Cell handover method and related apparatus

Abstract

The present application relates to the technical field of communications, and provides a cell handover method and a related apparatus. In the technical solution provided in the present application, a terminal device in a terminal device group receives terminal grouping information from a network device, and on the basis of the terminal grouping information, reports a cell measurement result to the network device and / or executes a random access procedure, thereby completing a cell handover of the terminal device group. In the present application, the terminal device performs a cell handover of the terminal device group and / or executes a random access procedure on the basis of the terminal grouping information indicated by the network device, so that the cell handover of the terminal device group can be efficiently realized, thereby solving the problem of a large handover delay in a scenario with limited network resources.

Description

Cell switching method and related device

[0001] This application claims priority to the Chinese patent application filed with the China Patent Office on August 18, 2023, with application number 202311045498.9 and application name “Cell Switching Method and Related Devices”, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference into this application. Technical Field

[0002] The present application relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular to a cell switching method and related devices. Background Art

[0003] In a communication system, such as a fifth generation (5G) communication system, a user equipment (UE) often needs to perform cell switching to improve transmission performance between the UE and an access network (AN) device.

[0004] The commonly used cell switching methods are as follows: the UE's serving network device sends measurement configuration information to the UE; the UE measures the neighboring cell and reports the measurement results to the serving network device; after receiving the measurement results, the serving network device determines that the UE's cell should be switched to the neighboring cell; the serving network device sends a switching request to the neighboring cell network device, telling the neighboring cell network device that the UE needs to switch to the neighboring cell; the neighboring cell network device determines whether the UE is allowed to switch to the neighboring cell, and if so, sends a switching response information to the serving network device; the serving network device sends a switching command to the UE, instructing the UE to switch to the neighboring cell; the UE initiates a random access process, accesses the neighboring cell, establishes a connection with the neighboring cell network device, and completes uplink and downlink synchronization, etc.

[0005] However, the above method has a large resource requirement, and in a resource-constrained scenario, there will be a problem of long switching delay due to resource shortage.

[0006] Summary of the Invention

[0007] The present application provides a method, an apparatus, and a system that can implement cell switching of a UE, thereby improving the transmission performance between the UE and an AN device.

[0008] In a first aspect, the present application provides a cell handover method, which is applied to a terminal device. The method includes: receiving terminal grouping information from a network device; reporting cell measurement results based on the terminal grouping information; and / or performing a random access procedure based on the terminal grouping information.

[0009] In this implementation, the terminal grouping information may be understood as information indicating relevant content of a terminal device group. For example, the terminal grouping information may indicate at least one of the following information: which terminal device group the terminal device group is, which terminal devices are included in the terminal device group, how many terminal devices are included, which terminal devices in the terminal device group can perform cell measurement, or which terminal devices can perform a random access procedure.

[0010] For example, the terminal grouping information includes at least one of the following information: an identifier of a terminal device group, an identifier of a terminal device in the terminal device group, the number of terminal devices in the terminal device group, or an identifier of a first terminal device in the terminal device group. It is understood that the identifier of the first terminal device may be an identifier of the first terminal device in the terminal device group, or may reuse an identifier of the first terminal device in other scenarios.

[0011] In this method, the first terminal device in the terminal device group can be understood as a special terminal device. The first terminal device can perform one or more operations in the cell switching process on behalf of other terminal devices in the terminal device group, so that other terminal devices do not need to perform these operations in the cell switching process and can still achieve the expected effects of performing these operations, thereby saving resource overhead and avoiding resource squeeze.

[0012] In some implementations, the network device may divide terminal devices having the same movement pattern into a terminal device group.

[0013] In some possible implementations, a terminal device receives measurement configuration information from a network device; wherein, reporting a cell measurement result based on the terminal grouping information may include: determining whether the terminal device is the first terminal device in the terminal device group based on the terminal grouping information; if it is determined that the terminal device is the first terminal device in the terminal device group, reporting the cell measurement result obtained by measuring based on the measurement configuration information.

[0014] In this method, the measurement configuration information may include relevant configuration parameters for cell measurement, which are used to measure the quality of cells (such as the current cell and neighboring cells). The network device determines whether a terminal device in the terminal device group needs to perform cell handover based on the cell measurement results reported by the terminal device. For example, if the signal quality of the neighboring cell is better than the signal quality of the current cell in the measurement results, the network device determines that the terminal device should be handed over from the current cell to the neighboring cell.

[0015] In some possible implementations, random access trigger information is received from a network device; wherein, performing a random access process according to the terminal grouping information may include: determining whether the terminal device is the first terminal device in the terminal device group according to the terminal grouping information; if it is determined that the terminal device is the first terminal device in the terminal device group, performing a random access process according to the random access trigger information.

[0016] In this method, before the terminal devices in the terminal device group receive the random access trigger information, only the first terminal device may send a random access request message, and other terminal devices do not need to send random access request messages.

[0017] In this method, after the first terminal device sends a random access request message, all terminal devices in the terminal device group receive the random access trigger information.

[0018] In some possible implementations, the random access triggering information is carried via a common control channel; or, the random access triggering information is carried via a common control channel scrambled by a public radio network temporary identifier (RNTI).

[0019] In some possible implementations, the public RNTI is configured by a network device to the terminal device.

[0020] In some possible implementations, performing a random access process according to the terminal grouping information includes: sending a random access request message to the network device according to random access triggering information; and receiving a random access response message from the network device.

[0021] In some possible implementations, if the terminal device is not the first terminal device in the terminal device group, a random access response message sent from the network device is received.

[0022] In some possible implementations, the random access response message includes multiple temporary cell-radio network temporary identifiers (C-RNTIs), and the multiple temporary C-RNTIs correspond one-to-one to multiple terminal devices in the terminal device group.

[0023] In some possible implementations, the temporary C-RNTI corresponding to the terminal device is determined from multiple temporary C-RNTIs according to an identifier of the terminal device in the terminal device group.

[0024] In some possible implementations, determining whether a terminal device is the first terminal device in a terminal device group based on terminal grouping information includes: when the terminal grouping information includes a first parameter, and the first parameter is used to indicate the identifier of the first terminal device in the terminal device group, determining whether the terminal device is the first terminal device in the terminal device group based on the first parameter; or, when the terminal grouping information includes a second parameter, and the second parameter is used to indicate whether the terminal device is the first terminal device in the terminal device group, determining whether the terminal device is the first terminal device in the terminal device group based on the second parameter; or, if the identifier of the terminal device in the terminal device group is the first identifier, the terminal device is the first terminal device in the terminal device group; or, if the terminal device is the first terminal device in the terminal device group, the terminal device is the first terminal device in the terminal device group.

[0025] In a second aspect, the present application provides a communication device, comprising modules or units for implementing the method in the first aspect and any possible implementation of the first aspect. It should be understood that each module or unit can implement the corresponding function by executing a computer program.

[0026] In a third aspect, the present application provides a communication device, comprising a processor, the processor being configured to execute the communication method described in any possible implementation of the first aspect of the first aspect. The communication device may be a chip or chip system used in a terminal device or a network device.

[0027] The apparatus may further include a memory for storing instructions and data. The memory is coupled to the processor, and when the processor executes the instructions stored in the memory, the methods described in the above aspects may be implemented. The apparatus may further include a communication interface for communicating between the apparatus and other devices. Exemplarily, the communication interface may be a transceiver, circuit, bus, module, or other type of communication interface.

