Cell determination, support instruction method and apparatus, communication device and storage medium

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a cell determination method and device, a communication device, and a storage medium, the method including: determining a target slice to be accessed and at least one frequency associated with the target slice; and determining a candidate cell supporting the target slice from among cells corresponding to at least one of the frequencies. According to the present disclosure, a terminal can determine a cell supporting the target slice as a candidate cell from among cells corresponding to frequencies related to the target slice for subsequent use, for example, for cell reselection, thereby ensuring that the candidate cell supports the target slice; after reselecting to the target cell, the terminal can access the target slice, thereby accepting the associated service of the target slice, and ensuring a good communication effect of the terminal.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to the field of communication technologies, and specifically, to a cell determination method, a support indication method, a cell determination device, a support indication device, a communication device, and a computer-readable storage medium.

Background Art

[0002] A network slice can provide a complete end-to-end virtual network for specific users. By dividing network resources into multiple 5G network slices, 5G network slices can provide differentiated services for users with different service requirements (such as latency, reliability, capacity, isolation, and other functions). The operator network can not only provide services for information consumption system traffic characterized by "Best Effort transmission", but also meet the production control system services with "certainty transmission" as the communication requirement, and allocate logically or physically isolated network resources to services with greatly different communication requirements.

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0003] In consideration of this, embodiments of the present disclosure propose a cell determination method, a support indication method, a cell determination device, a support indication device, a communication device, and a computer-readable storage medium to solve the technical problems in the related art.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0004] According to a first aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure, a cell determination method is proposed and applied to a terminal. The method includes determining a target slice to be accessed and at least one frequency associated with the target slice, and determining a candidate cell that supports the target slice from among cells corresponding to the at least one frequency.

[0005] According to a second embodiment of the embodiments of the present disclosure, a support instruction method is proposed, which is applied to a network-side device, the method comprising the step of transmitting instruction information to a terminal, the instruction information being used by the terminal to determine a candidate cell that supports the target slice from among cells corresponding to at least one frequency associated with the target slice to be accessed.

[0006] According to a third aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, a cell determination device is proposed, which is applied to a terminal, and the device includes one or more processors, the processors being configured to determine a target slice to be accessed and at least one frequency associated with the target slice, and to determine a candidate cell that supports the target slice from among the cells corresponding to at least one of the frequencies.

[0007] According to a fourth aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, a support instruction device is proposed, which is applied to a network-side device, the device comprising one or more processors, the processors configured to transmit instruction information to a terminal, the instruction information being used by the terminal to determine a candidate cell that supports the target slice from among at least one cell corresponding to the frequency associated with the target slice to be accessed.

[0008] According to a fifth embodiment of the embodiments of this disclosure, a communication device is proposed that includes a processor and a memory for storing a computer program, and when the computer program is executed by the processor, the above-described cell determination method is realized.

[0009] According to a sixth embodiment of the embodiments of the present disclosure, a communication device is proposed that includes a processor and memory for storing a computer program, and when the computer program is executed by the processor, the above-described support instruction method is implemented.

[0010] According to a seventh embodiment of the embodiments of this disclosure, a computer-readable storage medium for storing a computer program is proposed, which, when the computer program is executed by a processor, realizes the steps of the cell determination method described above.

[0011] According to an eighth aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, a computer-readable storage medium for storing a computer program is proposed, which, when the computer program is executed by a processor, implements the steps of the support instruction method described above.

[0012] According to embodiments of this disclosure, a terminal can select a candidate cell from among the cells corresponding to the frequency associated with the target slice for subsequent use, for example, for cell reselection, thereby ensuring that the candidate cell supports the target slice. After reselecting the target cell, the terminal can access the target slice, thereby accepting the associated services of the target slice and ensuring good communication performance for the terminal. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0013] To more clearly illustrate the technical concepts of the embodiments of this disclosure, the drawings to be used in the description of the embodiments are briefly described below. Clearly, the drawings in the following description represent only a limited number of embodiments of this disclosure, and those skilled in the art can obtain other drawings based on these drawings without expending any creative effort. [Figure 1] This is a schematic flowchart of the cell determination methodology shown in the embodiments of this disclosure. [Figure 2] This is a schematic diagram of a cell reselection scenario as shown in the embodiments of this disclosure. [Figure 3] This is a schematic flowchart of another cell determination method as shown in the embodiments of this disclosure. [Figure 4] This is a schematic flowchart of another cell determination method as demonstrated by the embodiments of this disclosure. [Figure 5] This is a schematic flowchart of another cell determination method as demonstrated by the embodiments of this disclosure. [Figure 6] This is a schematic flowchart of another cell determination method as demonstrated by the embodiments of this disclosure. [Figure 7] This is a schematic flowchart of another cell determination method as demonstrated by the embodiments of this disclosure. [Figure 8] This is a schematic chat flow of the support instruction method shown in the embodiments of this disclosure. [Figure 9] This is a schematic block diagram of an apparatus for cell determination as shown in the embodiments of the present disclosure. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0014] The following describes the technical concepts in the embodiments of this disclosure clearly and completely, together with the drawings of the embodiments of this disclosure, although it is clear that the embodiments described are not all embodiments but only a portion of the embodiments of this disclosure. A person skilled in the art will know that all other embodiments obtained based on the embodiments of this disclosure, without any creative work, fall within the scope of the protection of this disclosure.

[0015] The terms used in the embodiments of this disclosure are for the purpose of describing specific embodiments and are not intended to limit the embodiments of this disclosure. The singular forms “one” and “the said” used in the embodiments and appended claims of this disclosure are also intended to include the plural form unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. The terms “and / or” as used herein refer to any combination of one or more related enumerated items or all possible combinations.

[0016] In the embodiments of the present disclosure, terms such as first, second, third, etc. may be used to describe various information, but it should be understood that this information should not be limited to these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish the same type of information. For example, unless departing from the scope of the embodiments of the present disclosure, the first information can be referred to as the second information, and similarly, the second information can also be referred to as the first information. Depending on the context, the word "if" used may be interpreted as "when" or "in the case of" or "in response to a decision".

[0017] For the sake of brevity and ease of understanding, when characterizing size relationships in this specification, terms such as "larger" or "smaller", "higher" or "lower" are used. However, those skilled in the art will understand that the term "larger" also includes the meaning of "greater than or equal to", "smaller" includes the meaning of "less than or equal to", "higher" includes the meaning of "greater than or equal to", and "lower" includes the meaning of "less than or equal to".

[0018] FIG. 1 is a schematic flowchart of a cell determination method shown by an embodiment of the present disclosure. The cell determination method according to this embodiment can be applied to a terminal, and the terminal includes, but is not limited to, communication devices such as mobile phones, tablet computers, wearable devices, sensors, and Internet of Things devices. The terminal can communicate with a network-side device as a user equipment, and the network device includes, but is not limited to, network-side devices such as base stations and core networks in communication systems such as 4G, 5G, and 6G.

[0019] It should be noted that all slices of the embodiments of the present disclosure specifically refer to network slices, for example, they may be 5G network slices, or network slices in other communication systems.

[0020] As shown in FIG. 1, the cell determination method includes the following step S101.

[0021] In step S101, determine a target slice to be accessed and at least one frequency associated with the target slice.

[0022] In step S102, determine a candidate cell that supports the target slice from among cells corresponding to at least one of the frequencies.

[0023] In one embodiment, the terminal can perform cell reselection when in an idle state or an inactive state in order to camp on a cell with a higher frequency priority or better signal quality. For example, the network-side device directly indicates the priority of each frequency, the terminal determines the priority of each frequency based on the indication of the network-side device, and further selects a cell with good signal quality from among cells corresponding to a frequency with the highest possible priority to perform cell reselection. However, there are some problems with such a cell reselection method.

[0024] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a cell reselection scenario shown by an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0025] When the terminal performs cell reselection considering slices, different slices can be associated with different frequencies, and one frequency can correspond to multiple cells. As shown in FIG. 2, for tracking areas TA1 and TA2, cells C1 and C2 are located in TA1, cells C3 and C4 are located in TA2, slice 1 is associated with frequencies f1 and f2, slice 2 is associated with frequencies f2 and f3, f1 corresponds to cell C1, f2 corresponds to cells C2 and C4, f3 corresponds to cell C3, that is, cells C1 and C2 support slice 1, and cells C3 and C4 support slice 2.

[0026] The terminal is located between TA1 and TA2, specifically between C2 and C4, and the terminal's intended slice is slice 1, which may refer to the slice the terminal wishes to access, and includes, but is not limited to, at least one of the following: requested NSSAI (slice to register), allowed NSSAI (slice allowed to be used by the network), configured NSSAI (slice used by the network configuration UE), or traffic-dependent S-NSSAI (slice to be used for traffic transmission). If cell reselection is performed based on frequency priority indicated by the network-side device, the terminal may be reselected to cell C4, which does not support slice 1, resulting in the terminal residing in a cell that does not support the intended slice based on the cell reselection result, thereby preventing the terminal from receiving the associated services provided by the intended slice and affecting the terminal's communication effectiveness.

