Handover method, communication device, and computer storage medium

Abstract

The present application provides a handover method, a communication device, and a computer storage medium. The method includes: a first access network device determines a second access network device that can provide communication services for a terminal based on coverage information of a neighboring access network device and route information of the terminal, and sends a handover request message to the second access network device. The match between the movement path of the terminal and the coverage range of a neighboring base station is considered in the process of determining a target access network device or a candidate target access network device, so that the terminal can be handed over to an access network device that matches the movement path of the terminal.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present application relates to the field of communication technologies, and in particular to a handover method, a communication device, and a computer storage medium. [Background technology]

[0002] To maintain communication quality, the terminal may perform cell handover during the mobility process. For example, the source base station may decide to handover the terminal from the serving cell to a cell managed by the target base station based on neighbor cell measurements reported by the terminal.

[0003] As various types of terminals, such as drones, are applied to wireless communication, the serving cell of the terminal, the relationship between neighboring cells, etc., change significantly compared to those in conventional wireless communication scenarios. As a result, using conventional handover methods may cause poor handover effects and affect communication quality. Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present application provide a handover method, a communication device, and a computer storage medium for improving communication quality in a handover scenario. [Means for solving the problem]

[0005] According to a first aspect, the present application provides a handover method, including: a first access network device acquiring first information, the first information including coverage information of at least one access network device neighboring the first access network device; the first access network device receiving route information from a terminal; the first access network device determining a second access network device from the at least one access network device based on the first information and the route information; and the first access network device sending a handover request to the second access network device, the handover request being used to request handover of the terminal from the first access network device to the second access network device.

[0006] In one possible implementation of the first aspect, the method further includes: the first access network device receiving a handover request response from the second access network device.

[0007] Optionally, the handover request response includes indication information, the indication information indicating a possibility that the second access network device provides communication services for the terminal.

[0008] In one possible implementation of the first aspect, the method further includes: the first access network device sending a conditional handover configuration to the terminal, the conditional handover configuration including information about at least one candidate cell and a condition to be satisfied to decide to hand over the terminal to any of the at least one candidate cell, some or all of the at least one candidate cell being managed by the second access network device.

[0009] In one possible implementation of the first aspect, the first access network device obtaining the first information includes the first access network device performing operation, management, and maintenance of the first access network device. (O receiving first information from the AM;

[0010] In one possible implementation of the first aspect, the first access network device obtaining the first information includes: the first access network device receiving coverage information of the first access network device from an OAM; the first access network device separately receiving coverage information of the at least one access network device from the at least one access network device; and the at least one access network device separately receiving each coverage information from an OAM.

[0011] Optionally, the first access network device obtains coverage information of said at least one access network device from the interface setup request message.

[0012] In one possible implementation of the first aspect, the method further includes: the first access network device receiving updated coverage information of the first access network device from the OAM; and the first access network device separately transmitting the updated coverage information of the first access network device to the at least one access network device.

[0013] In one possible implementation of the first aspect, the first access network device determining a second access network device from the at least one access network device based on coverage information and route information includes: determining a movement direction of the terminal based on the route information; determining one or more candidate access network devices in the movement direction of the terminal based on the coverage information of the at least one access network device; and determining a second access network device from the candidate access network devices.

[0014] In one possible implementation of the first aspect, the first access network device determining a second access network device from the at least one access network device based on coverage information and route information includes: determining a movement route of the terminal based on the route information; determining a coverage range of the at least one access network device based on the coverage information of the at least one access network device; and determining an access network device whose coverage range overlaps with the movement route of the terminal as the second access network device.

[0015] According to a second aspect, the present application provides a handover method, including: a second access network device receiving a handover request from a first access network device, the handover request being used to request handover of a terminal from the first access network device to a second access network device, the second access network device being adjacent to the first access network device, the second access network device being determined by the first access network device based on first information and route information of the terminal, the first information including coverage information of at least one access network device adjacent to the first access network device.

[0016] In one possible implementation of the second aspect, the method further includes: the second access network device sending a handover request response to the first access network device.

[0017] Optionally, the handover request response includes indication information, the indication information indicating a capability of the second access network device to provide communication services for the terminal.

[0018] In one possible implementation of the first or second aspect, the first information further includes coverage information of the first access network device.

[0019] Optionally, the coverage information of the first access network device includes location information of the first access network device and / or coverage range information of cells managed by the first access network device.

[0020] In one possible implementation of the first or second aspect, the coverage information of any one of the at least one access network device includes location information of the access network device and / or coverage range information of cells managed by the access network device.

[0021] In one possible implementation of the first or second aspect, the terminal is a drone terminal, and the route information includes a flight path of the drone terminal.

[0022] According to the handover method provided in the first or second aspect, a first access network device determines a second access network device that can provide communication services for a terminal based on coverage information of neighboring access network devices and route information of the terminal, and transmits a handover request message to the second access network device. The match between the terminal's movement path and the coverage ranges of neighboring access devices is taken into account in the process of determining a target access network device or candidate target access network devices, so that the terminal can be handed over to an access network device that matches the terminal's movement path. This improves handover effectiveness and communication quality.

[0023] According to a third aspect, the present application provides a handover method, including: a first access network device acquiring coverage information of the first access network device; the first access network device receiving a handover request from a second access network device, the handover request including route information of a terminal, the handover request requesting to hand over the terminal from the second access network device to the first access network device; the first access network device determining, based on the coverage information and the route information, whether the first access network device can provide communication services for the terminal; and when the first access network device determines that the first access network device can provide communication services for the terminal, the first access network device sending a handover request response to the second access network device.

[0024] In one possible implementation of the third aspect, the method further includes: when the terminal determines to be handed over to a first candidate cell managed by the first access network device based on the conditional handover configuration, the first access network device performs time synchronization with the terminal, the conditional handover configuration including information about at least one candidate cell and a condition to be satisfied for deciding to hand over the terminal to any of the at least one candidate cell, some or all of the at least one candidate cell being managed by the first access network device.

[0025] In one possible implementation of the third aspect, the method further includes: when the first access network device determines that the first access network device cannot provide communication services for the terminal, the first access network device sends indication information to the second access network device indicating that the first access network device cannot provide communication services for the terminal.

[0026] In one possible implementation of the third aspect, the first access network device obtaining the coverage information includes the first access network device receiving the coverage information from an OAM.

[0027] In one possible implementation of the third aspect, the first access network device obtaining the coverage information includes the first access network device receiving the coverage information from the second access network device.

[0028] In one possible implementation of the third aspect, the method further includes: the first access network device receiving updated coverage information from the OAM or the second access network device.

[0029] In one possible implementation of the third aspect, the first access network device determining, based on the coverage information and the route information, whether the first access network device can provide communication services for the terminal includes: determining a movement direction of the terminal based on the route information; and determining, based on the coverage information, whether the first access network device is located in the movement direction of the terminal.

[0030] In one possible implementation of the third aspect, the first access network device determining, based on the coverage information and the route information, whether the first access network device can provide communication services for the terminal includes: determining a coverage range of the first access network device based on the coverage information, determining, based on the route information, whether a movement path of the terminal overlaps with the coverage range, and determining whether the terminal passes through the coverage range of the first access network device.

[0031] According to a fourth aspect, the present application provides a handover method, including: a second access network device sending a handover request to a first access network device, the handover request including route information of a terminal, the handover request requesting to hand over the terminal from the second access network device to the first access network device; and when the first access network device determines, based on the coverage information and the route information, that the first access network device can provide communication services for the terminal, the second access network device receiving a handover request response from the first access network device.

[0032] In one possible implementation of the fourth aspect, the method further includes: when the first access network device determines that the first access network device is unable to provide communication services for the terminal, receiving indication information from the first access network device indicating that the first access network device is unable to provide communication services for the terminal.

[0033] In one possible implementation of the fourth aspect, the method further includes: the second access network device transmitting coverage information to the first access network device.

[0034] In one possible implementation of the third or fourth aspect, the coverage information of the first access network device includes location information of the first access network device and / or direction information and coverage information of cells managed by the first access network device.

[0035] In one possible implementation of the third or fourth aspect, the terminal is a drone terminal, and the route information includes a flight path of the drone terminal.

