Communication method, electronic device, and computer-readable medium

Abstract

The present invention relates to the technical field of communications, in particular to a communication method, an electronic device, and a computer-readable medium. The method comprises: a user equipment is in a communication connection state and does not detect a data communication service; the user equipment starts a first timer; the user equipment determines that a timing duration of the first timer is greater than a first duration, and then enters an idle state, a first time difference between the first duration and a second duration of a second timer of a network device connected to the user equipment being greater than a time difference threshold; and when the timing duration of the second timer is greater than the second duration, the network device sends a connection release message to the user equipment. Therefore, the present invention can avoid the problem of missed calls due to the user equipment failing to receive paging messages caused by asynchrony between a user equipment state queried on a network side and an actual state of the user equipment, thus improving the call experience of users.

Description

Communication method, electronic device and computer-readable medium

[0001] This application claims priority to the Chinese patent application filed with the China Patent Office on June 25, 2023, with application number 202310756496.4 and application name “A communication method, electronic device and computer-readable medium”, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference into this application. Technical Field

[0002] The present invention relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular to a communication method, electronic equipment, and computer-readable medium. Background Art

[0003] In order to achieve low power consumption of user equipment (UE), the UE will switch to an idle state or an inactive state after it has not used any service for a certain period of time (for example, 10s). For example, a UE device that supports long term evolution (LTE) will switch to an idle (IDLE) state after it has not used any service for a certain period of time (for example, 10s), and a UE device that supports new radio (NR) will switch to an idle state or an inactive (INACTIVE) state when there is no service. At this time, the UE will usually disconnect from the network side. Referring to the scenario shown in Figure 1, user equipment 100, such as a mobile phone 101, a printer 102, a computer 103, etc., can maintain a connection with the base station 200 and be in a connected state when surfing the Internet or making calls. When the user equipment 100 has no service, it can switch to an idle state and disconnect from the base station 200.

[0004] When the network side has business data that needs to be sent to the user device 100, for example, when the network side receives an incoming call service from other devices to the user device 100 and needs to send business data related to the incoming call, if the user device status queried by the network side is not synchronized with the current actual status of the user device 100, for example, the network side queries that the user device 100 is in an idle state, while the user device 100 is actually in a connected state, the user device 100 may miss the incoming call.

[0005] Summary of the Invention

[0006] The present application provides a communication method, electronic device and computer-readable medium, which can avoid the problem that when a user device misses a connection release message sent by the network side, the user device status queried by the network side is out of sync with the actual status of the user device, resulting in the user device not receiving a paging message and missing an incoming call, which is beneficial to improving the user's calling experience.

[0007] Specifically, in the first aspect, the present application provides a communication method, which includes: the user equipment is in a communication connection state and no data communication service is detected; the user equipment starts a first timer; the user equipment determines that the timing duration of the first timer is greater than the first duration, and enters an idle state, wherein a first time difference between the first duration and the second duration of the second timer of the network device to which the user equipment is connected is greater than a time difference threshold, wherein the network device sends a connection release message to the user equipment when the timing duration of the second timer is greater than the second duration.

[0008] For example, the user equipment may be an electronic device capable of performing data communication services, such as a mobile phone. The network device may be a base station or a core network. The second timer of the network device may be, for example, an inactivity timer T1 initiated by the base station. Correspondingly, the first timer initiated by the user equipment may be, for example, an inactivity timer T2 set accordingly after the user equipment learns the timeout pattern of T1.

[0009] In this way, the solution provided by the first aspect above, i.e., the user equipment can start the inactivity timer T2 when it is in a connected state and determines that there is no business (for example, no data communication business is detected as mentioned above), and the base station will correspondingly start the inactivity timer T1 in this no-business state. Furthermore, after the base station determines that T1 has timed out and sends a connection release message, the user equipment can enter the idle state in a timely manner according to the judgment result of T2 timeout (for example, the timing duration of the above-mentioned first timer is greater than the first duration), and adopt the idle state receiving paging message mechanism to monitor the paging opportunity to receive the paging message. In this way, the user equipment can avoid the situation where the actual state of the user equipment is out of sync with the user equipment state based on which the base station sends the paging message due to missing the connection release message sent by the base station, and the user equipment may further miss the paging message sent by the base station. It can be understood that the paging message sent by the base station to the user can be the paging message generated by the core network to which the base station is connected when receiving the incoming call request for the user equipment.

[0010] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, the time when the user equipment starts the first timer is the same as the time when the network device starts the second timer.

[0011] That is, the user equipment can start the inactivity timer synchronously with the base station, so that the user equipment can determine whether the first timer has timed out when the base station confirms that the second timer has timed out.

[0012] In a possible implementation of the first aspect above, the user equipment determines that the timing duration of the first timer is greater than the first duration and enters the idle state, including: the user equipment detects that the timing duration of the first timer is greater than the first duration and determines that no connection release message is received; the user equipment monitors the paging opportunity based on the first mechanism for receiving paging messages in the idle state, wherein the paging message is a paging message sent by the network device to the user equipment at the corresponding paging opportunity based on the first mechanism, and the paging message is used to wake up the user equipment from the idle state to receive data communication service data sent by the network device.

[0013] In a possible implementation of the first aspect above, the communication connection state is a state in which the user equipment establishes and maintains a radio resource control protocol (RRC) connection with the network device, and the connection release message is a message used to indicate that the user equipment disconnects the RRC connection between the user equipment and the network device.

[0014] In a possible implementation of the first aspect above, the method further includes: the user equipment is in a communication connection state and no data communication service is detected; the user equipment receives a connection release message and determines that the timing duration of the first timer is less than the first duration; the user equipment disconnects the RRC connection between the network device in response to the connection release message and turns off the first timer.

[0015] That is, if the user equipment receives the connection release message before the first timer times out, the first timer may be closed to end the timing.

[0016] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, the failure to detect the data communication service includes: the user equipment detecting that no data is transmitted in a data channel between the user equipment and the connected network device, and determining that the data communication service is not detected.

[0017] In a possible implementation of the first aspect above, the first duration of the first timer is determined based on the second duration of the second timer, and the way in which the user equipment obtains the second duration of the second timer includes: the user equipment determines a first moment when no data communication service is detected; the user equipment determines a second moment when a connection release message is received; and the user equipment calculates the second duration based on a second time difference between the first moment and the second moment.

[0018] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, the time difference threshold is determined based on a communication delay between the user equipment and the network device, and the first duration is equal to the sum of the second duration and the time difference threshold.

[0019] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, the network device includes a base station. It is understood that the network side interacting with the user equipment may include, in addition to network devices such as the base station, a core network that interacts with the base station to implement data communication services for the user equipment.

[0020] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, the user equipment includes an electronic device supporting the LTE network standard and / or an electronic device supporting the NR network standard.

[0021] In a second aspect, the present application provides an electronic device comprising: one or more processors; one or more memories; one or more memories storing one or more programs, which, when one or more programs are executed by one or more processors, enables the electronic device to execute the communication method provided by the above-mentioned first aspect and various possible implementations of the above-mentioned first aspect.

[0022] In a third aspect, the present application provides a computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon, which, when executed on a computer, causes the computer to execute the communication method provided by the first aspect and various possible implementations of the first aspect.

[0023] In a fourth aspect, the present application provides a computer program product, comprising a computer program / instruction, which, when executed by a processor, implements the communication method provided by the above-mentioned first aspect and various possible implementations of the above-mentioned first aspect. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0024] FIG1 is a schematic diagram of a communication scenario applicable to the communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0025] FIG2 is a schematic diagram of a paging process in which a user equipment participates before and after entering an idle state;

[0026] FIG3 is a schematic diagram illustrating a paging mechanism implementation principle corresponding to a base station sending a paging frame (PF) or sending a paging message at a specific paging opportunity (PO) provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0027] FIG4 is a schematic diagram of paging opportunities or pager locations monitored by a user equipment in an idle state according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0028] FIG5 is a schematic diagram of an implementation flow of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0029] FIG6 a is a schematic diagram of a typical DRX cycle provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0030] FIG6 b is a schematic diagram of a typical discontinuous reception (DRX) process provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0031] FIG7 is a table showing the time of receiving a paging message corresponding to records of a user equipment in a connected state and an idle state, provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0032] FIG8 is a schematic diagram of a communication system architecture applied to a user equipment provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0033] FIG9 is a schematic structural diagram of a user equipment provided in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0034] In order to make the purpose, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present application clearer, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific implementation methods.