[0027] In one embodiment, the terminal can determine a target slice to access, where the target slice is at least one of the terminal's expected slices, for example, each of the expected slices having a different priority, and the target slice may be the highest priority slice among them, or it may be all or some of the expected slices.

[0028] In one embodiment, a target slice can be associated with multiple frequencies. For example, if the target slice is a single slice, this single slice can be associated with multiple frequencies. For example, if the target slice includes multiple slices, each of the multiple slices can be associated with multiple frequencies.

[0029] In one embodiment, the priority among multiple target slices and a specific target slice can be determined by the terminal's non-access (NAS) layer and provided to the AS (access) layer. The target slice can be determined by S-NSSAI (Single Network Slice Selection Assistance Information), SST (Slice / Service type), slice / slice group ID (slice / slice group identifier), operator-defined access type, or any other arbitrary slice information that can uniquely identify the slice.

[0030] According to embodiments of this disclosure, a terminal can select a candidate cell from among the cells corresponding to the frequency associated with the target slice for subsequent use, for example, for cell reselection, thereby ensuring that the candidate cell supports the target slice. After reselecting the target cell, the terminal can access the target slice, thereby accepting the associated services of the target slice and ensuring good communication performance for the terminal.

[0031] For example, the target slice may be slice 1, and the frequencies associated with slice 1 may be f1 and f2. Each frequency may also correspond to a cell, for example, a cell operating at this frequency, with f1 corresponding to cell C1 and f2 corresponding to cells C2 and C4. Each cell may support a slice, and the supported slices may be different. A cell supporting a slice means that a terminal residing in that cell can access that slice, for example, C1 and C2 support slice 1, and C4 supports slice 2.

[0032] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the terminal determines that the target slice is slice 1, the frequencies associated with slice 1 are f1 and f2, f1 corresponds to cell C1, and f2 corresponds to cells C2 and C4, and C1 and C2 support slice 1, and therefore C1 and C2 can be designated as candidate cells. As a result, even if C1 or C2 is re-selected during subsequent cell re-selection, both C1 and C2 will support slice 1, ensuring that the terminal remains resident in the re-selected cell, accepts the associated services provided by slice 1, and ensures good communication performance for the terminal.

[0033] Each slice may be associated with one or more frequencies, each frequency may correspond to one or more cells, and each cell may support one or more slices, which can be set as needed. Furthermore, candidate cells may be used for purposes other than cell re-selection as needed, which can be selected as needed, and this disclosure is not limited thereto.

[0034] Figure 3 is a schematic flowchart of another cell determination method shown by an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in Figure 3, the method further includes the following steps S301-S302.

[0035] In step S301, the priority relationship between the multiple frequencies associated with the target slice is determined.

[0036] In step S302, a cell is re-selected from the candidate cells based on the frequency priority.

[0037] In one embodiment, after at least one frequency associated with a target slice has been determined, if the target slice associates multiple frequencies, the priority relationships between the multiple frequencies can be further determined. For example, if slice 1 associates frequencies f1 and f2, the priority relationship between f1 and f2 is f2 > f1, meaning that f2 has a higher priority than f1.

[0038] In one embodiment, the frequency priority associated with the slice may be provided by the base station via broadcast system messages and / or dedicated signaling, and if the frequency priority is provided by dedicated signaling, coverage is provided for the frequency priority provided by broadcast system messages.

[0039] The frequency priority associated with a slice may include all adjacent frequencies (e.g., frequencies corresponding to the current service cell's neighboring cells) and may also include only the frequencies supporting the highest priority slice. If only the frequencies associated with the highest priority are included, the priorities of other frequencies may be provided by broadcast system messages or dedicated signaling, and their priorities will be lower than those of the frequencies associated with the slice.

[0040] Furthermore, candidate cells can be re-selected based on frequency priority. For example, priority can be given to whether the signal quality of the candidate cell corresponding to the highest priority frequency meets the requirements. If the requirements are met, the cell corresponding to the highest priority frequency is sorted as the target cell. If the requirements are not met, the signal quality of the candidate cell corresponding to the next lower priority frequency is considered, and so on, until a candidate cell that meets the requirements is determined, or until a candidate cell that meets the requirements is determined for all frequencies.

[0041] For example, if cell f2 has a higher priority than f1, then the candidate cell C2 corresponding to f2 can be given priority consideration.

[0042] If the signal quality of C2 meets the requirements, C2 can be sorted. Since C2 is only one cell, it can be directly re-selected. If C2 is multiple cells, for example, two cells C21 and C22, C21 and C22 can be sorted based on the R criterion, and the cell with the higher sort rank can be preferentially selected and re-selected. For example, if C21 is sorted before C22, C21 will be re-selected.

[0043] If the signal quality of C2 does not meet the requirements, we can consider cell C1 corresponding to f1, and if the signal quality of C1 meets the requirements, we can sort C1, and since C2 is only one cell, we can directly reselect C1, and if C1 is multiple cells, it is the same as if C2 were multiple cells, so we will not explain.

[0044] In related technologies, a network-side device can directly instruct a terminal on frequency priority, but this may differ from the priority relationship between multiple frequencies associated with a slice. In embodiments of this disclosure, when performing cell reselection, the priority relationship between multiple frequencies associated with a slice is given priority, and if cell reselection based on the priority of multiple frequencies fails, the system can revert to the mechanism of related technologies, such as performing cell reselection based on the frequency priority instructed by the network-side device.

[0045] The following examples illustrate the case where the target slice includes the highest priority slice among the expected slices.

[0046] In one embodiment, the step of determining candidate cells that support the target slice from among the cells corresponding to at least one of the frequencies is: A step of determining whether at least one cell corresponding to the frequency supports the highest priority slice based on instruction information from a network-side device, The process includes the step of determining that at least one cell corresponding to the frequency is the candidate cell if all cells corresponding to at least one of the frequencies support the highest priority slice.

[0047] In one embodiment, whether a cell corresponding to a frequency supports the highest priority slice can be determined based on instruction information transmitted from a network-side device. For example, the network-side device can use instruction information (e.g., occupying 1 bit) to indicate whether all cells corresponding to a frequency support the highest priority slice, and if all do, the cell corresponding to each frequency can be determined as a candidate cell.

[0048] In one embodiment, the step of determining candidate cells that support the target slice from among the cells corresponding to at least one of the frequencies is: The steps include determining a slice supported by at least one cell corresponding to the frequency based on instruction information from a network-side device, The process includes the step of determining that the cell supporting the highest priority slice from among the cells corresponding to at least one of the frequencies is the candidate cell.

[0049] In one embodiment, a network-side device can indicate the slices supported by the corresponding cell based on instruction information (where the occupied bits relate to the slice number), and a terminal can determine, based on the instruction information, that the cell supporting the highest priority slice is a candidate cell.

[0050] In one embodiment, the step of determining candidate cells that support the target slice from among the cells corresponding to at least one of the frequencies is: The steps include determining a list of cells that support the highest priority slice among at least one cell corresponding to the frequency, based on instruction information from a network-side device, The step includes determining that a cell in the list of cells is the candidate cell.

[0051] In one embodiment, the network-side device can determine the cells that support the highest priority slice, generate a list of cells and send it to the terminal, and the terminal can determine that all cells in the list are candidate cells.

[0052] Figure 4 is a schematic flowchart of another cell determination method shown in an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in Figure 4, the step of re-selecting a cell from the candidate cells based on the frequency priority includes the following steps S401 to S405.

[0053] In step S401, a candidate cell corresponding to the highest priority frequency associated with the highest priority slice is determined.

[0054] In step S402, a target cell is selected from among the candidate cells corresponding to the highest priority frequency based on signal quality.

[0055] In step S403, if a target cell is not determined from among the candidate cells corresponding to the highest priority frequency, the step of determining a target cell based on signal quality from among the candidate cells corresponding to a frequency one level lower in priority is repeated until a target cell is determined, or until all target cells have not been determined from among the candidate cells corresponding to all priority frequencies.

[0056] In step S404, the target cells are sorted based on signal quality.

[0057] In step S405, a cell is re-selected from the target cells that have been sorted based on the target cell's sorting.

[0058] In one embodiment, for the highest priority slice, the highest priority frequency can be determined from among the associated frequencies, candidate cells corresponding to the highest priority frequency can be determined, and then a target cell can be determined from among the candidate cells corresponding to the highest priority frequency based on signal quality. The method for determining the target cell based on signal quality may also be to determine the target cell based on an S criterion.

[0059] If a target cell cannot be determined from among the candidate cells corresponding to the highest priority frequency, for example, if there are no cells that satisfy the S criterion, a target cell can be determined from among the candidate cells corresponding to a frequency with one level lower priority, based on signal quality. For example, this step can be repeated to determine a target cell from among the cells corresponding to each priority frequency, from highest priority to lowest priority. This ensures that the signal quality of the determined target cell meets the requirements and that the priority of the corresponding frequency is as high as possible.