[0036] According to the handover method provided in the third or fourth aspect, a first access network device receives a handover request including route information of a terminal from a second access network device, and then the first access network device determines whether the first access network device can provide communication services for the terminal based on the route information of the terminal and the coverage information of the first access network device. When the first access network device determines that the first access network device can provide communication services for the terminal, the first access network device sends a handover request response to the second access network device, so that the terminal can be handed over to an access network device whose coverage range matches the terminal's movement path. This improves handover effectiveness and communication quality.

[0037] According to a fifth aspect, the present application further provides a communication device including a unit, module, or means configured to perform the steps of the first to fourth aspects. The communication device may be a network device or a device used for a network device. The network device may be a base station or a device having some of the functionality of a base station.

[0038] According to a sixth aspect, the present application further provides a communications device including a processor and an interface circuit, the processor configured to communicate with another device through the interface circuit and to perform a method according to the first to fourth aspects, and there may be one or more processors.

[0039] According to a seventh aspect, the present application further provides a communications device including a processor configured to invoke a program stored in a memory to perform the methods according to the first to fourth aspects. The memory may be internal or external to the device. In addition, there may be one or more processors.

[0040] According to an eighth aspect, the present application further provides a computer program product, the program, when invoked by a processor, performing a method according to any one of the preceding aspects.

[0041] Also provided is a computer-readable storage medium containing the above program.

[0042] According to a ninth aspect, the present application provides a communication system including a first access network device and a second access network device, wherein the first access network device is configured to perform a method according to the first aspect and the second access network device is configured to perform a method according to the second aspect; or wherein the first access network device is configured to perform a method according to the third aspect and the second access network device is configured to perform a method according to the fourth aspect. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0043] [Figure 1] 1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system 100 according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0044] [Figure 2] 1 is a schematic flowchart of a conditional handover according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0045] [Figure 3] 2 is a flowchart of a handover method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0046] [Figure 4] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of cell orientation according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0047] [Figure 5] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the pitch angle of a base station antenna according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0048] [Figure 6] 2 is a flowchart of a handover method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0049] [Figure 7] 2 is a flowchart of a handover method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0050] [Figure 8] 2 is a flowchart of a handover method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0051] [Figure 9] 9 is a schematic diagram of a communication device 900 according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0052] [Figure 10] 1 is a schematic diagram of a network device 1000 according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0053] [Figure 11] 11 is a schematic diagram of a terminal 1100 according to an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0054] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system 100 according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0055] As shown in FIG. 1, communication system 100 includes network device 1 and network device 2. Network device 1 and network device 2 may communicate with each other directly, for example, through a direct communication interface, or may communicate with each other indirectly via another network device. Each network device manages one or more cells. The coverage area of ​​each cell may cover one or more terminals. The terminals access the network device through the cell to obtain communication services. In FIG. 1, for purposes of explanation, it is assumed that network device 1 manages cell 1, terminal 1 is located in cell 1, network device 2 manages cell 2, and terminal 2 is located in cell 2.

[0056] The communication system in this application may be a radio access network, for example, a long-term evolution (LTE) network. (L TE) Wireless Communication System, New Radio (N 5th generation systems such as R (5 G) Mobile communication systems or other next generation (N G) A communication system or a new communication system, which is not limited in this application.

[0057] In this application, a terminal may be any device that provides voice and / or data connectivity for a user, or may be referred to as a terminal device, user equipment, (U E), mobile station, mobile terminal, etc. (D 2D), Vehicle to Everything (V 2X) communication, machine type communication (M TC), Internet of Things (IThe terminal may be widely applied to various scenarios, such as industrial technology (OT), virtual reality, augmented reality, industrial control, autonomous driving, telemedicine, smart grid, smart furniture, smart office, smart wearable device, smart transportation, and smart city. The terminal may be a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a computer with a wireless transceiver function, a wearable device, an aerospace device, etc. In the embodiments of the present application, the chip used in the aforementioned device may also be referred to as a terminal.

[0058] The aerospace device may be a drone terminal or another flying device having a wireless communication module. The drone terminal may be a drone user equipment (drone UE), or unmanned aerial vehicle. (U It is also called AV.

[0059] In this application, a network device may be an access network device. (e NodeB), transmitting and receiving point (T RP), 5th generation (5 G) Next Generation Node B in Mobile Communication Systems (g NB), 6th generation (6 G) It may be a next-generation node B in a mobile communication system, a base station in a future mobile communication system, etc.; or it may be a module or unit that performs some functions of a base station, for example, a central unit (C U) or a distributed unit (D In this specification, the CU may be a base station radio resource control protocol and a packet data convergence protocol. (P DCP) functions and also implements the Service Data Adaptation Protocol (S The DU may implement the functions of the base station's radio link control layer and medium access control (DAP). (M The above-mentioned protocol layer may complete the functions of the AC layer and may also complete some or all of the functions of the physical layer. For a detailed explanation, please see the Third Generation Partnership Project (3 Please refer to the technical specifications for the IEEE 802.11 GPP. The radio access network device may be a macro base station, a micro base station, an indoor base station, or a relay node, a donor node, etc. The specific technology used by the network device and the specific device form are not limited in the embodiments of this application.

[0060] An example in which network device 1 is base station 1 and network device 2 is base station 2 is used to explain the communication system shown in FIG. 1. In FIG. 1, base station 1 and base station 2 are base stations in proximity to each other. There is a direct communication interface between base station 1 and base station 2. Base station 1 and base station 2 exchange information through the communication interface, for example, can transmit resource usage information of base station 1 and base station 2 to each other. A cell handover may occur when terminal 1 or terminal 2 moves. For example, terminal 1 is handed over from cell 1 to cell 2, and terminal 2 is handed over from cell 2 to cell 1. Base station 1 and base station 2 may be connected to the same core network or different core networks, and the core networks may communicate with each other.

[0061] In the drone-terminal communication scenario, terminal 1 and terminal 2 are UAVs in flight, and base station 1 and base station 2 are terrestrial base stations capable of communicating with the UAVs, such as a dedicated base station or a common base station managing the UAVs. The dedicated base station managing the UAVs has full communication capabilities for UAVs in the near-end range and communication capabilities for low-rate data and signaling for UAVs in the far-end range. The near-end and far-end ranges may be divided according to whether the UAV's communication quality can reach a certain threshold with the signal quality in the corresponding space. For example, a space with a geographical radius of 20 km and a space with a spatial radius of 3 km may be considered the far-end range. The dedicated base station may also have the functionality of a common terrestrial base station. The common base station managing the UAVs has the functionality of a common terrestrial base station and full communication capabilities for UAVs in the near-end range. The common base station may also function as a data plane relay node for UAVs located at high altitudes. Since the relationship between the serving cell and neighboring cells of a UAV in the air is different from that of a common ground terminal, the time when the UAV switches between the serving cell and the determined target cell during the UAV's movement process may be different from that of a common ground terminal. How to select a suitable target base station and a suitable target cell for a UAV is an urgent problem that needs to be solved.

[0062] In one example of a handover mode (mode 1), the handover of a terminal is controlled by the network device currently accessed by the terminal or the network device currently providing service (referred to as the "source base station" for short). The handover procedure includes the following: the source base station instructs the terminal to perform cell measurements, determines whether to handover the terminal's serving cell based on the measurement report reported by the terminal, and, if the handover is determined, transmits a handover request message to the target network device (referred to as the "target base station" for short) to which the terminal should be handed over. If the target base station allows the terminal's access, the target base station transmits a handover confirmation message to the source base station. One of the decision criteria used by the source base station to determine whether to handover the cell in which the terminal is serving is the cell handover trigger threshold. If the signal quality of a neighboring cell reported by the terminal reaches or exceeds the cell handover trigger threshold, the source base station determines that the terminal can be handed over to the neighboring cell.

[0063] As an example of another handover mode (mode 2), conditional handover is used to reduce system overhead and improve handover efficiency. (C A conditional handover (CHO) aspect is proposed. Conditional handover means that a terminal performs handover when some CHO conditions are met. Specifically, the terminal may determine to select a candidate target cell that satisfies the CHO conditions from candidate target cells provided by the network side and perform handover. For example, Figure 2 is a flowchart of conditional handover, which includes the following steps:

[0064] S201: A source base station sends a measurement configuration to a terminal.

[0065] S202: The terminal measures the serving cell and the neighboring cells based on the measurement configuration, and reports the cell measurement results to the source base station.