[0028] In a fourth aspect, the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium storing a program code for execution by a communication device, wherein the program code includes instructions for implementing the method in the first aspect and any possible implementation manner of the first aspect.

[0029] In a fifth aspect, the present application provides a computer program product comprising instructions, which, when executed on a communication device, enables the communication device to implement the method in the first aspect and any possible implementation manner of the first aspect.

[0030] It can be understood that the effects that can be obtained from the second to fifth aspects can be referred to the description in the first aspect and will not be repeated here. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0031] FIG1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system applicable to the method of an embodiment of the present application;

[0032] FIG2 is a schematic diagram of another communication system applicable to the method of an embodiment of the present application;

[0033] FIG3 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary application scenario of the cell switching method of the present application;

[0034] FIG4 is a flow chart of a cell switching method;

[0035] FIG5 is a schematic flow chart of a cell switching method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0036] FIG6 is a schematic flow chart of a cell switching method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0037] FIG7 is a schematic flow chart of a cell switching method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0038] FIG8 is a schematic flowchart of a cell switching method according to another embodiment of the present application;

[0039] FIG9 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0040] FIG10 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided in yet another embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0041] The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be described below in conjunction with the drawings in the embodiments of the present application.

[0042] To facilitate the clear description of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, in the embodiments of the present application, the words "first" and "second" are used to distinguish between identical or similar items with substantially the same functions and effects. Those skilled in the art will understand that the words "first" and "second" do not limit the quantity or execution order, and the words "first" and "second" do not necessarily mean different.

[0043] It should be noted that in the embodiments of this application, words such as "exemplary" or "for example" are used to indicate examples, illustrations, or descriptions. Any embodiment or design described in this application as "exemplary" or "for example" should not be construed as being preferred or advantageous over other embodiments or designs. Rather, the use of words such as "exemplary" or "for example" is intended to present the relevant concepts in a concrete manner.

[0044] In the embodiments of the present application, "at least one" refers to one or more, and "more" refers to two or more. "And / or" describes the association relationship of associated objects, indicating that three relationships may exist. For example, A and / or B can represent: the existence of A alone, the existence of A and B at the same time, and the existence of B alone, where A and B can be singular or plural. The character " / " generally indicates that the previous and next associated objects are in an "or" relationship. "At least one of the following items" or similar expressions refers to any combination of these items, including any combination of single items or plural items. For example, at least one of a, b, or c can represent: a, b, c, ab, ac, bc, or abc, where a, b, c can be single or multiple.

[0045] The technical solutions provided in this application can be applied to various communication systems, such as: fifth generation (5G) or new radio (NR) systems, long term evolution (LTE) systems, LTE frequency division duplex (FDD) systems, LTE time division duplex (TDD) systems, wireless local area networks (WLAN) systems, satellite communication systems, future communication systems, such as sixth generation (6G) mobile communication systems, or a fusion system of multiple systems. The technical solutions provided in this application can also be applied to device to device (D2D) communication, vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication, machine to machine (M2M) communication, machine type communication (MTC), and Internet of Things (IoT) communication systems or other communication systems.

[0046] A device in a communication system can send a signal to another device or receive a signal from another device. The signal may include information, signaling, or data, etc. The device can also be replaced by an entity, a network entity, a communication device, a communication module, a node, a communication node, etc., and the present application uses the device as an example for description. For example, the communication system may include at least one terminal device and at least one network device. The network device can send a downlink signal to the terminal device, and / or the terminal device can send an uplink signal to the network device. It is understandable that the terminal device in the present application can be replaced by the first device, and the network device can be replaced by the second device, and the two perform the corresponding communication method in the present application.

[0047] In an embodiment of the present application, the terminal device may also be referred to as user equipment (UE), access terminal, user unit, user station, mobile station, mobile station, remote station, remote terminal, mobile device, user terminal, terminal, wireless communication device, user agent or user device.

[0048] The terminal device may be a device that provides voice / data, such as a handheld device or vehicle-mounted device with a wireless connection function. At present, some examples of terminals are: mobile phones, tablet computers, laptop computers, PDAs, mobile internet devices (MIDs), wearable devices, virtual reality (VR) devices, augmented reality (AR) devices, wireless terminals in industrial control, wireless terminals in self-driving, wireless terminals in remote medical surgery, wireless terminals in smart grids, wireless terminals in transportation safety, wireless terminals in smart cities, wireless terminals in smart homes, cellular phones, cordless phones, session initiation protocol (SIP) phones, wireless local loop (WLL) stations, personal digital assistants (PDAs), handheld devices with wireless communication capabilities, computing devices or other processing devices connected to wireless modems, wearable devices, terminal devices in 5G networks or future evolved public land mobile communication networks (PLMNs). The terminal equipment in the network (PLMN), etc., is not limited to this in the embodiments of the present application.

[0049] As an example and not a limitation, in the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device may also be a wearable device. Wearable devices may also be called wearable smart devices, which are a general term for wearable devices that are intelligently designed and developed using wearable technology for daily wear, such as glasses, gloves, watches, clothing, and shoes. A wearable device is a portable device that is worn directly on the body or integrated into the user's clothes or accessories. Wearable devices are not only hardware devices, but also achieve powerful functions through software support, data interaction, and cloud interaction. Broadly speaking, wearable smart devices include those that are fully functional, large in size, and can achieve complete or partial functions without relying on smartphones, such as smart watches or smart glasses, as well as those that only focus on a certain type of application function and need to be used in conjunction with other devices such as smartphones, such as various smart bracelets and smart jewelry for vital sign monitoring.

[0050] In the embodiments of the present application, the device for realizing the function of the terminal device can be a terminal device, or a device capable of supporting the terminal device to realize the function, such as a chip system, which can be installed in the terminal device or used in combination with the terminal device. In the embodiments of the present application, the chip system can be composed of a chip, or it can include a chip and other discrete devices. In the embodiments of the present application, only the terminal device is used as an example for description, and the embodiments of the present application are not limited to the solutions of the embodiments of the present application.

[0051] The network device in the embodiments of the present application may be a device for communicating with a terminal device, and may also be referred to as an access network device or a radio access network device. For example, the network device may be a base station. The network device in the embodiments of the present application may refer to a radio access network (RAN) node (or device) that connects a terminal device to a wireless network. A base station may broadly cover various names as follows, or replace the following names, such as: NodeB, evolved NodeB (eNB), next generation NodeB (gNB), relay station, access point, transmitting and receiving point (TRP), transmitting point (TP), master station, secondary station, multi-standard radio (motor slide retainer, MSR) node, home base station, network controller, access node, wireless node, access point (AP), transmission node, transceiver node, baseband unit (BBU), remote radio unit (RRU), active antenna unit (AAU), remote radio head (RRH), central unit (CU), distributed unit (DU), radio unit (RU), positioning node, etc. A base station may be a macro base station, a micro base station, a relay node, a donor node, or the like, or a combination thereof. The base station may also refer to a communication module, modem or chip that is set in the aforementioned equipment or device. The base station may also be a mobile switching center and a device that performs the base station function in D2D, V2X, and M2M communications, a network side device in a 6G network, a device that performs the base station function in future communication systems, etc. The base station can support networks with the same or different access technologies. Optionally, the RAN node may also be a server, a wearable device, a vehicle or an on-board device, etc. For example, the access network device in the vehicle to everything (V2X) technology may be a road side unit (RSU). The embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific technology and specific device form adopted by the network equipment.In some deployments, the network devices mentioned in the embodiments of the present application may include a CU, a DU, or both a CU and a DU, or a control plane CU node (central unit-control plane (CU-CP)), a user plane CU node (central unit-user plane (CU-UP)), and a DU node. For example, the network devices may include a gNB-CU-CP, a gNB-CU-UP, and a gNB-DU.

