Voice call method and apparatus, and chip

Abstract

Embodiments of the present application provide a voice call method and apparatus, and a chip, capable of reducing the call drop rate of a terminal device, thereby improving user experience. The current serving cell of a terminal device is a first cell; neighbor cells of the first cell include a second cell and a third cell; and the third cell does not support a voice call service. The method comprises: when the terminal device camps on the first cell and is in a voice call state, and the terminal device needs to perform cell selection or cell reselection, sending a first message to the second cell, the first message being used for requesting to access the second cell; and when the terminal device camps on the first cell and is not in the voice call state, and the terminal device needs to perform cell selection or cell reselection, sending a second message to the third cell, the second message being used for requesting to access the third cell.

Description

Voice call method, device and chip

[0001] This application claims priority to the Chinese patent application filed with the State Intellectual Property Office of China on September 15, 2023, with application number 2023111976647 and application name “Voice Call Method, Device and Chip”, 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 voice call method, device and chip. Background Art

[0003] When the terminal device triggers a radio link failure (RLF) or enters the idle state, the terminal device will perform cell selection or cell reselection. If the terminal device performs cell selection or cell reselection during a voice call, in some cases, the terminal device will experience call abnormalities, such as dropped calls (i.e., call interruption).

[0004] Therefore, there is an urgent need to provide a method to reduce the call drop rate of terminal equipment.

[0005] Summary of the Invention

[0006] The embodiments of the present application provide a voice call method, apparatus, and chip, which can reduce the call drop rate of terminal equipment, thereby improving user experience.

[0007] After research, it was found that when the terminal device triggers a radio link failure (RLF) or enters the idle (IDLE) state, the terminal device will perform cell selection or cell reselection. If the terminal device performs cell selection or cell reselection during a voice call, and the frequency band corresponding to the cell selected by the terminal device does not support voice call services, the terminal device will experience call drops. For example, some countries (such as Malaysia) or regions promote 5G non-standalone architecture (NSA) to enable users to access the Internet through 5G; in the 5G NSA mode, when the terminal device is connected to the anchor cell, it can simultaneously connect to the new radio (NR) cell, so that when the terminal device accesses the anchor cell, it can use the 5G network through the NR cell; however, when the terminal device accesses the anchor cell, call abnormalities such as call drops will occur. Research has found that this is because the frequency band corresponding to the anchor cell does not have the voice over long-term evolution (VoLTE) capability, which causes the terminal device to experience call drops after accessing the anchor cell, resulting in a poor user experience.

[0008] In the first aspect, a voice call method is provided, in which the current serving cell of the terminal device is the first cell, the neighboring cells of the first cell include the second cell and the third cell, the third cell does not support the voice call service, and the first cell and the second cell support the voice call service, and the method includes: when the terminal device resides in the first cell and is in a voice call state, and the terminal device needs to perform cell selection or cell reselection, sending a first message to the second cell, the first message is used to request access to the second cell; wherein, when the terminal device sends the first message to the second cell, the priority of the first cell is lower than the priority of the second cell, and the signal strength of the first cell is lower than the signal strength of the second cell. degree, the priority of the third cell is greater than the priority of the second cell, and the signal strength of the third cell is greater than the signal strength of the second cell; when the terminal device resides in the first cell and is not in a voice call state, and the terminal device needs to perform cell selection or cell reselection, a second message is sent to the third cell, and the second message is used to request access to the third cell; wherein, when the terminal device sends the second message to the third cell, the priority of the first cell is lower than the priority of the second cell, the signal strength of the first cell is lower than the signal strength of the second cell, the priority of the third cell is greater than the priority of the second cell, and the signal strength of the third cell is greater than the signal strength of the second cell.

[0009] The voice call method provided in the embodiment of the present application, when the service cell of the terminal device is the first cell, and the neighboring cells of the first cell include the second cell and the third cell that does not support the voice call service, if the priority of the first cell is lower than that of the second cell, the priority of the third cell is greater than that of the second cell, the signal strength of the first cell is lower than that of the second cell, and the signal strength of the third cell is greater than the signal strength of the second cell, then when the terminal device is not in a voice call state and performs cell reselection or cell selection, the third cell is given priority; however, when the terminal device is in a voice call state and performs cell reselection or cell selection, the second cell is given priority, that is, when the terminal device is in a voice call state, when the terminal device performs cell reselection or cell selection, a cell other than the cell that does not support the voice call service is given priority, thereby reducing the probability of the terminal device residing in the cell that does not support the voice call service during the voice call. In this way, the call drop rate of the terminal device can be reduced, thereby improving the user experience.

[0010] It should be understood that the serving cell can be understood as the cell in which the terminal device is currently residing or accessed. For example, if the cell currently accessed by the terminal device is the first cell, then the current serving cell is the first cell. Signal strength can refer to RSRP or RSRQ, etc. The priority of the first cell is lower than the priority of the second cell and the priority of the third cell is higher than the priority of the second cell, which can mean that when the terminal device performs cell selection or cell reselection, the priority of the third cell is higher than the priority of the second cell, and the priority of the second cell is higher than the priority of the first cell.

[0011] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the sending of the first message to the second cell includes: sending the first message to the second cell based on a first preset rule, the first preset rule including at least one of the following: not selecting the cell corresponding to the first preset frequency band or the first preset frequency point, or performing cell selection or cell reselection based on the updated priority of the cell corresponding to the first preset frequency band or the first preset frequency point, or not giving priority to the anchor cell, the updated priority of the cell corresponding to the first preset frequency band is lower than the original priority of the cell corresponding to the first preset frequency band, and the updated priority of the cell corresponding to the first preset frequency point is lower than the original priority of the cell corresponding to the first preset frequency point; wherein, the first preset frequency band includes the frequency band corresponding to the third cell, or the first preset frequency point includes the frequency point corresponding to the third cell.

[0012] It should be understood that the number of anchor cells can be one or more. And the anchor cells may include cells with voice call capabilities and / or cells without voice call capabilities. The original priority can be understood as the priority before the update. The updated priority of the cell corresponding to the first preset frequency band is lower than the original priority of the cell corresponding to the first preset frequency band, which may mean that the priority of the cell corresponding to the first preset frequency band after the update is lower than that before the update. The updated priority of the cell corresponding to the first preset frequency point is lower than the original priority of the cell corresponding to the first preset frequency point, which may mean that the priority of the cell corresponding to the first preset frequency point after the update is lower than that before the update.

[0013] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, sending the second message to the third cell includes: sending the second message to the third cell based on a second preset rule, the second preset rule is different from the first preset rule, and the second preset rule includes: prioritizing the anchor cell.

[0014] It should be understood that the second preset rule is the rule for the terminal device to select or reselect a cell when the terminal device is not in a voice call state. By enabling the terminal device to give priority to the anchor cell, the probability of the terminal device staying in the anchor cell is increased, and the terminal device can give priority to using the 5G network, which can improve the user experience.

[0015] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, before the terminal device accesses the first cell, the terminal device resides in the third cell; the method further includes: during the process of the terminal device establishing a voice call in the third cell, receiving a third message from the third cell, the third message being used to instruct the terminal device to perform a preset event measurement, the third message carrying information for indicating a target frequency and information for indicating at least one threshold, the preset event being an A5 event, the at least one threshold including a first threshold and a second threshold, the first threshold being greater than the second threshold, the cell corresponding to the target frequency being a neighboring cell of the third cell, the first threshold being a threshold value of the signal strength of the third cell, and the second threshold being a threshold value of the signal strength of the neighboring cell of the third cell; in the at least one When the threshold meets the preset conditions, the first preset frequency band or the first preset frequency point is determined at least based on the frequency band corresponding to the target frequency point and the frequency band corresponding to the third cell, wherein the preset conditions include a first preset condition, and the first preset condition is that the first threshold is greater than or equal to the first preset threshold, and the second threshold is less than or equal to the second preset threshold, and the first preset threshold is greater than the second preset threshold; in response to the third message, a measurement report is sent to the third cell, the measurement report includes the signal strength information of the third cell and the signal strength information of at least one cell corresponding to the target frequency point, and the at least one cell includes the first cell; a fourth message is received from the third cell, and the fourth message is used to instruct the terminal device to switch to the first cell; in response to the fourth message, the first cell is accessed.

[0016] It should be understood that when the first threshold is greater than or equal to the first preset threshold, it means that the first threshold is high, and the signal strength of the serving cell is usually less than or equal to the first threshold; when the second threshold is less than or equal to the second preset threshold, it means that the second threshold is low, and the signal strength of the neighboring cell of the third cell is usually greater than or equal to the second threshold. Therefore, based on the first threshold and the second threshold, after the terminal device performs cell measurement, the probability of switching to the neighboring cell of the third cell is relatively high. Based on this, the terminal device can determine that the settings of the first threshold and the second threshold are unreasonable, and the current switching event may be an unreasonable switching event. Furthermore, the terminal device can determine that the frequency or frequency band corresponding to the current serving cell may not support voice call services.

[0017] Through the above-mentioned technical solution, the terminal device can determine the frequency or frequency band that does not have the capability of voice calls. Compared with the preset frequency band or frequency point that does not have the capability of voice calls, the terminal device can identify the frequency or frequency band that does not have the capability of voice calls other than the preset frequency band or frequency point. In this way, when the terminal device selects a cell according to the first preset rule, the probability of the terminal device selecting the cell corresponding to the frequency or frequency band that does not have the capability of voice calls is relatively small, which can further reduce the call drop rate of the terminal device and improve the user experience.

[0018] In combination with the first aspect, in a possible implementation, the preset condition further includes a second preset condition, and the second preset condition is that the terminal device receives a message from the current serving cell for instructing cell switching.

[0019] It should be understood that since the unreasonable settings of the first threshold and the second threshold may be caused by abnormalities in the access network equipment, through the coordinated use of the first preset condition and the second preset condition, when the first threshold and the second threshold are set unreasonably and the terminal device receives a message from the current service cell to indicate cell switching, it can be more accurately determined that the current service cell of the terminal device does not support voice call services, thereby making the first preset frequency point or the first preset frequency band determined by the terminal device more accurate.

[0020] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the first preset frequency band or the first preset frequency point is determined at least based on the frequency band corresponding to the target frequency point and the frequency band corresponding to the third cell, including: when the frequency band corresponding to the target frequency point is different from the frequency band corresponding to the third cell, the first preset frequency band includes the frequency band corresponding to the third cell.

[0021] It should be understood that the target frequency is a frequency capable of voice calls indicated by the third cell to the terminal device. Therefore, if the frequency band corresponding to the target frequency is different from the frequency band corresponding to the third cell, it indicates that the terminal device needs to switch to a cell corresponding to a frequency band other than the frequency band corresponding to the third cell, indicating that the frequency band corresponding to the third cell may not be capable of voice calls. Therefore, the first preset frequency band includes the frequency band corresponding to the third cell.

[0022] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the terminal device determines a first preset frequency band or a first preset frequency point based at least on the frequency band corresponding to the target frequency point and the frequency band corresponding to the third cell, including: when the frequency band corresponding to the target frequency point is the same as the frequency band corresponding to the third cell, and the target frequency point is different from the frequency point corresponding to the third cell, the first preset frequency point includes the frequency point corresponding to the third cell.

[0023] It should be understood that the frequency band corresponding to the target frequency is the same as the frequency band corresponding to the third cell, indicating that the frequency band corresponding to the third cell has voice call capabilities, and therefore, the terminal device does not need to switch frequency bands; the target frequency is different from the frequency corresponding to the third cell, indicating that the terminal device needs to switch to a cell corresponding to a frequency other than the frequency corresponding to the third cell, indicating that the frequency corresponding to the third cell may not have voice call capabilities, and therefore, the first preset frequency includes the frequency corresponding to the third cell.