[0066] S203: The source base station determines to use a conditional handover.

[0067] S204: The source base station sends a handover request message to one or more candidate target base stations.

[0068] Generally, the source base station sends a handover request message to each neighbor base station separately, in other words, all neighbor base stations of the source base station may be used as potential target base stations.

[0069] S205: The candidate target base station performs admission control.

[0070] Specifically, the candidate target base station can determine and control whether to allow the terminal to access the network based on the current load level. Each candidate target base station manages one or more cells, and the candidate target base station may determine a cell with good signal quality as a candidate cell and provide the candidate cell for the terminal to make a CHO decision.

[0071] S206: The candidate target base station sends a handover request response including the candidate cell configuration to the source base station.

[0072] S207: The source base station performs radio resource control (R An RRC reconfiguration message is sent to the terminal. The RRC reconfiguration message includes the candidate cell configuration and handover conditions.

[0073] The configuration and handover conditions of a candidate cell may be referred to as the CHO configuration of the candidate cell. It may be understood that the handover conditions correspond to the candidate cell, and that the handover conditions of different candidate cells may be the same or different.

[0074] The handover conditions may also be called CHO conditions, CHO execution conditions, handover trigger conditions, etc. For example, the handover conditions may include target candidate cell indication information, candidate special cell information added or modified for CHO, etc. (S pCell) configuration list, or a candidate SpCell configuration list to be deleted. If the handover condition includes target candidate cell indication information, it indicates that a candidate cell provided by a candidate target base station can be used as a target candidate cell, and the terminal can perform conditional reconfiguration to the target candidate cell.

[0075] The candidate cell configuration includes the candidate cell identifier, the system information block 1 of the candidate cell, (S IB1), or radio bearer configuration.

[0076] S208: The terminal sends an RRC reconfiguration complete message to the source base station.

[0077] S209: The terminal evaluates whether the candidate cell satisfies a handover condition.

[0078] Specifically, after receiving the CHO configuration of the candidate cell, the terminal begins evaluating whether the candidate cell satisfies a handover condition. When the terminal determines that the candidate cell satisfies the corresponding handover condition, or when the terminal selects a candidate cell from multiple candidate cells that satisfy the corresponding handover condition based on conditions such as cell signal quality, the terminal performs a procedure for handing over to the candidate cell and stops evaluating the handover condition after performing the handover. The procedure for handing over the terminal to the candidate cell includes detaching from the source base station, performing an action to apply the corresponding stored configuration by the selected candidate cell, synchronizing with the candidate cell, and sending an RRC reconfiguration complete message to the target base station to complete the RRC handover process. After successfully completing the RRC handover procedure, the terminal may release the stored CHO configuration.

[0079] S210: The target base station sends a handover success message to the source base station to notify the terminal that the terminal has successfully accessed the target cell.

[0080] S211: The source base station sends an SN status transfer message to the target base station.

[0081] Optionally, the source base station sends a handover cancel message to a candidate target base station other than the target base station.

[0082] Regardless of which handover mode is used, only conditions related to cell signal quality are considered when determining the target base station to which the terminal is handed over. For terminals such as UAVs, the selected target base station may not be suitable for terminal access. Furthermore, when using CHO, the source base station transmits a handover request to each neighboring base station. After the terminal performs handover to the target base station, the resources of other candidate target base stations that prepare resources for the terminal are wasted, resulting in unnecessary overhead of system resources.

[0083] In order to improve handover effect and communication quality and save system resources, the present application provides a handover method. The handover method provided in the present application will be described in detail below with reference to Figures 3 to 8. The method provided in the present application may be performed by a terminal or a network device, or may be performed by a communication device, such as a chip, used for the terminal or the network device. The method provided in the present application may be applied to the communication system shown in Figure 1. The handover method provided in the present application will be described below by using the terminal as a UE and the network device as a base station.

[0084] 3 is a schematic flowchart of a handover method according to the present application, which includes the following steps:

[0085] S301: A first base station obtains first information, where the first information includes coverage information of at least one base station neighboring the first base station.

[0086] The first base station is the base station currently accessed by the UE and may also be referred to as the UE's serving base station. In a handover scenario, the first base station may also be referred to as the source base station. In addition, for ease of explanation, base stations adjacent to the first base station are hereinafter referred to as neighboring base stations for short, and the neighboring base stations of the first base station may be used as candidate target base stations to which the UE should be handed over. One or more cells managed by each candidate target base station may be used as candidate target cells to which the UE should be handed over.

[0087] Optionally, the candidate target cell is a dedicated cell for the UE. For example, when the UE is a UAV, the candidate target cell is a dedicated cell for the UAV or a high-altitude cell. A high-altitude cell is a cell whose signal transmission direction is directed toward the sky.

[0088] Optionally, the coverage information of each neighboring base station includes location information of the neighboring base station and / or coverage range information of the cell managed by the neighboring base station.

[0089] The location information of the neighboring base station may include geographical location information of the neighboring base station, and the geographical location information may be the longitude and latitude of the geographical location of the neighboring base station.

[0090] Optionally, the cell coverage range information includes cell direction information. In the present application, the angle between the cell and a specified reference direction may be defined as the cell direction. As shown in FIG. 4, α is defined as the angle between the direction of the cell antenna main lobe and the due east direction. Optionally, the cell coverage range information may further include the length and width of the cell coverage range. Optionally, the cell coverage range information may further include indication information indicating whether the cell is a high-altitude cell. One possible embodiment of the indication information uses a 1-bit indication bit. For example, when the indication bit has a value of “0,” it indicates that the cell is not a high-altitude cell. When the indication bit has a value of “1,” it indicates that the cell is a high-altitude cell. Optionally, the cell coverage range information may further include information such as the height of the base station to which the cell belongs and / or the pitch angle β of the base station antenna, as shown in FIG. 5. When the coverage range information of a cell includes multiple types of information, the location and coverage range of the cell can be more accurately reflected. In one implementation, the first information further includes coverage information of the first base station. Optionally, the coverage information of the first base station includes location information of the first base station and / or coverage range information of cells managed by the first base station. Details will not be described again. The first base station can accurately locate the boundary between the coverage range of the first base station and the coverage range of the neighboring base station based on the coverage information of the first base station and the coverage information of the neighboring base station.

[0091] Optionally, in an implementation of the present application, the first base station receives the first information from the OAM.

[0092] For example, in this implementation, OAM uses the Global Positioning System (GThe OAM may obtain location information of each base station within its management range by using a PSS or the like. The OAM may also preconfigure, for each base station within its management range, coverage range information of the cells managed by each base station. The base station location information and cell coverage range information may form coverage information of the base station, so that the OAM can transmit coverage information of the first base station and neighboring base stations to the first base station. It may be understood that the OAM can transmit coverage information of the base station and neighboring base stations to any base station within its management range.

[0093] Optionally, in some implementations of the present application, the first base station receives coverage information of the first base station from the OAM, and receives coverage information of neighbor base stations separately from each neighbor base station.

[0094] Specifically, in this implementation, the OAM separately transmits the coverage information of the base station to any base station within the management range of the OAM. In other words, each base station obtains the coverage information of the base station from the OAM, and then the base stations may exchange coverage information. For example, a first base station separately obtains the coverage information of neighboring base stations from each neighboring base station. In addition, the first base station may also transmit its coverage information to each neighboring base station. The coverage information of each base station may be transmitted by using an interface message between base stations or may be transferred via the core network. This is not a limitation in the present application.

[0095] Optionally, in some implementations of the present application, if the coverage information of a base station changes, the OAM may notify the base station of the change in the coverage information of the base station, which may include notifying information such as the changed coverage information or the changing coverage information and the changed range. The base station may then notify each neighboring base station of the updated coverage information, and the neighboring base station receiving the updated coverage information may send a confirmation message to the base station. For example, a first base station may receive the updated coverage information of the first base station from the OAM and send the updated coverage information of the first base station to each neighboring base station. Similarly, the first base station may separately receive the updated coverage information of each neighboring base station from each neighboring base station. Optionally, the first base station may send a configuration update message to the neighboring base station, where the configuration update message includes the updated coverage information of the neighboring base station.

[0096] Optionally, in one implementation of the present application, if the coverage information of multiple neighboring base stations changes within a certain period of time, the OAM may separately notify each base station in the multiple neighboring base stations of the change in coverage information of those neighboring base stations.