[0060] After a target cell is determined, if only one target cell is determined, it can be directly re-selected as a target cell. If multiple target cells are determined, the determined target cells can be sorted based on signal quality, for example, based on the R criterion, and then cell re-selection can be performed from among the sorted target cells based on the target cell sort, for example, prioritizing re-selection to the cell with the highest sorting score.

[0061] Furthermore, since the S and R criteria have already been explained in the related technologies, and this disclosure follows the meaning of the S and R criteria in the related technologies, the explanation is omitted.

[0062] In one embodiment, the method is: If not all target cells are determined from among the cells corresponding to all frequencies associated with the highest priority slice, the further step includes re-selecting cells based on the frequency priority indicated by the network-side device.

[0063] If only the highest priority slice is considered, and if not all target cells are determined from among the cells corresponding to all priority frequencies associated with the highest priority slice, cell reselection can be performed based on the frequency priority indicated by the network-side device, that is, to ensure that the terminal can at least complete cell reselection, cell reselection is performed by returning to the cell reselection mechanism in the relevant technology.

[0064] In a corresponding embodiment, in the embodiment shown in the subsequent Figure 5, if other slices among the expected slices are considered, and if not all target cells are determined from among the cells corresponding to all frequencies associated with the highest priority slice, it is possible to further determine whether or not a target cell exists among the candidate cells corresponding to frequencies associated with other slices, and if a target cell is not determined from among the candidate cells corresponding to frequencies associated with other slices, cell reselection can be performed based on the frequency priority indicated by the network-side device.

[0065] In one embodiment, the step of re-selecting a cell from among the target cells sorted based on the sorting of the target cells is: If the target cell with the highest sort (which can also be called the highest sort) is the suitable cell, the step is to re-select the target cell with the highest sort, The process includes the step of not re-selecting a cell from among the target cell with the highest sorting value and its same frequency cells within a predetermined time length if the target cell with the highest sorting value is not the appropriate cell.

[0066] In one embodiment, it is possible to determine whether the target cell with the highest sort corresponding to the frequency associated with the highest priority slice is a suitable cell, and a suitable cell satisfies at least one of the following conditions: it is not prohibited, it does not belong to a prohibited tracking area, and the cell's PLMN (Public Land Mobile Network) meets the requirements.

[0067] If the target cell with the highest sorting value is the appropriate cell, it can be re-selected as the target cell with the highest sorting value, and since the target cell with the highest sorting value is most likely to be the appropriate cell at its corresponding frequency, if the target cell with the highest sorting value is not the appropriate cell, then all cells at the frequency corresponding to the target cell with the highest sorting value become unsuitable cells, and therefore, to avoid wasting resources, it is not necessary to re-select a cell from the target cell with the highest sorting value and its cells at the same frequency within a predetermined time length (which can be set according to needs, for example, 5 minutes).

[0068] The following examples illustrate the case where the target slice includes all of the expected slices, in contrast to the case where the target slice includes the highest priority slice and other slices among the expected slices.

[0069] In one embodiment, the target slice further includes other slices from the expected slices. That is, the target slice includes all or some of the expected slices (at least one slice other than the highest priority slice), thereby enabling the determination of a target cell for the frequencies associated with all or some of the slices.

[0070] Figure 5 is a schematic flowchart of another cell determination method shown by an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in Figure 5, the step of re-selecting a cell from the candidate cells based on the frequency priority further includes the following step S501.

[0071] In step S501, if not all target cells are determined from among the cells corresponding to all frequencies associated with the highest priority slice, a slice with a priority one level lower is determined from the other slices, and the step of determining a target cell based on signal quality from among candidate cells corresponding to the frequencies associated with the slice with a priority one level lower is repeated until a target cell is determined or not all target cells are determined from among the cells corresponding to the frequencies associated with all priority target slices.

[0072] In one embodiment, if not all target cells are determined from among the cells corresponding to all frequencies associated with the highest priority slice, candidate cells corresponding to frequencies associated with other slices can be considered, for example, according to the slice for each slice priority, and a target cell can be determined based on signal quality from among the candidate cells corresponding to frequencies associated with a slice with a lower priority level first, and if no target cell is determined, a target cell can be determined based on signal quality from among the candidate cells corresponding to frequencies associated with a slice with a lower priority level, and so on, until it is determined that the target cell has stopped or not all target cells are determined from among the cells corresponding to frequencies associated with all target slices, cell reselection can be performed based on the frequency priority indicated by the network-side device.

[0073] In one embodiment, the step of determining a target cell based on signal quality from among candidate cells corresponding to frequencies associated with the slice with a lower priority level is: The steps include determining a candidate cell corresponding to the highest priority frequency associated with a slice with a lower priority level, The steps include: determining a target cell from among candidate cells corresponding to the highest priority frequency based on signal quality; If a target cell is not determined from among the candidate cells corresponding to the highest priority frequency, the process includes repeating the step of determining a target cell based on signal quality from among candidate cells corresponding to a frequency one level lower in priority until a target cell is determined or until all target cells have not been determined from among the candidate cells corresponding to all priority frequencies.

[0074] In one embodiment, for a slice with a priority level one level lower, the highest priority frequency can be determined from among the associated frequencies, then candidate cells corresponding to the highest priority frequency can be determined, and then a target cell can be determined from among the candidate cells corresponding to the highest priority frequency based on signal quality. The method for determining the target cell based on signal quality may also be to determine the target cell based on an S criterion.

[0075] If a target cell cannot be determined from among the candidate cells corresponding to the highest priority frequency, for example, if there are no cells that satisfy the S criterion, a target cell can be determined from among the candidate cells corresponding to a frequency with one level lower priority, based on signal quality. For example, this step can be repeated to determine a target cell from among the cells corresponding to each priority frequency, from highest priority to lowest priority. This ensures that the signal quality of the determined target cell meets the requirements and that the priority of the corresponding frequency is as high as possible.

[0076] Furthermore, the steps of this embodiment can be performed before step S404 of the embodiment shown in Figure 4 above. After the execution of the steps of this embodiment is completed, steps S404 and S405 can be performed consecutively. That is, if a target cell is determined from among the cells corresponding to the frequencies associated with other slices, the target cells determined based on signal quality can be sorted, and a cell re-selection can be performed from among the target cells sorted based on the sorting of the target cells.

[0077] In one embodiment, if a target cell is determined from among candidate cells corresponding to a frequency associated with a slice of one level lower priority, the step of re-selecting a cell from among the target cells sorted based on the sorting of the target cells is as follows: If the target cell with the highest sorting value corresponding to the frequency associated with a slice with a lower priority level is the appropriate cell, then the step is to re-select the target cell with the highest sorting value, The process includes the step of not re-selecting a cell from among the target cell with the highest sorting frequency corresponding to the frequency associated with a slice of one lower priority, and among the same frequency cells, within a predetermined time length, if the target cell with the highest sorting frequency corresponding to the frequency associated with a slice of one lower priority, and among the same frequency cells, is not suitable, and if the target cell with the highest sorting frequency corresponding to the frequency associated with a slice of one lower priority, and among the same frequency cells, it does not re-select a cell within a predetermined time length.

[0078] In one embodiment, it is possible to determine whether the target cell with the highest sort corresponding to the frequency associated with a slice of one lower priority level is a suitable cell, and a suitable cell satisfies at least one of the following conditions: it is not prohibited, it does not belong to a prohibited tracking area, and the PLMN of the cell satisfies the requirements.

[0079] If the target cell with the highest sorting frequency corresponding to the frequency associated with a slice with a lower priority level is the appropriate cell, then the target cell with the highest sorting frequency can be reselected. Since the target cell with the highest sorting frequency is most likely to be the appropriate cell at its corresponding frequency, if the target cell with the highest sorting frequency is not the appropriate cell, then all cells at the frequency corresponding to the target cell with the highest sorting frequency become unsuitable. Therefore, to avoid wasting resources, it is not necessary to reselect a cell from the target cell with the highest sorting frequency corresponding to the frequency associated with a slice with a lower priority level and the cells at the same frequency within a predetermined time length (which can be set according to needs, for example, 5 minutes).

[0080] In one embodiment, the step of determining candidate cells that support the target slice from among the cells corresponding to at least one of the frequencies is: A step of determining a list of target slices supported by the aforementioned frequency, wherein the terminal can determine this list based on the correspondence between the frequency transmitted from the base station and the slice, The steps include determining whether the list applies to all cells corresponding to the frequency based on instruction information from the network-side device, If the list is applied to all cells corresponding to the frequency, then it is determined that all cells corresponding to the frequency are candidate cells corresponding to the target slice associated with the frequency.

[0081] In one embodiment, whether a cell corresponding to a frequency supports the highest priority slice can be determined based on instruction information transmitted from a network-side device.

[0082] When considering multiple target slices, one frequency can associate multiple slices, and thus a list of target slices supported by the frequency can be determined. Furthermore, based on the instruction information of the network-side device (e.g., occupying 1 bit), it can be determined whether the list applies to all cells corresponding to the frequency. If the list applies to all cells corresponding to the frequency, then all cells corresponding to the frequency support the slices in the list, and thus it can be determined that all cells corresponding to the frequency are candidate cells corresponding to the target slices associated with the frequency.