[0052] In some deployments, multiple RAN nodes collaborate to assist terminals in achieving wireless access, with different RAN nodes implementing portions of the base station's functionality. For example, a RAN node can be a CU, DU, CU-CP, CU-UP, or RU. The CU and DU can be separate or included in the same network element, such as the BBU. The RU can be included in a radio frequency device or radio unit, such as an RRU, AAU, or RRH.

[0053] The RAN node may support one or more types of fronthaul interfaces, with different fronthaul interfaces corresponding to DUs and RUs with different functions. If the fronthaul interface between the DU and the RU is a common public radio interface (CPRI), the DU is configured to implement one or more baseband functions, and the RU is configured to implement one or more radio frequency functions. If the fronthaul interface between the DU and the RU is another type of interface, relative to the CPRI, some of the downlink and / or uplink baseband functions, such as precoding, digital beamforming (BF), or one or more of inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) / cyclic prefix (CP) for downlink, are moved from the DU to the RU for implementation; and for uplink, one or more of digital beamforming (BF), or fast Fourier transform (FFT) / cyclic prefix (CP) removal, are moved from the DU to the RU for implementation. In one possible implementation, the interface may be an enhanced common public radio interface (eCPRI). In the eCPRI architecture, the division between the DU and RU is different, corresponding to different types (category, Cat) of eCPRI, such as eCPRI Cat A, B, C, D, E, and F.

[0054] Taking eCPRI Cat A as an example, for downlink transmission, based on layer mapping, the DU is configured to implement layer mapping and one or more functions preceding it (i.e., one or more of coding, rate matching, scrambling, modulation, and layer mapping). Other functions after layer mapping (e.g., RE mapping, digital beamforming (BF), or one or more of inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) / cyclic prefix (CP) addition) are moved to the RU for implementation. For uplink transmission, based on RE demapping, the DU is configured to implement demapping and one or more functions preceding it (i.e., one or more of decoding, rate matching, descrambling, demodulation, inverse discrete Fourier transform (IDFT), channel equalization, and RE demapping). Other functions after demapping (e.g., one or more of digital BF or fast Fourier transform (FFT) / CP removal) are moved to the RU for implementation. It is understandable that for the functional description of DU and RU corresponding to various types of eCPRI, reference can be made to the eCPRI protocol, which will not be described in detail here.

[0055] In one possible design, the processing unit for implementing baseband functions in the BBU is called a baseband high layer (BBH) unit, and the processing unit for implementing baseband functions in the RRU / AAU / RRH is called a baseband low layer (BBL) unit.

[0056] In different systems, CU (or CU-CP and CU-UP), DU or RU may also have different names, but those skilled in the art can understand their meanings. For example, in an open RAN (ORAN) system, CU may also be referred to as O-CU (open CU), DU may also be referred to as O-DU, CU-CP may also be referred to as O-CU-CP, CU-UP may also be referred to as O-CU-UP, and RU may also be referred to as O-RU. Any of the CU (or CU-CP, CU-UP), DU and RU in this application may be implemented by a software module, a hardware module, or a combination of a software module and a hardware module.

[0057] In the embodiments of the present application, the device for implementing the functions of the network device can be a network device; it can also be a device that can support the network device to implement the functions, such as a chip system, a hardware circuit, a software module, or a hardware circuit and a software module. The device can be installed in the network device or used in conjunction with the network device. In the embodiments of the present application, only the device for implementing the functions of the network device is used as an example to illustrate, and does not constitute a limitation on the solutions of the embodiments of the present application.

[0058] The network device and / or terminal device can be deployed on land, including indoors or outdoors, handheld or vehicle-mounted; it can also be deployed on the water surface; it can also be deployed on aircraft, balloons and satellites in the air. The embodiments of this application do not limit the scenarios in which the network device and the terminal device are located. In addition, the terminal device and the network device can be hardware devices, or they can be software functions running on dedicated hardware, software functions running on general-purpose hardware, such as virtualization functions instantiated on a platform (e.g., a cloud platform), or entities including dedicated or general-purpose hardware devices and software functions. This application does not limit the specific forms of the terminal device and the network device.

[0059] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system applicable to the methods of embodiments of the present application. As shown in Figure 1 , communication system 100 may include at least one network device, such as network device 110 shown in Figure 1 ; communication system 100 may also include at least one terminal device, such as terminal device 120 and terminal device 130 shown in Figure 1 .

[0060] The network device 110 and the terminal devices (such as the terminal device 120 and the terminal device 130) can communicate via wireless links. The communication devices in the communication system, such as the network device 110 and the terminal device 120, can communicate via multi-antenna technology.

[0061] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of another communication system applicable to the method of an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 2, the terminal device includes a processor 211, a memory 212, and a transceiver 213. The transceiver 213 includes a transmitter 2131, a receiver 2132, and an antenna 2133. The network device includes a processor 221, a memory 222, and a transceiver 223. The transceiver 223 includes a transmitter 2231, a receiver 2232, and an antenna 2233.

[0062] The processor 211 , the memory 212 , and the transceiver 213 communicate with each other through an internal connection path, and the processor 221 , the memory 222 , and the transceiver 223 communicate with each other through an internal connection path.

[0063] Receiver 2132 may be configured to receive transmission control information via antenna 2133, and transmitter 2131 may be configured to send transmission feedback information to a network device via antenna 2133. Transmitter 2231 may be configured to send transmission control information to a terminal device via antenna 2233, and receiver 2232 may be configured to receive transmission feedback information sent by the terminal device via antenna 2233.

[0064] It should be noted that Figures 1 and 2 are simplified schematic diagrams for ease of understanding. For example, the communication system may also include other devices, such as wireless relay devices and / or wireless backhaul devices, and may also include one or more core network elements, which are not shown in Figures 1 and 2. In actual applications, the communication system may include multiple network devices and multiple terminal devices. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the number of network devices and terminal devices included in the communication system.

[0065] Figure 3 is an exemplary application scenario diagram of the cell switching method of the present application. In the application scenario shown in (a) of Figure 3, both high-frequency cells and low-frequency cells are included, and the UE is within the coverage of both the high-frequency cell and the low-frequency cell.

[0066] If the UE's current serving cell is the high-frequency cell provided by base station 1, and the UE is blocked (or strongly blocked), causing the high-frequency channel between the UE and base station 1 to fade (or strongly fade), or if weather conditions cause the high-frequency channel between the UE and base station 1 to fade strongly, the transmission performance between base station 1 and the UE will be severely affected. In this case, the UE's serving cell can be switched from the high-frequency cell to the low-frequency cell provided by base station 2, that is, the UE can perform cell handover.

[0067] In this embodiment, the high-frequency cell refers to the cell with the higher communication frequency among two cells with different communication frequencies, and the low-frequency cell refers to the cell with the lower communication frequency among the two cells.

[0068] As an example, a high-frequency cell may be a cell having a communication frequency greater than or equal to 6 gigahertz (GHz), and a low-frequency cell may be a cell having a communication frequency less than 6 GHz.