[0097] Optionally, the first base station may establish and maintain a neighbor relationship list based on the acquired first information, and record and update coverage information of the first base station and each neighbor base station in the list.

[0098] S302: The first base station receives route information from the UE.

[0099] The route information of the UE may indicate a movement route of the UE. Specifically, the route information may include waypoints that the UE passes through during the movement process, and the waypoints may be represented using the longitude and latitude of the geographical locations of the waypoints. The route information may further include timestamp information, which indicates the time at which each waypoint is passed. Optionally, the route information may further include a maximum number of waypoints and an instruction to report the timestamp information. If the UE is a UAV, the route information may include a flight path of the UAV.

[0100] Based on the UE's route information, the first base station may not only know the route the UE has taken, but may also predetermine the area the UE will take, in other words, the UE's future movement route.

[0101] Optionally, the first base station may send a route request to the UE, and the UE sends a route request response to the first base station based on the route request, where the route request response includes route information of the UE.

[0102] It may be understood that the sequence of performing steps S301 and S302 is not limited in the present application. S301 may be performed before S302, S302 may be performed before S301, or S301 and S302 may be performed simultaneously.

[0103] S303: The first base station determines a second base station of the at least one neighboring base station based on the first information and route information.

[0104] Specifically, the first base station determines, in the at least one neighboring base station, a second base station that can provide communication services for the UE. When the handover is performed in aspect 1, the first base station determines that the second base station is to be used as a target base station to which the terminal should be handed over. When the handover is performed in aspect 2, the first base station determines that the second base station is to be used as a candidate target base station or one of the candidate target base stations to which the terminal should be handed over.

[0105] Optionally, in an implementation of the present application, the first base station determines a movement route of the UE based on route information, and determines a coverage range of the at least one neighboring base station based on coverage information of the at least one neighboring base station, so that the first base station determines a neighboring base station whose coverage range overlaps with the movement route of the UE as the second base station, that is, the first base station determines based on the movement route of the UE that the UE will pass through the coverage range of the second base station, so that the first base station determines that the second base station can provide communication services for the UE.

[0106] For example, if the UE is a UAV, the first base station may obtain the flight path of the UAV based on the route information reported by the UAV, calculate the coverage range of cells managed by nearby base stations that overlap with the flight path of the UAV, and select the base station to which the cell whose coverage range overlaps with the flight path of the UAV belongs as the second base station.

[0107] Optionally, in one implementation of the present application, the first base station determines the moving direction of the UE based on route information, determines one or more candidate neighboring base stations in the moving direction of the UE based on coverage information of the at least one neighboring base station, and determines a second base station from among the candidate neighboring base stations. In this implementation, the first base station first excludes neighboring base stations that are not in the moving direction of the UE and uses only neighboring base stations in the moving direction of the UE as candidate base stations, and then determines a candidate neighboring base station whose coverage range overlaps with the moving path of the UE as the second base station based on the coverage information of the candidate base stations. In this implementation, the first base station does not need to analyze the coverage information of all neighboring base stations, thereby saving system resources and improving processing efficiency.

[0108] For example, if the UE is a UAV, the first base station may calculate the flight direction of the UAV based on the route information reported by the UAV. For example, the UAV flies in a southeasterly direction. The first base station determines neighbor base stations that can provide communication services for the UAV in the southeasterly direction based on the coverage information of each neighbor base station in the maintained neighbor relationship list. In other words, the neighbor base stations in the southeasterly direction are used as candidate neighbor base stations, and the second base station is determined in the candidate neighbor base station.

[0109] Optionally, in one implementation of the present application, the first base station determines the UE's moving direction based on route information, and determines the one or more candidate neighboring base stations in the UE's moving direction based on coverage information of the at least one neighboring base station. Furthermore, the first base station separately transmits handover requests to the candidate neighboring base stations. If the candidate neighboring base station determines that the candidate neighboring base station can provide communication services for the UE, the candidate neighboring base station transmits a request response to the first base station. For example, the first candidate neighboring base station receives the handover request of the first base station and determines, based on the coverage information, that the UE's moving path overlaps with the coverage range of the first candidate neighboring base station. In this case, the first candidate neighboring base station determines that the first candidate neighboring base station can provide communication services for the UE, and then transmits a handover request response to the first base station.

[0110] Optionally, when determining the second base station, the first base station not only considers whether the location and cell coverage range of the neighboring base station meet the UE's movement path, but also considers whether the signal quality of the neighboring base station reaches a preset threshold, and uses the neighboring base station whose signal quality meets or exceeds the preset threshold and meets the UE's movement path as the second base station. The first base station may receive a cell measurement report from the UE, where the cell measurement report includes results of measurements by the UE of the signal of the serving cell and the signals of each neighboring cell. S304: The first base station sends a handover request to the second base station. The handover request is used to request handover of the terminal from the first base station to the second base station.

[0111] Optionally, in some implementations, the method includes: S305: The first base station receives a handover request response from the second base station.

[0112] The handover request response may include an associated configuration of the second base station, for example, RRC reconfiguration information of the second base station, which is used by the UE to access the second base station. When the CHO aspect is used, the associated configuration of the second base station may include information about candidate cells managed by the second base station and CHO conditions corresponding to the candidate cells.

[0113] Optionally, the handover request response includes indication information, where the indication information indicates a possibility that the second base station can provide communication services for the UE. Optionally, the indication information is an integer value ranging from 0 to N (N≧1), representing a probability that the second base station can provide communication services for the UE. For example, N=100. A value of 0 in the indication information indicates that the second base station cannot provide communication services for the UE. A value of 50 in the indication information indicates that the probability that the second base station can provide communication services for the UE is 50%. A value of 100 in the indication information indicates that the probability that the second base station can provide communication services for the UE is 100%. In another example, N=4. A value of 0 in the indication information indicates that the second base station cannot provide communication services for the UE. A value of 1 in the indication information indicates that the probability that the second base station can provide communication services for the UE is 25%. A value of 2 in the indication information indicates that the probability that the second base station can provide communication services for the UE is 50%. The value of the indication information is 3, which indicates that the probability that the second base station can provide communication services for the UE is 75%, and the value of the indication information is 4, which indicates that the probability that the second base station can provide communication services for the UE is 100%.

[0114] Optionally, in some implementations, if the first base station does not receive a handover request response from the second base station after a preset time, which indicates that the handover request has failed, the first base station may initiate a handover request to the second base station again, or may initiate a handover request to another candidate target base station.

[0115] When the first base station receives the handover request response from the second base station and the CHO aspect is used, the method further includes: the first base station sending a CHO configuration to the UE, the CHO configuration including information about at least one candidate cell and a condition to be satisfied by the UE to decide to be handed over to any candidate cell among the at least one candidate cell, some or all of the at least one candidate cell being managed by the second base station.

[0116] The condition to be met by the UE to decide to be handed over to any candidate cell is the CHO condition corresponding to the candidate cell.

[0117] It can be understood that the first base station may determine multiple candidate target base stations. In other words, in addition to the second base station, the first base station may further determine one or more candidate target base stations and separately transmit handover requests to those candidate target base stations. Therefore, the first base station can separately receive handover request responses from multiple candidate target base stations, and the handover request responses transmitted by each candidate target base station can include information about candidate cells managed by that candidate target base station and CHO conditions corresponding to the candidate cell. Therefore, the CHO configuration transmitted by the first base station to the UE can include information about multiple candidate cells separately belonging to the second base station and another candidate target base station and CHO conditions corresponding to each candidate cell. After receiving the conditional handover configuration, the UE can select a candidate cell that satisfies the CHO conditions from the multiple candidate cells to perform handover. For a specific description of CHO, please refer to the above related content, for example, the description of FIG. 2.

[0118] According to the handover method provided in this application, a first base station determines a second base station that can provide communication services for the UE based on coverage information of neighboring base stations and route information of the UE, and sends a handover request message to the second base station. The match between the UE's movement path and the coverage range of neighboring base stations is taken into account in the process of determining a target base station or candidate target base stations, so that the UE can be handed over to a base station that matches the UE's movement path. This improves handover efficiency and communication quality.