[0083] For example, for a particular frequency f0, the frequency supports slice 1 and slice 2, and the list contains these two slices, slice 1 and slice 2. If the list is applied to all cells at this frequency f0, then it can be determined that all cells at frequency f0 support slice 1 and slice 2. Thus, it can be determined that all cells at the frequency are candidate cells corresponding to both slice 1 and slice 2.

[0084] In one embodiment, the step of determining candidate cells that support the target slice from among the cells corresponding to at least one of the frequencies is: The steps include determining a list of target slices supported by the aforementioned frequency, The steps include determining the cell to which the list applies based on the instruction information of the network-side device, The step of determining that the cell to which the list applies is a candidate cell corresponding to the target slice associated with the frequency.

[0085] In one embodiment, when considering multiple target slices, one frequency can associate multiple slices, and thus a list of target slices supported by the frequency can be determined. Subsequently, based on the instruction information of the network-side device, the cells to which the list applies (the number of bit-occupancy ratio characteristics that occupy bits is related to the number of cells to which the list applies) can be determined, and further, the cells to which the list applies can be determined to be candidate cells corresponding to the target slices associated with the frequency.

[0086] For example, for a particular frequency f0, the frequency supports slice 1 and slice 2, and the list contains two slices, slice 1 and slice 2. When the list is applied to cells C1 and C2, it can be determined that C1 and C2 are candidate cells corresponding to slice 1 and also candidate cells corresponding to slice 2.

[0087] In one embodiment, the step of determining candidate cells that support the target slice from among the cells corresponding to at least one of the frequencies is: The steps include determining the slices supported by the cell corresponding to each frequency based on instruction information from the network-side device, The step includes determining that a cell supporting a target slice associated with a frequency is a candidate cell corresponding to a target slice associated with a frequency, from among the cells corresponding to each frequency.

[0088] In one embodiment, when considering multiple target slices, the slices supported by the cells corresponding to each frequency can be determined based on the instruction information of the network-side device, and further, the cells that support the target slice associated with each frequency can be determined to be candidate cells corresponding to the target slice associated with that frequency.

[0089] For example, for a particular frequency f0, the slices associated with f0 are slice 1 and slice 2, corresponding to cells C1 and C3. If C1 supports slices 1 and 2, and C3 supports slices 1 and 3, then we can determine that the candidate cells corresponding to slice 1 are C1 and C3, and the candidate cell corresponding to slice 2 is C1.

[0090] Cell reselection mainly involves several steps, including measuring cell signal quality, sorting cells, and reselecting cells. Below, several examples illustrate the steps of signal quality measurement and cell reselection within cell reselection.

[0091] The cell frequencies to consider differ depending on the cell reselection method. For example, inter-freq cell reselection and inter-RAT cell reselection can generally include three methods: high-priority frequency cell reselection, same-priority frequency cell reselection, and low-priority frequency cell reselection, and the cell frequencies to consider differ for each of these three methods. For intra-freq cell reselection, only frequency cells need to be considered.

[0092] In some subsequent embodiments, the cell reselection method may be performed selectively, or multiple cell reselection methods may be executed. The execution order is to prioritize the reselection of high-priority frequencies, then the reselection of cells with the same priority frequencies, and finally the reselection of low-priority cells.

[0093] In one embodiment, the method for performing cell reselection includes cell reselection of the same priority frequency and / or lower priority frequency, and the method is If the signal quality of the current service cell is lower than a first quality threshold or does not support the target slice, the method further includes measuring the signal quality of candidate cells with the same priority frequency and / or lower priority frequency as the current service cell.

[0094] When re-selecting a cell of the same priority frequency, it is possible to consider whether the terminal's current service cell meets the requirements. For example, it is possible to determine whether the signal quality of the current service cell is lower than a first quality threshold, or whether the current service cell supports the target slice. If the signal quality of the current service cell is lower than the first quality threshold, or if the current service cell does not support the target slice, it is determined that the current service cell does not meet the requirements. Based on this, the signal quality of a cell of the same priority frequency as the current service cell is determined from among the candidate cells, and cell re-selection of the same priority frequency is performed based on the measured signal quality.

[0095] Similarly, when performing cell reselection for a lower priority frequency, it is possible to consider whether the terminal's current service cell meets the requirements. For example, it is possible to determine whether the signal quality of the current service cell is lower than a first quality threshold, or whether the current service cell supports the target slice. If the signal quality of the current service cell is lower than the first quality threshold, or if the current service cell does not support the target slice, it is determined that the current service cell does not meet the requirements. This allows for the determination of the signal quality of a lower priority frequency cell from among the candidate cells, and cell reselection for the same priority frequency can be performed based on the measured signal quality.

[0096] In this embodiment and several subsequent embodiments, if the target slice contains only the highest priority slice, then a cell supporting the target slice means that the cell supports the highest priority slice. If the target slice contains other slices as well, then a cell supporting the target slice means that the cell supports the slice currently being considered. For example, if we consider whether a target cell exists in a secondary high priority slice after the highest priority slice, then a cell supporting the target slice means that the cell supports the secondary high priority slice.

[0097] A high-priority frequency cell is a cell with a higher priority frequency than the current service cell's frequency; a same-priority frequency cell is a cell with the same priority frequency as the current service cell's frequency (it may be the same frequency or the same priority but a different frequency); and a low-priority frequency cell is a cell with a lower priority frequency than the current service cell's frequency. Frequency priority is determined based on the priority relationships between frequencies associated with the slice currently under consideration.

[0098] In one embodiment, when measuring the signal quality of cells with the same priority frequency as the current service cell from among the candidate cells, the step of determining a candidate cell that supports the target slice from among the cells corresponding to at least one of the frequencies is: A step of determining candidate cells that support the target slice from among the same priority frequency cells of the current service cell, the step of performing cell reselection being cell reselection of the same priority frequency.

[0099] When re-selecting cells of the same priority frequency, determining candidate cells means selecting candidate cells that support the target slice from among the current service cells of the same priority frequency. This ensures that the determined candidate cells support the target slice and are also cells of the same priority frequency. The determined candidate cells can also satisfy the S criterion.

[0100] In one embodiment, when measuring the signal quality of a low-priority frequency cell from among the candidate cells, the method is as follows: If the signal quality of the current service cell is lower than a second quality threshold, the step of determining that a cell from among the lower priority frequency cells of the current service cell that supports the target slice and has a signal quality higher than a third quality threshold is a candidate cell, further comprising the step of the cell reselection method being cell reselection of lower priority frequencies.

[0101] When reselecting cells for lower priority frequencies, determining candidate cells means selecting cells from the current service cells' lower priority frequency cells that support the target slice and have a signal quality higher than the third quality threshold. This ensures that the selected candidate cells support the target slice, are also lower priority frequency cells, and meet the required signal quality. The selected candidate cells may also satisfy the S criterion.

[0102] In one embodiment, the method for performing cell reselection includes cell reselection of high-priority frequencies, and the method is The steps include determining whether a high-priority frequency exists corresponding to the current service cell, and whether the high-priority frequency is a frequency associated with the target slice, The procedure further includes the step of measuring the signal quality of high-priority frequency cells, if present.

[0103] When reselecting a high-priority frequency cell, it is not necessary to consider whether the terminal's current service cell meets the requirements, but rather whether a high-priority frequency exists for the current service cell. This high-priority frequency is associated with the target slice currently under consideration, and if a high-priority frequency exists, the signal quality of the high-priority frequency cell can be measured, and a cell reselection for the same priority frequency can be performed based on the measured signal quality.

[0104] In one embodiment, the method is: A step of determining that a cell that supports the target slice and has a signal quality higher than a fourth quality threshold is a candidate cell from among the high-priority frequency cells of the current service cell, further comprising the step of the cell reselection method being high-priority frequency cell reselection.

[0105] When reselecting high-priority frequency cells, determining candidate cells means selecting from the current service cells' high-priority frequency cells that support the target slice and have a signal quality higher than the third quality threshold. This ensures that the selected candidate cells support the target slice, are high-priority frequency cells, and meet the required signal quality. The selected candidate cells can also satisfy the S criterion.

[0106] The criteria for reselecting cells at high priority frequencies, cells at the same priority frequency, and cells at low priority frequencies are not the primary inventions of this disclosure, and the criteria of the relevant art can be referenced and are not limited to this disclosure.

[0107] In one embodiment, the method is: If the signal quality of the current service cell is lower than a second quality threshold or does not support the target slice, and there is a cell that supports the target slice at the same frequency of the current service cell, the method further includes measuring the signal quality of a candidate cell at the same frequency of the current service cell.