[0069] In the application scenario shown in (b) of Figure 3, the UE's current serving cell is cell 1 provided by base station 1. When the UE moves along the arrow direction to the edge of the coverage area of ​​cell 1 and is about to enter the coverage area of ​​cell 2 provided by base station 2, or when the UE is at the coverage edge of cell 1 and is experiencing severe interference, the UE's serving cell can be switched from the high-frequency cell to the low-frequency cell provided by base station 2, that is, the UE can perform cell handover.

[0070] It can be understood that in Figure 3, the high-frequency cell and the low-frequency cell are respectively provided by base station 1 and base station 2, which is only an example, and the high-frequency cell and the low-frequency cell can also be provided by the same base station; cell 1 and cell 2 are respectively provided by base station 1 and base station 2, which is also only an example, and cell 1 and cell 2 can also be provided by the same base station.

[0071] It can be understood that the cell switching scenario shown in FIG3 is only an example, and the technical solution of the present application can be applied to any cell switching scenario.

[0072] In the embodiments of the present application, it is understood that a cell can be understood as a carrier. For example, a base station providing high-frequency cell service can be understood as the base station sending information via a high-frequency carrier. For another example, a UE located within the coverage area of ​​a cell can be understood as the UE being within the coverage area of ​​a carrier.

[0073] Figure 4 is a flow chart of a cell handover method. The method shown in Figure 4 includes S401 to S406.

[0074] S401: The source cell decides whether to trigger neighbor cell measurement based on the air interface signal quality of the UE.

[0075] S402: When the source cell decides to trigger neighbor cell measurement based on the air interface signal quality of the UE, it sends measurement configuration information to the UE. The measurement configuration information may indicate measurement resources for measuring the signal quality of the source cell and neighbor cells.

[0076] S403: The UE performs measurement based on the measurement configuration information and reports the measurement result. For example, when the UE finds that the signal quality of the neighboring cell is better than that of the source cell, the UE may report this event to the source cell.

[0077] S404: The source cell determines a cell handover strategy according to the measurement result reported by the UE, that is, determines whether the UE can be handed over and determines a target cell for the UE.

[0078] S405: The source cell sends a handover command to the UE, informing the UE of the target cell to which it can handover.

[0079] S406: The UE initiates a random access process and accesses the target cell, thereby completing the process of switching from one cell to another.

[0080] Through analysis, the inventors discovered that when a group of devices in the same physical area (such as a vehicle) are required to independently execute the handover process shown in Figure 4 during the same time period, this can lead to significant resource congestion. For example, a group of devices might simultaneously access a neighboring cell, but the limited resources available for random access make it difficult to accommodate this large number of devices. This forces multiple devices to queue for cell access, resulting in significant latency.

[0081] To this end, the present application provides a new technical solution in which terminal devices are grouped. In this technical solution, only some of the terminal devices in the same terminal device group can perform one or more operations in the cell handover process on behalf of the terminal devices in the entire group, ultimately enabling the entire group of terminal devices to achieve cell handover. In the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device that performs one or more operations in the cell handover process on behalf of the terminal devices in the entire group can be referred to as the first terminal device.

[0082] In some implementations, the one or more operations may include at least one of cell measurement, cell measurement result reporting, and initiating a random access request.

[0083] In some implementations, the same terminal device group may include multiple terminal devices whose motion trajectories have the same regularity. For example, multiple terminal devices located in the same vehicle may form a terminal device group.

[0084] In the technical solution proposed in this application, terminal devices are grouped, and the concept of a first terminal device is introduced to perform measurement reporting and / or random access operations on behalf of other terminal devices in the terminal device group, thereby reducing the number of terminal devices communicating with the network device and avoiding resource congestion.

[0085] In an embodiment of the present application, after the terminal devices are grouped to obtain the terminal device group, the network device can indicate some relevant information of the terminal device group to the terminal device so that the terminal device can perform operations in the cell switching process based on the relevant information.

[0086] In the embodiment of the present application, the relevant information of the terminal device group can be referred to as terminal device grouping information.

[0087] After the terminal device receives the terminal device grouping information, it can determine whether it is the first terminal device based on the terminal device grouping information. If it is determined that it is the first terminal device, it can perform operations that the first terminal device can perform. If it is determined that it is not the first terminal device, it may not perform operations that the first terminal device needs to perform.

[0088] Figure 5 is a schematic flow chart of a cell handover method provided in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 5 , the method may include S510 and S520.

[0089] S510: The network device sends terminal grouping information to the terminal device. Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the terminal grouping information from the network device.

[0090] It can be understood that the network device may be a source network device of the terminal device, or a network device that currently provides cell services for the terminal device.

[0091] It is understood that the network device may send the terminal grouping information to one or more terminal devices. For example, the network device may send the terminal grouping information to multiple (or each) terminal devices in a terminal device group.

[0092] In some possible implementations, the network device groups the terminal devices, and the acquired terminal grouping information can be understood as information indicating relevant content of the terminal device group.

[0093] Exemplarily, the terminal grouping information may indicate at least one of the following information: identification information of the terminal device group, used to indicate which terminal device group the terminal device group is; identification information of the terminal device in the terminal device group, used to indicate which terminal devices are included in the terminal device group; the number of terminal devices in the terminal device group, used to indicate how many terminal devices are included in the terminal device group; identification of the first terminal device in the terminal devices, used to indicate which terminal devices in the terminal device group can perform cell measurement, and / or which terminal devices can perform reporting of cell measurement results. These terminal devices that can perform cell measurement and / or can perform reporting of cell measurement results are called first terminal devices.

[0094] In some possible implementations, the network device may further send cell measurement configuration information to the terminal device, and accordingly, the terminal device receives the cell measurement configuration information.

[0095] As an example, the cell measurement configuration information may be radio resource control (RRC) configuration information, which may include relevant configuration parameters for cell measurement and is used to measure the quality of the source cell and the target cell.

[0096] S520: The terminal device reports the cell measurement result according to the terminal grouping information.

[0097] As an example, the terminal device reports the cell measurement result according to the terminal grouping information, which may include: determining whether the terminal device is the first terminal device in the terminal device group according to the terminal grouping information; if it is determined that the terminal device is the first terminal device in the terminal device group, performing cell measurement and reporting the cell measurement result.

[0098] As an example, the cell measurement result may be a cell measurement result obtained based on cell measurement configuration information sent by the network device.

[0099] As an example, if it is determined that the terminal device is not the first terminal device in the terminal device group, cell measurement is not performed, or cell measurement is performed but the cell measurement result is not reported.

[0100] As an example, determining whether a terminal device is the first terminal device in a terminal device group based on terminal grouping information can be achieved in the following way: when the terminal grouping information includes a first parameter, and the first parameter is used to indicate the identification of the first terminal device in the terminal device group, determining whether the terminal device is the first terminal device in the terminal device group based on the first parameter.

[0101] Optionally, the first parameter may be the identifier of the first terminal device, that is, the terminal device having the identifier is the first terminal device. The identifier may be any form of terminal device identifier. For example, the identifier may be a local identifier of the first terminal device in the terminal device group.

[0102] As another example, determining whether a terminal device is the first terminal device in a terminal device group based on terminal grouping information can be achieved in the following way: when the terminal grouping information includes a second parameter, and the second parameter is used to indicate whether the terminal device is the first terminal device in the terminal device group, determining whether the terminal device is the first terminal device in the terminal device group based on the second parameter.