[0119] The following embodiment shown in Figure 6 further explains and describes the handover method provided in the present application based on the embodiment shown in Figure 3. The content already described will not be repeated. In the embodiment shown in Figure 6, the first access network device is gNB1, and gNB2 and gNB3 are neighboring base stations of gNB1. Assume that the UE is handed over in a CHO manner, gNB1 is the source base station, and gNB2 and gNB3 are candidate target base stations.

[0120] S601: The OAM separately configures coverage information of gNB1 for gNB1, configures coverage information of gNB2 for gNB2, and configures coverage information of gNB3 for gNB3.

[0121] S602: gNB1 transmits coverage information of gNB1 separately to gNB2 and gNB3.

[0122] Optionally, the coverage information of gNB1 is included in an Xn interface setup request message sent by gNB1 to gNB2 and gNB3, respectively.

[0123] S603: gNB1 receives coverage information of gNB2 from gNB2 and receives coverage information of gNB3 from gNB3.

[0124] Optionally, the coverage information of gNB2 and the coverage information of gNB3 are included in Xn interface setup response messages sent by gNB2 and gNB3 to gNB1, respectively.

[0125] gNB1 may further receive coverage information from one or more neighboring base stations other than gNB2 and gNB3, which is not shown in Figure 6. gNB1 may establish and maintain a neighbor relationship list based on the received coverage information of each neighboring base station.

[0126] S601 to S603 are optional. In another embodiment, S601 to S603 may be replaced by step S601′, where S601′ includes: OAM sends coverage information of gNB1, coverage information of gNB2, and coverage information of gNB3 to gNB1.

[0127] S604: gNB1 sends a route request message to the UE.

[0128] S605: The UE sends a route request response message to gNB1, where the route request response message includes the route information of the UE.

[0129] It may be understood that the sequence of executing S601 to S605 is merely an example, and there is no limitation on the sequence of executing S601 to S603, S604, and S605. For example, gNB1 first acquires its own coverage information and the coverage information of neighboring base stations, and then acquires the route information of the UE. Alternatively, gNB1 first acquires the route information of the UE, and then acquires the coverage information of gNB1 and the coverage information of neighboring base stations. This is not a limitation in the present application.

[0130] S606: gNB1 determines whether gNB2 can provide communication services for the UE based on the route information of the UE and the coverage information of gNB2.

[0131] S607: gNB1 determines whether gNB3 can provide communication services for the UE based on the route information of the UE and the coverage information of gNB3.

[0132] It is assumed that gNB1 determines that the coverage area of ​​gNB2 overlaps with the movement path of the UE and determines that the UE does not pass through the coverage area of ​​gNB3. Therefore, gNB1 determines that gNB2 can provide communication services for the UE and gNB3 cannot provide communication services for the UE.

[0133] It may be understood that the sequence of executing S606 and S607 is not limited in the present application. S606 may be executed before S607, S607 may be executed before S606, or S606 and S607 may be executed simultaneously.

[0134] For detailed descriptions of S606 and S607, please refer to the relevant content of step S303 in the above embodiment, and the details will not be described again.

[0135] S608: gNB1 sends a handover request message to gNB2.

[0136] S609: gNB2 sends a handover request response message to gNB1.

[0137] The handover request response message includes information about the candidate cells of gNB2 and the CHO conditions corresponding to the candidate cells.

[0138] S610: gNB1 sends the CHO configuration to the UE.

[0139] The CHO configuration includes information about one or more candidate cells and CHO conditions corresponding to each candidate cell, where the one or more candidate cells include a candidate cell of gNB2.

[0140] S611: The UE determines whether to be handed over to gNB2 based on the CHO configuration.

[0141] If the UE determines that the UE can be handed over to the gNB2 based on the CHO configuration, a procedure for handing over to the gNB2 is performed. Details will not be described.

[0142] According to the above-mentioned handover method, gNB1 does not need to send a handover request message to each of gNB2 and gNB3, but only needs to determine in advance that gNB2 can provide communication services for the UE and gNB3 cannot provide communication services for the UE, so that gNB1 sends a handover request message to gNB2, and gNB3 does not need to prepare transmission resources for the UE, thereby optimizing the CHO configuration sent by gNB1 to the UE, saving overall system resources, and improving handover efficiency.

[0143] 7 is a schematic flowchart of another handover method according to the present invention. In this embodiment, a neighbor base station of the source base station determines whether to act as a target base station or a candidate target base station to which the UE should be handed over. The method includes the following steps:

[0144] S701: A second base station obtains coverage information of the second base station.

[0145] The coverage information of the second base station includes location information of the second base station and / or coverage range information of the cell managed by the second base station. For a detailed description of the coverage information of the second base station, please refer to the relevant content in the above embodiment.

[0146] Optionally, the second base station receives the coverage information from the OAM.

[0147] Optionally, the second base station receives coverage information from another base station, for example, the first base station. In this implementation, the OAM may transmit coverage information of the base station and neighboring base stations to the base station, so that the base station can transmit coverage information of the neighboring base stations to the neighboring base stations.

[0148] The first base station and the second base station are neighboring base stations relative to each other. The first base station is a source base station in a handover process of the UE, and the second base station is a candidate target base station in the handover process of the UE. For an explanation of the meanings of the first base station and the second base station, please refer to the relevant content in the above embodiment.

[0149] S702: A second base station receives a handover request from a first base station, where the handover request includes route information of the UE, and the handover request requests to hand over the terminal from the first base station to the second base station.

[0150] Optionally, the first base station may receive route information from the UE, for example, by sending a route information request message to the UE, so that the UE adds the route information to a route request response message.

[0151] Optionally, the UE is a UAV, and the route information includes a flight path of the UAV. For a specific description of the route information, please refer to the relevant content in the preceding embodiments.

[0152] Optionally, the first base station may determine, based on the cell measurement results reported by the UE, that the signal quality of the second base station reaches or exceeds a preset threshold, so that the first base station sends a handover request to the second base station.

[0153] It can be understood that the sequence of performing steps S701 and S702 is not limited in the present application. S701 may be performed before S702, or S702 may be performed before S701, or S701 and S702 may be performed simultaneously.

[0154] S703: The second base station determines, based on the coverage information and the route information, whether the second base station can provide communication services for the UE.

[0155] Optionally, in one implementation, the second base station determines the coverage range of the second base station based on the coverage information, and determines whether the UE's movement path overlaps with the coverage range of the second base station based on the route information.

[0156] Optionally, in some implementations, the second base station determines the moving direction of the UE based on the route information, and determines whether the second base station is located in the moving direction of the UE based on the coverage information. When the second base station determines that the second base station is not in the moving direction of the UE, this indicates that the second base station cannot provide communication services for the UE, and the second base station does not need to determine whether the coverage range of the second base station overlaps with the moving path of the UE. When the second base station determines that the second base station is in the moving direction of the UE, the second base station determines whether the coverage range of the second base station overlaps with the moving path of the UE. If the coverage range of the second base station overlaps with the moving path of the UE, the second base station can provide communication services for the UE.

[0157] For a detailed description of S703, please refer to the above embodiment, for example, the description of step S303. The details will not be described again.

[0158] S704: When the second base station determines that the second base station can provide communication services for the UE, the second base station sends a handover request response to the first base station.

[0159] Optionally, the handover request response includes indication information, which indicates whether the second access network device is capable of providing communication services for the terminal. For a detailed description of the indication information, please refer to the relevant content in the preceding embodiments.

[0160] Optionally, in some implementations of the present application, the method further includes: S705: When determining that the second base station cannot provide communication services for the UE, the second base station sends indication information to the first base station, indicating that the second base station cannot provide communication services for the terminal.

[0161] Optionally, the indication information reuses a cause value in an existing message, for example, the cause value "No Radio Resources Available in Target Cell" or the cause value "Cell not Available" in the handover preparation failure message. Optionally, the indication information is a newly designed cause value, for example, the cause value indicating that the UE's travel path does not match the coverage range of the second base station.

[0162] Optionally, in another implementation, when the second base station determines that the second base station cannot provide communication services for the UE, the second base station does not send the indication information to the first base station. If the first base station does not receive the indication information within a preset time, it indicates that the second base station cannot provide communication services for the UE. Specifically, a timer may be set in the first base station. When the timer expires, the first base station confirms that the second base station cannot provide communication services for the UE.