[0024] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the situation where the terminal device needs to perform cell selection or cell reselection includes: the terminal device is in an idle IDLE state, or the terminal device triggers a radio link failure RLF process.

[0025] In conjunction with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the third cell is an anchor cell in a non-standalone (NSA) network. In a specific scenario, the third cell is an anchor cell in an NSA network, and the first cell and the second cell are non-anchor cells in an NSA network.

[0026] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the first preset frequency band includes frequency band B28 under the Long Term Evolution LTE communication technology.

[0027] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the method further includes at least one of the following: the first cell, the second cell, and the third cell are LTE cells; or, the non-support of voice call service is non-support of Internet Protocol IP Multimedia Subsystem IMS voice call service.

[0028] In a second aspect, a voice communication device is provided, configured to execute the method in any possible implementation of the first aspect. Specifically, the device includes a module configured to execute the method in any possible implementation of the first aspect.

[0029] In a third aspect, embodiments of the present application provide another voice communication device, comprising a processor coupled to a memory and configured to execute instructions in the memory to implement the method of any possible implementation of the first aspect described above. Optionally, the device further comprises a memory. Optionally, the device further comprises a communication interface, the processor coupled to the communication interface.

[0030] In one implementation, the apparatus is a terminal device. When the apparatus is a terminal device, the communication interface may be a transceiver, or an input / output interface.

[0031] In another implementation, the device is a chip configured in a terminal device. When the device is a chip configured in a terminal device, the communication interface may be an input / output interface.

[0032] In a fourth aspect, a processor is provided, comprising: an input circuit, an output circuit, and a processing circuit. The processing circuit is configured to receive a signal through the input circuit and transmit a signal through the output circuit, so that the processor executes the method of any possible implementation of the first aspect.

[0033] In a specific implementation process, the processor may be a chip, the input circuit may be an input pin, the output circuit may be an output pin, and the processing circuit may be a transistor, a gate circuit, a trigger, or various logic circuits. The input signal received by the input circuit may be, for example, but not limited to, received and input by a receiver, and the signal output by the output circuit may be, for example, but not limited to, output to and transmitted by a transmitter. The input circuit and the output circuit may be the same circuit, which functions as an input circuit and an output circuit at different times. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific implementation of the processor and various circuits.

[0034] In a fifth aspect, a processing device is provided, comprising a processor and a memory. The processor is configured to read instructions stored in the memory and receive signals via a receiver and transmit signals via a transmitter to execute the method of any possible implementation of the first aspect.

[0035] Optionally, there are one or more processors and one or more memories.

[0036] Optionally, the memory may be integrated with the processor, or the memory may be provided separately from the processor.

[0037] In the specific implementation process, the memory can be a non-transitory memory, such as a read-only memory (ROM), which can be integrated with the processor on the same chip or set on different chips. This application does not limit the type of memory and the setting method of the memory and the processor.

[0038] It should be understood that related data interaction processes, such as sending indication information, can be processes for outputting indication information from a processor, and receiving capability information can be processes for receiving input capability information from a processor. Specifically, the output data of the processor can be output to a transmitter, and the input data received by the processor can come from a receiver. The transmitter and receiver can be collectively referred to as a transceiver.

[0039] The processing device in the above-mentioned fifth aspect can be a chip. The processor can be implemented by hardware or by software. When implemented by hardware, the processor can be a logic circuit, an integrated circuit, etc.; when implemented by software, the processor can be a general-purpose processor, which is implemented by reading the software code stored in the memory. The memory can be integrated in the processor or can be located outside the processor and exist independently.

[0040] In a sixth aspect, a computer program product is provided, comprising: a computer program (also referred to as code, or instructions), which, when executed, enables a computer to execute a method in any possible implementation of the first aspect.

[0041] In the seventh aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, which stores a computer program (also referred to as code, or instructions) which, when run on a computer, enables the computer to execute the method in any possible implementation of the first aspect above.

[0042] The chip involved in this application may be a chip system. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0043] FIG1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system used in an embodiment of the present application;

[0044] FIG2 is a schematic diagram of a voice call scenario provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0045] FIG3 is a flow chart of a voice call method;

[0046] FIG4 is a flow chart of a voice call method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0047] FIG5 is a flow chart of another voice call method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0048] FIG6 is a schematic block diagram of a voice communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0049] FIG7 is a schematic block diagram of another voice communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0050] FIG8 is a hardware structure block diagram of a terminal device;

[0051] FIG9 is a schematic diagram of a system including a terminal device and a base station. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0052] The technical solution in this application will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0053] In some embodiments provided by the present application, terms such as "first" and "second" are used to distinguish identical or similar items with basically the same functions and roles. For example, the first value and the second value are only used to distinguish different values, and do not limit their order. Those skilled in the art can understand that terms such as "first" and "second" do not limit the quantity and execution order, and the terms such as "first" and "second" do not necessarily limit being different.

[0054] It should be noted that in the embodiments of the present application, words such as "exemplarily" or "for example" are used to represent examples, illustrations or explanations. Any embodiment or design solution described as "exemplarily" or "for example" in the present application should not be construed as being more preferred or having more advantages than other embodiments or design solutions. Exactly speaking, using words such as "exemplarily" or "for example" aims to present relevant concepts in a specific manner.

[0055] In the embodiments of the present application, "at least one" means one or more, and "multiple" means two or more. "And / or" describes the association relationship of associated objects, indicating that three relationships can exist. For example, A and / or B can represent: A exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone, where A and B can be singular or plural. The character " / " generally represents that the front and rear associated objects are in an "or" relationship. "At least one (item)" or its similar expression refers to any combination of these items, including any combination of single item (item) or plural items (items). For example, at least one (item) of a, b, or c can represent: a, b, c, a - b, a - c, b - c, or a - b - c, where a, b, and c can be single or multiple.

[0056] The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application can be applied to various communication systems, such as: Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, LTE Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) system, LTE Time Division Duplex (TDD), Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) communication system, Fifth Generation (5G) system or New Radio (NR), future evolved communication systems, such as Sixth Generation (6G) system, etc.

[0057] The terminal device in the embodiments of the present application may also be referred to as: user equipment (UE), mobile station (MS), mobile terminal (MT), access terminal, user unit, user station, mobile station, mobile station, remote station, remote terminal, mobile device, user terminal, terminal, wireless communication equipment, user agent or user device, etc.

[0058] The access network equipment and core network equipment in the embodiments of the present application may be collectively referred to as network equipment.

[0059] The core network device of the embodiment of the present application can be a core network device in a 4G system, such as a mobile management entity (MME), a serving gateway (sGW), etc., or a core network device in a 5G system, such as an access and mobility management function (AMF) network element, a user plane function (UPF) network element, etc. It can also be a core network device with other names, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present application.

[0060] The access network device can be any device with wireless transceiver capabilities. Access network equipment includes, but is not limited to, evolved Node B (eNB), radio network controller (RNC), Node B (NB), base station controller (BSC), base transceiver station (BTS), home base station (e.g., home evolved NodeB, or home Node B, HNB), baseband unit (BBU), access point (AP) in a wireless fidelity (WiFi) system, wireless relay node, wireless backhaul node, transmission point (TP) or transmission and reception point (TRP), etc. It can also be a 5G base station (next-generation Node B, gNB) in a 5G, such as NR, system, or a transmission point (TRP or TP), one or a group of antenna panels (including multiple antenna panels) of a base station in a 5G system, or it can also be a network node constituting a gNB or a transmission point, such as a baseband unit (BBU) or a distributed unit (DU), etc.

[0061] In some deployments, the gNB may include a centralized unit (CU) and a DU. The gNB may also include an active antenna unit (AAU). The CU implements some gNB functions, while the DU implements some gNB functions. For example, the CU may be responsible for processing non-real-time protocols and services, such as the radio resource control (RRC) layer, the service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) layer, and / or the packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer. The DU may be responsible for processing physical layer protocols and real-time services. For example, it may implement the functions of the radio link control (RLC) layer, the media access control (MAC) layer, and the physical (PHY) layer. A DU can be connected to only one CU or to multiple CUs, and a CU can be connected to multiple DUs. Communication between the CU and DU can be achieved through the F1 interface. The AAU may implement some physical layer processing functions, RF processing, and active antenna related functions. Since the information of the RRC layer will eventually be delivered to the PHY layer and become the information of the PHY layer, or converted from the information of the PHY layer, therefore, in this architecture, high-layer signaling, such as RRC layer signaling, can also be considered to be sent by DU, or by DU+AAU.

[0062] It is understood that the access network device may include one or more of a CU node, a DU node, and an AAU node. In addition, the CU may be classified as an access network device in an access network (RAN) or as an access network device in a core network (CN), and this application does not limit this.

[0063] The access network equipment provides services for the cell. The terminal device communicates with the cell through the transmission resources (for example, frequency domain resources, or spectrum resources) allocated by the access network equipment. The cell can belong to a macro base station (for example, macro eNB or macro gNB, etc.) or a base station corresponding to a small cell. The small cells here can include: metro cells, micro cells, pico cells, femto cells, etc. These small cells have the characteristics of small coverage and low transmission power, and are suitable for providing high-speed data transmission services.

[0064] To facilitate understanding of the embodiments of the present application, a communication system applicable to the embodiments of the present application is first described in detail with reference to FIG1 .

[0065] 1 shows a schematic diagram of a communication system 100 to which an embodiment of the present application is applied. The communication system 100 includes an access network, a core network, and an Internet Protocol (IP) multimedia subsystem (IMS) or the Internet.

[0066] The access network includes at least one terminal device, such as terminal device 110 shown in Figure 1; and at least one access network device, such as access network device 120 and access network device 130 shown in Figure 1. The core network device can be connected to the access network device via wireless or wired means, and the terminal device can be connected to the access network device via wireless means within the coverage area of ​​the access network device.

[0067] As shown in Figure 1, access network equipment 120 may include cell A and cell B, and access network equipment 130 may provide services for cell C. Terminal device 110 is located within the range of cell A. The terminal device's current serving cell is cell A, and it can exchange information with cell A. Cells B and C are neighboring cells of cell A.

[0068] Optionally, as the terminal device 110 moves, the signal strength of cell A weakens, and the terminal device 110 may perform a cell handover. In one example, assuming that the terminal device 110 moves into the range of cell B, and the signal strength of cell B is greater than the signal strength of cell A, the terminal device 110 may access cell B and exchange information with cell B. In another example, assuming that the terminal device 110 moves into the range of cell C, and the signal strength of cell C is greater than the signal strength of cell A, the terminal device 110 may access cell C and exchange information with cell C.

[0069] It should be understood that information interaction between the terminal device 110 and cell A or cell B may refer to information interaction between the terminal device 110 and the access network device 120 that provides services for cell A or cell B, and information interaction between the terminal device 110 and cell C may refer to information interaction between the terminal device 110 and the access network device 130 that provides services for cell C.

[0070] The access network device 120 and the access network device 130 can communicate with the terminal device 110 via a wireless link. The terminal device 110, the access network device 120 or the access network device 130 can be configured with multiple antennas, which may include at least one transmitting antenna for sending signals and at least one receiving antenna for receiving signals. In addition, the terminal device 110, the access network device 120 or the access network device 130 also additionally includes a transmitter chain and a receiver chain. Those skilled in the art will understand that they can all include multiple components related to signal transmission and reception (such as processors, modulators, multiplexers, demodulators, demultiplexers or antennas, etc.). Therefore, the access network device 120 and the access network device 130 can communicate with the terminal device 110 via multi-antenna technology.