[0103] In this example, the second parameter is not the identifier of the first terminal device. Instead, a terminal device with a specific identifier can be designated as the first terminal device. For example, a terminal device whose identifier contains a specific value (such as 0 or 1) is designated as the first terminal device. Thus, as long as the terminal device's identifier contains this specific value, the terminal device is designated as the first terminal device. In a more specific example, a terminal device whose local identifier is configured with this specific value is designated as the first terminal device in the terminal device group.

[0104] As another example, determining whether a terminal device is the first terminal device in a terminal device group according to terminal grouping information can be achieved in the following manner: if the identifier of the terminal device in the terminal device group is the first identifier, then the terminal device is the first terminal device in the terminal device group.

[0105] In other words, a parameter is used to specifically indicate whether a terminal device is the first terminal device. For the terminal device, it determines whether it is the first terminal device in the terminal device group based on the value of the parameter in the received configuration information.

[0106] As another example, if the terminal device is the first terminal device in a terminal device group, then the terminal device is the first terminal device in the terminal device group.

[0107] In other words, the xth terminal device in the terminal device group may be defined as the first terminal device. For example, x=1.

[0108] In an embodiment of the present application, after receiving the measurement report, the network device can determine whether the terminal device in the above-mentioned terminal device group needs to perform cell switching and execute the operations required in the cell switching process based on the measurement report.

[0109] In an embodiment of the present application, as an example, the network device may only send the cell measurement configuration information to the first terminal device.

[0110] In an embodiment of the present application, as an example, the network device may send terminal grouping information only to the first terminal device.

[0111] In some examples of the present application, the network device may send cell measurement configuration information only to the first terminal device, so that only the first terminal device in the terminal device group measures and reports the cell quality, and other terminal devices in the terminal device group do not need to measure and report.

[0112] In other examples of the present application, the network device sends measurement configuration information to all terminal devices in the terminal device group, but only the first terminal device will measure and report, and other terminal devices in the terminal device group do not need to measure and report.

[0113] In other examples of the present application, the network device sends measurement configuration information to all terminal devices in the terminal device group, all terminals in the terminal device group perform measurements, but only the first terminal device reports, and other terminal devices in the terminal device group do not need to report.

[0114] From the above content, it can be seen that compared with the network device sending cell measurement configuration to all terminals and all terminals in the terminal device group performing cell measurement and reporting measurement results, the technical solution in the embodiment of the present application can save resources, thereby avoiding resource crowding and reducing cell switching delay.

[0115] It can be understood that the network device in the embodiment of the present application can be replaced by the source cell of the terminal device.

[0116] Figure 6 is a schematic flow chart of a cell handover method provided in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 6, the method may include S610 and S620.

[0117] S610: Network device 1 sends terminal grouping information to the terminal device. Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the terminal grouping information from network device 1.

[0118] It can be understood that the network device may be a source network device of the terminal device, or a network device that currently provides cell services for the terminal device.

[0119] For the contents related to the terminal grouping information in this step, please refer to S510 and will not be repeated here.

[0120] S620: The terminal device performs a random access process according to the terminal grouping information.

[0121] It can be understood that before the terminal device performs the random access process according to the terminal grouping information, the terminal device can perform cell measurement and report the cell measurement result to the network device 1.

[0122] It can be understood that the network device 1 can send cell measurement configuration information to the terminal device, and the terminal device performs cell measurement and reports the cell measurement result based on the cell measurement configuration information.

[0123] As an example, the network device 1 may send cell measurement configuration information to the terminal device. For an implementation manner in which the terminal device performs cell measurement and reports the cell measurement result based on the cell measurement configuration information, reference may be made to the content of the embodiment shown in FIG5 .

[0124] As an example, the network device may send cell measurement configuration information to all terminal devices in the terminal device group, and all terminal devices perform cell measurement and report cell measurement results based on the cell measurement configuration information.

[0125] In an embodiment of the present application, before the terminal device performs a random access process based on the terminal grouping information, network device 1 may send a switching request message to network device 1 to inform network device 2 that a group of terminal devices need to switch to a target cell on network device 2.

[0126] As an example, the switching request message may include one or more of the following information: an identifier of the terminal device group, an identifier of the terminal device included in the terminal device group, the number of terminal devices included in the terminal device group, or indication information of the first terminal device.

[0127] In an embodiment of the present application, before a terminal device performs a random access process based on terminal grouping information, after network device 1 sends a handover request message to network device 2, network device 2 may send a handover response message to network device 1. The handover response message may include one or more of the following information: whether the terminal device group is allowed to handover to the target cell; information (such as an identifier) ​​of terminal devices in the terminal device group that are allowed to handover to the target cell, for example, when the load of the network device 2 is greater than or equal to the load threshold, only some terminal devices are allowed to access the target cell; information (such as an identifier) ​​of terminal devices in the terminal device group that are not allowed to handover to the target cell, for example, when the load of the network device 2 is greater than or equal to the load threshold, some terminal devices are denied access to the target cell; and information on random access resources used for the terminal device group to access the target cell.

[0128] The information of random access resources may include at least one of the following information: information of a random access preamble sequence, information of a time-frequency opportunity (random access channel (RACH) occasion) for sending the preamble, or information of a synchronization signal and PBCH block (SSB) corresponding to random access.

[0129] The random access preamble sequence may be a preamble specifically used for random access by a terminal device group.

[0130] The RACH occasion mentioned above may be a RACH occasion specifically used for a group of terminal devices to perform random access.

[0131] As an example, after receiving the handover response message from network device 2, network device 1 may send a handover command message to the terminal devices in the terminal device group, instructing each terminal device to handover to the target cell. For example, network device 1 may send RRC configuration information to each terminal device, which may include configuration parameters of the target cell. When the terminal device hands over to the target cell, it may use these configuration parameters for random access.

[0132] Optionally, the network device 1 may reconfigure the terminal device group through the above RRC configuration information, such as introducing new terminal devices, or excluding some terminal devices (such as terminal devices that are not allowed to switch to the target cell).

[0133] In the embodiment of the present application, as an example, the network device 1 may also send a trigger signaling to the terminal devices in the terminal device group, where the trigger signaling is used to trigger each terminal device to perform a random access process. An example of the trigger signaling is a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH).

[0134] Optionally, the PDCCH may be a common PDCCH, and all terminal devices in the terminal device group may receive the PDCCH.

[0135] Optionally, the PDCCH is scrambled using a public radio network temporary identifier (RNTI). The public RNTI may be configured by the network device 1 for the terminal device in the terminal device group.

[0136] Optionally, the network device 1 may configure the same RNTI value for all terminal devices in a terminal device group, and all terminal devices in the terminal device group use the RNTI value to receive the above-mentioned PDCCH.

[0137] In some implementations, only the first terminal device in the terminal device group sends a random access request message to the network device 2, and other terminal devices do not need to send random access request messages.

[0138] As an example, the terminal device performs a random access process according to the terminal grouping information, which may include: determining whether the terminal device is the first terminal device in the terminal device group according to the terminal grouping information; if it is determined that the terminal device is the first terminal device in the terminal device group, sending a random access request message to network device 2.

[0139] It can be understood that the random access request message may include terminal device group information.

[0140] As an example, if it is determined that the terminal device is not the first terminal device in the terminal device group, the random access request message is not sent.