[0163] Optionally, when a CHO handover aspect is used, the method further includes: S706: The first base station sends a CHO configuration to the terminal, where the CHO configuration includes information about at least one candidate cell and a condition to be satisfied by the UE to determine to be handed over to any candidate cell among the at least one candidate cell, where some or all of the at least one candidate cell are managed by a second base station. When the UE determines to be handed over to the first candidate cell managed by the second base station based on the CHO configuration, the second base station performs time synchronization with the terminal.

[0164] For a specific description of CHO, please refer to the relevant content above, for example, the description of Figure 2.

[0165] According to the handover method provided in this application, a second base station receives a handover request from a first base station, the handover request including route information of the UE, and determines whether the second base station can provide communication services for the UE based on the route information of the UE and the coverage information of the second base station. If the second base station determines that the second base station can provide communication services for the UE, the second base station sends a handover request response to the first base station, so that the UE can be handed over to a base station whose coverage range matches the movement path of the UE. This improves handover efficiency and communication quality.

[0166] The following embodiment shown in Figure 8 further explains and describes the handover method provided in the present application based on the embodiment shown in Figure 7. The content already described will not be described again. In the embodiment shown in Figure 8, the first access network device is gNB1, and gNB2 and gNB3 are neighboring base stations of gNB1. It is assumed that the UE is handed over in a CHO manner, where gNB1 is the source base station and gNB2 and gNB3 are candidate target base stations.

[0167] S801: The OAM separately configures gNB1 coverage information for gNB1, configures gNB2 coverage information for gNB2, and configures gNB3 coverage information for gNB3.

[0168] S802: gNB1 sends a route request message to the UE.

[0169] S803: The UE sends a route request response message to gNB1, where the route request response message includes route information of the UE.

[0170] It may be understood that the sequence of executing S801, S802, and S803 is not particularly limited in the present application. For example, S801 may be executed before S802 and S803, or S802 and S803 may be executed before S801.

[0171] S804: gNB1 sends a handover request message to gNB2 and gNB3 separately, and the handover request message includes the route information of the UE.

[0172] S805a: gNB2 determines whether gNB2 can provide communication services for the UE based on gNB2's coverage information and the UE's route information.

[0173] S805b: gNB3 determines whether gNB3 can provide communication services for the UE based on gNB3's coverage information and the UE's route information.

[0174] It can be understood that the sequence of executing S805a and S805b is not particularly limited in the present application.

[0175] It is assumed that gNB2 determines that gNB2 can provide communication services for the UE, and gNB3 determines that gNB3 cannot provide communication services for the UE. The method further includes: S806: gNB2 sends a handover request response message to gNB1.

[0176] The handover request response message includes information about the candidate cells of gNB2 and the CHO conditions corresponding to the candidate cells.

[0177] Optionally, gNB3 may send a handover preparation failure message to gNB1 to notify gNB1 that gNB3 cannot serve as the target base station to which the UE is handed over.

[0178] S807: gNB1 sends the CHO configuration to the UE.

[0179] S808: The UE determines whether to be handed over to gNB2 based on the CHO configuration.

[0180] For steps S806 to S808, please refer to the relevant content in the above embodiment, for example, the description of steps S609 to S611.

[0181] According to the above-described handover method, gNB2 and gNB3 are used as neighbor base stations of gNB1 and separately determine whether gNB2 and gNB3 can provide communication services for the UE. gNB2 determines that gNB2 can provide communication services for the UE and transmits a handover request response to gNB1, including a CHO configuration corresponding to gNB2. However, gNB3 determines that gNB3 cannot provide communication services for the UE. As a result, gNB3 does not need to prepare transmission resources for the UE. Therefore, the CHO configuration transmitted by gNB1 to the UE is optimized, overall system resources are saved, and handover efficiency is improved.

[0182] An embodiment of the present application further provides a communication device configured to implement any one of the aforementioned methods. For example, a communication device is provided, the communication device including a unit (or means) configured to perform steps performed by a terminal or an access network device in any one of the aforementioned methods. For example, FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application. The communication device may be a module, e.g., a chip, used for a terminal or an access network device. Alternatively, the communication device is a terminal or an access network device. As shown in FIG. 9, the communication device 900 includes a processing unit 910 and a transceiver unit 920.

[0183] In one implementation, when the communication device is used for the access network device, the access network device may be used as a source base station in a handover process for the terminal. The transceiver unit 920 is configured to obtain first information, the first information including coverage information of at least one access network device neighboring the access network device; and receive route information from the terminal. The processing unit 910 is configured to determine a second access network device from the at least one access network device based on the first information and the route information. The transceiver unit 920 is further configured to send a handover request to the second access network device, the handover request being used to request handover of the terminal from the access network device to the second access network device.

[0184] Optionally, the transceiver unit 920 is further configured to receive a handover request response from the second access network device.

[0185] Optionally, the transceiver unit 920 is further configured to transmit a conditional handover configuration to the terminal, the conditional handover configuration including information about at least one candidate cell and a condition to be satisfied for deciding to hand over the terminal to any one of the at least one candidate cell, some or all of the at least one candidate cell being managed by the second access network device.

[0186] Optionally, the transceiver unit 920 is configured to receive the first information from the OAM.

[0187] Optionally, the transceiver unit 920 is configured to receive coverage information of a first access network device from the OAM and to separately receive coverage information of said at least one access network device from said at least one access network device.

[0188] Optionally, the processing unit 910 is configured to: determine a moving direction of the terminal based on the route information; determine one or more candidate access network devices in the moving direction of the terminal based on coverage information of the at least one access network device; and determine a second access network device from the candidate access network devices.

[0189] Optionally, the processing unit 910 is configured to determine a movement route of the terminal based on the route information; determine a coverage range of the at least one access network device based on coverage information of the at least one access network device; and determine an access network device whose coverage range overlaps with the movement route of the terminal as a second access network device.

[0190] In one implementation, when the communication device is used for an access network device, the access network device may be used as a target base station or a candidate target base station in a terminal handover process. The transceiver unit 920 is configured to receive a handover request from a first access network device, the handover request being used to request handover of the terminal from the first access network device to the access network device, the access network device being neighboring the first access network device, the access network device being determined by the first access network device based on first information and route information of the terminal, the first information including coverage information of at least one access network device neighboring the first access network device.

[0191] Optionally, the transceiver unit 920 is further configured to send a handover request response to the first access network device. For a more detailed description of the functions performed by the units of the communication apparatus on the access network device side in the aforementioned implementations, please refer to the description of the steps performed by the first base station or the second base station in the method embodiments of Figures 3 to 6.

[0192] In one implementation, when the communication device is used for an access network device, the access network device may be used as a target base station or a candidate target base station in a UE handover process. The transceiver unit 920 is configured to obtain coverage information of the access network device and receive a handover request from a second access network device, the handover request including route information for the terminal, the handover request requesting handover of the terminal from the second access network device to the first access network device. The processing unit 910 is configured to determine whether the first access network device can provide communication services for the terminal based on the coverage information and the route information. When the first access network device determines that the first access network device can provide communication services for the terminal, the transceiver unit 920 is further configured to send a handover request response to the second access network device.

[0193] Optionally, the processing unit 910 is further configured to perform time synchronization with the terminal when it determines that the terminal is to be handed over to a first candidate cell managed by the first access network device based on a conditional handover configuration, the conditional handover configuration including information about at least one candidate cell and a condition to be satisfied for deciding to hand over the terminal to any one of the at least one candidate cell, some or all of which are managed by the first access network device.

[0194] Optionally, the transceiver unit 920 is further configured to, when the access network device determines that the access network device is unable to provide communication services for the terminal, send indication information to the second access network device indicating that the access network device is unable to provide communication services for the terminal.

[0195] Optionally, the transceiver unit 920 is configured to receive coverage information from the OAM.

[0196] Optionally, the transceiver unit 920 is further configured to receive updated coverage information from the OAM or second access network device.

[0197] Optionally, the processing unit 910 is configured to determine a moving direction of the terminal based on the route information, and determine whether an access network device is located in the moving direction of the terminal based on the coverage information.

[0198] Optionally, the processing unit 910 is configured to determine a coverage range of the access network device based on the coverage information, and determine whether the terminal passes through the coverage range of the access network device based on the route information.