[0035] As mentioned above, when the network side has service data to send to the user equipment 100, if the user equipment status queried by the network side is not synchronized with the current actual status of the user equipment 100, the user equipment 100 may miss incoming calls.

[0036] For ease of understanding, based on the scenario shown in FIG1 , a schematic diagram of a paging process in which a user equipment participates before and after entering an idle state is introduced.

[0037] As shown in FIG2 , the paging process may include the following steps:

[0038] 201: The user equipment 100 is in a connected state and currently has no service.

[0039] After user equipment 100 establishes a connection with base station 200 and enters the connected state, if there are no incoming calls or internet services requiring data transmission, no data is transmitted on the data channel between user equipment 100 and base station 200. At this point, user equipment 100 is in the connected state and currently has no services. It can continue to participate in the interaction process corresponding to steps 202 to 211 below and receive incoming calls normally. Correspondingly, base station 200 can also detect the state of user equipment 100, such as the connected state, based on whether there is data transmission on the data channel between it and user equipment 100, and then continue to execute step 202 below.

[0040] 202: Base station 200 starts inactivity timer T1 when there is no traffic. Inactivity timer T1 is used to measure the duration of time that the user equipment is in an inactivity state. Based on the measurement result, base station 200 can determine whether to release the connection with user equipment 100, that is, whether to send a connection release instruction to user equipment 100.

[0041] 203: The base station 200 detects that the inactivity timer T1 has expired.

[0042] 204: The base station 200 sends a connection release instruction to the user equipment 100. At the same time, the base station 200 may execute the following step 205.

[0043] It can be understood that the connection release instruction is used to instruct the user equipment 100 to disconnect from the base station 200 and enter a more energy-saving idle state from the current connected state. For example, the connection release instruction can be an RRC connection release instruction (RRC release), where RRC is a radio resource control protocol (RRC) based on which related service resources are transmitted between the base station 200 and the connected user equipment 100.

[0044] 205: The base station 200 records that the user equipment is in the idle state.

[0045] 206: The user equipment 100 enters an idle state in response to the received connection release instruction, and monitors the corresponding paging occasion in the idle state.

[0046] For example, the user equipment 100 may monitor the corresponding paging opportunity within a discontinuous reception (DRX) function cycle (DRX cycle) in the idle state. In this way, after the user equipment 100 monitors the paging message at the corresponding paging opportunity, it can wake up from the idle state to receive signaling or data transmitted by the base station 200. The details will be described in detail below and will not be repeated here. The user equipment 100 may monitor the paging frame (PF) or paging occasion (PO) in the idle state to receive the paging message sent at the corresponding paging opportunity.

[0047] 207: The base station 200 sends a paging message to the user equipment 100 based on the paging occasion corresponding to the idle state.

[0048] It is understood that after recording that the user equipment is in the idle state, the base station 200 can calculate the paging opportunity (PO) based on the identity document (ID, hereinafter referred to as UE_ID) of the user equipment 100 and other parameters and send a paging message to notify the user equipment 100 that signaling or data is about to be transmitted. The paging message can be used to wake up the user equipment 100 to receive the signaling or data to be transmitted.

[0049] 208: The user equipment 100 receives a paging message in a paging occasion corresponding to the idle state. Afterwards, the user equipment 100 may parse the received paging message and execute the following step 209 to respond to the paging.

[0050] 209: The user equipment 100 responds to the paging and establishes a connection with the base station 200 to receive service data.

[0051] 210: The base station 200 records that the user equipment is in a connected state.

[0052] 211: The user equipment 100 enters the connected state again.

[0053] It is understood that when the user equipment 100 is in a connected state but has no service for a period of time (e.g., T1 timeout), the base station 200 can send an RRC connection release command to instruct the user equipment 100 to disconnect and enter the idle state to save energy and reduce consumption. When the user equipment 100 is in the idle state, the base station 200 can send a paging message to the user equipment 100 at a specific paging opportunity to wake up the user equipment 100 so that it can receive service data and enter the connected state, so that the user equipment 100 can normally receive incoming calls.

[0054] However, while the user equipment 100 is maintaining a communication connection with the base station 200, it is very likely that due to abnormal reasons such as DCI missed detection / high bit error rate, the user equipment 100 may not be able to receive the connection release message sent by the base station 200 in response to the above step 204. In this case, the user equipment 100 may enter the process of missing an incoming call due to some abnormal reasons described in the following steps 212 to 217 before executing the above step 206.

[0055] 212: The user equipment 100 does not receive a connection release instruction and remains in the connected state.

[0056] For example, before the user equipment 100 executes the above step 206 and receives the connection release instruction sent by the base station 200, the user equipment 100 may not receive the connection release instruction sent by the base station 200 due to abnormal reasons such as DCI missed detection / high bit error rate, and thus will continue to remain in the connected state. Wherein, the downlink control information (DCI) is a link message transmitted through the downlink control channel (PDCCH).

[0057] 213: The user equipment 100 monitors an invite message in the connected state. The invite message is a call request message, which is used to request (or invite) the user equipment 100 to receive signaling or service data to be transmitted by the base station 200.

[0058] 214: The user equipment 100 in the connected state selectively monitors paging messages based on the CDRX state.

[0059] For example, the user equipment 100 of different network standards can be based on the discontinuous reception of the connection mode in the connection state.

[0060] (connectedmode DRX, CDRX) mechanism status, select any paging opportunity to monitor paging messages.

[0061] It can be understood that according to the relevant provisions of the protocol TS 36.331 in the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), the user equipment 100 supporting LTE receives paging messages in the connected state in order to monitor changes in system messages. The system messages may be, for example, messages of the earthquake and tsunami warning system (ETWS) or the commercial mobile alert system (CMAS). These system messages are usually sent to all UEs, so the base station 200 will repeatedly send paging messages multiple times within a default paging cycle (DPC). At this time, the user equipment 100 only needs to select an opportunity to monitor once within the modification period (MP) or the default paging cycle (DPC) according to its own CDRX state. Among them, "selecting the opportunity" means selecting a paging opportunity as the name suggests. Here, it means that the user equipment 100 can select any paging opportunity based on the CDRX state, which is explained here.

[0062] In addition, according to the relevant provisions of 3GPP protocol TS 38.331, changes in system messages under NR are generally not notified to the user equipment 100 through paging messages, but through short messages. For example, when the short message indicator indicates 10 or 11, it indicates a change in the system message of the user equipment 100. Therefore, if the NR network side believes that the user equipment 100 (i.e., the terminal) is in a connected state, it will not send a paging message to the user equipment 100 to page the UE. At this time, the user equipment 100 does not need to monitor the paging message, but only needs to select an opportunity to monitor within the change period (MP) to receive notifications of system message changes, and can also parse the paging message that may be sent by the base station 200.

[0063] 215: The base station 200 sends a paging message to the user equipment 100 based on the paging opportunity corresponding to the idle state of the user equipment. For example, when the core network 300 connected to the base station 200 on the network side receives an incoming call from another device to the user equipment 100, it can query the base station 200 (for example, based on the UE_ID query) about the current state of the user equipment 100, and then generate a paging message to be sent to the user equipment 100 and send it to the user equipment 100 through the base station 200.

[0064] 216: The user equipment 100 does not receive the paging message. This is because any paging occasion (PO) monitored by the user equipment 100 in the connected state does not match the paging occasion corresponding to the specific UE_ID in the idle state based on which the base station 200 sends the paging message.

[0065] 217: The user equipment 100 misses an incoming call.

[0066] It is understandable that in some business scenarios, the user equipment 100 may miss the RRC connection release instruction sent by the network side due to abnormal conditions such as DCI missed detection / high bit error rate. As a result, the actual state of the user equipment 100 (e.g., connected state) does not match the state of the user equipment 100 recorded by the base station 200 (e.g., idle state). At this time, the paging opportunity monitored by the user equipment 100 in the connected state does not match the paging opportunity corresponding to the idle state based on which the base station 200 and the core network 300 send the paging message, which ultimately leads to a high probability of not receiving the subsequent paging message sent to it by the network side. This will cause problems such as the user equipment 100 missing incoming calls, resulting in a poor user experience.

[0067] In order to solve the above problems, the present application provides a communication method applied to user equipment (UE).