[0141] After receiving the random access request message, the network device 2 may send a random access response message to the terminal devices in the terminal device group.

[0142] Optionally, the random access response message may include timing advance information, and all terminal devices in the terminal device group use the timing advance information to synchronously access the target cell.

[0143] Optionally, the random access response message may include cell-radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI) information of the terminal device, which may include multiple C-RNTI information, each C-RNTI corresponding to a terminal device. The C-RNTI information may be carried in the RRC configuration information instead of in the random access response message.

[0144] As an example, each terminal device in the terminal device group needs to receive the random access response message. That is, even if only the first terminal device sends a random access request message and other terminal devices do not send random access request messages, the other terminal devices also receive the random access response message. All terminal devices can determine the reception parameters of the random access response message, such as the random access RNTI (RA-RNTI) and the reception time window, based on the parameters indicated in the trigger signaling, to achieve reception of the random access response message.

[0145] Optionally, the terminal device can determine whether the received random access response message is sent to the terminal device group based on the preamble specifically used for random access of the terminal device group, because other terminal devices may also initiate random access, so there is a situation where network device 2 sends random access response messages to other terminal devices.

[0146] From the above content, it can be seen that compared with all terminals sending random access request messages, the technical solution in which only the first terminal device sends the random access request message in the embodiment of the present application can save resources, thereby avoiding resource crowding and reducing cell switching delay.

[0147] It can be understood that the network device 1 in the embodiment of the present application can be replaced by the source network device or source cell of the terminal device, and the network device 2 can be replaced by the target network device or target cell of the terminal device.

[0148] Figure 7 is a schematic flow chart of a cell handover method provided in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 7, the communication method may include S701 to S707.

[0149] S701: Network device 1 sends measurement configuration information to a terminal device group. Correspondingly, the terminal device group receives the measurement configuration information.

[0150] In some possible implementations, before sending the measurement configuration information, the network device 1 first divides the terminal devices having the same movement pattern into a terminal device group.

[0151] Exemplarily, the network device 1 can determine which terminal devices have the same mobility pattern, such as the same position, the same moving speed, the same moving direction, etc., through positioning, Doppler information calculation and other methods, and divide these terminal devices into a terminal device group.

[0152] In this embodiment, after dividing the terminal device groups, the network device 1 sends information about the terminal device group to each terminal device in the terminal device group through configuration information.

[0153] In some possible implementations, the configuration information may be RRC configuration information, which includes terminal grouping information and is used to notify each terminal device in the terminal device group of the information of the terminal device group.

[0154] Optionally, the terminal grouping information includes an identifier of a terminal device group.

[0155] Optionally, the terminal grouping information includes information about the terminal devices in the terminal device group, such as the number of terminal devices, identifications of the terminal devices, etc.

[0156] Optionally, the terminal grouping information may also include a local identifier of any terminal device in the terminal device group. The local identifier can be used to indicate the index or sorting of any terminal device in the terminal device group. For example, the identifier of any terminal device in the terminal device group is k, indicating that the terminal device is the kth terminal device in the terminal device group.

[0157] Optionally, the terminal group information may further include the first terminal device in the terminal device group. The first terminal device is a special terminal device responsible for interacting with the network device on behalf of the terminal device group to exchange certain information. Other terminal devices do not need to interact with the network device to exchange this information.

[0158] Four implementations of indicating the first terminal device in a terminal device group are listed below.

[0159] In some possible implementations, the identifier of the first terminal device is directly indicated, and the terminal device having the identifier is the first terminal device. The identifier can be any form of terminal device identifier. For example, the identifier can be the local identifier mentioned above, that is, the local identifier of the terminal device in the terminal device group.

[0160] In some possible implementations, instead of indicating the identifier of the first terminal device, a terminal device with a specific identifier is designated as the first terminal device. For example, a terminal device whose local identifier is a specific value (e.g., 0 or 1) is designated as the first terminal device. Thus, as long as a terminal device's local identifier is configured with this specific value, the terminal device is designated as the first terminal device in the terminal device group.

[0161] In some possible implementations, the identifier of the first terminal device is not indicated, but the xth (eg, x=1) terminal device in the terminal device group is specified as the first terminal device.

[0162] In some possible implementations, a parameter is used to specifically indicate whether a terminal device is the first terminal device. For any of the above terminal devices, it determines whether it is the first terminal device in the terminal device group based on the value of the parameter in the received configuration information.

[0163] In this embodiment, after all terminal devices in the terminal device group receive the above-mentioned terminal grouping information, the network device 1 sends measurement configuration information to the first terminal device, or the network device 1 sends measurement configuration information to all terminal devices in the terminal device group. The measurement configuration information may include RRC configuration information, specifically including relevant configuration parameters for cell measurement, which is used to measure the quality of the current cell and neighboring cells.

[0164] S702: After completing the cell measurement, the terminal device reports the measurement result to the network device 1. Accordingly, the network device 1 receives the measurement result.

[0165] Optionally, only the first terminal device needs to report the measurement result, and other terminal devices do not need to report. The reported measurement result is the cell quality measurement result of the current cell and the neighboring cell.

[0166] Optionally, other terminal devices may also report if certain conditions are met.

[0167] After receiving the measurement report result, the network device 1 determines whether the terminal device in the terminal device group needs to perform cell switching.

[0168] S703: After determining that a cell handover is required, network device 1 sends a handover request message to network device 2, informing network device 2 that a group of terminal devices needs to handover to its corresponding cell.

[0169] Optionally, the handover request message may include information (such as an identifier) ​​of the terminal device group.

[0170] Optionally, the handover request message may include information of the terminal devices in the terminal device group, such as the number of terminal devices, identifiers of the terminal devices, information of the first terminal device (such as an identifier), etc.

[0171] S704 , network device 2 sends a switching response message to network device 1 .

[0172] Optionally, the handover response message may include whether the terminal device group is allowed to handover to the cell corresponding to the network device 2.

[0173] Optionally, the switching response message may include information (such as identification) of the terminal devices in the terminal device group that are allowed to switch to the cell corresponding to network device 2. For example, the above-mentioned network device 2 has a high load, and only some terminal devices are allowed to access the cell corresponding to network device 2.

[0174] Optionally, the switching response message may include information (such as an identifier) ​​of the terminal devices in the terminal device group that are not allowed to switch to the cell corresponding to network device 2. For example, the above-mentioned network device 2 has a high load and some terminal devices are denied access to the cell corresponding to network device 2.

[0175] Optionally, the handover response message may include information about random access resources used by the terminal device group to access the cell corresponding to the network device 2, such as information about a random access preamble sequence, information about a time-frequency opportunity (RACH occasion) for sending the preamble, and SSB information corresponding to the random access. The random access preamble sequence may be a preamble specifically used for random access by a terminal device group, or the RACH occasion may be a RACH occasion specifically used for random access by a terminal device group.

[0176] S705 , network device 1 sends a switching command message to the terminal devices in the terminal device group, instructing each terminal device to switch to the cell corresponding to network device 2 .

[0177] In some possible implementations, network device 1 may send an RRC configuration message to each terminal device, including configuration parameters of the cell corresponding to network device 2. When the terminal device switches to the cell corresponding to network device 2, it will adopt these configuration parameters.

[0178] Optionally, the terminal device group may be reconfigured through RRC configuration information, such as introducing new terminal devices, or excluding some terminal devices (eg, terminal devices that are not allowed to be switched to the target cell).