[0199] In one implementation, when the communication device is used for the access network device, the access network device may be used as a source base station in a terminal handover process. The transceiver unit 920 is configured to send a handover request to the first access network device, the handover request including route information for the terminal, the handover request requesting to hand over the terminal from the second access network device to the first access network device; when the first access network device determines, based on the coverage information and the route information, that the first access network device can provide communication services for the terminal, the transceiver unit 920 is further configured to receive a handover request response from the first access network device.

[0200] Optionally, the transceiver unit 920 is further configured to receive, from the first access network device, indication information indicating that the first access network device is unable to provide communication services for the terminal, when the access network device determines that the access network device is unable to provide communication services for the terminal.

[0201] Optionally, the transceiver unit 920 is configured to transmit the coverage information to the first access network device.

[0202] For a more detailed description of the functions performed by the units of the communication apparatus on the access network device side in the aforementioned implementations, please refer to the description of the steps performed by the second base station or the first base station in the method embodiments of Figures 7 and 8.

[0203] In one implementation, when the communication apparatus is used for a terminal, the transceiver unit 920 is configured to transmit route information to the first access network device, whereby the first access network device determines that the second access network device is to be used as a target base station or a candidate target base station to which the terminal is handed over. Optionally, the terminal is a UAV.

[0204] For a more detailed description of the functions performed by the units of the terminal-side communication device in the above implementations, please refer to the description of the steps performed by the UE in the method embodiments of Figures 3 to 8.

[0205] It should be understood that the division of units in the above-described device is merely a logical division of functions. In actual implementation, all or some of these units may be integrated into one physical entity or may be physically separated. For example, the transceiver unit 920 may be divided into a receiving unit and a transmitting unit. If the communication device 900 is a communication device on the access network side, the transceiver unit 920 may be further divided into a first transceiver unit that communicates with a terminal and a second transceiver unit that communicates with other network devices, such as a base station or OAM.

[0206] All of the units in the device may be implemented in the form of software called by a processing element, or in the form of hardware. Alternatively, some of the units may be implemented in the form of software called by a processing element, or some of the units may be implemented in the form of hardware. For example, each unit may be a separately located processing element, or may be integrated into a chip of the device for implementation. In addition, each unit may be stored in memory in the form of a program and called by a processing element of the device to perform the function of the unit. In addition, all or some of the units may be integrated together or implemented independently. The processing element described herein may be called a processor, and may be an integrated circuit having signal processing capabilities. In implementation, the steps of the aforementioned method or the aforementioned units may be implemented through a hardware integrated logic circuit in the processor element, or may be implemented in the form of software called by the processing element.

[0207] In one example, a unit in any one of the aforementioned apparatuses may include one or more integrated circuits, e.g., one or more application specific integrated circuits, configured to implement the aforementioned method. (A SIC), one or more microprocessors (D SP), or one or more field programmable gate arrays (F In another example, if a unit in the device can be implemented in a manner that schedules a program by a processing element, the processing element may be a general-purpose processor, such as a central processing unit. (C In yet another example, the unit may be a system-on-chip (PU), or another processor capable of calling a program. (S oC) and can be integrated and implemented in the form of

[0208] The aforementioned unit for receiving (e.g., a communication unit) is an interface circuit of the device and is configured to receive a signal from another device. For example, when the device is implemented in the form of a chip, the receiving unit is an interface circuit of the chip configured to receive a signal from another chip or device. The aforementioned unit for transmitting (e.g., a transmission unit or a communication unit) is an interface circuit of the device and is configured to transmit a signal to another device. For example, when the device is implemented in the form of a chip, the transmitting unit is an interface circuit of the chip configured to transmit a signal to another chip or device.

[0209] In another implementation, the communication device provided in this embodiment of the present application may include at least one processing element and an interface circuit. The at least one processing element is configured to perform any handover method provided in the above-described method embodiments. The processing element may perform some or all of the steps performed by the terminal or network device in a first manner, specifically by calling a program stored in a storage element; or may perform some or all of the steps performed by the terminal or network device in a second manner, specifically by using a hardware integrated logic circuit in the processor element in combination with instructions. It is apparent that the processing element may alternatively perform some or all of the steps performed by the terminal or network device by combining the first and second manners. It may be understood that the interface circuit may be a transceiver or an input / output interface. Optionally, the communication device may further include a memory configured to store instructions to be executed by the processing element, to store input data required by the processing element to execute the instructions, or to store data generated after the processing element executes the instructions.

[0210] As mentioned above, a processing element herein may be a general-purpose processor, e.g., a CPU, or may be one or more integrated circuits configured to perform the methods described above, e.g., one or more ASICs, one or more microprocessors DSPs, one or more FPGAs, or a combination of at least two of these integrated circuits. A storage element may be a memory or may refer collectively to multiple storage elements.

[0211] FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of a network device structure according to an embodiment of the present application. The network device may be an access network device, such as a base station, configured to perform the handover method provided in the aforementioned method embodiment. As shown in FIG. 10, the network device includes an antenna 1010, a radio frequency device 1020, and a baseband device 1030. The antenna 1010 is connected to the radio frequency device 1020. In the uplink direction, the radio frequency device 1020 receives information transmitted by a terminal via the antenna 1010 and transmits the information transmitted by the terminal to the baseband device 1030 for processing. In the downlink direction, the baseband device 1030 processes information from the terminal and transmits the processed information to the radio frequency device 1020. The radio frequency device 1020 processes information from the terminal and then transmits the processed information to the terminal via the antenna 1010.

[0212] The baseband device 1030 may include one or more processing elements 1031, and may include, for example, a main control CPU and another integrated circuit. In addition, the baseband device 1030 may further include a storage element 1032 and an interface 1033. The storage element 1032 is configured to store programs and data. The interface 1033 is configured to exchange information with the radio frequency device 1020, and the interface may be, for example, a common public radio interface (CPA). (CThe network device may be located within the baseband unit 1030. For example, the network device may be a chip within the baseband unit 1030. The chip includes at least one processing element and an interface circuit, where the processing element is configured to perform steps performed by the first base station or the second base station in any of the handover methods provided in the above-described method embodiments, and the interface circuit is configured to communicate with another device. In some implementations, the unit within the network device for implementing the steps of the above-described method may be implemented in the form of scheduling a program by the processing element. For example, the network device may include a processing element and a storage element. The processing element invokes a program stored in the storage element to perform the handover method provided in the above-described method embodiments. The storage element may be on the same chip as the processing element, i.e., an on-chip storage element, or on a different chip from the processing element, i.e., an off-chip storage element.

[0213] FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a terminal according to an embodiment of the present application. The terminal is configured to implement the handover method provided in the aforementioned method embodiment. As shown in FIG. 11, the terminal includes an antenna 1110, a radio frequency unit 1120, and a signal processing unit 1130. The antenna 1110 is connected to the radio frequency unit 1120. In the downlink direction, the radio frequency unit 1120 receives information transmitted by a network device via the antenna 1110 and transmits the information transmitted by the network device to the signal processing unit 1130 for processing. In the uplink direction, the signal processing unit 1130 processes information from the terminal and sends the processed information to the radio frequency unit 1120. The radio frequency unit 1120 processes the information from the terminal and then transmits the processed information to the network device via the antenna 1110.

[0214] The signal processing unit 1130 is configured to process each communication protocol layer of data. The signal processing unit 1130 may be a subsystem of the terminal. Thus, the terminal may further include another subsystem, for example, a central processing subsystem, configured to process the operating system and application layers of the terminal. In another example, a peripheral subsystem is configured to connect to another device. The signal processing unit 1130 may be a separately located chip. Optionally, the aforementioned devices may be located within the signal processing unit 1130.

[0215] The signal processing unit 1130 may include one or more processing elements 1131, for example, a main control CPU and another integrated circuit. The signal processing unit 1130 may further include a storage element 1132 and an interface circuit 1133. The storage element 1132 is configured to store data and programs. The programs used to execute the methods executed by the terminal in the above-described methods may or may not be stored in the storage element 1132. For example, they may be stored in a memory external to the signal processing unit 1130. When using the programs, the signal processing unit 1130 loads the programs into a cache for use. The interface circuit 1133 is configured to communicate with a device. The above-described device may be located in the signal processing unit 1130. The signal processing unit 1130 may be implemented by a chip. The chip includes at least one processing element and an interface circuit, where the processing element is configured to execute steps executed by the terminal in any handover method provided in the above-described method embodiments, and the interface circuit is configured to communicate with another device. In some implementations, the unit for performing the steps of the above-described method may be implemented in a manner of scheduling a program by a processing element. For example, an apparatus may include a processing element and a storage element. The processing element calls a program stored in the storage element to perform any handover method provided in the method embodiments. The storage element may be a storage element located on the same chip as the processing element, i.e., an on-chip storage element.