[0071] The core network's primary functions are to provide user connections, manage users, and carry services. As a bearer network, it provides an interface to external networks. Establishing user connections involves functions such as mobility management (MM), call management (CM), switching / routing, and voice notification (which, combined with intelligent network services, connects to intelligent network peripheral devices).

[0072] The core network of a 4G network is the evolved packet core (EPC). The EPC is the core network of a 4G mobile communications network. It encompasses traditional mobile network capabilities, such as user subscription data storage, mobility management, and data exchange, and provides users with an ultra-high-speed internet experience. The core network of a 5G network is the 5G Core (abbreviated as 5GC). 5GC uses general-purpose network function virtualization equipment to replace the dedicated communication equipment of 4G networks.

[0073] It should be noted that the core network in the network architecture shown in Figure 1 can be obtained by integrating EPC and 5GC. That is to say, the core network in the network architecture can include both network elements in EPC and network elements in 5GC. For example, the core network in the network architecture can include access and mobility management function (AMF) network elements, mobility management entity (MME) network elements, serving gate way (SGW) network elements, packet data network gateway (PGW) network elements, session management function (SMF) network elements, user plane function (UPF) network elements, unified data management function (UDM) network elements and home subscriber server (HSS) network elements, etc.

[0074] In some embodiments of the present application, the core network in the network architecture may include converged network elements obtained from network elements in the EPC and network elements in the 5GC. For example, SMF+PGW-C, UPF+PGW-U, UDM+HSS, etc. Among them, PGW-C is the control plane node of the PGW network element, and PGW-U is the user plane node of the PGW network element.

[0075] In some embodiments of the present application, the core network in the network architecture shown in FIG1 may include a proxy session border control (PSBC) network element, which is a combined network element that integrates a session border control (SBC), a proxy call session control function (P-CSCF), an access transfer control function (ATCF), and an access transfer gateway (ATGW). As an SBC network element, it connects the IMS core network / softswitch network with the external user access area, provides service access for IMS / softswitch users, enables interoperability of user services in different network environments, ensures IMS / softswitch network security, and supports QoS management, CAC traffic control, media management, CDR media call detail records, and other functions.

[0076] Each network element in the core network can also be called a functional entity, which can be a network element implemented on dedicated hardware, a software instance running on dedicated hardware, or an instance of a virtualized function on an appropriate platform.

[0077] It should be understood that the names of all network elements in this application are only examples. In future communications, such as 6G, they may also be called other names, or, in future communications, such as 6G, the network elements involved in this application may also be replaced by other entities or devices with the same functions, etc., and this application does not limit this. A unified explanation is given here and will not be repeated later. Optionally, the various network elements in the embodiments of the present application may be communication devices, or chips or chip systems that can be used in the communication devices, etc., and this embodiment of the present application does not limit this.

[0078] It is understood that the core network in the network architecture shown in Figure 1 may also include other devices, network elements, network entities, or network subsystems, such as a policy control function (PCF) network element, and this application does not limit this. It should be noted that this application does not limit the distribution method of each network element in the core network. The specific distribution method can be referred to in relevant technical documents, and this application does not elaborate on it here.

[0079] IMS is a network architecture that provides voice and multimedia communication services (for example, voice, video, and text messaging) over Internet Protocol (IP) networks. IMS enables secure and reliable multimedia communication between different devices in different networks. The architectural model provides a unified infrastructure and common mechanisms for controlling, operating, routing, and managing sessions, as well as implementing authentication, authorization, and accounting controls. The IMS specifications include widely used recommendations from the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). For example, the Session Initialization Protocol (SIP) is used for session control signaling.

[0080] The Internet, also known as the international network, generally refers to a vast network of interconnected networks, linked by a common set of protocols to form a single, logically vast international network. From a network communications perspective, the Internet is a data communications network that connects computer networks in countries, regions, and institutions around the world using the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and Internet Protocol (IP).

[0081] It should be understood that Figure 1 is only a schematic diagram, and the communication system 100 may also include other network devices, such as wireless relay devices and wireless backhaul devices, which are not shown in Figure 1. The embodiment of the present application does not limit the number of core network devices, access network devices, and terminal devices included in the communication system 100.

[0082] Optionally, the communication system 100 may further include other network entities such as a network controller and a mobility management entity, but the embodiments of the present application are not limited thereto.

[0083] It should be understood that the communication system 100 shown in FIG1 is merely an example, and this application does not limit the specific architecture of the applicable system, nor does it limit the number and form of various devices included in each communication system. For example, the number of neighboring cells of the serving cell currently accessed by the terminal device may be greater, and the neighboring cells of the serving cell and the serving cell may belong to cells covered by the same access network device, or may belong to cells covered by different access network devices.

[0084] Please refer to Figure 2, which is a schematic diagram of a voice call scenario provided in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 2, the terminal device 210 can transmit voice data with the terminal device 240 through the access network device 220, the IMS and the access network device 230. Among them, the access network device 220 is the device corresponding to the cell where the terminal device 100 currently resides, and the access network device 230 is the device corresponding to the cell where the terminal device 240 currently resides. In some embodiments of the present application, the access network device 220 and the access network device 230 can be the same access network device. In some embodiments of the present application, the terminal device 100 can be the party that initiates the voice call to request a voice call with the terminal device 200. In some other embodiments of the present application, the terminal device 200 can be the party that initiates the voice call to request a voice call with the terminal device 100.

[0085] The access network device in the embodiment of the present application may be a device used to communicate with a terminal device, for example, the access network device may be a base station.

[0086] To facilitate understanding of the embodiments of the present application, the relevant terms involved in the embodiments of the present application are described in detail below.

[0087] 1. Non-standalone architecture (NSA)

[0088] NSA is a 5G network mode. In NSA mode, 5G base stations can access the 4G core network through some 4G base stations, which are called anchor stations or control plane anchors. When a terminal device is stationed at an anchor station, it can interact with the 5G base station through the anchor station, allowing users to access the 5G Internet.

[0089] 2. Cell

[0090] It is described from the perspective of resource management, mobility management or service unit. The coverage of each access network device can be divided into one or more cells, and the cell can be regarded as consisting of certain frequency domain resources. A cell can be an area within the coverage of the wireless network of the access network device. In an embodiment of the present application, different cells can correspond to different access network devices. For example, the access network device to which cell #1 belongs and the access network device to which cell #2 belongs can be different access network devices, such as base stations. That is to say, cell #1 and cell #2 can be managed by different base stations. In this case, it can be said that cell #1 and cell #2 are co-located, or in other words, co-located. The access network device to which cell #1 belongs and the access network device to which cell #2 belongs can also be different radio frequency processing units of the same base station, for example, radio remote units (RRUs). That is, cell #1 and cell #2 can be managed by the same base station, have the same baseband processing unit and intermediate frequency processing unit, but have different radio frequency processing units. This application does not specifically limit this.

[0091] Cell switching refers to the switching that needs to be performed in order to maintain uninterrupted communication of the terminal device when the terminal device moves from one cell to another in a wireless communication system. In this article, the service cell, which may also be referred to as the source cell, indicates the cell that provides services to the terminal device before the switching; the cell selected by the terminal device or the cell where the terminal device resides, which may also be referred to as the target cell, indicates the cell that provides services to the terminal device after the switching. In other words, the service cell is the service cell before the terminal device performs the cell switching, and the target cell is the service cell after the terminal device performs the cell switching. It should be understood that the cell is the coverage area of ​​the access network device, the source cell corresponds to the source access network device (such as the source base station), and the target cell corresponds to the target access network device (such as the target base station).

[0092] 3. Anchor Community

[0093] Anchor cells are cells covered by anchor stations. They support evolved universal terrestrial radio access (E-UTRA) and NR dual connectivity (en-dc), enabling dual connectivity between 5G and 4G networks.

[0094] 4. Frequency band

[0095] A frequency band is a frequency range. In the embodiments of the present application, a frequency band can be understood as an identifier for an uplink frequency range and / or a downlink frequency range. For example, frequency band 1 can identify an uplink frequency range of 1920MHz-1980MHz and a downlink frequency range of 2110MHz-2170MHz.

[0096] 5. Frequency

[0097] A frequency point can be a fixed frequency number. A frequency band can correspond to multiple frequency points. For example, assuming that 1 is the number of the frequency 935.4 MHz and 1 is the frequency point of a designated carrier, then the designated carrier transmits a signal at a frequency of 935.4 MHz.

[0098] 6. Switching events

[0099] When a terminal device performs a cell handover, it needs to report a measurement report, such as reporting information such as the reference signal receiving power (RSRP) and the reference signal receiving quality (RSRQ). A handover event can trigger the terminal device to perform signal measurement and report a measurement report. Handover events can include A1 events, A2 events, A3 events, A4 events, A5 events, A6 events, B1 events, and B2 events. Among them, the A1 event can be used to turn off inter-frequency measurement; the A2 event can be used to turn on inter-frequency measurement; the A3 event, A4 event, A5 event, A6 event, B1 event, and B2 event can be used to determine whether the terminal device performs a cell handover.

[0100] 7. QCI

[0101] QCI (QoS class identifier): Each EPS (evolved packet system) bearer is assigned a QCI.

[0102] In the embodiments of this application, various terms and abbreviations, such as NR, NSA, VoLTE, and RRC, are provided for ease of description and should not be construed as limiting this application. This application does not exclude the possibility of defining other terms in existing or future protocols that can achieve the same or similar functions.

[0103] During a voice call on a terminal device, if the terminal device selects or reselects a cell and the cell where the terminal device resides does not support voice call services, the terminal device will experience call drops, thereby affecting the user experience.

[0104] In one example, some areas promote 5G NSA to enable users to access the Internet via 5G. In the 5G NSA mode, the terminal device can simultaneously connect to the NR cell through the anchor cell, so that the 5G network can be used when the terminal device resides in the anchor cell. However, the frequency bands corresponding to some anchor cells do not have VoLTE capabilities, so that after the terminal device resides in these anchor cells, calls may be dropped. As shown in Figure 3, Figure 3 is a flow chart of a voice call method 300. The method 300 includes the following steps:

[0105] S301: The current serving cell of a terminal device is cell 1. During a voice call of the terminal device, cell 1 sends a first reconfiguration message to the terminal device. The first reconfiguration message carries information for instructing the terminal device to switch to cell 2. Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the first reconfiguration message from cell 1.

[0106] It should be understood that the process of the terminal device voice call is achieved through information interaction between the terminal device, cell 1 and the core network device.

[0107] Optionally, before cell 1 sends the first reconfiguration message to the terminal device, the terminal device sends a measurement report to cell 1, where the measurement report carries information indicating the signal strengths of cell 1 and cell 2. Based on the measurement report, cell 1 sends the first reconfiguration message to the terminal device. For example, due to the movement of the terminal device, the signal strength of cell 1 becomes weaker. After the terminal device measures the signal strengths of cell 1 and cell 2 and reports the measurement report, cell 1 instructs the terminal device to switch to cell 2.

[0108] S302: In response to the first reconfiguration message, the terminal device sends a first request to cell 2, where the first request is used to request access to cell 2. Exemplarily, the first request may be a random access request or an RRC connection reestablishment request.

[0109] S303. When cell 2 does not respond to the first request, the terminal device executes S302 in a loop. When the number of retransmissions of the first request is greater than or equal to the preset maximum number of retransmissions, or the time taken by the terminal device to request access to cell 2 is greater than or equal to the preset time, the terminal device fails to randomly access cell 2, resulting in a failure in the cell switching of the terminal device, thereby triggering the RLF process.

[0110] It should be understood that in the event of a cell 2 failure, cell 2 may not respond to the first request from the terminal device. This application does not specifically limit the reason why cell 2 does not respond to the first request.

[0111] Optionally, the preset duration can be measured by a timer such as T304. If the time taken by the terminal device to request access to cell 2 is greater than or equal to the preset duration, it can be understood that when the timer such as T304 expires, the terminal device has not successfully accessed cell 2.