[0108] When re-selecting a cell of the same frequency, it is possible to determine whether the current service cell meets the requirements and whether there is another cell of the same frequency that meets the requirements. If the current service cell does not meet the requirements, for example, if its signal quality is lower than the second quality threshold or does not support the target slice, and there is another cell of the same frequency in the current service cell that meets the requirements, for example, if it supports the target slice, the signal quality of the cell of the same frequency in the current service cell can be measured from among the candidate cells.

[0109] In one embodiment, the step of determining candidate cells that support the target slice from among the cells corresponding to at least one of the frequencies is: The step includes determining that a cell supporting the target slice is a candidate cell from among the same frequency cells of the current service cell.

[0110] When re-selecting cells of the same frequency, determining candidate cells means selecting from the current service cells of the same frequency that support the target slice and have a signal quality higher than the third quality threshold. This ensures that the selected candidate cells support the target slice and are also cells of the same frequency. The selected candidate cells can also satisfy the S criterion.

[0111] Figure 6 is a schematic flowchart of another cell determination method shown by an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in Figure 6, the method further includes the following steps S601-S603.

[0112] In step S601, the priority relationship between the multiple frequencies associated with the target slice is determined.

[0113] In step S602, the cells corresponding to the frequencies are sorted based on the frequency priority.

[0114] In step S603, the cell with the highest sorting level among the sorted cells and that supports the target slice is determined to be the target cell for cell re-selection.

[0115] In one embodiment, after at least one frequency associated with a target slice has been determined, if the target slice associates multiple frequencies, the priority relationships between the multiple frequencies can be further determined. For example, if slice 1 associates frequencies f1 and f2, the priority relationship between f1 and f2 is f2 > f1, meaning that f2 has a higher priority than f1.

[0116] In one embodiment, the frequency priority associated with the slice may be provided by the base station via broadcast system messages and / or dedicated signaling, and if the frequency priority is provided by dedicated signaling, coverage is provided for the frequency priority provided by broadcast system messages.

[0117] The frequency priority associated with a slice may include all adjacent frequencies (e.g., frequencies corresponding to the current service cell's neighboring cells) and may also include only the frequencies supporting the highest priority slice. If only the frequencies associated with the highest priority are included, the priorities of other frequencies may be provided by broadcast system messages or dedicated signaling, and their priorities will be lower than those of the frequencies associated with the slice.

[0118] Furthermore, the cells corresponding to the frequencies are sorted based on the frequency priority. For example, the cells corresponding to the highest priority frequency are sorted first to determine the target cell. If the target cell cannot be determined, the cells corresponding to the next lower priority frequency are sorted to determine the target cell. To sort the cells corresponding to the frequencies, the sorting is based on the signal quality of the cells. For example, the sorting can be specifically based on the R criterion.

[0119] Finally, the cell with the highest sorting score and supporting the target slice can be selected as the target cell for cell re-selection. This ensures that the re-selected target cell supports the target slice and has the highest sorting score, which is advantageous for ensuring relatively good signal quality and good communication performance.

[0120] The difference between the embodiment shown in Figure 3 and the embodiment shown in Figure 6 is that, after sorting the cells, the embodiment considers whether the cell with the highest sorting score supports the target slice, whereas in the embodiment shown in Figure 3, the cells that support the target slice are determined first, and then the cells are sorted.

[0121] Furthermore, to determine the target cell for cell reselection, at least one of the following conditions must be met: the cell must not be prohibited, it must not belong to a prohibited tracking area, and the cell's PLMN must meet the requirements.

[0122] In one embodiment, determining the target cell in step S603 specifically determines whether the cell with the highest sorting value is the appropriate cell, and if it is the appropriate cell, it can be set as the target cell for cell re-selection. The appropriate cell in this embodiment must satisfy the conditions that an appropriate cell in the related technology must satisfy, in addition to the condition that it supports a target slice.

[0123] In one embodiment, determining the target cell in step S603 specifically determines whether the cell with the highest sorting value is a newly defined type of cell, and if it is a newly defined type of cell, it can be set as the target cell for cell re-selection. In addition to the conditions that a suitable cell must satisfy, the newly defined type of cell-related technology must also satisfy the condition that it supports target slicing.

[0124] Figure 7 is a schematic flowchart of another cell determination method shown by an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in Figure 7, steps S701 to S703 for determining the cell with the highest sorting level and supporting the target slice from the sorted cells as the target cell for cell re-selection include the following steps:

[0125] In step S701, it is determined whether the cell with the highest sorting value supports the target slice.

[0126] In step S702, if supported, it is determined that the cell with the highest sort value is the target cell.

[0127] In step S703, if not supported, the step of determining whether a cell one position lower in the sequence supports the target slice is repeated until a cell that supports the target slice is determined, or until it is determined that none of the cells support the target slice at all.

[0128] The first cell with the highest sort rank can be considered to support the target slice. If it does, it can be determined to be the target cell. If it does not, the next lower cell can be considered to support the target slice. If it does not support the target slice, the next lower cell can be considered to support it. This process continues until a cell that supports the target slice is determined, or all cells are determined not to support the target slice.

[0129] In one embodiment, the target slice includes the highest priority slice among the expected slices of the terminal. In this case, a cell supporting the target slice means that the cell supports the highest priority slice.

[0130] In one embodiment, the target slice includes the expected slice of the terminal, and the method is The steps include performing the steps of the embodiment shown in Figure 7 for the highest priority slice among the expected slices, If a target cell is not determined, the process includes repeating the steps of the embodiment shown in Figure 7 for a slice with a lower priority among the expected slices until a target cell is determined or until all target cells are determined for all slices among the expected slices.

[0131] If the target cell includes not only the highest priority slice among the expected slices but also other slices among the expected slices, and if the target cell is not determined for the highest priority slice according to the steps of the embodiment shown in Figure 7, then the target cell can be determined for a slice with a lower priority according to the steps of the embodiment shown in Figure 7, and if it is not determined, then the target cell can be determined for a slice with an even lower priority according to the steps of the embodiment shown in Figure 7, and so on, until a cell supporting the target slice is determined or no target cells are determined for any slice.

[0132] Furthermore, it is not necessary to perform the steps of the embodiment shown in Figure 7 one by one for each of the other slices among the expected slices. For example, it is possible to determine which slices should be considered and which should not be considered based on the instruction information of the network-side device, and then perform the steps of the embodiment shown in Figure 7 only for the slices that should be considered.

[0133] Figure 8 is a schematic flow chat of a support instruction method shown in an embodiment of the present disclosure. The support instruction method shown in this embodiment can be applied to a network-side device, which includes, but is not limited to, network-side devices in communication systems such as 4G, 5G, and 6G, such as base stations and core networks. The network-side device can communicate with a terminal, which includes, but is not limited to, communication devices such as mobile phones, tablets, wearable devices, sensors, and Internet of Things devices.

[0134] As shown in Figure 8, the support instruction method may include the following step S801.

[0135] In step S801, instruction information is sent to the terminal, which uses the instruction information to determine a candidate cell that supports the target slice from among the cells corresponding to at least one frequency associated with the target slice to be accessed.

[0136] In one embodiment, the target slice includes the highest priority slice among the expected slices of the terminal.

[0137] In one embodiment, the instruction information is used to indicate whether the cell corresponding to the frequency supports the highest priority slice.

[0138] In one embodiment, the instruction information is used to indicate whether at least one cell corresponding to the frequency supports the highest priority slice.

[0139] In one embodiment, the instruction information is used to indicate a slice supported by at least one cell corresponding to the frequency.

[0140] In one embodiment, the target slice further includes other slices from the expected slices.

[0141] In one embodiment, the instruction information is used to indicate whether the list of target slices supported by the frequency applies to all cells corresponding to the frequency.

[0142] In one embodiment, the instruction information is used to indicate the cells to which the list of target slices supported by the frequency applies.

[0143] In one embodiment, the instruction information is used to indicate the slices supported by the cells corresponding to each frequency.

[0144] Corresponding to the embodiments of the cell determination method described above, this disclosure further provides embodiments of a cell determination apparatus.

[0145] Embodiments of this disclosure further propose a cell determination device applied to a terminal, which includes, but is not limited to, communication devices such as mobile phones, tablets, wearable devices, sensors, and Internet of Things devices. The terminal can communicate with a network-side device as user equipment, which includes, but is not limited to, network-side devices such as base stations and core networks in communication systems such as 4G, 5G, and 6G.

[0146] The apparatus includes one or more processors, each processor configured to determine a target slice to be accessed and at least one frequency associated with the target slice, and to determine a candidate cell that supports the target slice from among cells corresponding to at least one of the frequencies.

[0147] In one embodiment, the processor is configured to further determine the priority relationships between a plurality of frequencies associated with the target slice and to re-select cells from the candidate cells based on the frequency priority.

[0148] In one embodiment, the target slice is at least one slice among the expected slices of the terminal.

[0149] In one embodiment, the target slice includes the highest priority slice among the expected slices.

[0150] In one embodiment, the processor is configured to determine, based on instruction information from a network-side device, whether at least one cell corresponding to the frequency supports the highest priority slice, and if all of the cells corresponding to the at least one frequency support the highest priority slice, then determine that at least one cell corresponding to the frequency is the candidate cell.