[0068] Specifically, this method learns the timeout pattern of the inactivity timer T1 used by the network side and uses the learned timeout pattern to synchronize the timeout with the network side when the user device is in a connected state but has no service. This method can then record that the user device has entered an idle state after the inactivity timer T1 expires and the network side determines whether to switch to the idle state to monitor the corresponding paging opportunity. This ensures that the user device can receive paging messages sent by the network side based on the paging opportunity corresponding to the idle state, avoiding the possibility of missed calls.

[0069] Among them, the user equipment can set the timeout duration L of the inactivity timer T2 used by itself according to the timeout duration corresponding to the inactivity timer T1 on the network side. The timeout duration of T2 can be equal to the timeout duration of T1 plus a certain delay or called the time lag parameter Hy, that is, the timeout duration of T2 can be L+Hy. After T1 times out, if T2 also times out, the user equipment can adjust the paging time for receiving the paging message, for example, adjust it to the idle state paging time calculated based on its own UE_ID, to receive the paging message sent by the network side at the corresponding paging time. If before T2 times out, the user equipment detects the service (for example, receives a service message) or normally receives a connection release instruction, the timing can be ended, for example, timer T2 is turned off.

[0070] It is understood that the base station 200 on the network side can start the inactivity timer T1 when detecting that the connected UE has no business, so as to trigger the sending of a connection release instruction to the UE after T1 times out, causing the UE to enter the idle state. After obtaining the timeout pattern of T1, the UE can simultaneously start the inactivity timer T2 when there is no business, so as to receive a paging message at the paging opportunity when the UE switches to the idle state after T2 times out, without waiting for the connection release instruction that triggers the entry into the idle state.

[0071] This allows the UE to avoid missing paging messages. Specifically, if a mismatch in paging timing occurs due to a mismatch between the UE's status and the network's recorded status, the UE can proactively switch states to align the paging timing and resolve the anomaly. This reduces the likelihood of missed calls on mobile phones and other UEs, improving the user experience.

[0072] It is understandable that the time lag parameter Hy can be reasonably set based on empirical values. The process of the user equipment learning the timeout rule of the inactivity timer T1 can be determined, for example, based on the statistical data of the time when the connection release instruction sent by the network side is received after no business in historical data, or can also be implemented using some self-learning algorithms (such as self-training, etc.) or models, which are not limited here.

[0073] It can be understood that the user devices applicable to the communication method provided in this application may include but are not limited to mobile phones, tablet computers, desktop computers, laptops, handheld computers, netbooks, as well as augmented reality (AR) / virtual reality (VR) devices, smart TVs, smart watches and other wearable devices, car equipment, portable game consoles, portable music players, and other electronic devices with one or more processors.

[0074] Continuing with the scenario shown in FIG. 1 , the base station 200 interacting with the user equipment may be, for example, an evolved node B (eNB). The core network 300 to which the base station 200 is connected may be, for example, a next-generation radio access network (NG-RAN) core network. This is not a limitation.

[0075] It can be understood that after a UE accesses the eNB corresponding to a cell, the channels established between the UE and the eNB may include the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH, also known as the downlink control channel), the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH, also known as the downlink data channel), the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH, also known as the uplink control channel), and the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH, also known as the uplink data channel). Data channels are used to actually transmit data. For example, the uplink data channel is used to transmit uplink data, such as data sent from the UE to the eNB; the downlink data channel is used to transmit downlink data, such as data sent from the eNB to the UE. Control channels, on the other hand, are used to transmit signaling (which can also be requests or responses), informing the other party of the scheduling period and resource location to transmit data via the data channel. The downlink control channel (PDCCH) is used to carry downlink control information (DCI), which can include common control messages (such as paging messages).

[0076] When the user equipment 100 enters the idle state due to no service for a certain period of time, the base station 200 on the network side usually sends an RRC connection release instruction to the user equipment and records the idle state of the user equipment 100. In addition, the base station 200 can send a paging message to the user equipment 100 at the paging opportunity (PO) set corresponding to the idle state. It can be understood that the paging message is usually generated and controlled by the core network 300 on the network side and sent to the base station 200, and then sent by the base station 200 to the user equipment. At this time, the user equipment 100 can monitor the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and use the paging opportunity corresponding to the idle state to receive the paging message sent by the base station 200. After parsing the received paging message, the user equipment 100 can trigger the entry into the connected state. When the user equipment 100 is in the connected state, since the radio resource control protocol (RRC) link already exists, the base station 200 can directly send an invite message to transmit signaling or data.

[0077] To facilitate understanding of the specific implementation process of the communication method provided in this application, the following first introduces the paging mechanism corresponding to the base station 200 sending a paging message at a specific paging opportunity (PO).

[0078] As shown in Figure 3, a paging cycle T in which base station 200 sends a paging message may include multiple paging frames (PF), and each paging frame (PF) may include multiple paging opportunities (PO). That is, a paging opportunity (PO) may be any subframe among the multiple subframes included in a paging frame (PF).

[0079] Continuing with reference to FIG4 , a UE in an idle state only monitors its own specific paging occasions within each DRX cycle. If the UE monitors a paging message sent to itself during the wake-up time, for example, the columns shown in FIG4 represent POs sent by the base station to different UEs, where column 301 may represent the POs monitored by the current UE and sent to itself, including POs corresponding to frame numbers 33 / 161 / 289 / 417 / 545 / 673 / 801 / 929. At this point, the UE needs to determine whether to access the network, update system information, or receive public warning system (PWS) broadcast messages based on whether it receives its own paging message at the corresponding PO.

[0080] The user equipment 100 can receive a paging message (paging message) sent by the base station at a specific paging opportunity (PO) according to its own state, such as idle state or inactive state. The paging message can wake up the user equipment so that it can receive signaling and data from the base station.

[0081] The specific implementation process of the communication method provided in this application is described in detail below in conjunction with the relevant drawings of the interaction process.

[0082] FIG5 shows a schematic diagram of an implementation flow of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application.

[0083] It can be understood that each step of the implementation process shown in Figure 5 may involve interaction between the user equipment 100, the base station 200 and the core network 300, wherein the base station 200 and the corresponding core network 300 may constitute the above-mentioned network side that interacts with the user equipment.

[0084] It should also be stated that the steps in the methods and processes in the embodiments of the present application are numbered for ease of reference, rather than to limit the order of precedence. If there is a sequence between the steps, the written description shall prevail.

[0085] As shown in Figure 5, the implementation process may include the following steps:

[0086] 501: A service connection is established between the user equipment 100, the base station 200 and the core network 300.

[0087] For example, the service connection established above may be a service connection triggered by the user equipment 100 in response to a user operation for a call service, an Internet service, etc. This is not limited here.

[0088] It can be understood that after the service connection is established between the user equipment 100, the base station 200, and the core network 300, the user equipment 100 can enter a connected state and can receive service-related signaling or data sent by the network side, such as receiving an incoming call. The specific process of the user equipment 100 receiving an incoming call in the connected state can refer to the corresponding description of steps 502 to 506 below, and will not be repeated here.

[0089] 502: The user equipment 100 enters the connected state and listens for invite messages.

[0090] Exemplarily, when the user equipment 100 is in a connected state, since the RRC link already exists, it can receive a service message sent by the core network 300 through the base station 200. The service message may include downlink service signaling or service data transmitted by the base station 200.

[0091] In addition, in LTE, regardless of whether the user equipment 100 is in idle or connected state, it can receive paging messages via the paging control channel (PCCH). In the connected state, the user equipment 100 supporting LTE only needs to monitor the paging message once within the modification period (MP) or the default paging period (DPC) based on its CDRX state. As mentioned above, the user equipment 100 monitors the paging message in the connected state to monitor changes in system messages (such as ETWS / CMAS), which will not be detailed here.

[0092] The data downlink transmission channel PCCH used for transmitting paging messages may include two types of paging messages: one is a paging message for a specific UE, and the other is a paging message applicable to all UEs in a specific area.

[0093] For a paging message of a specific UE, the UE may receive the paging message according to the PDCCH monitored in the connected state or the idle state.

[0094] As for the shared paging message applicable to all UEs, since the network side (e.g., base station 200) does not know which UE in a specific area supports commercial mobile alert (CMA) / earthquake and tsunami warning (ETW) and in which cell the UE resides, it is necessary to use each paging opportunity to send a paging message in the cell, so that the UEs in the corresponding tracking area are aware of the earthquake and tsunami warning system (ETWS) or commercial mobile alert system (CMAS) notification being broadcast. Correspondingly, the user equipment 100 can ensure that the paging message is read at least once in each default paging cycle in the connected state (e.g., RRC_CONNECTED) to check whether there are notifications such as ETWS and / or CMAS. I will not go into details here.

