Communication method, and apparatus

Abstract

A communication method and apparatus. The method can be applied to non-terrestrial network (NTN) communications. The method comprises: a network device determines first information, and sends the first information, wherein the first information comprises information of at least one area served by a first beam or a first cell, the coverage area of the first beam or the first cell comprises the at least one area, and the area is fixed relative to the earth; a terminal device receives the first information, and on the basis of position information of the terminal device and the first information, performs at least one of access control, residence control or measurement control. On the basis of the solution, since the area is fixed relative to the earth, in either an earth-moving mode or an earth-fixed mode, the network device can send information of the area served by the beam or cell to indicate the service area of the beam or cell. That is to say, in the present application, service areas of beams or cells in different modes can be described in a unified signaling mode, thereby reducing the protocol description complexity.

Description

Communication method and device Technical Field

[0001] The embodiments of the present application relate to the field of communications, and in particular to communication methods and devices. Background Art

[0002] Compared to terrestrial networks, non-terrestrial networks (NTNs) offer wide coverage and flexible networking. Currently, various research institutes, communications organizations, and companies are involved in researching NTN technologies and standards, striving to build a unified network for space, air, and ground communications.

[0003] In NTN communications, beam operation modes are generally categorized into non-staring (earth-moving) and staring (earth-fixed or quasi-earth-fixed) modes. As shown in Figure 1 (a), in non-staring mode, the coverage area of ​​the satellite beam moves with the satellite over a period of time. In staring mode, as shown in Figure 1 (b), the satellite dynamically adjusts the beam pointing direction over a period of time, ensuring that the beam covers approximately the same area on the ground.

[0004] To address the challenges of access reselection caused by satellite motion, which shifts the coverage area relative to the ground, the network can send the beam reference point, beam coverage area outline, and satellite motion vector to the terminal device in non-staring mode. In staring mode, the network can send the remaining coverage time and coverage area of ​​the beam to the terminal device. After receiving these parameters, the terminal device can determine the remaining service time of the beam, select the beam with the longest remaining service time, and initiate measurements before the beam coverage ends.

[0005] However, in the above solution, the protocol description interfaces for the staring mode and the non-staring mode are not unified, that is, the parameters sent by the network are different, requiring two sets of description mechanisms.

[0006] Summary of the Invention

[0007] The embodiments of the present application provide a communication method and apparatus that can describe the service areas of beams or cells in different modes through a unified signaling method, thereby reducing the complexity of protocol description.

[0008] In a first aspect, a communication method is provided. The method can be executed by a terminal device, or by a component of the terminal device, such as a processor, chip, or chip system of the terminal device, or by a logic module or software capable of implementing all or part of the terminal device's functions. The method includes: receiving first information, the first information including information about at least one area served by a first beam or a first cell, the coverage area of ​​the first beam or the first cell including at least one area that is fixed relative to the Earth; and performing at least one of access control, residency control, or measurement control based on the terminal device's location information and the first information.

[0009] Based on this solution, since the area is fixed relative to the Earth, that is, the position of the area relative to the Earth is fixed and unchanging, the network device can send information about the area served by the beam or cell in both non-staring mode and staring mode to indicate the service area of ​​the beam or cell. In other words, this application can describe the service area of ​​the beam or cell in different modes through a unified signaling method, reducing the description complexity of the protocol, thereby reducing the implementation complexity of the network device and terminal.

[0010] In one possible design, the region information includes a region index. Based on this possible implementation, since the region is fixed relative to the Earth, the terminal device and the network device can agree on the region index method and the correspondence between the region and the index, so that the network device can indicate the region by the region index. Compared with the explicit description of the service area (such as the description using latitude and longitude regions, beam pointing and angle, etc.), the signaling overhead can be reduced.

[0011] In one possible design, access control is performed based on the terminal device's location information and first information, including: initiating access in the first beam or first cell when a first condition is met; and determining not to initiate access in the first beam or first cell when the first condition is not met. Residency control is performed based on the terminal device's location information and first information, including: residing in the first cell when a second condition is met; and determining not to reside in the first cell when the second condition is not met. The first condition or the second condition includes: the terminal device is located within at least one area served by the first beam or first cell.

[0012] Based on this possible design, the network device sends an index of at least one area served by the beam or cell, so that the terminal device can determine whether it is located in the area served by the beam or cell based on its own location information. Therefore, when the terminal device is located in the area served by the beam or cell, it resides in the cell or initiates access in the cell, thereby avoiding the terminal device accessing or residing in a cell with unstable coverage due to beam pointing jitter or movement, thereby improving the access success rate of the terminal device.

[0013] In one possible design, the area information includes at least one of the following: coverage start time, coverage end time, or coverage remaining time.

[0014] In one possible design, performing measurement control based on the location information and first information of the terminal device includes: determining a first moment based on at least one of a coverage start time, a coverage end time, or a remaining coverage time of the first area; and initiating neighboring cell measurement before the first moment. The first moment is the moment when the first beam or the first cell stops serving the first area; and the first area is an area in which the terminal device is located in at least one area served by the first beam or the first cell.

