaling.

6. 1. A method of communication comprising: receiving a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message, the RRC reconfiguration message including an identification of an energy saving mode of a source cell and configuration information associated with the energy saving mode and a conditional execution condition, the energy saving mode including at least one of cell discontinuous transmission (DTX), cell discontinuous reception (DRX), or cell shutdown; performing an energy saving mode based conditional handover based on the RRC reconfiguration message; A method comprising:

7. 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the configuration information associated with the conditional execution condition includes a measurement identifier, the measurement identifier being associated with the energy saving mode of the source cell, and the measurement identifier indicating a conditional handover event, a reference signal type, and a trigger amount.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the conditional handover event is an A3 event or an A5 event.

9. The method comprises: receiving an indication of the energy saving mode, the indication indicating that the energy saving mode of the source cell is to be updated or that the source cell enters the energy saving mode; 9. The method of any one of claims 6 to 8, comprising:

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the indication information is carried in Layer 1 signaling.

11. the configuration information associated with the conditional execution condition includes a first measurement identifier and / or a second measurement identifier, the first measurement identifier and / or the second measurement identifier being associated with the energy saving mode of the source cell; The step of performing an energy saving mode based conditional handover based on the RRC reconfiguration message includes: performing an energy saving mode based conditional handover based on the first measurement identifier and / or the second measurement identifier.

11. The method according to any one of claims 6 to 10.

12. the configuration information associated with the conditional execution condition includes the first measurement identifier and the second measurement identifier; performing an energy saving mode based conditional handover based on the first measurement identifier and / or the second measurement identifier; performing a conditional handover based on an energy saving mode when either the first measurement identifier or the second measurement identifier is satisfied. The method of claim 11.

13. A communication method sending, by the first network device to the second network device, a request message for conditional handover; receiving a response message for a conditional handover from the second network device by the first network device, the response message including indication information indicating at least one energy saving mode of a candidate cell of the second network device and at least one configuration information associated with the at least one energy saving mode for the conditional handover; A method comprising:

14. The request message: indicating that the conditional handover is a network energy saving triggered conditional handover; The method of claim 13.

15. The energy saving mode includes: Discontinuous cell transmission DTX and / or discontinuous cell reception DRX; Energy saving state; or Cell Load Condition The method of claim 13, comprising at least one of:

16. and further comprising: sending, by the first network device, a reconfiguration message to a terminal device after receiving the response message, wherein the reconfiguration message includes the indication information. The method of claim 13.

17. The reconfiguration message comprises: an identification of a first energy saving mode of a source cell of the first network device; an identification of a second energy saving mode of the candidate cell of the second network device; a conditional execution condition associated with the first energy saving mode and / or the second energy saving mode; or Configuration information associated with said conditional execution condition 17. The method of claim 16, comprising at least one of:

18. The reconfiguration message comprises: Identification of an energy saving mode of a cell of the first network device; a conditional execution condition associated with the first energy saving mode; or Configuration information associated with said conditional execution condition 17. The method of claim 16, comprising at least one of:

19. receiving, by the first network device, from the second network device, an indication of a second energy saving mode of the candidate cell of the second network device; transmitting, by the first network device to a terminal device, the indication of the second energy saving mode for the candidate cell of the second network device; 14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

20. the first network device, a Medium Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE), the MAC CE indicating the candidate cells and corresponding energy saving modes; or Layer 1 signaling, the Layer 1 signaling indicating the candidate cells and corresponding energy saving modes.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the indication of the second energy saving mode is sent to the terminal device by using at least one of:

21. sending, by the first network device, the instruction information of the energy saving mode to the terminal device, the instruction information indicating to suspend, delete, or resume the configuration information for conditional handover; 21. The method according to any one of claims 13 to 20.

22. 22. The method of claim 21, comprising: when an energy saving mode of the first network device and / or an energy saving mode of the second network device changes, transmitting, by the first network device, the indication of the energy saving mode to the terminal device.

23. The instruction information is Conditional reconstruction identifier index; An instruction to suspend or remove the conditional reconstitution; or Indication of continuing to measure at least one candidate cell associated with the conditional reconfiguration without triggering a conditional handover.

23. The method of claim 21 or 22, comprising at least one of:

24. The instruction information is an identifier of at least one energy saving mode of the cell of the first network device; an identifier of at least one energy saving mode of a cell of the second network device; instructions to suspend or remove conditional reconstitution; an indication to continue measuring at least one candidate cell associated with the conditional reconfiguration without triggering a conditional handover, or an identifier of at least one candidate cell of said second network device; 23. The method of claim 21 or 22, comprising at least one of:

25. The indication of the energy saving mode comprises: the MAC CE; or Combining the Layer 1 signaling and the RRC reconfiguration message 23. The method of claim 21 or 22, wherein the signal is transmitted by using at least one of:

26. and when a conditional handover condition is satisfied, sending, by the first network device to the terminal device, an instruction to at least one of: resume measurements of a cell associated with a conditional reconfiguration; or trigger a conditional handover.

23. The method of claim 21 or 22.

27. and further comprising transmitting, by the first network device, configuration information to the terminal device, the configuration information being used to configure the terminal device to select a candidate cell that is not in an energy saving mode as a target cell for conditional handover when determining that a plurality of candidate cells satisfy a conditional handover condition. The method of claim 13.