[0179] In some possible implementations, the network device 1 may further send a trigger signaling, such as a PDCCH, to each terminal device. The trigger signaling is used to trigger each terminal device to perform a random access process.

[0180] Optionally, the PDCCH is a public PDCCH, and all terminal devices in the terminal device group can receive the PDCCH.

[0181] Optionally, the PDCCH is scrambled using a public RNTI. The public RNTI is configured by the network device 1 for the terminal devices in the terminal device group.

[0182] Optionally, the network device 1 may configure an RNTI value for all terminal devices in a terminal device group, and all terminal devices in the terminal device group use the RNTI value to receive the above-mentioned PDCCH.

[0183] S706 , the terminal device in the terminal device group sends a random access request message to the network device 2 .

[0184] In some possible implementations, only the first terminal device sends the random access request message, and other terminal devices do not need to send it.

[0185] S707: Network device 2 sends a random access response message to the terminal device group. Accordingly, all terminal devices in the terminal device group receive the random access response message.

[0186] Optionally, the random access response message may include timing advance information, and all terminal devices in the terminal device group use the timing advance information to synchronously access the network device 2.

[0187] Optionally, the random access response message may include C-RNTI information of the terminal device, which may include multiple C-RNTI information, each C-RNTI corresponding to a terminal device. Specifically, assuming that the terminal device group includes N terminal devices, the random access response message needs to include N C-RNTI information, each C-RNTI information corresponding to a terminal device in the terminal device group. For example, the k-th C-RNTI in the random access response message corresponds to the terminal device identified as k or the k-th terminal device in the terminal device group.

[0188] In some possible implementations, the C-RNTI information may be carried in RRC configuration information, such as the RRC configuration information in S701 or S705, instead of being carried in the random access response message.

[0189] Optionally, the C-RNTI may also be replaced with a temporary C-RNTI (Temporary C-RNTI).

[0190] In this embodiment, each terminal device needs to receive the random access response message. That is, even if only the first terminal device sends a random access request message and other terminal devices do not send random access request messages, the other terminal devices still need to receive the random access response message. All terminal devices determine the reception parameters of the random access response message, such as the RA-RNTI and the reception time window, based on the parameters indicated in the trigger signaling, thereby receiving the random access response message.

[0191] Optionally, the terminal device may determine whether the received random access response message is sent to the terminal device group based on the preamble specifically used for random access by the terminal device group in S704. Since other terminal devices may also initiate random access, there are random access response messages sent to other terminal devices.

[0192] It can be understood that the network device 1 in the embodiment of the present application can be replaced by the source network device or source cell of the terminal device, and the network device 2 can be replaced by the target network device or target cell of the terminal device.

[0193] Figure 8 is a schematic flow chart of a cell handover method according to another embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 8 , the communication method may include S801 to S807.

[0194] S801: Network device 1 sends measurement configuration information to terminal device 1 and terminal device 2. Correspondingly, terminal device 1 and terminal device 2 receive the measurement configuration information.

[0195] Wherein, terminal device 1 and terminal device 2 are terminal devices with the same movement pattern. Network device 1 divides terminal device 1 and terminal device 2 into a terminal device group, and the terminal grouping information indicates that terminal device 1 is the first terminal device.

[0196] For details of this step, please refer to S701 and will not be repeated here.

[0197] S802: After completing the cell measurement, the terminal device reports the measurement result to the network device 1. Accordingly, the network device 1 receives the measurement result.

[0198] In some possible implementations, only terminal device 1 needs to report the measurement result.

[0199] Optionally, terminal device 2 may also report when certain conditions are met.

[0200] After receiving the measurement report result, the network device 1 determines whether the terminal device needs to perform cell switching.

[0201] S803: After determining that a cell handover is required, network device 1 sends a handover request message to network device 2, informing network device 2 that a group of terminal devices needs to handover to its corresponding cell.

[0202] For details of this step, please refer to S703 and will not be repeated here.

[0203] S804 , network device 2 sends a switching response message to network device 1 .

[0204] For details of this step, please refer to S704 and will not be described again here.

[0205] S805 , network device 1 sends a switching command message to terminal device 1 and terminal device 2 , instructing terminal device 1 and terminal device 2 to switch to the cell corresponding to network device 2 .

[0206] For details of this step, please refer to S705 and will not be repeated here.

[0207] S806, terminal device 1 sends a random access request message to network device 2.

[0208] In some possible implementations, only terminal device 1 sends the random access request message, and terminal device 2 does not need to send it.

[0209] S807: Network device 2 sends a random access response message to terminal device 1. Correspondingly, both terminal device 1 and terminal device 2 receive the random access response message.

[0210] Optionally, the random access response message may include timing advance information, and all terminal devices in the terminal device group use the timing advance information to synchronously access the network device 2.

[0211] Specifically, the terminal device group includes 2 terminal devices, and the random access response message includes 2 C-RNTI information, each C-RNTI information corresponds to terminal device 1 and terminal device 2.

[0212] In this embodiment, both terminal device 1 and terminal device 2 need to receive the random access response message. That is, even if only terminal device 1 sends a random access request message and terminal device 2 does not send a random access request message, terminal device 2 also needs to receive the random access response message.

[0213] It can be understood that the network device 1 in the embodiment of the present application can be replaced by the source network device or source cell of the terminal device, and the network device 2 can be replaced by the target network device or target cell of the terminal device.

[0214] It should be understood that, in this application, indication includes direct indication (also known as explicit indication) and implicit indication. Direct indication of information A refers to including information A; implicit indication of information A refers to indicating information A through the correspondence between information A and information B and the direct indication of information B. The correspondence between information A and information B can be predefined, pre-stored, pre-burned, or pre-configured.

[0215] It should be understood that, in this application, information C is used to determine information D, which includes both information D being determined solely based on information C and information D being determined based on information C and other information. Furthermore, information C can also be used to determine information D indirectly, for example, where information D is determined based on information E, and information E is determined based on information C.

[0216] In addition, in each embodiment of the present application, "device A sends information A to device B" can be understood as the destination of the information A or the intermediate device in the transmission path between the destination and the device B, which may include directly or indirectly sending information to device B. "Device B receives information A from device A" can be understood as the source of the information A or the intermediate device in the transmission path between the source and the device A, which may include directly or indirectly receiving information from device A. The information may undergo necessary processing between the source and destination of the information, such as format changes, but the destination can understand the valid information from the source. Similar expressions in this application can be understood similarly and will not be elaborated here.

[0217] FIG9 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG9 , the device 900 may include a processing module 901 and a communication module 902 .

[0218] As a first example, the apparatus 900 can be used to implement the communication method implemented by a terminal device in any of the embodiments shown in Figures 5 to 8. For example, the processing module 901 is used to implement the processing-related steps performed by the terminal device in any of the embodiments shown in Figures 5 to 8, and the communication module 902 is used to implement the sending and / or receiving steps performed by the terminal device in any of the embodiments shown in Figures 5 to 8.

[0219] As a second example, the apparatus 900 can be used to implement the communication method implemented by a network device in any of the embodiments shown in Figures 5 to 8. For example, the processing module 901 is used to implement the processing-related steps performed by the network device in any of the embodiments shown in Figures 5 to 8, and the communication module 902 is used to implement the sending and / or receiving steps performed by the network device in any of the embodiments shown in Figures 5 to 8.