[0151] In one embodiment, the processor is configured to determine a slice supported by at least one cell corresponding to the frequency based on instruction information from a network-side device, and to determine that the cell supporting the highest priority slice from among the at least one cell corresponding to the frequency is the candidate cell.

[0152] In one embodiment, the processor is configured to determine a list of cells that support the highest priority slice from among the cells corresponding to at least one frequency based on instruction information from a network-side device, and to determine that a cell in the list of cells is the candidate cell.

[0153] In one embodiment, the processor determines a candidate cell corresponding to the highest priority frequency associated with the highest priority slice, From among the candidate cells corresponding to the highest priority frequency, the target cell is determined based on signal quality. If a target cell is not determined from among the candidate cells corresponding to the highest priority frequency, the step of determining a target cell based on signal quality from among the candidate cells corresponding to the next lower priority frequency is repeated until a target cell is determined or until all target cells have not been determined from among the candidate cells corresponding to all priority frequencies. Sort the target cells determined based on signal quality, The system is configured to re-select cells from the sorted target cells based on the target cell's sorting.

[0154] In one embodiment, the processor is further configured to re-select cells based on the frequency priority indicated by the network-side device if all target cells corresponding to all frequencies associated with the highest priority slice have not been determined.

[0155] In one embodiment, the processor is configured to re-select the target cell with the highest sorting value if that cell is the appropriate cell, and not to re-select a cell from the target cell with the highest sorting value and its same frequency cell within a predetermined time length if that cell is not the appropriate cell.

[0156] In one embodiment, the target slice further includes other slices from the expected slices.

[0157] In one embodiment, the processor is further configured to determine a slice with a lower priority from the other slices if not all target cells are determined from among the cells corresponding to all frequencies associated with the highest priority slice, and to repeat the step of determining a target cell from among candidate cells corresponding to the frequencies associated with the slice with a lower priority, based on signal quality, until a target cell is determined or not all target cells are determined from among the cells corresponding to the frequencies associated with all priority target slices.

[0158] In one embodiment, the processor determines a candidate cell corresponding to the highest priority frequency associated with a slice of one level lower priority, From among the candidate cells corresponding to the highest priority frequency, the target cell is determined based on signal quality. If a target cell is not determined from among the candidate cells corresponding to the highest priority frequency, the system is configured to repeat the step of determining a target cell based on signal quality from among the candidate cells corresponding to a frequency one level lower in priority, until a target cell is determined or until all target cells have not been determined from among the candidate cells corresponding to all priority frequencies.

[0159] In one embodiment, if a target cell is determined from among candidate cells corresponding to the frequency associated with a slice of one lower priority level, the processor re-selects the target cell with the highest sort corresponding to the frequency associated with the slice of one lower priority level, if that cell is the appropriate cell. If the target cell with the highest sorting value corresponding to the frequency associated with a slice with a lower priority is not a suitable cell, and both the target cell with the highest sorting value corresponding to the frequency associated with a slice with a lower priority and the cells with the same frequency support only the slice with a lower priority, the system is configured not to re-select a cell from among the target cell with the highest sorting value corresponding to the frequency associated with a slice with a lower priority and the cells with the same frequency within a predetermined time length.

[0160] In one embodiment, the processor determines a list of target slices supported by the frequency, Based on the instruction information of the network-side device, it is determined whether the list applies to all cells corresponding to the frequency. When the list is applied to all cells corresponding to the frequency, it is configured to determine that all cells corresponding to the frequency are candidate cells corresponding to the target slice associated with the frequency.

[0161] In one embodiment, the processor determines a list of target slices supported by the frequency, Based on the instruction information from the network-side device, the list determines the cell to which it applies. The list is configured to determine that the cell to which it applies is a candidate cell corresponding to the target slice associated with the frequency.

[0162] In one embodiment, the processor is configured to determine the slices supported by the cells corresponding to each frequency based on instruction information from the network-side device, and to determine that the cell that supports the target slice associated with each frequency is a candidate cell corresponding to the target slice associated with that frequency.

[0163] In one embodiment, the cell reselection method includes cell reselection of cells with the same priority frequency and / or a lower priority frequency, wherein the processor is further configured to measure the signal quality of cells with the same priority frequency and / or a lower priority frequency as the current service cell from among the candidate cells if the signal quality of the current service cell is below a first quality threshold or does not support the target slice.

[0164] In one embodiment, when measuring the signal quality of cells with the same priority frequency as the current service cell from among the candidate cells, the processor is configured to determine a candidate cell that supports the target slice from among the cells with the same priority frequency as the current service cell, and the method of cell reselection is cell reselection of the same priority frequency.

[0165] In one embodiment, when measuring the signal quality of a low-priority frequency cell from among the candidate cells, the processor is configured to further support the target slice from among the low-priority frequency cells of the current service cell if the signal quality of the current service cell is lower than a second quality threshold, and to determine that a cell with a signal quality higher than a third quality threshold is a candidate cell, and the cell reselection method is low-priority frequency cell reselection.

[0166] In one embodiment, the cell reselection method includes cell reselection of a high-priority frequency, and the processor further determines whether a high-priority frequency corresponding to the current service cell exists and whether the high-priority frequency is a frequency associated with the target slice. If present, it is configured to measure the signal quality of high-priority frequency cells.

[0167] In one embodiment, the processor is further configured to determine that cells that support the target slice and have a signal quality higher than a fourth quality threshold are candidate cells from among the high-priority frequency cells of the current service cell, and the method of cell reselection is high-priority frequency cell reselection.

[0168] In one embodiment, the processor is further configured to measure the signal quality of a cell of the same frequency as the current service cell from among the candidate cells if the signal quality of the current service cell is lower than a second quality threshold or does not support the target slice, and there is a cell of the same frequency as the current service cell that supports the target slice.

[0169] In one embodiment, the processor is configured to determine that a cell supporting the target slice is a candidate cell from among the same frequency cells of the current service cell.

[0170] In one embodiment, the processor further determines the priority relationships between a plurality of frequencies associated with the target slice, Based on the priority of the aforementioned frequencies, the cells corresponding to the aforementioned frequencies are sorted. The system is configured to determine the cell with the highest sorting level among the sorted cells and that supports the target slice as the target cell for cell re-selection.

[0171] In one embodiment, the processor determines whether the cell with the highest sorting value supports the target slice. If support is provided, the cell with the highest sort value is determined to be the target cell. If not supported, the system is configured to repeat the step of determining whether the next lower cell supports the target slice until a cell that supports the target slice is determined, or until it is determined that none of the cells support the target slice at all.

[0172] In one embodiment, the target slice includes the highest priority slice among the expected slices of the terminal.

[0173] In one embodiment, the target slice includes an expected slice of the terminal, and the processor is configured to further perform an operation to determine the target cell for the highest priority slice among the expected slices, and if a target cell is not determined, to repeat the step of performing an operation to determine the target cell for a slice of the expected slice with a lower priority until a target cell is determined or until no target cells are determined for any of the expected slices.

[0174] The specific manner in which each module performs operations in the apparatus of the above embodiment is described in detail in the embodiment of the relevant method, and therefore a detailed explanation is omitted here.

[0175] Embodiments of the present disclosure further propose a support instruction device which can be applied to a network-side device, which includes, but is not limited to, network-side devices such as base stations and core networks in communication systems such as 4G, 5G, and 6G, which can communicate with a terminal, which includes, but is not limited to, communication devices such as mobile phones, tablets, wearable devices, sensors, and Internet of Things devices.

[0176] The apparatus includes one or more processors, each configured to transmit instruction information to a terminal, the instruction information being used by the terminal to determine a candidate cell supporting the target slice from among cells corresponding to at least one frequency associated with the target slice to be accessed.

[0177] In one embodiment, the target slice includes the highest priority slice among the expected slices of the terminal.

[0178] In one embodiment, the instruction information is used to indicate whether the cell corresponding to the frequency supports the highest priority slice.

[0179] In one embodiment, the instruction information is used to indicate whether at least one cell corresponding to the frequency supports the highest priority slice.

[0180] In one embodiment, the instruction information is used to indicate a slice supported by at least one cell corresponding to the frequency.

[0181] In one embodiment, the target slice further includes other slices from the expected slices.

[0182] In one embodiment, the instruction information is used to indicate whether the list of target slices supported by the frequency applies to all cells corresponding to the frequency.

[0183] In one embodiment, the instruction information is used to indicate the cells to which the list of target slices supported by the frequency applies.

[0184] In one embodiment, the instruction information is used to indicate the slices supported by the cells corresponding to each frequency.

[0185] Since the embodiments of the apparatus basically correspond to the embodiments of the method, relevant points should be referred to in the description of some parts of the embodiments of the method. The embodiments of the apparatus described above are merely schematic, and modules described as separate components may or may not be physically separate, and components shown as modules may or may not be physical modules, that is, they may be located in one place or distributed across multiple network modules. Depending on the actual needs, some or all of these modules can be selected to achieve the objectives of the embodiment. Those skilled in the art can understand and implement this without paying any creative labor.