[0095] It can be found that the calculation method of the time when the user equipment 100 receives a paging message in the connected state is completely different from that in the IDLE state. This will be explained in detail below with reference to the relevant drawings and will not be repeated here.

[0096] 503: The core network 300 receives the incoming call request.

[0097] For example, other users may trigger an incoming call by calling the user equipment 100 through a user device such as a mobile phone, and the core network 300 may receive a corresponding incoming call request.

[0098] 504: The core network 300 finds that the UE is in a connected state and sends an invite message.

[0099] Exemplarily, the core network 300 may query the base station 200 about the current state of the connected user equipment (UE) 100, such as the aforementioned connected (CONNECTED) state.

[0100] 505 : The core network 300 initiates a call process to the user equipment 100 through the base station 200 .

[0101] For example, the call process initiated by the core network 300 can implement processes such as the user equipment 100 receiving an incoming call and answering the incoming call to conduct a conversation.

[0102] 506: The call service performed by the user equipment 100 based on the base station 200 and the core network 300 ends.

[0103] For example, if the user hangs up the call on the user device 100, or hangs up after answering the call, the call service of the user device 100 based on the base station 200 and the core network 300 is terminated accordingly. At this time, if the core network 300 does not receive a new call request and the user device 100 does not detect the user's Internet access request, the user device 100 currently has no service, and this no service status can be synchronized to the base station 200.

[0104] 507: The user equipment 100 is in a connected state and currently has no service.

[0105] For example, after the user equipment 100 ends a call, there may be no new incoming calls or Internet access for a certain period of time. During this period, the user equipment 100 does not need to send or receive data, so no data is transmitted on the data channel between the user equipment 100 and the base station 200. At this time, the user equipment 100 is in a connected state and currently has no services.

[0106] 508: The user equipment 100 learns the timeout rule of the inactivity timer T1.

[0107] Exemplarily, the user equipment 100 can statistically learn the timeout pattern of the inactivity timer T1 in the inactivity timing mechanism adopted by the base station 200, such as the timeout duration, by observing how long it takes for the base station 200 to issue the RRC connection release instruction after the start of no service during the historical interaction process. For example, the user equipment 100 can record the time when no service starts and the time when the RRC connection release instruction is received based on the process of the base station 200 performing the following steps 509 and 511 during the historical interaction process, and thus learn the timeout pattern of the inactivity timer T1 adopted by the base station 200. In other embodiments, the user equipment 100 can also learn the timeout pattern of the inactivity timer T1 in other ways, which are not limited here.

[0108] It can be understood that for different operators, the timeout period set for the inactivity timer of the corresponding base station may be different; for different cellular cells of the same operator, the timeout period set for the inactivity timer of the corresponding base station may also be different. Therefore, in the process of the user equipment 100 learning the timeout rule of the above-mentioned inactivity timer T1 through the above-mentioned statistical methods, a multivariate vector corresponding to the inactivity timer T1 can be generated, such as [plmn, tac, L]. Among them, each element in the multivariate vector, such as "plmn", can represent the operator identification information, "tac" can represent the signal tracking area (TA) under a certain operator, and "L" can represent the timeout period set from the start of the timing to the determination of the timeout.

[0109] It can be understood that the process of the user equipment 100 executing this step 508 can be completed in advance during the historical period in which the above-mentioned base station 200 executes the following step 509 to start the inactivity timer T1 and executes step 511 to determine that T1 times out, and the corresponding learned timeout rule can be applied to execute the following step 510 to set the inactivity timer T2.

[0110] 509: The base station 200 starts the inactivity timer T1 when there is no traffic.

[0111] Exemplarily, the base station 200 may start the inactivity timer when the connected user equipment 100 is in a non-service state such as not sending or receiving service data (i.e., no data is transmitted in the data channel). To distinguish it from the inactivity timer set by the user equipment 100 in step 511 below, the inactivity timer started by the base station 200 here may be recorded as T1, i.e., the inactivity timer T1.

[0112] It can be understood that the inactivity timing mechanism can be used to monitor whether the base station 200 sends and receives data sent by the user equipment 100 (ie, whether a service occurs). When there is no service, the base station 200 can start the inactivity timer T1 to start timing.

[0113] 510: The user equipment 100 sets and starts the inactivity timer T2.

[0114] For example, the timeout pattern of inactivity timer T1 learned by user equipment 100 in step 508 can be represented by the vector group [plmn, tac, L]. Correspondingly, user equipment 100 can set the timeout pattern of inactivity timer T2 to be the vector group [plmn, tac, L+Hy]. Where Hy is a time lag parameter, and the timeout duration corresponding to T2 can be L+Hy.

[0115] As an example, the timeout period of T1 can be a reasonably set universal timeout period, such as 10s, 20s, etc. The corresponding timeout period of T2 can be set to 12s, 23s, etc., without limitation.

[0116] In other embodiments, the user equipment 100 may also set corresponding timeout periods for different operators and different signal tracking areas of each operator, which may be used as the timeout periods of T2 set under corresponding conditions, and may use parameter tables or other methods to record and maintain the above-mentioned timeout periods, which are not limited here.

[0117] It is understood that the user equipment 100 can execute this step 510 synchronously with the base station 200 executing the above-mentioned step 509. That is, after the call service ends, the user equipment 100 and the base station 200 can synchronously start the inactivity timer T2 and the inactivity timer T1, respectively. In this way, when the user equipment 100 and the base station 200 synchronously start the inactivity timer, it can ensure that when the base station 200 sends a connection release message, the user equipment 100 can promptly detect whether it can successfully receive the connection release message. For details, please refer to the relevant description of steps 515 to 522 below, and will not be repeated here.

[0118] 511: The base station 200 detects that the inactivity timer T1 has expired.

[0119] For example, if the base station 200 detects that the counted number exceeds a preset value, it may be determined that the inactivity timer T1 has timed out.

[0120] 512: The base station 200 sends a connection release instruction to the user equipment 100 and notifies the core network 300 that the UE has been released.

[0121] It is understood that, upon detecting that the inactivity timer T1 has expired, the base station 200 may send a connection release instruction to the user equipment 100 to terminate the connection state of the user equipment 100 and enable the user equipment 100 to enter a more energy-efficient idle state. At the same time, the base station 200 may notify the core network 300 that the user equipment 100 is in the idle state, so that the core network 300 can query the state of the user equipment 100 when receiving a service request such as an incoming call. For example, after receiving the notification, the core network 300 may record relevant information indicating that the user equipment 100 has entered the idle state, or change a relevant flag or label. Subsequently, if the core network 300 receives an incoming call request, it may query that the user equipment 100 is in the idle state, and then generate a paging message to be sent to the user equipment 100 and send it through the base station 200.

[0122] 513: The base station 200 records that the user equipment is in the idle state.

[0123] For example, after the base station 200 sends a connection release instruction to the user equipment 100, it can record that the user equipment 100 is in the idle state. This is because the connection release instruction is used to instruct the user equipment 100 to disconnect and enter the idle state. After the base station 200 sends the connection release instruction, it is usually assumed that the user equipment 100 can receive the connection release instruction, and thus the user equipment 100 is recorded as being in the idle state by default.

[0124] However, the user equipment 100 may not receive the connection release instruction due to an abnormality. The details can be described in the following step 514, which will not be repeated here.

[0125] 514: The user equipment 100 does not receive a connection release instruction and remains in the connected state.

[0126] For example, the user equipment 100 may fail to receive the connection release instruction, or miss the connection release instruction, due to abnormal reasons such as DCI missed detection / high bit error rate.

[0127] It can be understood that the connected state detected by the user equipment 100 at this time is inconsistent with the idle state of the user equipment 100 recorded by the base station 200 in the above step 513.

[0128] 515: The user equipment 100 determines whether T2 has timed out.

[0129] If the determination result is yes, it indicates that the user equipment 100 may have missed receiving the connection release instruction due to some reasons (such as the above-mentioned DCI missed detection / high bit error rate, etc.). At this time, the user equipment 100 may continue to perform the following step 516 to monitor the paging opportunity (PO).

[0130] If the determination result is no, the user equipment 100 may return to continue executing step 515 and continue detecting the inactivity timer T2.