[0220] Figure 10 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device provided in another embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 10, the device 1000 includes a processor 1001 and a communication circuit 1002. The processor 1001 and the communication circuit 1002 are coupled to each other. It is understood that the communication circuit 1002 can be a transceiver or an input / output interface. Optionally, the device 1000 may further include a memory 1003 for storing instructions executed by the processor 1001 or storing input data required by the processor 1001 to run the instructions or storing data generated after the processor 1001 runs the instructions. It is understood that the memory 1003 can be located outside the processor 1001, or inside the processor 1001.

[0221] As an example, the processor 1001 is used to implement the functions of the processing module 901 , and the communication circuit 1002 is used to implement the functions of the communication module 902 .

[0222] Apparatus 1000 may be a communications device or a chip used in a communications device. For example, apparatus 1000 may be a UE or a chip used in a UE, or a network device or a chip used in a network device. It is understood that when apparatus 1000 is a UE or a network device, communication circuit 1002 may be a transceiver.

[0223] In some embodiments of the present application, a computer program product is also provided. When the computer program product is run on a processor, it can implement the method implemented by the terminal device in any of the above embodiments, or it can implement the method implemented by the network device in any of the above method embodiments.

[0224] In some embodiments of the present application, a computer-readable storage medium is also provided, which includes computer instructions. When the computer instructions are executed on a processor, the method implemented by the terminal device in any of the above embodiments can be implemented, or the method implemented by the network device in any of the above method embodiments can be implemented.

[0225] In some embodiments of the present application, a communication system is also provided, which can implement the method implemented by the terminal device and the network device in any of the above embodiments.

[0226] It is understood that the processor in the embodiments of the present application can be the following devices or all or part of the circuits in the following devices for processing functions: a central processing unit (CPU), and can also be other general-purpose processors, digital signal processors (DSP), application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC), field programmable gate arrays (FPGA) or other programmable logic devices, transistor logic devices, hardware components or any combination thereof. The general-purpose processor can be a microprocessor or any conventional processor.

[0227] The method steps in the embodiments of the present application can be implemented by hardware or by a processor executing software instructions. The software instructions can be composed of corresponding software modules, and the software modules can be stored in a random access memory, a flash memory, a read-only memory, a programmable read-only memory, an erasable programmable read-only memory, an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory, a register, a hard disk, a mobile hard disk, a CD-ROM or any other form of storage medium well known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor so that the processor can read information from the storage medium and write information to the storage medium. Of course, the storage medium can also be an integral part of the processor. The processor and the storage medium can be located in an ASIC. In addition, the ASIC can be located in a network device or a terminal device. Of course, the processor and the storage medium can also be present in a network device or a terminal device as discrete components.

[0228] In the above embodiments, all or part of the embodiments may be implemented using software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented using software, all or part of the embodiments may be implemented in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer programs or instructions. When the computer program or instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, the processes or functions described in the embodiments of the present application are performed in whole or in part. The computer may be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, a network device, a user device, or other programmable device. The computer program or instructions may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transferred from one computer-readable storage medium to another. For example, the computer program or instructions may be transferred from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center via wired or wireless means. The computer-readable storage medium may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device such as a server or data center that integrates one or more available media. The available medium may be a magnetic medium, such as a floppy disk, hard disk, or magnetic tape; an optical medium, such as a digital video disk; or a semiconductor medium, such as a solid-state drive.

[0229] In the various embodiments of the present application, unless otherwise specified or there is a logical conflict, the terms and / or descriptions between different embodiments are consistent and can be referenced by each other. The technical features in different embodiments can be combined to form new embodiments according to their inherent logical relationships.

[0230] It is understood that the various numbers used in the embodiments of this application are merely for ease of description and are not intended to limit the scope of the embodiments of this application. The order of the sequence numbers of the above-mentioned processes does not necessarily imply a specific order of execution; the order of execution of the processes should be determined by their functions and inherent logic.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that: Applied in a terminal device, the method comprises: Receiving terminal packet information from a network device; Reporting a cell measurement result according to the terminal grouping information, and / or performing a random access process according to the terminal grouping information.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The terminal grouping information includes at least one of the following information: an identifier of the terminal device group, the number of terminal devices in the terminal device group, an identifier of the terminal devices in the terminal device group, or an identifier of a first terminal device among the terminal devices in the terminal device group.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: The method further comprises: receiving measurement configuration information from a network device; The reporting of the cell measurement result according to the terminal grouping information includes: Determining whether the terminal device is the first terminal device in the terminal device group according to the terminal grouping information; If it is determined that the terminal device is the first terminal device in the terminal device group, the cell measurement result obtained by measuring according to the measurement configuration information is reported.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that The method further comprises: receiving random access trigger information from the network device; The performing of a random access process according to the terminal grouping information includes: Determining whether the terminal device is the first terminal device in the terminal device group according to the terminal grouping information; If it is determined that the terminal device is the first terminal device in the terminal device group, a random access process is performed according to the random access trigger information.

5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that The random access trigger information is carried through a common control channel; or, the random access trigger information is carried through a common control channel scrambled by a common RNTI.

6. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that The public RNTI is configured by the network device to the terminal device.

7. The method according to any one of claims 3 to 6, characterized in that The performing a random access process according to the terminal grouping information includes: Sending a random access request message to the network device according to the random access trigger information; A random access response message is received from the network device.

8. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that The method further comprises: If the terminal device is not the first terminal device in the terminal device group, a random access response message sent from a network device is received.

9. The method according to claim 7 or 8, characterized in that: The random access response message includes multiple temporary C-RNTIs, and the multiple temporary C-RNTIs correspond one-to-one to multiple terminal devices in the terminal device group.

10. The method according to claim 9, characterized in that The method further comprises: According to the identifier of the terminal device in the terminal device group, the temporary C-RNTI corresponding to the terminal device is determined from the multiple temporary C-RNTIs.

11. The method according to any one of claims 3 to 9, characterized in that The determining, according to the terminal grouping information, whether the terminal device is the first terminal device in the terminal device group includes: When the terminal grouping information includes a first parameter, and the first parameter is used to indicate an identifier of a first terminal device in the terminal device group, determining whether the terminal device is the first terminal device in the terminal device group according to the first parameter; or When the terminal grouping information includes a second parameter, and the second parameter is used to indicate whether the terminal device is the first terminal device in the terminal device group, determining whether the terminal device is the first terminal device in the terminal device group according to the second parameter; or If the identifier of the terminal device in the terminal device group is the first identifier, the terminal device is the first terminal device in the terminal device group; or, If the terminal device is the first terminal device in the terminal device group, then the terminal device is the first terminal device in the terminal device group.

12. A communication device, characterized in that: The method comprises a functional module for implementing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 11.

13. A communication device, characterized in that: include: Memory and processor; The memory is used to store computer programs or instructions; The processor is configured to execute computer programs or instructions in the memory to implement the method according to any one of claims 1 to 11.

14. A communication system, characterized in that: The communication system comprises a terminal device and a network device, and the terminal device and the network device are used to implement the method according to claims 1 to 11.

15. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that: The computer-readable storage medium stores a program code for computer execution, wherein the program code includes instructions for implementing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 11.

16. A computer program product, characterized in that The computer program product comprises instructions for implementing the communication method according to any one of claims 1 to 11.

17. A communication device, characterized in that: include: processor; The processor is configured to execute a computer program or instruction in the memory to implement the method according to any one of claims 1 to 11.

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