[0112] S304: The terminal device selects cell 3 as the resident cell based on the first rule of prioritizing anchor cells. Cell 3 is an anchor cell, and the frequency band corresponding to cell 3 does not have VoLTE capability.

[0113] S305: The terminal device sends a second request to cell 3, where the second request is used to request RRC connection re-establishment. Correspondingly, cell 3 receives the second request from the terminal device. Exemplarily, the second request may be an RRC connection re-establishment request.

[0114] S306. In response to the second request, cell 3 sends a message 1 to the terminal device, where the message 1 carries information indicating that the RRC re-establishment is successful. Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the message 1 from cell 3. Exemplarily, the message 1 may be an RRC re-establishment success message.

[0115] Optionally, in response to message 1, the terminal device may further send an RRC connection re-establishment completion message to cell 3, where the RRC connection re-establishment completion message is used to indicate that the RRC connection re-establishment is complete. Correspondingly, cell 3 receives the RRC connection re-establishment completion message from the terminal device.

[0116] It should be understood that S305 and S306 are an example of reestablishing an RRC connection between the terminal device and cell 3, and the RRC connection between the terminal device and cell 3 can be established through other signaling interaction processes. For example, in response to the second request, cell 3 can send an RRC connection reestablishment failure message to the terminal device, and correspondingly, the terminal device receives the RRC connection reestablishment failure message from cell 3; then, the terminal device and cell 3 can further establish an RRC connection through an RRC access process, which is not specifically limited in this application.

[0117] Optionally, after the terminal device establishes an RRC connection with cell 3, the terminal device may trigger a tracking area update (TAU) process and perform TAU signaling interaction between cell 3 and the core network device.

[0118] S307. After establishing an RRC connection between the terminal device and cell 3, a bearer recovery negotiation process is performed between cell 3 and the core network device. For example, cell 3 may send a third request to the core network device, requesting configuration of a dedicated voice bearer. Correspondingly, the core network device receives the third request from cell 3. In response to the third request, the core network device may send message 2 to the terminal device, carrying information indicating that cell 3 does not support voice call services. Correspondingly, cell 3 receives message 2 from the core network device.

[0119] S308: Cell 3 sends a second reconfiguration message to the terminal device. Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the second reconfiguration message from the cell. The second reconfiguration message does not carry information for configuring the voice-dedicated bearer.

[0120] It should be understood that since the frequency band corresponding to cell 3 does not have VoLTE capabilities, the second reconfiguration message does not include information for configuring a dedicated voice bearer (such as a dedicated voice bearer corresponding to QCI = 1). This results in the terminal device being unable to transmit voice data packets to the other end, making it impossible for the user to hear the other end's voice.

[0121] In S307, cell 3 and the core network device interact through signaling, so that the core network can determine that the terminal device is currently making a voice call through cell 3, and because the core network device determines that cell 3 does not support voice call services, the core network device can further instruct the terminal device to end the voice call through cell 3.

[0122] S309: The core network sends a fourth request to cell 3, where the fourth request is used to request to terminate the call. Correspondingly, cell 3 receives the fourth request from the core network, where the fourth request may be a BYE message.

[0123] S310: Cell 3 sends a fourth request to the terminal device. Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the fourth request from cell 3.

[0124] It should be understood that, in response to the fourth request, the terminal device terminates the current voice call, so that the user perceives that the call is dropped.

[0125] In method 300, cell 3 may be an anchor cell, and cell 3 does not support voice calls. Because terminal devices typically select cells based on a rule prioritizing anchor cells, they select cell 3, resulting in dropped calls. Therefore, there is an urgent need to provide a method to reduce the dropped call rate of terminal devices.

[0126] In order to solve the above technical problems, an embodiment of the present application provides a voice call method and device. When the service cell of the terminal device is a first cell, the neighboring cells of the first cell include a second cell and a third cell that does not support voice call services, the priority of the first cell is lower than the priority of the second cell, the priority of the third cell is greater than the priority of the second cell, the signal strength of the first cell is lower than the signal strength of the second cell, and the signal strength of the third cell is greater than the signal strength of the second cell, by making the terminal device give priority to the third cell when performing cell reselection or cell selection when it is not in a voice call state, and giving priority to the second cell when performing cell reselection or cell selection when it is in a voice call state, that is, when the terminal device is in a voice call state, when performing cell reselection or cell selection, the terminal device gives priority to cells other than cells that do not support voice call services, thereby reducing the probability of the terminal device residing in a cell that does not support voice call services during a voice call. In this way, the call drop rate of the terminal device can be reduced, thereby improving the user experience.

[0127] The voice call method provided in the embodiment of the present application is described in detail below with reference to Figures 4 and 5. The embodiment shown in the present application illustrates the voice call method provided in the embodiment of the present application from the perspective of device interaction. The specific form and quantity of each device shown therein are only examples and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation of the method provided in the embodiment of the present application. In the embodiment of the present application, the interaction between the terminal device and the cell can be understood as the interaction between the terminal device and the access network device providing services for the cell. For ease of understanding, the method provided in the embodiment of the present application is described below with reference to the interaction between the terminal device and the cell.

[0128] It should be understood that the terminal device can be the terminal device itself, or it can be a chip, chip system or processor that supports the terminal device to implement the voice call method, or it can be a logical module or software that can implement all or part of the terminal device; the access network device can be the access network device itself, or it can be a chip, chip system or processor that supports the access network device to implement the voice call method, or it can be a logical module or software that can implement all or part of the access network device. Please do not make specific limitations on this.

[0129] FIG4 is a flow chart of a voice call method 400 provided in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG4 , the current serving cell of the terminal device is the first cell, the neighboring cells of the first cell include the second cell and the third cell, the third cell does not support the voice call service, and the first cell and the second cell support the voice call service.

[0130] It should be understood that the serving cell can be understood as the cell in which the terminal device is currently residing or accessed. For example, if the cell currently accessed by the terminal device is the first cell, then the current serving cell is the first cell. The first cell, the second cell, and the third cell can be cells covered by the same access network device, or they can be cells covered by different access network devices. For example, the first cell can be cell A in the communication system 100, the second cell can be cell B in the communication system 100, and the third cell can be cell C in the communication system 100.

[0131] The third cell not supporting voice call services can be understood as meaning that when the terminal device is stationed in the third cell, the terminal device cannot normally make voice calls. For example, in NSA mode, the third cell not supporting voice call services can mean that the third cell does not have VoLTE capabilities; in SA mode, the third cell not supporting voice call services can mean that the third cell does not have VoNR capabilities.

[0132] The method 400 includes the following steps:

[0133] S401. When a terminal device resides in a first cell and is in a voice call state, and the terminal device triggers a process such as RLF or enters an IDLE state, and needs to perform cell selection or cell reselection, a first message is sent to a second cell, where the first message is used to request access to the second cell; wherein, when the terminal device sends the first message to the second cell, the priority of the first cell is lower than the priority of the second cell, the signal strength of the first cell is lower than the signal strength of the second cell, the priority of the third cell is higher than the priority of the second cell, and the signal strength of the third cell is higher than the signal strength of the second cell. Exemplarily, the first message can be a random access request or an RRC connection re-establishment message, etc.

[0134] Signal strength can refer to RSRP or RSRQ, among other things. A random access request can be used to request random access; an RRC connection reestablishment message can be a message sent by a terminal device to a second cell during random access to the second cell. A voice call state can refer to the state of a terminal device after initiating a call as a calling party and before the call is terminated; or the state of a terminal device after detecting an incoming call as a called party and before the call is terminated.

[0135] It should be understood that the first message is used to request access to the second cell. After the second cell receives the first message from the terminal device, the terminal device and the second cell may further perform other signaling interactions to enable the terminal device to reside in the second cell. This application does not specifically limit this. For example, when the first message is an RRC connection re-establishment message, the second cell may send an RRC connection re-establishment success message to the terminal device, and correspondingly, the terminal device receives the RRC connection re-establishment success message from the second cell.

[0136] S402. When the terminal device resides in the first cell and is not in a voice call state, and the terminal device triggers a process such as RLF or enters the IDLE state, and needs to perform cell selection or cell reselection, the terminal device sends a second message to the third cell, where the second message is used to request access to the third cell; wherein, when the terminal device sends the second message to the third cell, the priority of the first cell is lower than the priority of the second cell, the signal strength of the first cell is lower than the signal strength of the second cell, the priority of the third cell is higher than the priority of the second cell, and the signal strength of the third cell is higher than the signal strength of the second cell. Exemplarily, the second message can be a random access request or an RRC connection reestablishment message, etc.

[0137] It should be understood that the priority of the first cell is lower than the priority of the second cell and the priority of the third cell is higher than the priority of the second cell, which may mean that when the terminal device performs cell selection or cell reselection, the priority of the third cell is higher than the priority of the second cell, and the priority of the second cell is higher than the priority of the first cell. For example, assuming that the priority of the third cell is level 7, the priority of the second cell is level 6, and the priority of the first cell is level 5, the priority of the third cell is higher than the priority of the second cell, and the priority of the second cell is higher than the priority of the first cell, that is, when the terminal device performs cell selection or cell reselection in order of priority from high to low, the terminal device gives priority to the third cell.

[0138] Among them, in the embodiment of the present application, the priority of the first cell is lower than the priority of the second cell or the priority of the third cell is higher than the priority of the second cell, which does not limit the priority of the cell to be expressed in numerical values, nor does it limit the case where the priority is expressed in numerical values, where the larger the numerical value, the higher the priority. For example, assuming that the priority is represented by level 1, level 2, and level 3 from high to low, the priority of the third cell is level 1, and the priority of the second cell is level 2, then the priority of the third cell is higher than the priority of the second cell, that is, when the terminal device selects or reselects a cell in order of priority from high to low, the terminal device gives priority to the third cell.

[0139] It should be understood that the priority of the third cell is greater than the priority of the second cell, the signal strength of the third cell is greater than the signal strength of the second cell, and the terminal device selects the second cell when in a voice call state and selects the third cell when not in a voice call state. This does not limit the terminal device to selecting a cell with lower signal strength and lower priority when in a voice call state, but means that the terminal device will give priority to cells other than cells that do not support voice call services when in a voice call state. For example, when the priority of the third cell is lower than the priority of the second cell, and / or the signal strength of the third cell is greater than the signal strength of the second cell, and the third cell does not support voice call services, the terminal device gives priority to the second cell in the voice call state because the third cell does not support voice call services. In addition, when the priority of the third cell is lower than the priority of the second cell, and / or the signal strength of the third cell is greater than the signal strength of the second cell, the terminal device may also select the second cell in the non-voice call state if the terminal device follows the rule of giving priority to cells with higher priorities and / or greater signal strengths.

[0140] It should be understood that the RRC connection re-establishment message can be a message sent to the third cell during the process of the terminal device randomly accessing the third cell. The second message is used to request access to the second cell. After the third cell receives the second message from the terminal device, the terminal device and the third cell can also perform other signaling interactions to enable the terminal device to reside in the third cell. This application does not make specific limitations on this. For example, in the case where the second message is an RRC connection re-establishment message, the third cell can send an RRC connection re-establishment success message to the terminal device, and correspondingly, the terminal device receives the RRC connection re-establishment success message from the third cell.

[0141] Optionally, the terminal device may select or reselect a cell when the terminal device enters an idle state. The IDLE state may also be understood as an RRC-IDEL state. When the terminal device is in this state, it may be necessary to perform cell reselection or cell selection.