[0131] For example, based on the inactivity timer T2 started in step 510, the user equipment 100 can determine whether it is possible that it has missed receiving a connection release instruction, such as the RRC release, sent by the base station 200 by determining whether T2 has timed out. It is understood that when the user equipment 100 and the base station 200 start the inactivity timer synchronously, given that the timeout duration of T2 is greater than the timeout duration of T1 (refer to the timeout duration relationship described in step 510), the user equipment 100 can determine that it is possible that it has missed receiving a connection release instruction if the base station 200 determines that T2 has also timed out after determining that T1 has timed out and sent a connection release message, and then executes step 516 to receive a paging message using the idle state paging mechanism.

[0132] In this way, the user equipment 100 can avoid misjudgment and can promptly detect whether it has missed receiving the message when the base station 200 sends the connection release message. The user equipment can also receive the paging message more promptly.

[0133] It can be understood that if T2 does not time out, it indicates that the timeout period of T2 has not been reached. At this time, the user equipment 100 may have received a service message or a paging message and closed T2.

[0134] 516: The user equipment 100 monitors the paging occasion based on the mechanism of receiving paging messages in the idle state.

[0135] For example, after switching to an idle state mode for receiving paging messages, the user equipment 100 can calculate a paging message reception timing based on an idle state paging algorithm to receive the paging message. If the user equipment 100 is in a sleep state during a CDRX cycle, it must also wake up promptly to attempt to parse the paging message. The specific process by which the user equipment 100 monitors paging opportunities and wakes up to receive data using the idle state paging mechanism will be described in detail below in conjunction with the corresponding figures and is not further detailed here.

[0136] 517: The core network 300 receives the incoming call request.

[0137] For details, please refer to the relevant description in the above step 503, which will not be repeated here.

[0138] 518: The core network 300 finds that the user equipment is in an idle state.

[0139] For example, the core network 300 can query and determine that the user equipment 100 is in the idle state based on the notification record sent by the base station 200 in step 512. In other embodiments, the core network 300 can also query the base station 200 for the current state of the user equipment 100. The base station 200 can then feedback to the core network 300 the relevant information that the user equipment 100 is in the idle state recorded in step 513, so that the core network 300 can query and determine that the user equipment 100 is in the idle state.

[0140] 519: The core network 300 sends a paging message to the user equipment 100 through the base station 200 based on the paging occasion corresponding to the idle state.

[0141] Exemplarily, the core network 300 determines that the user equipment 100 is in the idle state, and may send the generated paging message to the base station 200 , and then the base station 200 may send the paging message to the user equipment 100 according to the paging occasion corresponding to the idle state.

[0142] 520: The user equipment 100 receives and parses the paging message during the monitored paging occasion.

[0143] For example, the user equipment 100 may calculate a corresponding monitored paging occasion based on the calculated paging frame (PF), and further, the user equipment 100 may control the reception of a paging message at the calculated paging occasion (PO).

[0144] Specifically, the paging occasion (PO) can be calculated based on the paging frame (PF) using the following formulas (1) and (2): PF: (SNF+PF_offset) mod T = (T div N) * (UE_ID mod N) (1) PO: i_s = floor (UE_ID / N) mod Ns (2)

[0145] Among them, SFN (variable) represents the system frame number; T (constant) represents the discontinuous reception (DRX) function period of the user equipment in the idle state, that is, the DRX cycle; N (variable) represents the number of PFs within the DRX cycle T, which can also be called PF density; UE_ID (variable) represents the international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) or temporary mobile station identifier (TMSI), such as IMSI mod 1024; Ns (variable) represents the number of POs in a PF.

[0146] It is understood that for the above-mentioned discontinuous reception period T, if the system sets one or more discontinuous reception periods, T can be the minimum period value therein. If there is no configuration in the system, T can be a default value preset by the system. It is understood that in the embodiment of the present application, the user equipment 100 can receive T system frames within the above-mentioned period T. The system frame can be used to carry the paging frame (PF) received from the base station 200.

[0147] Regarding the Paging Occasion (PO), 3GPP protocol 36.304 defines PO as follows:

[0148] When Ns=1, there can be only one pager position in a paging frame (only one subframe carries a paging message), and the subframe number is 9. That is, the paging opportunity (PO) is the 9th frame in the corresponding paging frame (PF).

[0149] When Ns=2, there can be two paging positions (two subframes carrying paging messages) in a paging frame, and the subframe numbers are 4 and 9. That is, the paging occasions (PO) are the 4th and 9th frames in the corresponding paging frame (PF).

[0150] When Ns=4, there can be four paging positions (four subframes carrying paging messages) in a paging frame, and the subframes are numbered 0, 4, 5, and 9. That is, the paging occasions (PO) are the 0th, 4th, 5th, and 9th frames in the corresponding paging frame (PF).

[0151] In formula (1), (UE_ID mod N) can represent the modulus of N applied to the UE_ID. This means that UEs corresponding to different UE_IDs are evenly distributed among N PFs, and the N PFs are also evenly distributed within T. That is, base station 200 can control the uniform transmission of paging frames (PFs) to each user equipment.

[0152] The (T div N) in formula (1) above means dividing the T system frames received within period T into N equal parts, calculating and returning the number of frames contained in each part. Its actual meaning is to evenly distribute the N paging frames PF into the T system frames.

[0153] In formula (1), (SNF + PF_offset) mod T may also be (SNF mod T) in other embodiments, indicating that SNF (or SNF + PF) is modulo T. This effectively means evenly distributing system frames with different SNF numbers into T groups, or evenly distributing UEs with different UE_IDs across N PFs.

[0154] The PO calculated corresponding to the above formula (2) can represent the position code of the PO of the user equipment 100 (ie, the terminal) on the received paging frame PF.

[0155] Furthermore, the process of the user equipment 100 receiving the paging message at the paging opportunity (PO) calculated above may be, for example: the user equipment 100 may determine the downlink control channel (PDCCH) that matches the pager position that needs to be monitored based on the pager position indicated by the paging opportunity (PO) calculated above. When the user equipment 100 recognizes that there is a temporary identifier (paging radio network temporary identifier, P-RNTI) for marking the paging message in the channel, it obtains the paging message from the corresponding PDSCH based on the RB allocation and modulation coding format indicated by the monitored PDCCH. It can be understood that the base station 200 or the network side can usually use the PDSCH indicated by the PDCCH to carry the paging message. Furthermore, the user equipment 100 can determine whether the paging message is for itself based on the UE_ID carried in the obtained paging message.

[0156] It can be understood that the above-mentioned temporary identifier (radio network temporary identifier, RNTI) is a temporary identifier used for a certain purpose in NR / LTE, such as the temporary identifier P-RNTI for identifying the paging message, the SI-RNTI for identifying the system information broadcast, and the RA-RNTI for identifying the random access response. In addition, the P-RNTI can also be used to identify the system information update notification, etc., which is not limited here.

[0157] After the above calculation, the user equipment 100 can receive a paging message sent by the base station 200 via the paging opportunity corresponding to the idle state in the paging frame (PF) at the corresponding paging opportunity (PO) determined by the calculation. The user equipment 100 can then parse the received paging message and perform the following step 521 to respond to the paging and establish a connection with the base station 200 and the core network 300.

[0158] It is understood that the transmission process and processing methods of paging messages and normal system messages are the same. Both can notify the UE via the PDCCH to obtain user data on the corresponding PDSCH. The difference between the two is that the PDSCH for processing paging messages carries upper-layer signaling, such as signaling related to incoming calls transmitted by the core network 300 through the base station 200, while the PDSCH for processing normal system messages generally carries user data to be transmitted. This will not be discussed in detail here.

[0159] 521: The user equipment 100 responds to the paging and triggers the establishment of an RRC connection with the base station 200 and the core network 300.

[0160] For example, in response to the parsed paging message sent to the user equipment 100, if the user equipment 100 is actually in a connected state at this time, the user equipment 100 needs to locally release the established RRC connection and re-initiate the RRC establishment process to the base station 200, and then receive the signaling or data sent by the base station 200 based on the newly established RRC connection. If the user equipment 100 has actually entered the idle state for some reason, then in response to the paging message, the user equipment 100 can wake up from the idle state and re-establish the RRC connection with the base station 200 and the core network 300. Furthermore, the user equipment 100 can receive the signaling or data sent by the base station 200 based on the re-established RRC connection.

[0161] 522: The core network 300 confirms that the paging is successful.

[0162] Exemplarily, the core network 300 successfully sends a paging message to the user equipment 100 through the base station 200, and is able to transmit signaling or data corresponding to the incoming call request to the user equipment 100 through the RRC connection. At this time, the core network 300 can determine that the paging is successful.