[0015] Based on this possible design, the network device sends at least one of the coverage start time, coverage end time or coverage remaining time of at least one area served by the beam or cell, so that terminal devices located in different areas can start measurement before the beam or cell ends serving the area in which it is located, that is, the time when terminal devices in different areas served by the same beam or cell start measurement can be different. Compared with judging whether to start measurement based on the remaining coverage time at the cell level, the flexibility of the terminal device in starting measurement can be improved, and terminal devices in areas with a long remaining coverage time can be prevented from starting measurement too early, that is, unnecessary measurements of the terminal device can be reduced, saving power consumption of the terminal device.

[0016] In one possible design, the information of the area includes: information of neighboring areas associated with the area.

[0017] In one possible design, measurement control is performed based on the location information of the terminal device and the first information, including: performing neighboring area measurement based on the neighboring area information associated with the first area, where the first area is the area where the terminal device is located in at least one area served by the first beam or the first cell.

[0018] Based on this possible design, the network device sends neighboring cell information associated with at least one area served by the beam or cell, so that terminal devices located in different areas can perform measurements based on the neighboring cell information associated with their own areas. That is, the cells measured by terminal devices in different areas served by the same beam or cell can be different, which improves the flexibility of terminal device measurements. Compared with the solution in which each terminal device measures the same neighboring cell, unnecessary neighboring cell measurements are reduced, thereby saving power consumption of the terminal device.

[0019] In one possible design, the area information includes: first indication information and / or second indication information. The first indication information is used to indicate whether the measurement configuration is allowed to be changed. The second indication information is used to indicate a first threshold, which is a time threshold for determining whether to change the measurement configuration.

[0020] In one possible design, measurement control is performed based on the location information and first information of the terminal device, including: changing the measurement configuration when the remaining coverage time of the first area is greater than a first threshold. Alternatively, the first indication information indicates that the measurement configuration is allowed to be changed in the first area, and the measurement configuration is changed when the remaining coverage time of the first area is greater than the first threshold. The first area is the area where the terminal device is located in at least one area served by the first beam or the first cell.

[0021] Based on this possible design, the network equipment can indicate whether to allow the measurement configuration to be changed and / or indicate a first threshold value for determining whether to change the measurement configuration. When the network equipment indicates that the measurement configuration is allowed to be changed and / or the coverage remaining time of the area is greater than the first threshold value, the terminal equipment in the area can change the measurement configuration, thereby improving the flexibility of the measurement. In addition, when the measurement configuration is changed to start relaxation measurement, the measurement frequency of the terminal equipment can be reduced, thereby reducing the power consumption of the terminal equipment. If the terminal equipment starts relaxation measurement when the coverage remaining time of the area is greater than the first threshold value, since the coverage remaining time of the area is long, starting relaxation measurement will not affect the terminal equipment.

[0022] In one possible design, the method further includes: receiving second information, the second information indicating a second threshold corresponding to at least one coverage level, the second threshold corresponding to the coverage level being the minimum time required to complete transmission at the coverage level.

[0023] In one possible design, access control is performed based on the location information and first information of the terminal device, including: initiating access in the first beam or the first cell when a third condition is met; and determining not to initiate access in the first beam or the first cell when the third condition is not met. The third condition includes: the remaining coverage time of the first area is greater than a second threshold corresponding to the first coverage level, the first area is the area where the terminal device is located in at least one area served by the first beam or the first cell, and the first coverage level is the operating coverage level of the terminal device.

[0024] Based on this possible design, the network device indicates the minimum time required to complete transmission under the coverage level, so that the terminal device can determine whether to initiate access based on the minimum time required to complete transmission under the working coverage level of the terminal device and the remaining coverage time of the area where the terminal device is located. When the remaining coverage time of the area where the terminal device is located is sufficient to complete a transmission, the terminal device initiates access to improve the access success rate of the terminal device. In addition, if the terminal device initiates access when the remaining coverage time is insufficient, access failure may occur. That is, the terminal device initiated access but access failure occurred. However, based on this possible design, when the remaining coverage time is insufficient, the terminal device does not initiate access, which can prevent the terminal device from initiating access when the remaining coverage time is insufficient, thereby saving power consumption of the terminal device.

[0025] In a second aspect, a communication method is provided. The method can be performed by a network device, or by a component of the network device, such as a processor, chip, or chip system of the network device, or by a logic module or software that can implement all or part of the network device's functions. The method includes: determining first information and sending the first information. The first information includes information about at least one area served by a first beam or a first cell, and the coverage area of ​​the first beam or the first cell includes at least one area that is fixed relative to the earth. The technical effects brought about by the second aspect can be referred to the technical effects brought about by the first aspect above, and will not be repeated here.

[0026] In one possible design, the region information includes an index of the region.

[0027] In one possible design, the area information includes at least one of the following: coverage start time, coverage end time, or coverage remaining time.

[0028] In one possible design, the information of the area includes: information of neighboring areas associated with the area.