[0142] The voice call method provided in the embodiment of the present application, when the service cell of the terminal device is the first cell, and the neighboring cells of the first cell include the second cell and the third cell that does not support the voice call service, if the priority of the first cell is lower than that of the second cell, the priority of the third cell is greater than that of the second cell, the signal strength of the first cell is lower than that of the second cell, and the signal strength of the third cell is greater than the signal strength of the second cell, then when the terminal device is not in a voice call state and performs cell reselection or cell selection, the third cell is given priority; however, when the terminal device is in a voice call state and performs cell reselection or cell selection, the second cell is given priority, that is, when the terminal device is in a voice call state, when the terminal device performs cell reselection or cell selection, a cell other than the cell that does not support the voice call service is given priority, thereby reducing the probability of the terminal device residing in the cell that does not support the voice call service during the voice call. In this way, the call drop rate of the terminal device can be reduced, thereby improving the user experience.

[0143] Below, the implementation of S401 and S402 will be described in detail.

[0144] As an optional embodiment, S401 can be implemented in the following manner: sending a first message to the second cell based on a first preset rule, the first preset rule including at least one of the following: not selecting the cell corresponding to the first preset frequency band or the first preset frequency point, or, performing cell selection or cell reselection based on the updated priority of the cell corresponding to the first preset frequency band or the first preset frequency point, or, not giving priority to the anchor cell, the updated priority of the cell corresponding to the first preset frequency band is lower than the original priority of the cell corresponding to the first preset frequency band, and the updated priority of the cell corresponding to the first preset frequency point is lower than the original priority of the cell corresponding to the first preset frequency point; wherein, the first preset frequency band includes the frequency band corresponding to the third cell, or, the first preset frequency point includes the frequency point corresponding to the third cell.

[0145] It should be understood that sending the first message to the second cell based on the first preset rule can be understood as the terminal device selecting to reside in the second cell based on the first preset rule and sending the first message to the second cell. The number of anchor cells can be one or more. The anchor cells can include cells with voice call capabilities and / or cells without voice call capabilities. In addition, the original priority can be understood as the priority before the update. The updated priority of the cell corresponding to the first preset frequency band is lower than the original priority of the cell corresponding to the first preset frequency band, which can mean that the priority of the cell corresponding to the first preset frequency band after the update is lower than that before the update. The updated priority of the cell corresponding to the first preset frequency point is lower than the original priority of the cell corresponding to the first preset frequency point, which can mean that the priority of the cell corresponding to the first preset frequency point after the update is lower than that before the update. For example, assuming that the original priority of the cell corresponding to the first preset frequency band or the first preset frequency point is level 7, the updated priority can be level 6, where level 7 is higher than level 6.

[0146] The frequencies corresponding to the first preset frequency band may include the first preset frequency band. Exemplarily, the frequencies corresponding to the first preset frequency band are 1900 and 1800, the first preset frequency band is 1800, and the frequencies corresponding to the first preset frequency band include the first preset frequency band; the frequencies corresponding to the second preset frequency band are 1900 and 1800, the second preset frequency band is 1700, and the frequencies corresponding to the second preset frequency band do not include the second preset frequency band.

[0147] As an optional embodiment, before S401, when the terminal device establishes a voice call, method 400 also includes at least one of the following: the terminal device is prohibited from selecting the cell corresponding to the first preset frequency band or the first preset frequency point; or, the terminal device lowers the priority of the cell corresponding to the second preset frequency band or the second preset frequency point to obtain an updated priority; or, when the anchor cell does not support the voice call function, the terminal device does not give priority to selecting the anchor cell.

[0148] It should be understood that when the terminal device establishes a voice call, it can be understood that after the terminal device makes a call, or after detecting an incoming call. In the case where the terminal device defaults to prioritizing the anchor cell or the protocol stipulates that the anchor cell is preferred, the terminal device can cancel the rule of prioritizing the anchor cell.

[0149] Among them, lowering the priority of the cell corresponding to the first preset frequency band or the first preset frequency point can also be understood as lowering the priority of the first preset frequency band or the first preset frequency point. Lowering the priority of the cell corresponding to the first preset frequency band or the first preset frequency point can be achieved in a variety of ways. For example, as shown in Table 1, the neighboring cells of the first cell include cell 1, cell 2, and cell 3, wherein the frequency band 28 corresponding to cell 1 does not support voice call services, and the first preset frequency band can be frequency band 28. The terminal device can lower the priority of the first preset frequency band by lowering the signal strength of the cell corresponding to the first preset frequency band. For example, if the signal strength of cell 1 measured by the terminal device is -84dBm, in order to lower the priority of cell 1, the terminal device can subtract a positive value from the signal strength of cell 1, for example, subtract 30dBm, thereby lowering the signal strength of cell 1. In this way, the signal strength of cell 1 is updated to -114dBm, and the probability of the terminal device selecting cell 1 is reduced. Alternatively, the terminal device may also lower the priority of the cell corresponding to the first preset frequency band to after the cell corresponding to the preset signal strength. For example, if the preset signal strength is -100dBm, the terminal device lowers the priority of cell 1 to after cell 2. When the terminal device performs subsequent cell selection, it can give priority to cell 2 with a signal strength greater than or equal to -100dBm.

[0150] Table 1

[0151] It should be understood that the manner in which the terminal device reduces the priority of the cell corresponding to the first preset frequency point is similar to the manner in which the priority of the cell corresponding to the first preset frequency band is reduced. For reference, the above description will be referred to and will not be repeated here. Furthermore, this application does not specifically limit the manner in which the terminal device reduces the priority of the cell corresponding to the first preset frequency band or the first preset frequency point.

[0152] As an optional embodiment, the first preset rule may further include: giving priority to non-anchor cells. In this way, when the anchor cell does not have voice call capabilities, the terminal device may give priority to camping on the non-anchor cell during a voice call, thereby helping to reduce the call drop rate of the terminal device.

[0153] As an optional embodiment, S402 may be implemented in the following manner: sending a second message to the third cell based on a second preset rule, where the second preset rule includes prioritizing the anchor cell.

[0154] It should be understood that sending the second message to the third cell based on the second preset rule can be understood as the terminal device selecting to reside in the third cell based on the second preset rule and sending the second message to the third cell. The second preset rule is a rule for the terminal device to perform cell selection or cell reselection when not in a voice call state. By enabling the terminal device to prioritize the anchor cell, the probability of the terminal device residing in the anchor cell is increased, thereby enabling the terminal device to prioritize the use of the 5G network, thereby improving the user experience.

[0155] Optionally, the third cell can be an anchor cell under NSA. In this way, according to the second preset rule, the terminal device can give priority to the third cell, so that the terminal device can give priority to using the 5G network.

[0156] Optionally, the second preset rule may also include: giving priority to cells with higher priorities, and / or giving priority to cells with greater signal strength. This helps the terminal device to preferentially reside in cells with better signal conditions, thereby improving the user experience.

[0157] In the embodiment of the present application, the first preset frequency band and / or the first preset frequency point included in the first preset rule can be determined in a variety of ways. Two ways of determining the first preset frequency band and / or the first preset frequency point are described in detail below.

[0158] Mode 1: The first preset frequency band and / or the second preset frequency band is a preset frequency band; and / or the first preset frequency point or the second preset frequency point is a preset frequency point.

[0159] As an optional embodiment, the first preset frequency band and / or the second preset frequency band is a preset frequency band that does not have voice call capabilities; and / or the first preset frequency point and / or the second preset frequency point is a preset frequency point that does not have voice call capabilities, and / or there is a first anchor cell in the anchor cell that does not support voice call services.

[0160] It should be understood that the anchor cell may refer to an anchor cell under NSA. The number of anchor cells may be one or more, and the number of first anchor cells that do not support voice call services included in the anchor cells may be one or more. Lack of voice call capability may be understood as lack of VoLTE capability.

[0161] Optionally, the first preset frequency band includes frequency band B28 under the Long Term Evolution LTE communication technology.

[0162] For example, Malaysia is currently promoting 5G NSA nationwide, and the cell corresponding to the frequency band B28 is used as the anchor cell, so that when the terminal device accesses the cell corresponding to B28, it can access the Internet through 5G. However, because the network provider does not provide VoLTE voice services for B28, when the terminal device is in a voice call state and accesses the cell corresponding to B28, a call drop will occur. In order to solve this problem, in one possible implementation method, before the terminal device leaves the factory, B28 that does not support voice call services can be preset. In this way, when the terminal device is in a voice call state, before cell reselection or cell selection, the rule of giving priority to the anchor cell can be canceled, and the priority of the cell corresponding to B28 can be lowered, so that the first preset rule can be determined as: not giving priority to the anchor cell, and, based on the updated priority selection of the cell corresponding to B28, the updated priority is lower than the original priority. This allows the terminal device to not give priority to the anchor cell when performing cell reselection or cell selection, and since the priority of the cell corresponding to B28 is lowered, the probability of the terminal device selecting the cell corresponding to B28 is smaller, thereby reducing the call drop rate of the terminal device; in addition, when the signal strength of the anchor cell outside the cell corresponding to B28 is strong, the terminal device can select the anchor cell outside the cell corresponding to B28, which has little impact on the anchor cell outside the cell corresponding to B28, helping the terminal device to select a cell with better signal conditions and improving user experience.

[0163] In one possible implementation, the first preset frequency may include a frequency corresponding to the first anchor cell, and / or the first preset frequency band may include a frequency band corresponding to the first anchor cell. With this technical solution, during a voice call on a terminal device, if the terminal device needs to select a cell, the probability of the terminal device selecting the first anchor cell is lower, which helps the terminal device prioritize cells with VoLTE capabilities, thereby helping to reduce dropped calls on the terminal device and improve user experience.

[0164] For example, before the terminal device leaves the factory, an identifier of the first preset frequency band that does not support voice call services is stored in the terminal device, and the cell corresponding to the first preset frequency band is an anchor cell; then the first preset rule may include: not giving priority to the anchor cell, and making a selection based on the updated priority of the cell corresponding to the first preset frequency band, where the updated priority is lower than the original priority of the cell corresponding to the first preset frequency band. In this way, based on not giving priority to the anchor cell, the terminal device may not give priority to the cell corresponding to the first preset frequency band; at the same time, since the updated priority of the cell corresponding to the first preset frequency band is lower than the original priority, that is, the priority of the cell corresponding to the first preset frequency band is lowered, the terminal device may give priority to other cells with higher priorities or stronger signal strengths, so that the probability of the terminal device residing in the cell corresponding to the first preset frequency band is lower, which can reduce the call drop rate of the terminal device.

[0165] In another possible implementation, a first preset frequency band and / or first preset frequency point identifier that does not support voice call services is preset in the terminal device, and the first preset rule includes not selecting cells corresponding to the first preset frequency band and / or first preset frequency point. In this way, when the terminal device is in a voice call state and needs to select or reselect a cell, the terminal device does not select cells corresponding to the first preset frequency band and / or first preset frequency point that do not support voice call services, thereby reducing the terminal device's call drop rate and improving the user experience.

[0166] Method 2: The first preset frequency band is a frequency band determined by the terminal device not to support voice call capability; and / or, the first preset frequency point is a frequency point determined by the terminal device not to support voice call capability.

[0167] To describe the second approach in detail, based on the above-described method 400, an embodiment of the present application provides a voice call method 500. As shown in FIG5 , the method 500 includes the following steps:

[0168] S501. The current serving cell of the terminal device is the third cell. During the process of the terminal device establishing a voice call in the third cell, the third cell sends a third message to the terminal device. The third message may be a reconfiguration message. Correspondingly, the terminal device receives a third message from the third cell. The third message is used to instruct the terminal device to perform a preset event measurement. The third message carries information for indicating a target frequency and at least one threshold value. The preset event is an A5 event. The at least one threshold value includes a first threshold value and a second threshold value. The first threshold value is greater than the second threshold value. The cell corresponding to the target frequency is a neighboring cell of the third cell. The first threshold value is a signal strength threshold value of the third cell. The second threshold value is a signal strength threshold value of a neighboring cell of the third cell.