[0186] Embodiments of the present disclosure further provide a communication device including a processor and memory for storing a computer program, which, when the computer program is executed by the processor, realizes the cell determination method described in any of the above embodiments.

[0187] Embodiments of the present disclosure further provide a communication device including a processor and memory for storing a computer program, which implements the support instruction method described in any of the above embodiments when the computer program is executed by the processor.

[0188] Embodiments of the present disclosure further provide a computer-readable storage medium for storing a computer program, which, when the computer program is executed by a processor, enables the steps in the support instruction method described in any of the above embodiments.

[0189] Embodiments of the present disclosure further provide a computer-readable storage medium for storing a computer program, which, when the computer program is executed by a processor, enables the steps in the support instruction method described in any of the above embodiments.

[0190] Figure 9 is a schematic block diagram of the apparatus 900 for cell determination as shown in the embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, the apparatus 900 may be a mobile phone, computer, digital broadcasting terminal, messaging device, game console, tablet device, medical device, fitness device, personal digital assistant, etc.

[0191] Referring to Figure 9, the device 900 may include one or more components, such as a processing component 902, a memory 904, a power supply component 906, a multimedia component 908, an audio component 910, an input / output (I / O) interface 912, a sensor component 914, and a communication component 916.

[0192] The processing component 902 typically controls the overall operation of the device 900, such as operations related to display, telephone ringing, data communication, camera operation, and recording. The processing component 902 may include one or more processors 920 for executing instructions to complete all or some of the steps of the above method. The processing component 902 may also include one or more modules to facilitate interaction with other components. For example, the processing component 902 may include a multimedia module to facilitate interaction between the multimedia component 908 and the processing component 902.

[0193] Memory 904 is configured to store various types of data to support operation in device 900. Examples of this data include instructions for any application program or method to operate in device 900, contact data, phonebook data, messages, images, videos, etc. Memory 904 may be implemented by any type of volatile or non-volatile storage device or a combination thereof, such as static random access memory (SRAM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), read-only memory (ROM), magnetic memory, flash memory, magnetic disk, or optical disk.

[0194] The power supply component 906 provides power to each type of component of the device 900. The power supply component 906 may include a power management system, one or more power supplies, and other components related to the generation, management, and distribution of power to the device 900.

[0195] The multimedia component 908 includes a screen that provides an output interface between the device 900 and the user. In some embodiments, the screen may include a liquid crystal display (LCD) and a touch panel (TP). If the screen includes a touch panel, the screen may be implemented as a touchscreen to receive input signals from the user. The touch panel includes one or more touch sensors to sense touch, slide, and touch panel gestures. The touch sensors may not only sense the boundary of a touch or slide operation but also detect the duration and pressure associated with the touch or slide operation. In some embodiments, the multimedia component 908 includes one front camera and / or a rear camera. When the device 900 is in an operating mode such as shooting mode or video mode, the front camera and / or rear camera may receive external multimedia data. Each front camera and rear camera may be a single fixed optical lens system or may have a focal length and optical zoom capability.

[0196] The audio component 910 is configured to output and / or input audio signals. For example, the audio component 910 includes a microphone (MIC) configured to receive external audio signals when the device 900 is in an operating mode such as calling mode, recording mode, and voice recognition mode. The received audio signals may be further stored in memory 904 or transmitted by communication component 916. In some embodiments, the audio component 910 further includes a speaker for outputting audio signals.

[0197] The I / O interface 912 provides an interface between the processing component 902 and the peripheral interface module, which may be a keyboard, click wheel, buttons, etc. These buttons may include, but are not limited to, a home button, volume buttons, a start button, and a lock button.

[0198] The sensor component 914 includes one or more sensors to provide the device 900 with various forms of state evaluation. For example, the sensor component 914 can detect the on / off state of the device 900, the relative positioning of components, for example, the display and keypad of the device 900, and the sensor component 914 can also detect changes in the position of the device 900 or components of the device 900, whether or not a user is in contact with the device 900, the orientation or acceleration / deceleration of the device 900, and temperature changes of the device 900. The sensor component 914 may also include proximity sensors configured to detect the presence of nearby objects in the absence of any physical contact. The sensor component 914 may further include optical sensors, such as CMOS or CCD image sensors used in imaging applications. In some embodiments, the sensor component 914 may further include acceleration sensors, gyro sensors, magnetic sensors, pressure sensors, or temperature sensors.

[0199] The communication component 916 is configured to facilitate wired or wireless communication between the device 900 and other devices. The device 900 can access wireless networks based on communication standards, such as WiFi, 2G or 3G, 4G LTE, 5G NR, or a combination thereof. In an exemplary embodiment, the communication component 916 receives broadcast signals or broadcast-related information from an external broadcast management system via a broadcast channel. In an exemplary embodiment, the communication component 916 further includes a Near Field Communication (NFC) module to facilitate short-range communication. For example, the NFC module may be implemented based on radio frequency recognition (RFID) technology, infrared data association (IrDA) technology, ultra-wideband (UWB) technology, Bluetooth (BT) technology, and other technologies.

[0200] In exemplary embodiments, the apparatus 900 may be implemented by one or more applications such as a dedicated integrated circuit (ASIC), a digital signal processor (DSP), a digital signal processing device (DSPD), a programmable logic device (PLD), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), a controller, a microcontroller, a microprocessor, or other electronic components to perform the above method.

[0201] In exemplary embodiments, a non-temporary computer-readable storage medium containing instructions, such as a memory 904 containing instructions, is further provided, and the instructions may be executed by a processor 920 of the device 900 to complete the method. For example, the non-temporary computer-readable storage medium may be a ROM, random access memory (RAM), CD-ROM, magnetic tape, floppy disk, or optical data storage device.

[0202] A person skilled in the art, after reviewing the specification and practicing the inventions disclosed herein, will readily conceive of other embodiments of the Disclosure. This Disclosure is intended to cover any variations, uses, or appropriate modifications of the Disclosure, which will adhere to the general principles of the Disclosure and include common knowledge or conventional art means of the art not disclosed herein. The specification and examples are for illustrative purposes only, and the true scope and spirit of the Disclosure are indicated by the following claims.

[0203] This disclosure is not limited to the exact structure described above and shown in the drawings, and various modifications and changes may be made as long as they do not deviate from its scope. The scope of this disclosure is limited only to the attached claims.

[0204] In this specification, relational terms such as those in the first and second paragraphs are used solely to distinguish one entity or operation from another entity or operation, and do not necessarily require or imply that such an actual relationship or order exists between these entities or operations. The terms “contains,” “includes,” or any other variation thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive “contains” such that a process, method, article, or device containing a set of elements contains not only those elements but also other elements not expressly enumerated, or elements specific to such process, method, article, or device. Unless otherwise specified, an element limited by the phrase “contains one” does not preclude the existence of another identical element in a process, method, article, or device containing that element.

[0205] While the methods and apparatus provided by the embodiments of this disclosure have been described in detail above, this specification uses specific examples to illustrate the principles and embodiments of this disclosure, and the above description of embodiments is merely for the purpose of understanding the methods and core ideas of this disclosure. At the same time, those skilled in the art will know that there are modifications in specific embodiments and scope of application based on the ideas of this disclosure, and as described above, the contents of this specification do not limit this disclosure.

Claims

1. A cell determination method, which is applied to a terminal, and the method is A step of determining a target slice to be accessed and at least one frequency associated with the target slice, A step of determining a candidate cell that supports the target slice from among cells corresponding to at least one of the frequencies, Includes, The aforementioned method, The steps include determining the priority relationship between a plurality of frequencies associated with the target slice, The steps include: re-selecting a cell from the candidate cells based on the frequency priority; It further includes, The target slice is at least one slice among the expected slices of the terminal, The target slice includes the highest priority slice among the expected slices. The aforementioned method, The steps include determining a list of target slices supported by the aforementioned frequency, The step of determining which cell the list applies to based on instruction information from a network-side device, A cell determination method characterized by the following features.

2. The step of determining a candidate cell that supports the target slice from among the cells corresponding to at least one of the frequencies is: A step of determining whether at least one cell corresponding to the frequency supports the highest priority slice based on instruction information from a network-side device, If at least one of the cells corresponding to the frequency supports the highest priority slice, the step of determining that at least one of the cells corresponding to the frequency is the candidate cell, including, The cell determination method according to feature 1.

3. The step of determining a candidate cell that supports the target slice from among the cells corresponding to at least one of the frequencies is: The steps include determining a slice supported by at least one cell corresponding to the frequency based on instruction information from a network-side device, The steps include determining that the cell supporting the highest priority slice from among at least one cell corresponding to the frequency is the candidate cell, including, The cell determination method according to feature 1.

4. The step of determining a candidate cell that supports the target slice from among the cells corresponding to at least one of the frequencies is: A step of determining a list of cells that support the highest priority slice among at least one cell corresponding to the frequency, based on instruction information from a network-side device, The steps include determining that a cell in the list of cells is the candidate cell, including, The cell determination method according to feature 1.