[0216] In another implementation, the program used to execute the methods performed by the terminal or network device described above may reside in a storage element located on a different chip than the processing element, i.e., an off-chip storage element, and the processing element may call or load the program on the on-chip storage element from the off-chip storage element to call and execute any of the handover methods in the described method embodiments.

[0217] In another implementation, the units of the terminal or network device that implement the steps of the aforementioned method may be configured as one or more processing elements, which may be integrated circuits, such as one or more ASICs, one or more DSPs, one or more FPGAs, or a combination of these types of integrated circuits, which may be integrated together to form a chip.

[0218] The units for performing the steps in the aforementioned methods are integrated together to form a system-on-chip (S The method may be implemented in the form of an SoC (SoC). The SoC chip is configured to implement the aforementioned method. At least one processing element and a storage element may be integrated into the chip, and the processing element invokes a program stored in the storage element to implement the aforementioned method executed by a terminal or a network device. Alternatively, at least one integrated circuit may be integrated into the chip to implement the aforementioned method executed by a terminal or a network device. Alternatively, with regard to the aforementioned implementation, the functions of some units may be implemented by the processing element invoking a program, and the functions of some units may be implemented by the integrated circuit.

[0219] An embodiment of the present application further provides a communication system including a first access network device and a second access network device, wherein the first access network device may perform the steps performed by the first base station in any handover method provided in the aforementioned method embodiments, and the second access network device may perform the steps performed by the second base station in any handover method provided in the aforementioned method embodiments.

[0220] Those skilled in the art can understand that all or part of the steps of the method embodiments can be implemented by a program that instructs relevant hardware. The program may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. When the program is executed, the steps of the method embodiments are performed. The storage medium includes any medium that can store program code, such as a ROM, a RAM, a magnetic disk, or an optical disk.

[0221] The resources described in the embodiments of the present application may include one or more of time domain resources, frequency domain resources, and code channel resources, and may also be referred to as transmission resources. The resources may be used to carry data or signaling in an uplink or downlink communication process.

[0222] It should be understood that the term "and / or" in this specification describes only the association relationship between associated objects and represents three possible relationships. For example, A and / or B can represent three cases: only A exists, both A and B exist, or only B exists.

[0223] It should be understood that in the embodiment of the present invention, "B corresponding to A" indicates that B is associated with A and B can be determined based on A. However, it should be further understood that determining B based on A does not mean that B is determined based only on A.

[0224] In the embodiments of the present application, "plurality" refers to two or more.

[0225] The terms "first" and "second" in the embodiments of the present application are merely used to indicate and distinguish the objects described, and do not indicate a sequence, nor do they indicate any particular limitation on the quantity of the objects described in the embodiments of the present application, and cannot constitute any limitation on the embodiments of the present application.

[0226] Unless otherwise specified, "transmit" or "transmission" in the embodiments of this application refers to bidirectional transmission and includes sending and / or receiving actions. Specifically, "transmit" in the embodiments of this application includes data transmission, data reception, or data transmission and reception. That is, data transmission in this specification includes uplink data transmission and / or downlink data transmission. Data may include information and / or signals. Uplink data transmission is uplink information transmission and / or uplink signal transmission, and downlink data transmission is downlink information transmission and / or downlink signal transmission.

[0227] The contents of the embodiments of the present application may be mutually referenced. Unless otherwise specified or there is no logical contradiction, the terms and / or descriptions in different embodiments may be consistent and mutually referenced, and the technical features in different embodiments may be combined based on their internal logical relationships to form a new embodiment.

[0228] It may be understood that in the embodiments of the present application, the terminal and / or network device may perform some or all of the steps in the embodiments of the present application. These steps or operations are merely examples. In the embodiments of the present application, other operations or variations of various operations may also be performed. In addition, steps may be performed in a sequence different from the sequence presented in the embodiments of the present application, and not all operations in the embodiments of the present application may be performed.

Claims

1. 1. A handover method comprising: acquiring, by a first access network device, first information, the first information including coverage information of at least one access network device neighboring the first access network device; receiving, by the first access network device, route information from a terminal; determining, by the first access network device, a second access network device from the at least one access network device based on the first information and the route information; sending a handover request by the first access network device to the second access network device, the handover request being used to request handover of the terminal from the first access network device to the second access network device; Determining, by the first access network device, a second access network device from the at least one access network device based on the coverage information and the route information includes: determining a direction of movement of the terminal based on the route information; determining one or more candidate access network devices in the moving direction of the terminal based on the coverage information of the at least one access network device; determining the second access network device from among the candidate access network devices; method.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first information further comprises coverage information of the first access network device.

3. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the coverage information of the at least one access network device includes location information of the access network device and / or coverage range information of cells managed by the access network device.

4. The method further comprises: receiving, by the first access network device, a handover request response from the second access network device; the handover request response includes indication information, the indication information indicating a possibility that the second access network device will provide communication services for the terminal; The method of claim 1.

5. Obtaining first information by the first access network device includes: receiving, by the first access network device, the first information from an Operations, Administration, and Maintenance (OAM) center; The method of claim 1.

6. Obtaining first information by the first access network device includes: receiving, by the first access network device, the coverage information of the first access network device from an OAM; receiving, by the first access network device, the coverage information of the at least one access network device separately from the at least one access network device; The method of claim 1.

7. 1. A data transmission device, the device having one or more processors that execute instructions, the instructions causing the device to: obtaining first information, the first information including coverage information of at least one access network device neighboring the first access network device; receiving route information from a terminal; determining a second access network device from the at least one access network device based on the first information and the route information; sending a handover request to the second access network device, the handover request being used to request handover of the terminal from the first access network device to the second access network device; Determining, by the first access network device, a second access network device from the at least one access network device based on the coverage information and the route information includes: determining a direction of movement of the terminal based on the route information; determining one or more candidate access network devices in the moving direction of the terminal based on the coverage information of the at least one access network device; determining the second access network device from among the candidate access network devices; Device.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the first information further comprises coverage information of the first access network device.

9. 8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the coverage information of the at least one access network device includes location information of the access network device and / or coverage range information of cells managed by the access network device.

10. The apparatus further comprises: receiving a handover request response from the second access network device; the handover request response includes indication information, the indication information indicating a possibility that the second access network device will provide communication services for the terminal; 8. The apparatus of claim 7.

11. Obtaining the first information includes: receiving the first information from an Operations, Administration, and Maintenance (OAM); 8. The apparatus of claim 7.

12. Obtaining the first information includes: receiving the coverage information of the first access network device from an OAM; separately receiving the coverage information of the at least one access network device from the at least one access network device.

8. The apparatus of claim 7.

13. 1. A computer-readable storage medium storing instructions executable by a computer, the computer-readable storage medium being applied to a first communication device, the instructions comprising: obtaining first information, the first information including coverage information of at least one access network device neighboring the first access network device; receiving route information from a terminal; determining a second access network device from the at least one access network device based on the first information and the route information; sending, by the first access network device, a handover request to the second access network device, the handover request being used to request handover of the terminal from the first access network device to the second access network device; Determining, by the first access network device, a second access network device from the at least one access network device based on the coverage information and the route information includes: determining a direction of movement of the terminal based on the route information; determining one or more candidate access network devices in the moving direction of the terminal based on the coverage information of the at least one access network device; determining the second access network device from among the candidate access network devices; A computer-readable storage medium.

14. 14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the first information further comprises coverage information of the first access network device.

15. 14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the coverage information of the at least one access network device includes location information of the access network device and / or coverage range information of cells managed by the access network device.

16. The instructions further comprise: receiving a handover request response from the second access network device; the handover request response includes indication information, the indication information indicating a possibility that the second access network device will provide communication services for the terminal; The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13.

17. Obtaining the first information includes: receiving the first information from an Operations, Administration, and Maintenance (OAM); The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13.

18. Obtaining the first information includes: receiving the coverage information of the first access network device from an OAM; separately receiving the coverage information of the at least one access network device from the at least one access network device. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13.

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