[0169] It should be understood that the number of frequencies included in the target frequency point may be one or more. The target frequency point may also be referred to as a measurement frequency point. After receiving the third message, the terminal device may measure the signal strength of the cell corresponding to the target frequency point carried in the third message. The preset event may also be referred to as a switching event. The A5 event may refer to an event in which the terminal device measures whether the signal strength of the current serving cell is less than or equal to the first threshold, and whether the signal strength of the neighboring cell of the serving cell is greater than or equal to the second threshold, and reports the measurement result. The first threshold value is the threshold value of the signal strength of the third cell, which can be understood as the first threshold value being used to compare with the signal strength of the third cell, that is, to determine whether the signal strength of the third cell is less than or equal to the first threshold value; the second threshold value is the threshold value of the signal strength of the neighboring cell of the third cell, which can be understood as the second threshold value being used to compare with the signal strength of the neighboring cell of the third cell, that is, to determine whether the signal strength of the neighboring cell of the third cell is greater than or equal to the second threshold value.

[0170] Optionally, the third message may be an RRC reconfiguration message, which carries measurement control information (measConfig), and the measurement control information includes a measurement object ID (measObjectId) and a report configuration ID (reportConfigId); wherein the measurement object ID includes a target frequency, and the report configuration ID includes information for indicating a preset event, such as a preset event identifier.

[0171] Optionally, before S501, the terminal device sends a fifth request to the third cell for requesting a voice call. Correspondingly, the third cell receives the fifth request from the terminal device and sends the fifth request to the core network device. In response to the fifth request, the third cell receives a fifth message from the core network device and sends the fifth message to the terminal device. Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the fifth message from the third cell, the fifth message carrying information indicating that the fifth request is being processed. The fifth request may also be an invite message, and the fifth message may be a 100trying message.

[0172] S502. When at least one threshold satisfies a preset condition, determine a first preset frequency band or a first preset frequency point based at least on the frequency band corresponding to the target frequency point and the frequency band corresponding to the third cell, wherein the preset condition includes a first preset condition, the first preset condition being that the first threshold is greater than or equal to the first preset threshold, and the second threshold is less than or equal to the second preset threshold, and the first preset threshold is greater than the second preset threshold.

[0173] It should be understood that when the first threshold is greater than or equal to the first preset threshold, it means that the first threshold is high, and the signal strength of the serving cell is usually less than or equal to the first threshold; when the second threshold is less than or equal to the second preset threshold, it means that the second threshold is low, and the signal strength of the neighboring cell is usually greater than or equal to the second threshold. Therefore, based on the first threshold and the second threshold, after the terminal device performs cell measurement, the probability of switching to the neighboring cell is relatively high. Based on this, the terminal device can determine that the settings of the first threshold and the second threshold are unreasonable, and the current switching event may be an unreasonable switching event. Furthermore, the terminal device can determine that the frequency or frequency band corresponding to the current serving cell may not support voice call services.

[0174] For example, the first preset threshold value may be -40dBm, and the second preset threshold value may be -120dBm. When the first threshold value is greater than or equal to -40dBm, the signal strength of the third cell is generally less than the first threshold value; when the second threshold value is less than or equal to -120dBm, the signal strength of the neighboring cell of the third cell is generally greater than the second threshold value. After the terminal device performs signal measurement and submits a measurement report, the terminal device generally switches to the neighboring cell of the third cell, i.e., the first and second threshold values ​​are not set reasonably.

[0175] When the terminal device determines that the frequency or frequency band corresponding to the third cell does not have the capability of voice calls, since the target frequency indicated by the serving cell in the third message usually supports voice call services, the terminal device can determine whether the frequency corresponding to the third cell does not have the capability of voice calls or the frequency band corresponding to the third cell does not have the capability of voice calls by comparing the frequency band corresponding to the target frequency and the frequency band corresponding to the currently located third cell, thereby determining the first preset frequency band or the first preset frequency.

[0176] Through the above-mentioned technical solution, the terminal device can determine the frequency or frequency band that does not have the capability of voice calls. Compared with the preset frequency band or frequency point that does not have the capability of voice calls, the terminal device can identify the frequency or frequency band that does not have the capability of voice calls other than the preset frequency band or frequency point. In this way, when the terminal device selects a cell according to the first preset rule, the probability of the terminal device selecting the cell corresponding to the frequency or frequency band that does not have the capability of voice calls is relatively small, which can further reduce the call drop rate of the terminal device and improve the user experience.

[0177] In some possible implementations, the preset event may be other switching events, such as an A4 event, etc. Correspondingly, the number included in at least one threshold may be one. Among them, the A4 event may refer to an event in which the terminal device determines that the signal strength of the neighboring cell of the current serving cell is greater than or equal to a third threshold. At the same time, the preset condition may be that the third threshold is less than or equal to the third preset threshold. When the third threshold is less than or equal to the third preset threshold, it means that the third threshold is small, then the probability that the signal strength of the neighboring cell of the serving cell is greater than the third threshold is large, then the probability that the terminal device switches to the neighboring cell of the serving cell is large, indicating that the third threshold setting is unreasonable, and the terminal device may determine that the frequency or frequency band corresponding to the serving cell does not support voice call services.

[0178] In a possible implementation, the preset condition further includes a second preset condition, where the second preset condition is that the terminal device receives a message from a current serving cell for instructing cell switching.

[0179] It should be understood that since the unreasonable settings of the first threshold and the second threshold may be caused by abnormalities in the access network equipment, through the coordinated use of the first preset condition and the second preset condition, when the first threshold and the second threshold are set unreasonably and the terminal device receives a message from the current service cell to indicate cell switching, it can be more accurately determined that the current service cell of the terminal device does not support voice call services, thereby making the first preset frequency point or the first preset frequency band determined by the terminal device more accurate.

[0180] S503: In response to the third message, the terminal device sends a measurement report to the third cell. Correspondingly, the third cell receives the measurement report from the terminal device, where the measurement report includes signal strength information of the third cell and signal strength information of at least one cell corresponding to the target frequency, where the at least one cell includes the first cell.

[0181] It should be understood that the at least one cell corresponding to the target frequency may be all or some of the cells corresponding to the target frequency, or may be the cell with the highest signal strength among the cells corresponding to the target frequency. When the number of the at least one cell is one, the at least one cell is the first cell. The first cell may be the cell with the highest signal strength among the at least one cell. In addition, the measurement report may further include an identifier of the at least one cell.

[0182] S504: Based on the measurement report, the third cell sends a fourth message to the terminal device. Correspondingly, the terminal device receives a fourth message from the third cell, where the fourth message is used to instruct the terminal device to switch to the first cell.

[0183] It should be understood that S502 may be executed simultaneously with S503 and S504, and S502 may also be executed after S504 or before S504, and this application does not make any specific limitation on this.

[0184] S505. In response to the fourth message, the terminal device accesses the first cell.

[0185] It should be understood that the terminal device accessing the first cell may also be understood as the terminal device residing in the first cell. The terminal device may access the first cell through an RRC access procedure, or the terminal device may access the first cell through an RRC access procedure and a TAU procedure in sequence.

[0186] S506: When the terminal device is in a voice call state and triggers an RLF process, the terminal device selects a second cell based on a first preset rule.

[0187] It should be understood that the current service cell of the terminal device is the first cell, the neighboring cells of the first cell include the second cell and the third cell, the priority of the first cell is lower than the priority of the second cell, the priority of the third cell is greater than or equal to the priority of the second cell, the signal strength of the first cell is lower than the signal strength of the second cell, and the signal strength of the third cell is greater than or equal to the signal strength of the second cell.

[0188] S507. The terminal device accesses the second cell.

[0189] It should be understood that the terminal device can access the second cell through the RRC access process, for example, the terminal device sends a first message (RRC connection re-establishment message) to the second cell; then the second cell sends an RRC connection re-establishment success message to the terminal device. S506 and S507 are similar to the implementation of S401, and can refer to the above description, which will not be repeated here.

[0190] Optionally, after the terminal device resides in the second cell, if the voice call of the terminal device ends, cell selection or cell reselection can be performed through S508.

[0191] S508. After the voice call of the terminal device ends, the terminal device selects a third cell based on a second preset rule, where the second preset rule includes giving priority to selecting an anchor cell.

[0192] S509. The terminal device sends a second message to the third cell, where the second message is used to request access to the third cell.

[0193] It should be understood that the implementation of S508 and S509 is similar to that of S402, and reference may be made to the above description, which will not be repeated here.

[0194] In method 500, S501 to S507 are executed when the terminal device is in a voice call state, that is, when the terminal device is in a voice call state, the terminal device selects a resident cell based on a first preset rule; when the terminal device is not in a voice call state, the terminal device can select a resident cell based on a second preset rule. In this way, on the one hand, when the terminal device is making a voice call, the probability of the terminal device resident in a cell that does not support voice call services can be reduced, thereby reducing the call drop rate of the terminal device. On the other hand, when the terminal device is not making a voice call, the terminal device can give priority to a cell with stronger signal strength or an anchor cell, which can make the network conditions of the terminal device better, thereby improving the user experience. For example, assuming that the terminal device does not give priority to the anchor cell when it is in a voice call state, but gives priority to the anchor cell in a non-voice state, in this way, when the anchor cell does not have the ability to make voice calls, on the one hand, the anchor cell is not given priority during the voice call, so that the probability of the terminal device selecting the anchor cell is small, which helps to reduce the call drop phenomenon of the terminal device. On the other hand, when it is not in a voice call state, the anchor cell is given priority, which enables the terminal device to use the 5G network, thereby improving the user experience.

[0195] Next, the method for determining the first preset frequency point and the first preset frequency band in S502 is described.

[0196] In a possible implementation, S502 may be implemented in the following manner: when the frequency band corresponding to the target frequency point is different from the frequency band corresponding to the third cell, the first preset frequency band includes the frequency band corresponding to the third cell.

[0197] It should be understood that the target frequency is a frequency capable of voice calls indicated by the third cell to the terminal device. Therefore, if the frequency band corresponding to the target frequency is different from the frequency band corresponding to the third cell, it indicates that the terminal device needs to switch to a cell corresponding to a frequency band other than the frequency band corresponding to the third cell, indicating that the frequency band corresponding to the third cell may not be capable of voice calls. Therefore, the first preset frequency band includes the frequency band corresponding to the third cell.

[0198] In another possible implementation, S502 may be implemented in the following manner: when the frequency band corresponding to the target frequency is the same as the frequency band corresponding to the third cell, and the target frequency is different from the frequency corresponding to the third cell, the first preset frequency includes the frequency corresponding to the third cell.

[0199] It should be understood that the frequency band corresponding to the target frequency is the same as the frequency band corresponding to the third cell, indicating that the frequency band corresponding to the third cell has voice call capabilities, and therefore, the terminal device does not need to switch frequency bands; the target frequency is different from the frequency corresponding to the third cell, indicating that the terminal device needs to switch to a cell corresponding to a frequency other than the frequency corresponding to the third cell, indicating that the frequency corresponding to the third cell may not have voice call capabilities, and therefore, the first preset frequency includes the frequency corresponding to the third cell.

[0200] The above-described method for determining the first preset frequency point and the first preset frequency band indicates that, in method 2, the process for determining the first preset frequency point and the first preset frequency band is related to the frequency point and frequency band of the third cell. Therefore, the different conditions in the third cell result in a different first preset frequency point / first preset frequency band determined by the terminal device, and thus a different first preset rule. Several different situations of the first preset rule are described below.