5. The step of re-selecting a cell from the candidate cells based on the frequency priority is: The steps include determining a candidate cell corresponding to the highest priority frequency associated with the highest priority slice, The steps include: determining a target cell from among candidate cells corresponding to the highest priority frequency based on signal quality; If a target cell is not determined from among the candidate cells corresponding to the highest priority frequency, the step of determining a target cell based on signal quality from among the candidate cells corresponding to the next lower priority frequency is repeated until a target cell is determined or until all target cells have not been determined from among the candidate cells corresponding to all priority frequencies. A step of sorting target cells determined based on signal quality, A step of re-selecting a cell from among the target cells sorted based on the target cell sorting, including, The cell determination method according to feature 1.

6. The aforementioned method, If not all target cells are determined from among the cells corresponding to all frequencies associated with the highest priority slice, the process further includes the step of re-selecting cells based on the frequency priority indicated by the network-side device. The cell determination method according to feature 5.

7. The target slice further includes other slices from the expected slices, The step of re-selecting a cell from the candidate cells based on the frequency priority is: If not all target cells are determined from among the cells corresponding to all frequencies associated with the highest priority slice, the step of determining a slice with a priority one level lower from the other slices is further repeated until a target cell is determined or not all target cells are determined from among the cells corresponding to the frequencies associated with all priority target slices, and determining a target cell from among candidate cells corresponding to the frequencies associated with the slice with a priority one level lower based on signal quality. The cell determination method according to feature 5.

8. The step of determining a target cell based on signal quality from among candidate cells corresponding to frequencies associated with the slice with one lower priority level is as follows: The steps include determining a candidate cell corresponding to the highest priority frequency associated with a slice of one level lower priority, The steps include: determining a target cell from among candidate cells corresponding to the highest priority frequency based on signal quality; If a target cell is not determined from among the candidate cells corresponding to the highest priority frequency, the step of determining a target cell based on signal quality from among the candidate cells corresponding to the next lower priority frequency is repeated until a target cell is determined or until all target cells have not been determined from among the candidate cells corresponding to all priority frequencies. including, The cell determination method according to feature 7.

9. If a target cell is determined from among candidate cells corresponding to frequencies associated with a slice of one level lower priority, the step of re-selecting a cell from among the target cells sorted based on the sorting of the target cells is: If the target cell with the highest sorting value corresponding to the frequency associated with a slice of one level lower priority is the appropriate cell, the step is to re-select the target cell with the highest sorting value, If the target cell with the highest sorting frequency corresponding to the slice with a lower priority level is not a suitable cell, and the target cell with the highest sorting frequency corresponding to the slice with a lower priority level and the cells with the same frequency support only the slice with a lower priority level, then the step of not re-selecting a cell from the target cell with the highest sorting frequency corresponding to the slice with a lower priority level and the cells with the same frequency within a predetermined time length, including, The cell determination method according to feature 7.

10. The step of determining a candidate cell that supports the target slice from among the cells corresponding to at least one of the frequencies is: The steps include determining a list of target slices supported by the aforementioned frequency, The steps include determining whether the list applies to all cells corresponding to the frequency based on instruction information from the network-side device, If the list is applied to all cells corresponding to the frequency, the step of determining that all cells corresponding to the frequency are candidate cells corresponding to the target slice associated with the frequency, including, The cell determination method according to feature 7.

11. The aforementioned method, The step of determining that the cell to which the list applies is a candidate cell corresponding to the target slice associated with the frequency, including, The cell determination method according to feature 1.

12. The step of determining a candidate cell that supports the target slice from among the cells corresponding to at least one of the frequencies is: The steps include determining the slices supported by the cell corresponding to each frequency based on instruction information from the network-side device, The step of determining that a cell supporting a target slice associated with a frequency is a candidate cell corresponding to a target slice associated with a frequency, from among the cells corresponding to each frequency, including, The cell determination method according to feature 7.

13. The method for performing cell reselection includes cell reselection of the same priority frequency and / or lower priority frequency, and the method is If the signal quality of the current service cell is lower than a first quality threshold or does not support the target slice, the further step includes measuring the signal quality of candidate cells with the same priority frequency and / or lower priority frequency than the current service cell. The cell determination method according to feature 5.

14. When measuring the signal quality of cells with the same priority frequency as the current service cell from among the candidate cells, the step of determining a candidate cell that supports the target slice from among the cells corresponding to at least one of the frequencies is: The step includes determining candidate cells that support the target slice from among the same priority frequency cells of the current service cell, and the method for performing cell reselection is cell reselection of cells with the same priority frequency. The cell determination method according to feature 13.

15. When measuring the signal quality of a low-priority frequency cell from among the candidate cells, the method is as follows: The cell reselection method is low-priority frequency cell reselection, further comprising the step of determining that cells from among the low-priority frequency cells of the current service cell that support the target slice and have a signal quality higher than the third quality threshold are candidate cells if the signal quality of the current service cell is lower than a second quality threshold. The cell determination method according to feature 13.

16. The method for performing cell reselection includes cell reselection of high-priority frequencies, and the method is The steps include determining whether a high-priority frequency exists corresponding to the current service cell, and whether the high-priority frequency is a frequency associated with the target slice, If present, the step of measuring the signal quality of the high-priority frequency cell, It further includes, The aforementioned method, A cell reselection method for high-priority frequencies further includes the step of determining that cells that support the target slice and have a signal quality higher than a fourth quality threshold are candidate cells from among the high-priority frequency cells of the current service cell, and the cell reselection method is such that the cell reselection method further includes the step of determining that cells that support the target slice and have a signal quality higher than a fourth quality threshold are candidate cells. The cell determination method according to feature 13.

17. The aforementioned method, If the signal quality of the current service cell is lower than a second quality threshold or does not support the target slice, and there is a cell that supports the target slice at the same frequency of the current service cell, the step further includes measuring the signal quality of the same frequency cell of the current service cell from among the candidate cells. The step of determining a candidate cell that supports the target slice from among the cells corresponding to at least one of the frequencies is: The step includes determining that a cell supporting the target slice is a candidate cell from among the same frequency cells of the current service cell, The cell determination method according to feature 13.

18. The aforementioned method, The steps include determining the priority relationship between a plurality of frequencies associated with the target slice, A step of sorting the cells corresponding to the frequencies based on the priority of the frequencies, The steps include determining the cell with the highest sorting level among the sorted cells and that supports the target slice as the target cell for cell re-selection, Further including, The cell determination method according to feature 1.

19. The step of determining the cell with the highest sorting level among the sorted cells and that supports the target slice as the target cell for cell re-selection is: The steps include determining whether the cell with the highest sorting value supports the target slice, If support is provided, the step is to determine that the cell with the highest sort is the target cell, If not supported, the step of determining whether the next lower cell supports the target slice is repeated until a cell that supports the target slice is determined, or until it is determined that no cells support any of the target slices. including, The cell determination method according to feature 18.

20. The target slice includes the highest priority slice among the expected slices of the terminal. The cell determination method according to feature 18.

21. The target slice includes the expected slice of the terminal, and the method is The steps of claim 19 are performed for the highest priority slice among the expected slices, If a target cell is not determined, the step of performing the steps of claim 19 for a slice with a lower priority level among the expected slices is repeated until a target cell is determined or all target cells are determined for all slices among the expected slices. including, The cell determination method according to feature 18.

22. A method for providing support instructions, The method applies to network-side devices, A step of transmitting instruction information to a terminal, the instruction information being used by the terminal to determine a candidate cell that supports the target slice from among cells corresponding to at least one frequency associated with the target slice to be accessed, to determine a list of target slices supported by the frequency, and to determine the cell to which the list applies based on the instruction information of the network-side device. The target slice includes the highest priority slice among the expected slices of the terminal. The target slice further includes other slices from the expected slices. A support instruction method characterized by the following:

23. The instruction information is used to indicate whether the cell corresponding to the frequency supports the highest priority slice. The support instruction method according to feature 22.

24. The instruction information is used to indicate whether at least one cell corresponding to the frequency supports the highest priority slice. The support instruction method according to feature 22.

25. The instruction information is used to indicate a slice supported by at least one cell corresponding to the frequency. The support instruction method according to feature 22.

26. The instruction information is used to indicate whether the list of target slices supported by the frequency applies to all cells corresponding to the frequency. The support instruction method according to feature 22.

27. The aforementioned instruction information is used to indicate the cells to which the list of target slices supported by the frequency applies. The support instruction method according to feature 22.

28. The instruction information is used to indicate the slices supported by the cells corresponding to each frequency. The support instruction method according to feature 22.

29. A communication device, Processor and Includes memory for storing computer programs, When the computer program is executed by a processor, it implements the cell determination method described in any one of claims 1 to 21. A communication device characterized by the following features.

30. A communication device, Processor and Includes memory for storing computer programs, When the computer program is executed by a processor, it implements the support instruction method described in any one of claims 22 to 28. A communication device characterized by the following features.

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