[0163] In other embodiments, when the user equipment 100 performs step 515 and confirms that T2 has not timed out, it has received a service message or a paging message. In this case, the user equipment 100 may turn off T2. This is not limited here.

[0164] Based on the implementation process described in steps 501 to 522 of the flow shown in FIG. 5 above, the communication method provided by the present application can, if the user equipment 100 misses a connection release message sent by the network for some reason, promptly adjust to the idle state based on the judgment result of whether the set inactivity timer T2 has timed out to receive a paging message sent by the network at the paging opportunity corresponding to the idle state, thereby not missing a paging message sent by the network based on a service request such as an incoming call. In this way, the user equipment 100 can avoid the problem of missing incoming calls.

[0165] The specific implementation process of the user equipment 100 using the idle state paging mechanism to monitor the paging occasion involved in the above step 516 will be described in detail below with reference to FIG. 6 a , FIG. 6 b and FIG. 7 .

[0166] As you can understand, discontinuous reception (DRX) is a feature introduced by user equipment (UE) to save power, controlling the UE to stop monitoring the PDCCH channel for a period of time. This feature is typically configured by the RRC layer (see the system architecture shown in Figure 8 below). When the UE is in connected state, if the RRC layer configures the DRX function for the MAC layer (see the system architecture shown in Figure 8 below), the UE can intermittently monitor the PDCCH at the physical layer; otherwise, the UE must continuously monitor the PDCCH.

[0167] Continuous mode discontinuous reception (CDRX) refers to the DRX function enabled by the UE in connected state. The DRX function in idle state is commonly known as paging. CDRX allows the UE to periodically enter sleep mode and not monitor PDCCH subframes. When monitoring is required, the UE can wake up from sleep mode, saving power.

[0168] Referring to Figure 6a, in a typical DRX cycle, the period marked "on Duration" is the time when the UE monitors the downlink PDCCH subframe. During this period, the UE is in the awake state, so this period can be called the "awake period". Continuing to refer to Figure 6a, the period marked "Opportunity for DRX" is the DRX sleep time, that is, the period when the UE enters the sleep state and does not monitor the PDCCH subframe in order to save power. Referring to Figure 6, it can be understood that the longer the DRX sleep time, the lower the power consumption of the UE. However, during the DRX sleep period, if the UE needs to transmit business, it needs to wake up from the sleep state first, so the corresponding latency will also be higher.

[0169] FIG6 b shows a schematic diagram of a typical discontinuous reception (DRX) process according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0170] As shown in Figure 6b, the On Duration Timer parameter indicates the duration of online monitoring of a UE after waking up from sleep within a DRX cycle. This parameter is based on the number of PDCCH subframes. For example, psf6 indicates that the UE will be online for six PDCCH subframes. When the UE meets the DRX cycle conditions, the On Duration Timer starts, and the UE enters the wake-up period.

[0171] The DRX-Inactivity Timer parameter indicates how long the UE needs to continue monitoring (i.e., how many PDCCH subframes to monitor) after successfully decoding a downlink PDCCH subframe before entering the sleep state. Similarly, with the number of PDCCH subframes as the basic unit, for example, psf80 means that the UE needs to continue monitoring 80 downlink PDCCH subframes before entering the sleep state. When a new uplink or downlink transmission is indicated in the PDCCH subframe, for example, after the UE successfully blindly detects a downlink PDCCH, the timer can be started, and the timer can be stopped when the UE receives a Go-To-Sleep CE (i.e., DRX Command MAC CE) instruction.

[0172] When the DRX-Inactivity Timer times out, if short DRX is configured, short DRX is used and the DRX-Short Cycle Timer is triggered.

[0173] On the contrary, if the DRX-InactivityTimer has not timed out, long-cycle discontinuous reception (long DRX) is used.

[0174] Specifically, referring to FIG6b , a typical discontinuous reception (DRX) process is as follows:

[0175] The UE successfully decodes a PDCCH subframe at time (0, 0). At this time, the UE may correspondingly start a DRX-Inactivity Timer, and the timeout duration of the timer is, for example, the length of time corresponding to 3 subframes;

[0176] When the DRX-Inactivity Timer times out, the UE can start the DRX-Short Cycle Timer. This parameter indicates how many subframes in a short cycle it takes for the UE to enter a long cycle after not receiving the PDCCH.

[0177] When the timer reaches (0,5), the above-mentioned timing condition for entering the short cycle is met, and the UE can be awakened and enter the wake-up period (on duration) corresponding to the short cycle, that is, the short cycle duration (short DRX on-time). The wake-up period can last for a time length corresponding to 2 subframes, for example;

[0178] When the timing result of the timer reaches time (1,0) and time (1,5), the UE can enter the above duration corresponding to the short cycle multiple times.

[0179] When the timer reaches the time (1,9), the timer result of the DRX short cycle timer and the subframe length corresponding to the short DRX cycle can be calculated to see if they have reached a preset value, for example, 1DRX-Short Cycle Timer*short DRX Cycle=15 (or other preset number). At this point, if the UE does not successfully decode the PDCCH subframe within the time length corresponding to the above 15 subframes, the UE can prepare to enter long DRX;

[0180] If the timing result at time (2,0) meets the conditions for entering a long cycle, the UE enters a long cycle and can continue to record the long cycle wake-up period (long DRX on-time) and long cycle discontinuous reception (long DRX). Then, the long cycle can be ended at time (2,9).

[0181] If the UE receives a PDCCH subframe at time (3,0), the DRX-Inactivity Timer may be disabled.

[0182] Afterwards, when the timing condition for entering the short cycle is met again, for example, at time (3, 5) shown in FIG6 b , the discontinuous reception of the short cycle may be triggered to start again.

[0183] After the user equipment 100 enters the connected state, it only needs to select an opportunity to listen to the paging message once within the modification period (MP) or the default paging period (DPC) according to its CDRX status. Referring to Figure 7, based on the analysis of the time when the user equipment 100 receives the paging message in the connected state and the idle state, it can be seen that the time when the user equipment 100 receives the paging message in the connected state is different from the time when the user equipment 100 receives the paging message based on discontinuous reception (DRX) in the idle state. Referring to Figure 7, the time intervals between the two parsed paging messages in the connected state are 16.689 / 1.28 / 1.725 / 1.56 / 1.71 times the DRX cycle, respectively, which are not integer multiples of the DRX cycle. In other words, in order to adapt to the discontinuous mechanism (CDRX) in the connected mode, the position of the user equipment (UE) in the connected state corresponding to the parsing of the paging message (i.e., the paging opportunity) is dynamically adjusted.

[0184] Therefore, if the user equipment 100 is actually in a connected state, and the network side (for example, the base station 200) records that the user equipment is in an idle state, the paging time when the network side sends the paging message and the paging time monitored by the user equipment to receive the paging message are likely to not match, and the user equipment will eventually miss the paging message with a high probability. After the user equipment 100 implements the above-mentioned communication method provided by the present application, the user equipment can switch to the idle state in time based on the timing result of the inactivity timer T2 started by itself in the connected state, and monitor the corresponding paging time, thereby avoiding the above-mentioned situation of missing the paging message. In this way, the user equipment 100 can avoid problems such as missing calls, which is also conducive to improving the user experience of the user terminal.

[0185] As an example, FIG8 shows a schematic diagram of a communication system architecture applied to a user equipment according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0186] It should be understood that the layered architecture currently used in the communication system 800 for user equipment can divide the software into several layers, wherein the layers communicate with each other through software interfaces. These layers may include, for example, an application layer, an application framework layer, an Android TM Runtime (Android TM runtime) and system library, hardware abstraction layer, kernel layer, etc. The following is only described by taking the layer where the functional modules involved in the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application are located as an example.

[0187] In Fig. 8, from top to bottom, there are respectively an application layer 801, an application framework layer 802, a kernel layer 803, and hardware 804. The application layer 801 may include a series of application packages.

[0188] Continuing with FIG8 , specifically in the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application, the application layer 801 may include a phone application 801A, a settings application 801B, a compatible function activation application 801C, etc. The phone application 801A allows users to initiate call service operations, and the compatible function activation application 801C provides an entry point for activating compatible functions.

[0189] 8 , the application framework layer 802 provides an application programming interface (API) and a programming framework for the applications in the application layer. In some implementations, these programming interfaces and programming frameworks can be described as functions.