[0201] Case 1: The third cell is an anchor cell, and the terminal device determines the first preset frequency band based on the frequency band corresponding to the target frequency point and the frequency band corresponding to the third cell, and the first preset frequency band includes the frequency band corresponding to the third cell. Then the first preset rule includes at least one of the following: not selecting the cell corresponding to the first preset frequency band, or, selecting based on the updated priority of the cell corresponding to the first preset frequency band, or, not giving priority to the anchor cell, and the updated priority of the cell corresponding to the first preset frequency band is lower than the original priority of the cell corresponding to the first preset frequency band.

[0202] Case 2: The third cell is an anchor cell, and the terminal device determines the first preset frequency based on the frequency band corresponding to the target frequency and the frequency band corresponding to the third cell. The first preset frequency includes the frequency corresponding to the third cell. Then the first preset rule includes at least one of the following: not selecting the cell corresponding to the first preset frequency, or, selecting based on the updated priority of the cell corresponding to the first preset frequency, or, not giving priority to the anchor cell, and the updated priority of the cell corresponding to the first preset frequency is lower than the original priority of the cell corresponding to the first preset frequency.

[0203] Case 3: The third cell is not an anchor cell, and the terminal device determines the first preset frequency band based on the frequency band corresponding to the target frequency point and the frequency band corresponding to the third cell, and the first preset frequency band includes the frequency band corresponding to the third cell. The first preset rule includes: not selecting the cell corresponding to the first preset frequency band, or selecting based on the updated priority of the cell corresponding to the first preset frequency band, and the updated priority of the cell corresponding to the first preset frequency band is lower than the original priority of the cell corresponding to the first preset frequency band.

[0204] Case 4: The third cell is not an anchor cell, and the terminal device determines the first preset frequency based on the frequency band corresponding to the target frequency and the frequency band corresponding to the third cell, and the first preset frequency includes the frequency corresponding to the third cell. The first preset rule includes: not selecting the cell corresponding to the first preset frequency, or selecting based on the updated priority of the cell corresponding to the first preset frequency, and the updated priority of the cell corresponding to the first preset frequency is lower than the original priority of the cell corresponding to the first preset frequency.

[0205] In addition, in method 500, in the first case, the voice call process in which the terminal device selects the second cell based on the first preset rule (i.e., the process of S506) may be a voice call established before S501, that is, during the process of executing S501 to S507, the terminal device is always in the same voice call; in the second case, the voice call process in which the terminal device selects the second cell based on the first preset rule (i.e., the process of S506) may also be a voice call established subsequently after the voice call established before S501 ends. This application does not make any specific limitations on this.

[0206] The first and second cases are described below.

[0207] In the first case, before S501, the terminal device establishes a voice call, and before the voice call ends, the terminal device determines the first preset frequency point or the first preset frequency band, and selects the second cell based on the first preset rule, that is, S501 to S507 are all performed during one voice call.

[0208] In the second scenario, before S501, at a first moment, the terminal device establishes a first voice call, and before the first voice call ends, the terminal device determines and stores a first preset frequency or a first preset frequency band; the terminal device then ends the first voice call; at a second moment, the terminal device establishes a second voice call and needs to select a cell. The terminal device performs the cell selection based on a first preset rule, which is determined based on the first preset frequency or the first preset frequency band determined during the first voice call, wherein the second moment occurs later than the first moment. For example, assume that during the first voice call, a third cell is determined to be an anchor cell, and the first preset frequencies include the frequency corresponding to the third cell. The first preset rule may include at least one of the following: not selecting the cell corresponding to the first preset frequency; selecting based on the updated priority of the cell corresponding to the first preset frequency; or not prioritizing the anchor cell, where the updated priority is lower than the original priority of the cell corresponding to the preset frequency. During the second voice call, the terminal device may select the second cell based on the first preset rule.

[0209] As an optional embodiment, the first cell, the second cell, and the third cell are LTE cells; or, not supporting the voice call service means not supporting the IMS voice call service.

[0210] It should be understood that when the first cell, the second cell and the third cell are LTE cells, not supporting voice call services can be understood as not having VoLTE capabilities.

[0211] It should be understood that the order of execution of the above methods does not necessarily mean the order in which they are executed. The order in which each process is executed should be determined by its function and internal logic.

[0212] The above description, in conjunction with Figures 4 and 5 , details the voice call method according to an embodiment of the present application. The following description, in conjunction with Figures 5 and 6 , details the voice call device according to an embodiment of the present application. The voice call method includes modules or units for executing each of the corresponding parts of the above embodiments. These modules or units may be software, hardware, or a combination of software and hardware. The following description only briefly illustrates the voice call device. For implementation details, please refer to the description of the aforementioned method embodiment, which will not be repeated here.

[0213] Figure 6 is a schematic block diagram of a voice call device 600 provided in an embodiment of the present application. Device 600's current serving cell is a first cell. Neighboring cells of the first cell include a second cell and a third cell. The third cell does not support voice call services, while the first and second cells do. As shown in Figure 6 , device 600 includes a sending module 601.

[0214] The sending module 601 is used to: when the device 600 resides in the first cell and is in a voice call state, and the device 600 needs to perform cell selection or cell reselection, send a first message to the second cell, the first message is used to request access to the second cell; wherein, when the device 600 sends the first message to the second cell, the priority of the first cell is lower than the priority of the second cell, the signal strength of the first cell is lower than the signal strength of the second cell, the priority of the third cell is higher than the priority of the second cell, and the signal strength of the third cell is higher than the signal strength of the second cell; when the device 600 resides in the first cell and is not in a voice call state, and the device 600 needs to perform cell selection or cell reselection, send a second message to the third cell, the second message is used to request access to the third cell; wherein, when the device 600 sends the second message to the third cell, the priority of the first cell is lower than the priority of the second cell, the signal strength of the first cell is lower than the signal strength of the second cell, the priority of the third cell is higher than the priority of the second cell, and the signal strength of the third cell is higher than the signal strength of the second cell.

[0215] Optionally, the sending module 601 is specifically used to: send a first message to the second cell based on a first preset rule, the first preset rule including at least one of the following: not selecting the cell corresponding to the first preset frequency band or the first preset frequency point, or, performing cell selection or cell reselection based on the updated priority of the cell corresponding to the first preset frequency band or the first preset frequency point, or, not giving priority to the anchor cell, the updated priority of the cell corresponding to the first preset frequency band is lower than the original priority of the cell corresponding to the first preset frequency band, and the updated priority of the cell corresponding to the first preset frequency point is lower than the original priority of the cell corresponding to the first preset frequency point; wherein, the first preset frequency band includes the frequency band corresponding to the third cell, or, the first preset frequency point includes the frequency point corresponding to the third cell.

[0216] Optionally, the sending module 601 is specifically configured to: send a second message to the third cell based on a second preset rule, where the second preset rule is different from the first preset rule, and the second preset rule includes: giving priority to selecting an anchor cell.

[0217] Optionally, the device 600 also includes a receiving module 602 and a processing module 603, the receiving module 602 is used to: during the process of the device 600 establishing a voice call in the third cell, receive a third message from the third cell, the third message is used to instruct the device 600 to perform a preset event measurement, the third message carries information for indicating the target frequency point and information for indicating at least one threshold value, the preset event is an A5 event, the at least one threshold value includes a first threshold value and a second threshold value, the first threshold value is greater than the second threshold value, the cell corresponding to the target frequency point is a neighboring cell of the third cell, the first threshold value is a threshold value of the signal strength of the third cell, and the second threshold value is a threshold value of the signal strength of the neighboring cell; the processing module 603 is used to: when at least one threshold value meets the preset condition, at least according to the target frequency point The frequency band corresponding to the target frequency point and the frequency band corresponding to the third cell are used to determine the first preset frequency band or the first preset frequency point, wherein the preset condition includes a first preset condition, the first preset condition is that the first threshold is greater than or equal to the first preset threshold, and the second threshold is less than or equal to the second preset threshold, and the first preset threshold is greater than the second preset threshold; the sending module 601 is also used to: in response to the third message, send a measurement report to the third cell, the measurement report includes the signal strength information of the third cell and the signal strength information of at least one cell corresponding to the target frequency point, the at least one cell includes the first cell; the receiving module 602 is also used to: receive a fourth message from the third cell, the fourth message is used to instruct the device 600 to switch to the first cell; the sending module 601 is also used to: in response to the fourth message, access the first cell.

[0218] Optionally, when the frequency band corresponding to the target frequency point is different from the frequency band corresponding to the third cell, the first preset frequency band includes the frequency band corresponding to the third cell.

[0219] Optionally, when the frequency band corresponding to the target frequency is the same as the frequency band corresponding to the third cell, and the target frequency is different from the frequency corresponding to the third cell, the first preset frequency includes the frequency corresponding to the third cell.

[0220] Optionally, the situation where the apparatus 600 needs to perform cell selection or cell reselection includes: the apparatus 600 is in an idle IDLE state, or the apparatus 600 triggers a radio link failure RLF process.

[0221] Optionally, the third cell is an anchor cell under non-independent networking NSA.

[0222] Optionally, the first preset frequency band includes frequency band B28 under the Long Term Evolution LTE communication technology.

[0223] Optionally, the first cell, the second cell and the third cell are LTE cells; or, not supporting voice call service means not supporting Internet Protocol IP Multimedia Subsystem IMS voice call service.

[0224] It should be understood that the device 600 here is embodied in the form of a functional module. The term "module" here can refer to an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), an electronic circuit, a processor (such as a shared processor, a dedicated processor or a group processor, etc.) and a memory for executing one or more software or firmware programs, a combined logic circuit and / or other suitable components that support the described functions. In an optional example, those skilled in the art will understand that the device 600 can be specifically the terminal device in the above embodiment, and the device 600 can be used to execute the various processes and / or steps corresponding to the terminal device in the above method embodiment. To avoid repetition, it will not be repeated here.

[0225] The apparatus 600 has the function of implementing the corresponding steps performed by the terminal device in the above method; the above functions can be implemented by hardware, or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above functions.

[0226] In some embodiments provided herein, the apparatus 600 in FIG6 may also be a chip, such as a modem processor. Correspondingly, the processing module 603 may be a transceiver circuit of the chip, which is not limited here.

[0227] Figure 7 shows a schematic block diagram of a voice communication device 700 provided in an embodiment of the present application. The device 700 includes a processor 701, a transceiver 702, and a memory 703. The processor 701, the transceiver 702, and the memory 703 communicate with each other via an internal connection path. The memory 703 is used to store instructions, and the processor 701 is used to execute the instructions stored in the memory 703 to control the transceiver 702 to send and / or receive signals.

[0228] It should be understood that the apparatus 700 can be specifically the terminal device in the above-mentioned embodiment, and can be used to execute the various steps and / or processes corresponding to the terminal device in the above-mentioned method embodiment. Optionally, the memory 703 may include a read-only memory and a random access memory, and provide instructions and data to the processor. A portion of the memory may also include a non-volatile random access memory. For example, the memory may also store information about the device type. The processor 701 can be used to execute instructions stored in the memory, and when the processor 701 executes the instructions stored in the memory, the processor 701 is used to execute the various steps and / or processes of the above-mentioned method embodiment. The transceiver 702 may include a transmitter and a receiver. The transmitter can be used to implement the various steps and / or processes corresponding to the above-mentioned transceiver for performing the sending action, and the receiver can be used to implement the various steps and / or processes corresponding to the above-mentioned transceiver for performing the receiving action.

[0229] It should be understood that in the embodiments of the present application, the processor may be a central processing unit (CPU), or may be other general-purpose processors, digital signal processors (DSPs), application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components, etc. A general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor or any conventional processor, etc.