28. receiving, by the second network device, a request message for conditional handover from the first network device; sending a response message for conditional handover by the second network device to the first network device, the response message including indication information indicating at least one energy saving mode of a candidate cell of the second network device and at least one configuration information associated with the at least one energy saving mode for conditional handover; method.

29. The request message: The conditional handover indicates that the network energy saving triggered conditional handover.

29. The method of claim 28.

30. The energy saving mode includes: Discontinuous transmission DTX and / or discontinuous reception DRX; Energy saving state; or Cell Load Condition 29. The method of claim 28, comprising at least one of:

31. The second network device is a distributed unit of a base station, and the method includes: receiving, by the distributed unit, a terminal context setup request message from a central unit of the base station, the terminal context setup request message including the indication information; sending, by the distributed unit, a terminal context setup response message to the central unit; further comprising the terminal context setup response message includes an energy saving mode of at least one cell of the second network device and a distributed unit configuration corresponding to the energy saving mode of the cell of the second network device; 29. The method of claim 28.

32. 32. The method of claim 31, wherein the distributed unit configuration comprises a cell group configuration.

33. The terminal context setup response message: an energy saving mode index of the cell of the second network device; further comprising:

32. The method of claim 31 .

34. and further comprising: sending, by the second network device, a response message for conditional handover to the first network device based on the terminal context setup response message.

32. The method of claim 31 .

35. wherein the response message for conditional handover: configuration information including an energy saving mode of at least one cell of the second network device and the distributed unit configuration; the configuration information is transmitted to a terminal device.

35. The method of claim 34.

36. 1. A method of communication comprising: receiving, by the terminal device, a reconfiguration message from the first network device; performing, by the terminal device, a conditional handover based on an energy saving mode based on the reconfiguration information; Including, the reconfiguration message includes instruction information, the instruction information indicating at least one energy saving mode of a candidate cell of a second network device and at least one configuration information associated with the at least one energy saving mode for conditional handover; method.

37. The reconfiguration message comprises: an identifier of a first energy saving mode of a source cell of the first network device; an identifier of a second energy saving mode of the candidate cell of the second network device; a conditional execution condition associated with the first energy saving mode and / or the second energy saving mode; or a conditional reconfiguration associated with said conditional execution condition; 37. The method of claim 36, comprising at least one of:

38. receiving, by the terminal device, instruction information of an energy saving mode from the first network device, the instruction information indicating to suspend, delete, or resume configuration information for conditional handover; 37. The method of claim 36.

39. suspending, by the terminal device, a conditional reconfiguration based on the second network device entering the energy saving mode and / or the first network device entering the energy saving mode; and / or resuming, by the terminal device, a conditional reconfiguration based on the second network device exiting the energy saving mode and / or the first network device exiting the energy saving mode.

39. The method of claim 38, further comprising:

40. and selecting, by the terminal device, a candidate cell that is not in the energy saving mode as a target cell for conditional handover based on determining that a plurality of candidate target cells satisfy a conditional handover condition.

37. The method of claim 36.

41. 1. A first communication device comprising: a reconfiguration message determination module configured to determine a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message, the RRC reconfiguration message including identification information of an energy saving mode of a source cell and conditional configuration information for executing a condition associated with the energy saving mode, the energy saving mode of the source cell including at least one of cell discontinuous transmission (DTX), cell discontinuous reception (DRX), or cell shutdown; a reconfiguration message transmission module configured to transmit the radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message; An apparatus having:

42. A terminal device comprising: a reconfiguration message receiving module configured to receive an RRC reconfiguration message, the RRC reconfiguration message including an identification of an energy saving mode of a source cell and a condition configuration message for executing a condition associated with the energy saving mode, the energy saving mode including at least one of cell discontinuous transmission (DTX), cell discontinuous reception (DRX), or cell shutdown; a conditional handover module configured to perform an energy saving mode based conditional handover based on the reconfiguration information. Device.

43. 1. A first communication device comprising: a transmitting module configured to transmit a request message for conditional handover to a second communication device; a receiving module configured to receive a response message for a conditional handover from the second communication device, the response message including indication information, the indication information indicating at least one energy saving mode of a candidate cell of the second network device and at least one configuration information associated with the at least one energy saving mode for the conditional handover; An apparatus having:

44. A second communication device comprising: a receiving module configured to receive a request message for conditional handover from the first communication device; a transmitting module configured to transmit a response message for a conditional handover to the first network device, the response message including indication information indicating at least one energy saving mode of a candidate cell of the second network device and at least one configuration information associated with the at least one energy saving mode for the conditional handover; An apparatus having:

45. A terminal device comprising: a receiving module configured to receive a reconfiguration message from the first network device; a conditional handover module configured to perform an energy saving mode-based conditional handover for the terminal device based on the reconfiguration information; It has the reconfiguration message includes instruction information, the instruction information indicating at least one energy saving mode of a candidate cell of a second network device and at least one configuration information associated with the at least one energy saving mode for conditional handover; Device.

46. 41. A computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by an electronic device, cause the electronic device to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 40.

47. 41. A computer program product comprising instructions which, when executed by an electronic device, cause the electronic device to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 40.

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