[0190] For example, the application framework layer 802 may include telephone / IMS services 802A, CS Phone 802B, PS Phone 802C, and the like. Telephone / IMS services 802A is the IP multimedia subsystem within the communication system of user device 100, used to establish media sessions and implement voice services within packet-switched networks, such as switching between 4G and 5G networks. The 4G voice service supported by IMS is called VoLTE, and the 5G voice service supported by IMS is called VoNR. After the media session is established, i.e., during a call, IMS services 802A invoke the SIP module in the modem based on the network standard of user device 100 to issue various SIP request messages, such as INVITE messages, ACK messages, and HTTP 800OK messages.

[0191] CS Phone 802B is used for calls over the circuit switched (CS) network. When IMS service 802A is unavailable (because the phone is stuck on 2G / 3G or IMS registration is unsuccessful), a CS call can be used to make calls. CS Phone 802B can also be used to perform domain redialing (commonly known as CS redial) when an IMS call fails.

[0192] PS Phone 802C is used for calls over the packet switched (PS) network. When IMS service 802A is available, IMS calls (VoLTE, VonR) can be made over the PS domain.

[0193] It should be understood that the above description is merely an example listed to better understand the specific implementation of the communication method provided in this application, and does not constitute a restrictive description of the embodiments of this application.

[0194] Furthermore, it is understandable that the kernel layer 803 in the Android system is a layer between the hardware 804 and the software.

[0195] Continuing with FIG8 , specifically in the technical solution provided in the embodiments of the present application, the kernel layer 803 may include a transmission control protocol / internet protocol stack (TCP / IP protocol stack). The TCP / IP protocol stack refers to a protocol suite that enables information transmission across multiple networks. Specifically, in practical applications, the TCP / IP protocol stack of the kernel layer 803 primarily serves Internet access services and also provides services for video-related data processing during phone calls.

[0196] Continuing with Figure 8 , the hardware 804 of the communication system 800 may include a modem 804A, an antenna 804B, and the like. Antenna 804B is used to receive content sent by the network, such as the RRC connection configuration message, SIP request message, and SRS that require round-robin transmission, as described in the aforementioned embodiments. For example, data packets encrypted by PDCP are sequentially transmitted through the RLC layer, MAC layer, and PHY layer to antenna 804B, and ultimately transmitted to the network via antenna 804B. Accordingly, data packets received by antenna 804B from the network are sequentially transmitted through the PHY layer, MAC layer, and RLC layer to the PDCP layer for processing.

[0197] It can be understood that when a user activates a call service based on the phone application 801A of the user device 100, the above-mentioned phone / IMS service 802A can create a call, conduct a VOLTE or VONR call through the PS domain based on the PS Phone 802C, and call the IMS module in the Modem 804A to generate signaling in the call service. In this embodiment of the present application, the communication system 800 can start the corresponding inactivity detection timer T2 set on the user device 100 after detecting that there is no service at the PDCP layer.

[0198] Furthermore, it should be noted that the processing of various SIP signaling messages involved in the embodiments of the present application can be implemented by the SIP module in Modem 804A. The processing of various RRC messages involved in the embodiments of the present application, such as RRC release / invite messages, can also be implemented by the RRC module in Modem 804A.

[0199] It is understandable that the layers in the communication system software structure shown in FIG8 and the components included in each layer do not constitute a specific limitation on the user equipment 100. In other embodiments of the present application, the communication system of the user equipment 100 may include more or fewer layers than shown in FIG8, and each layer may also include more or fewer components than shown in FIG8, and this application does not limit this.

[0200] In an embodiment of the present application, a user equipment (UE) monitors the PDCCH during discontinuous reception (DRX) and, after receiving a paging message sent to itself, can establish an RRC connection with the base station 200 in response to the paging message. For example, the user equipment 100 can trigger a RACH process in response to the received paging message. The RACH process is used to complete uplink time synchronization and is typically triggered by a PDCCH order, the MAC layer, or the RRC layer. Furthermore, the user equipment 100 can enter a connected state to receive signaling (such as the aforementioned SIP signaling) or data sent by the network-side core network 300 through the base station 200.

[0201] FIG9 shows a schematic structural diagram of a user equipment 100 according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0202] As shown in Figure 9, the user device 100 may include a processor 110, an external memory interface 120, an internal memory 121, a universal serial bus (USB) interface 130, a charging management module 140, a power management module 141, a battery 142, an antenna 1, an antenna 2, a mobile communication module 150, a wireless communication module 160, an audio module 170, a speaker 170A, a receiver 170B, a microphone 170C, an earphone interface 170D, a sensor module 180, a button 190, a motor 191, an indicator 192, a camera 193, a display 194, and a subscriber identification module (SIM) card interface 195, etc. The sensor module 180 may include a pressure sensor 180A, a gyroscope sensor 180B, an air pressure sensor 180C, a magnetic sensor 180D, an acceleration sensor 180E, a distance sensor 180F, a proximity light sensor 180G, a fingerprint sensor 180H, a temperature sensor 180J, a touch sensor 180K, an ambient light sensor 180L, etc.

[0203] It should be understood that the structure illustrated in the embodiments of the present invention does not constitute a specific limitation on the user equipment 100. In other embodiments of the present application, the user equipment 100 may include more or fewer components than shown, or may combine or separate certain components, or arrange the components differently. The illustrated components may be implemented in hardware, software, or a combination of software and hardware.

[0204] The processor 110 may include one or more processing units. For example, the processor 110 may include an application processor (AP), a modem processor, a graphics processing unit (GPU), an image signal processor (ISP), a controller, a video codec, a digital signal processor (DSP), a baseband processor, and / or a neural-network processing unit (NPU). The different processing units may be independent devices or integrated into one or more processors. The controller may generate operation control signals based on instruction opcodes and timing signals to control instruction fetching and execution.

[0205] Processor 110 may also include a memory for storing instructions and data. In some embodiments, the memory in processor 110 is a cache memory. This memory can store instructions or data that have just been used or are being recycled by processor 110. If processor 110 needs to use the same instruction or data again, it can directly access the memory. This avoids duplicate accesses, reduces processor 110 latency, and thus improves system efficiency.

[0206] The wireless communication function of the user equipment 100 can be implemented through the antenna 1, the antenna 2, the mobile communication module 150, the wireless communication module 160, the modem processor and the baseband processor.

[0207] Antenna 1 and Antenna 2 are used to transmit and receive electromagnetic wave signals. Each antenna in user equipment 100 can be used to cover a single or multiple communication frequency bands. Different antennas can also be reused to improve antenna utilization. For example, antenna 1 can be reused as a diversity antenna for a wireless local area network. In other embodiments, the antennas can be used in conjunction with a tuning switch.

[0208] The mobile communication module 150 can provide solutions for wireless communications including 2G / 3G / 4G / 5G applied to the user equipment 100. The mobile communication module 150 may include at least one filter, a switch, a power amplifier, a low noise amplifier (LNA), etc. The mobile communication module 150 can receive electromagnetic waves from the antenna 1, and filter, amplify, and process the received electromagnetic waves, and transmit them to the modulation and demodulation processor for demodulation. The mobile communication module 150 can also amplify the signal modulated by the modulation and demodulation processor, and convert it into electromagnetic waves for radiation through the antenna 1. In some embodiments, at least some of the functional modules of the mobile communication module 150 can be set in the processor 110. In some embodiments, at least some of the functional modules of the mobile communication module 150 can be set in the same device as at least some of the modules of the processor 110.

[0209] The modem processor may include a modulator and a demodulator. The modulator is used to modulate the low-frequency baseband signal to be transmitted into a medium-high frequency signal. The demodulator is used to demodulate the received electromagnetic wave signal into a low-frequency baseband signal. The demodulator then transmits the demodulated low-frequency baseband signal to the baseband processor for processing. After being processed by the baseband processor, the low-frequency baseband signal is passed to the application processor. The application processor outputs a sound signal through an audio device (not limited to the speaker 170A, the receiver 170B, etc.) or displays an image or video through the display screen 194. In some embodiments, the modem processor may be an independent device. In other embodiments, the modem processor may be independent of the processor 110 and be set in the same device as the mobile communication module 150 or other functional modules.

[0210] The wireless communication module 160 can provide wireless communication solutions including wireless local area networks (WLAN) (such as wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) networks), Bluetooth (BT), global navigation satellite system (GNSS), frequency modulation (FM), near field communication (NFC), infrared (IR), etc., applied to the user device 100. The wireless communication module 160 can be one or more devices integrating at least one communication processing module. The wireless communication module 160 receives electromagnetic waves via the antenna 2, frequency modulates and filters the electromagnetic wave signals, and sends the processed signals to the processor 110. The wireless communication module 160 can also receive the signal to be sent from the processor 110, frequency modulate it, amplify it, and convert it into electromagnetic waves for radiation through the antenna 2.