[0230] During implementation, each step of the above method can be completed by an integrated logic circuit of hardware in a processor or by instructions in the form of software. The steps of the method disclosed in conjunction with the embodiments of the present application can be directly embodied as being executed by a hardware processor, or can be executed by a combination of hardware and software modules in the processor. The software module can be located in a storage medium mature in the art, such as a random access memory, a flash memory, a read-only memory, a programmable read-only memory, or an electrically erasable programmable memory, a register, etc. The storage medium is located in a memory, and the processor executes the instructions in the memory, and completes the steps of the above method in conjunction with its hardware. To avoid repetition, it will not be described in detail here.

[0231] FIG8 shows a hardware structure of a terminal device, which may include: a processor, an external memory interface, an internal memory, a universal serial bus (USB) interface, a charging management module, a power management module, a battery, antenna 1, antenna 2, a mobile communication module, a wireless communication module, a sensor module, buttons, a motor, an indicator, a camera, a display, and a SIM card slot. The audio module may include a speaker, a receiver, a microphone, and a headphone jack, and the sensor module may include a pressure sensor, a gyroscope sensor, an air pressure sensor, a magnetic sensor, an acceleration sensor, a distance sensor, a proximity light sensor, a fingerprint sensor, a temperature sensor, a touch sensor, an ambient light sensor, and a bone conduction sensor.

[0232] It is understood that the structures illustrated in the embodiments of the present application do not constitute specific limitations on the terminal. In other embodiments, the terminal 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.

[0233] The processor may include one or more processing units, for example, an application processor (AP), a modem (also known as a baseband processor), a graphics processing unit (GPU), an image signal processor (ISP), a controller, a video codec, a digital signal processor (DSP), and / or a neural-network processing unit (NPU). Different processing units may be independent devices or integrated into one or more processors. The processor is the nerve center and command center of the terminal. The controller may generate operation control signals based on instruction opcodes and timing signals to complete the control of instruction fetching and execution.

[0234] The wireless communication function of the terminal can be implemented through antenna 1, antenna 2, a mobile communication module, a wireless communication module, and a modem. In some embodiments, antenna 1 of the terminal is coupled to the mobile communication module, and antenna 2 is coupled to the wireless communication module, so that the terminal can communicate with network-side devices and other terminals through wireless communication technology.

[0235] In addition, operating systems run on the above components, such as the iOS operating system developed by Apple, the Android open source operating system developed by Google, and the Windows operating system developed by Microsoft.

[0236] The terminal's operating system can adopt a layered architecture, event-driven architecture, microkernel architecture, microservice architecture, or cloud architecture. The embodiments of this application take the Android system with a layered architecture as an example to illustrate the hardware and software structure of the terminal. It should be noted that although the embodiments of this application are described using the Android system as an example, its basic principles are also applicable to terminals based on operating systems such as iOS or Windows.

[0237] Figure 9 shows a system including a terminal device and a base station. The specific software structure of the terminal device is shown in Figure 9. The software structure adopts a layered architecture, which divides the software into several layers, each with a clear role and division of labor. The layers communicate with each other through software interfaces. Taking the Android system running on an AP as an example, in some embodiments, the Android system is divided into five layers: from top to bottom, the application layer, the application framework layer (framework), the Android runtime (Android runtime) and system library, the hardware abstraction layer (HAL), and the system kernel layer (kernel).

[0238] The application layer can include a series of application packages. These packages may include apps such as camera, gallery, calendar, call, map, WLAN, Bluetooth, music, video, and short messaging. The application layer may also include the system UI, which is used to display the terminal interface, such as the signal icon corresponding to the SIM card and the call interface. The application framework layer provides the application programming interface (API) and programming framework for applications in the application layer. The application framework layer includes some predefined functions. For example, the application framework layer may include a window manager, content provider, view system, call manager, resource manager, and notification manager. The call manager is used to provide terminal call functions, such as call status management (including answering and hanging up). The call manager is represented by the telephony in Figure 9. The application framework layer may also include the radio interface layer (RIL). The modem processor (modem) can exchange information with the telephony through the RIL.

[0239] A modem can include the NAS (non-access stratum) layer, the RRC (radio resource control) layer, the packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, the radio link control protocol (RLC) layer, the medium access control layer (MAC) layer, and the physical (PHY) layer. Each of these layers can be a software module. The modem can interact with the base station through an antenna.

[0240] Some embodiments of the present application provide a chip system, applied to a terminal, comprising at least one processor and an interface, the interface being configured to receive instructions and transmit them to the at least one processor; the at least one processor executing the instructions causes the terminal to execute the paging message processing method described above. The chip system may be a modem, or a system on chip (SoC) including a modem, and the method described above may be implemented by a modem.

[0241] The present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium, which is used to store a computer program, and the computer program is used to implement the method shown in the above method embodiment.

[0242] The present application also provides a computer program product, which includes a computer program (also referred to as code or instructions). When the computer program runs on a computer, the computer can execute the method shown in the above method embodiment.

[0243] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the modules and algorithm steps of each example described in conjunction with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented in electronic hardware, or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether these functions are performed in hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Professional and technical personnel can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered to exceed the scope provided by the embodiments of this application.

[0244] Those skilled in the art will clearly understand that, for the convenience and brevity of description, the specific working processes of the systems, devices and modules described above can refer to the corresponding processes in the aforementioned method embodiments and will not be repeated here.

[0245] In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, devices and methods can be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are merely schematic. For example, the division of the modules is merely a logical function division. In actual implementation, there may be other division methods, such as multiple modules or components can be combined or integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored or not executed. Another point is that the mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed can be through some interfaces, indirect coupling or communication connection of devices or modules, which can be electrical, mechanical or other forms.

[0246] The modules described as separate components may or may not be physically separate, and the components shown as modules may or may not be physical modules, that is, they may be located in one place or distributed across multiple network modules. Some or all of the modules may be selected to achieve the purpose of the present embodiment according to actual needs.

[0247] In addition, each functional module in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated into one processing module, or each module may exist physically separately, or two or more modules may be integrated into one module.

[0248] If the functions are implemented in the form of software function modules and sold or used as independent products, they can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution provided by the embodiment of the present application is essentially or partly contributed to the prior art or part of the technical solution can be embodied in the form of a software product, and the computer software product is stored in a storage medium, including a number of instructions for enabling a computer device (which can be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to execute all or part of the steps of the method described in each embodiment of the present application. The aforementioned storage medium includes: various media that can store program codes, such as a USB flash drive, a mobile hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a magnetic disk or an optical disk.

[0249] The above description is merely a specific embodiment of the present application, but the scope of protection of the present application is not limited thereto. Any person skilled in the art can easily conceive of changes or substitutions within the technical scope disclosed in the present application, and such changes or substitutions should be included in the scope of protection of the present application. Therefore, the scope of protection of the present application should be based on the scope of protection of the claims.

Claims

1. A voice call method, characterized in that: The current serving cell of the terminal device is a first cell, the neighboring cells of the first cell include a second cell and a third cell, the third cell does not support a voice call service, and the first cell and the second cell support a voice call service, and the method includes: When the terminal device resides in the first cell and is in a voice call state, and the terminal device needs to perform cell selection or cell reselection, a first message is sent to the second cell, where the first message is used to request access to the second cell; wherein, when the terminal device sends the first message to the second cell, the priority of the first cell is lower than the priority of the second cell, the signal strength of the first cell is lower than the signal strength of the second cell, the priority of the third cell is higher than the priority of the second cell, and the signal strength of the third cell is higher than the signal strength of the second cell; When the terminal device resides in the first cell and is not in a voice call state, and the terminal device needs to perform cell selection or cell reselection, a second message is sent to the third cell, and the second message is used to request access to the third cell; wherein, when the terminal device sends the second message to the third cell, the priority of the first cell is lower than the priority of the second cell, the signal strength of the first cell is lower than the signal strength of the second cell, the priority of the third cell is higher than the priority of the second cell, and the signal strength of the third cell is higher than the signal strength of the second cell.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The sending the first message to the second cell includes: The first message is sent to the second cell based on a first preset rule, where the first preset rule includes at least one of the following: not selecting a cell corresponding to a first preset frequency band or a first preset frequency point, or performing cell selection or cell reselection based on an updated priority of a cell corresponding to the first preset frequency band or the first preset frequency point, or not giving priority to an anchor cell, where the updated priority of the cell corresponding to the first preset frequency band is lower than the original priority of the cell corresponding to the first preset frequency band, and the updated priority of the cell corresponding to the first preset frequency point is lower than the original priority of the cell corresponding to the first preset frequency point; The first preset frequency band includes a frequency band corresponding to the third cell, or the first preset frequency point includes a frequency point corresponding to the third cell.

3. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that The sending the second message to the third cell includes: The second message is sent to the third cell based on a second preset rule, where the second preset rule is different from the first preset rule, and the second preset rule includes: preferentially selecting an anchor cell.

4. The method according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that: Before the terminal device accesses the first cell, the terminal device resides in the third cell; The method further comprises: In the process of the terminal device establishing a voice call in the third cell, receiving a third message from the third cell, the third message is used to instruct the terminal device to perform preset event measurement, the third message carries information for indicating a target frequency and information for indicating at least one threshold, the preset event is an A5 event, the at least one threshold includes a first threshold and a second threshold, the first threshold is greater than the second threshold, the cell corresponding to the target frequency is a neighboring cell of the third cell, the first threshold is a threshold value of the signal strength of the third cell, and the second threshold is a threshold value of the signal strength of the neighboring cell of the third cell; In a case where the at least one threshold satisfies a preset condition, determining the first preset frequency band or the first preset frequency point at least according to a frequency band corresponding to the target frequency point and a frequency band corresponding to the third cell, wherein the preset condition includes a first preset condition, the first preset condition being that the first threshold is greater than or equal to the first preset threshold value, and the second threshold is less than or equal to the second preset threshold value, and the first preset threshold value is greater than the second preset threshold value; In response to the third message, sending a measurement report to the third cell, the measurement report including signal strength information of the third cell and signal strength information of at least one cell corresponding to the target frequency point, the at least one cell including the first cell; receiving a fourth message from the third cell, where the fourth message is used to instruct the terminal device to switch to the first cell; In response to the fourth message, access the first cell.

5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that The determining the first preset frequency band or the first preset frequency point at least according to the frequency band corresponding to the target frequency point and the frequency band corresponding to the third cell includes: In a case where a frequency band corresponding to the target frequency point is different from a frequency band corresponding to the third cell, the first preset frequency band includes a frequency band corresponding to the third cell.

6. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that The terminal device determines the first preset frequency band or the first preset frequency point at least according to the frequency band corresponding to the target frequency point and the frequency band corresponding to the third cell, including: When the frequency band corresponding to the target frequency is the same as the frequency band corresponding to the third cell, and the target frequency is different from the frequency corresponding to the third cell, the first preset frequency includes the frequency corresponding to the third cell.

7. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 6, characterized in that The first preset frequency band includes frequency band B28 under the long term evolution LTE communication technology.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that The situations where the terminal device needs to perform cell selection or cell reselection include: The terminal device is in an idle IDLE state, or the terminal device triggers a radio link failure RLF process.

9. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that The third cell is an anchor cell under non-independent networking NSA.

10. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that The method further comprises at least one of the following: The first cell, the second cell and the third cell are LTE cells; or, The not supporting voice call service refers to not supporting Internet Protocol IP Multimedia Subsystem IMS voice call service.

11. A voice communication device, characterized in that: include: A processor, wherein the processor is coupled to a memory, wherein the memory is used to store a computer program, and when the processor calls the computer program, the device is caused to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 10.

12. A chip, characterized in that: The chip includes at least one processor, configured to implement the functions involved in the method according to any one of claims 1 to 10.

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