[0211] In some embodiments, antenna 1 of user equipment 100 is coupled to mobile communication module 150, and antenna 2 is coupled to wireless communication module 160, so that user equipment 100 can communicate with a network and other devices via wireless communication technologies. The above-mentioned wireless communication technologies may include global system for mobile communications (GSM), general packet radio service (GPRS), code division multiple access (CDMA), wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA), time-division code division multiple access (TD-SCDMA), long term evolution (LTE), BT, GNSS, WLAN, NFC, FM, and / or IR technology. The above-mentioned GNSS may include the global positioning system (GPS), the global navigation satellite system (GLONASS), the Beidou navigation satellite system (BDS), the quasi-zenith satellite system (QZSS) and / or the satellite based augmentation system (SBAS).

[0212] User device 100 implements display functionality through a GPU, display screen 194, and an application processor. The GPU is a microprocessor for image processing that connects display screen 194 and the application processor. The GPU is used to perform mathematical and geometric calculations for graphics rendering.

[0213] The external memory interface 120 can be used to connect an external memory card, such as a Micro SD card, to expand the storage capacity of the user device 100. The external memory card communicates with the processor 110 via the external memory interface 120 to implement data storage functions. For example, files such as music and videos can be stored on the external memory card.

[0214] The internal memory 121 can be used to store computer executable program code, which includes instructions. The internal memory 121 may include a program storage area and a data storage area. Among them, the program storage area can store an operating system, an application required for at least one function (such as a sound playback function, an image playback function, etc.), etc. The data storage area can store data created during the use of the user device 100 (such as audio data, a phone book, etc.), etc. In addition, the internal memory 121 may include a high-speed random access memory, and may also include a non-volatile memory, such as at least one disk storage device, a flash memory device, a universal flash storage (UFS), etc. The processor 110 executes various functional applications and data processing of the user device 100 by running instructions stored in the internal memory 121 and / or instructions stored in a memory provided in the processor.

[0215] The SIM card interface 195 is used to connect a SIM card. The SIM card can be connected to and disconnected from the user device 100 by inserting or removing it from the SIM card interface 195. The user device 100 can support one or N SIM card interfaces, where N is a positive integer greater than one. The SIM card interface 195 can support Nano SIM cards, Micro SIM cards, SIM cards, and the like. Multiple cards can be inserted into the same SIM card interface 195 at the same time. The types of these multiple cards can be the same or different. The SIM card interface 195 is also compatible with different types of SIM cards. The SIM card interface 195 is also compatible with external memory cards. The user device 100 interacts with the network through the SIM card to implement functions such as calls and data communications. In some embodiments, the user device 100 uses an eSIM, i.e., an embedded SIM card. The eSIM card can be embedded in the user device 100 and cannot be separated from the user device 100.

[0216] The embodiments of the present application also provide a computer program product for implementing the communication methods provided in the above embodiments.

[0217] The various embodiments of the mechanisms disclosed in this application can be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or a combination of these implementation methods. The embodiments of the present application can be implemented as computer program modules or module codes executed on a programmable system, which includes at least one processor, a storage system (including volatile and non-volatile memory and / or storage elements), at least one input device, and at least one output device.

[0218] A computer program module or module code can be applied to input instructions to perform the functions described herein and generate output information. The output information can be applied to one or more output devices in a known manner. For the purposes of this application, a processing system includes any system having a processor such as, for example, a digital signal processor (DSP), a microcontroller, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or a microprocessor.

[0219] Module code can be implemented with high-level modular language or object-oriented programming language to communicate with the processing system. When necessary, module code can also be implemented with assembly language or machine language. In fact, the mechanism described in this application is not limited to the scope of any specific programming language. In either case, the language can be a compiled language or an interpreted language.

[0220] In some cases, the disclosed embodiments may be implemented in hardware, firmware, software, or any combination thereof. The disclosed embodiments may also be implemented as instructions carried or stored on one or more temporary or non-temporary machine-readable (e.g., computer-readable) storage media, which may be read and executed by one or more processors. For example, instructions may be distributed over a network or through other computer-readable media. Therefore, a machine-readable medium may include any mechanism for storing or transmitting information in a machine (e.g., computer) readable form, including but not limited to a floppy disk, an optical disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a magnetic card or an optical card, a flash memory, or a tangible machine-readable memory for transmitting information (e.g., a carrier wave, an infrared signal, a digital signal, etc.) using the Internet in an electrical, optical, acoustic, or other form of propagation signal. Accordingly, machine-readable media includes any type of machine-readable media suitable for storing or transmitting electronic instructions or information in a form readable by a machine (eg, a computer).

[0221] References in the specification to "one embodiment" or "an embodiment" mean that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one exemplary implementation or technique disclosed according to the embodiment of the present application. The appearances of the phrase "in one embodiment" in various places in the specification do not necessarily all refer to the same embodiment.

[0222] The disclosure of the embodiments of the present application also relates to an operating device for executing the text. The device can be constructed specifically for the required purpose or it can include a general-purpose computer that is selectively activated or reconfigured by a computer program stored in the computer. Such a computer program can be stored in a computer-readable medium, such as, but not limited to, any type of disk, including a floppy disk, an optical disk, a CD-ROM, a magneto-optical disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), an EPROM, an EEPROM, a magnetic or optical card, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) or any type of medium suitable for storing electronic instructions, and each can be coupled to a computer system bus. In addition, the computer mentioned in the specification can include a single processor or can be an architecture involving multiple processors for increased computing power.

[0223] In addition, the language used in this specification has been primarily selected for readability and instructional purposes and may not be selected to describe or limit the disclosed subject matter. Therefore, the present disclosure of embodiments is intended to illustrate, not to limit, the scope of the concepts discussed herein.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that: The method comprises: The user equipment is in a communication connection state and no data communication service is detected; The user equipment starts a first timer; The user equipment determines that the timing duration of the first timer is greater than the first duration, and enters an idle state, wherein: A first time difference between the first duration and a second duration of a second timer of a network device to which the user equipment is connected is greater than a time difference threshold, wherein the network device sends a connection release message to the user equipment when the timing duration of the second timer is greater than the second duration.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The time when the user equipment starts the first timer is the same as the time when the network equipment starts the second timer.

3. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that The user equipment determines that the timing duration of the first timer is greater than the first duration, and enters an idle state, including: The user equipment detects that the timing duration of the first timer is greater than the first duration, and determines that the connection release message is not received; The user equipment monitors the paging occasion based on the first mechanism for receiving the paging message in the idle state, wherein the paging message is a paging message sent by the network device to the user equipment at the corresponding paging occasion based on the first mechanism, and the paging message is used to wake up the user equipment from the idle state to receive the data communication service data sent by the network device.

4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that The communication connection state is a state in which the user equipment establishes and maintains a radio resource control protocol (RRC) connection with the network device, and, The connection release message is a message used to instruct the user equipment to disconnect the RRC connection between the user equipment and the network equipment.

5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that The method further comprises: The user equipment is in a communication connection state and no data communication service is detected; The user equipment receives the connection release message and determines that the timing duration of the first timer is less than the first duration; In response to the connection release message, the user equipment disconnects the RRC connection with the network device and turns off the first timer.

6. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that The failure to detect the data communication service comprises: The user equipment detects that there is no data transmission in the data channel between the user equipment and the connected network equipment, and determines that no data communication service is detected.

7. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The first duration of the first timer is determined based on the second duration of the second timer, and the manner in which the user equipment obtains the second duration of the second timer includes: a first moment when the user equipment determines that no data communication service is detected; The user equipment determines a second time point at which the connection release message is received; The user equipment calculates the second duration based on a second time difference between the first moment and the second moment.

8. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that The time difference threshold is determined based on the communication delay between the user equipment and the network equipment, and, The first duration is equal to the sum of the second duration and the time difference threshold.

9. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that The network device includes a base station.

10. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that The user equipment includes an electronic device supporting the LTE network standard and / or an electronic device supporting the NR network standard.

11. An electronic device, characterized in that: include: one or more processors; One or more memories; the one or more memories store one or more programs, and when the one or more programs are executed by the one or more processors, the electronic device executes the communication method according to any one of claims 1 to 10.

12. A computer readable medium, characterized in that The readable medium stores instructions, which, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to execute the communication method according to any one of claims 1 to 10.

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