[0029] In one possible design, the area information includes: first indication information and / or second indication information. The first indication information is used to indicate whether the measurement configuration is allowed to be changed. The second indication information is used to indicate a first threshold, which is a time threshold for determining whether to change the measurement configuration.

[0030] In one possible design, the method further includes: sending second information, where the second information indicates a second threshold corresponding to at least one coverage level, and the second threshold corresponding to the coverage level is the minimum time required to complete transmission at the coverage level.

[0031] Among them, the technical effects brought about by any design in the second aspect can refer to the technical effects brought about by the corresponding design in the above-mentioned first aspect, and will not be repeated here.

[0032] In combination with the first aspect or the second aspect, in one possible design, the first cell is a neighboring cell of the serving cell, or the first beam is a beam within the neighboring cell of the serving cell.

[0033] In combination with the first aspect or the second aspect, in one possible design, the first information is carried in a radio resource control RRC reconfiguration message.

[0034] In combination with the first aspect or the second aspect, in one possible design, the first information is carried in the broadcast information of the first cell.

[0035] In a third aspect, a communication device is provided, which includes a unit or module, and the unit or module is used to execute any one of the methods described in the first aspect or the second aspect.

[0036] In a fourth aspect, a communication device is provided for implementing various methods. The communication device may be the terminal device in the first aspect, or a device included in the terminal device, such as a chip or a chip system; or the communication device may be the network device in the second aspect, or a device included in the network device, such as a chip or a chip system. The communication device includes a module, unit, or means corresponding to the implementation method, and the module, unit, or means may be implemented by hardware, software, or by executing the corresponding software implementation by hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more modules or units corresponding to the functions.

[0037] In some possible designs, the communication device may include a processing module and a transceiver module. The processing module may be configured to implement the processing functionality of any of the above aspects and any possible implementations thereof. The transceiver module may include a receiving module and a transmitting module, respectively configured to implement the receiving functionality and the transmitting functionality of any of the above aspects and any possible implementations thereof.

[0038] In some possible designs, the transceiver module may be composed of a transceiver circuit, a transceiver, a transceiver or a communication interface.

[0039] In a fifth aspect, a communication device is provided, comprising: a processor and a memory; the memory is configured to store computer instructions, and when the processor executes the instructions, the communication device performs the method described in any aspect. The communication device may be the terminal device described in the first aspect, or a device included in the terminal device, such as a chip or chip system; or the communication device may be the network device described in the second aspect, or a device included in the network device, such as a chip or chip system.

[0040] In a sixth aspect, a communication device is provided, comprising: a processor and a communication interface; the communication interface is configured to communicate with a module external to the communication device; and the processor is configured to execute a computer program or instruction to cause the communication device to perform the method described in any aspect. The communication device may be the terminal device described in the first aspect, or a device included in the terminal device, such as a chip or chip system; or the communication device may be the network device described in the second aspect, or a device included in the network device, such as a chip or chip system.

[0041] In a seventh aspect, a communication device is provided, comprising: at least one processor; the processor is configured to execute a computer program or instruction stored in a memory, so that the communication device performs the method described in any aspect. The memory may be coupled to the processor, or may be independent of the processor. The communication device may be the terminal device described in the first aspect, or a device included in the terminal device, such as a chip or chip system; or the communication device may be the network device described in the second aspect, or a device included in the network device, such as a chip or chip system.

[0042] In an eighth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, in which a computer program or instruction is stored. When the computer-readable storage medium is run on a communication device, the communication device can execute the method described in either the first aspect or the second aspect.

[0043] In a ninth aspect, a computer program product comprising instructions is provided, which, when executed on a communication device, enables the communication device to execute the method described in any one of the first aspect or the second aspect.

[0044] In a tenth aspect, a communication device is provided (for example, the communication device may be a chip or a chip system), which includes a processor for implementing the functions involved in any one of the first aspect or the second aspect.

[0045] In some possible designs, the communication device includes a memory for storing necessary program instructions and data.

[0046] In some possible designs, when the device is a chip system, it can be composed of a chip or include a chip and other discrete devices.

[0047] It can be understood that when the communication device provided in any one of the third to tenth aspects is a chip, the sending action / function of the communication device can be understood as output information, and the receiving action / function of the communication device can be understood as input information.

[0048] Among them, the technical effects brought about by any design method in the third to tenth aspects can refer to the technical effects brought about by different design methods in the first or second aspects, and will not be repeated here. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0049] FIG1 is a schematic diagram of beam coverage in a non-staring mode and a staring mode in an NTN provided by the present application;

[0050] FIG2 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a communication system provided by the present application;

[0051] FIG3 is a diagram of a satellite network architecture in a transparent transmission mode provided by the present application;

[0052] FIG4 is a diagram of a satellite network architecture in a regeneration mode provided by the present application;

[0053] FIG5 is a diagram of a satellite network architecture in another regeneration mode provided by the present application;

[0054] FIG6 is a diagram of a satellite network architecture in another regeneration mode provided by the present application;

[0055] FIG7 is a network architecture diagram of an NTN and terrestrial network integration provided by the present application;

[0056] FIG8 is a network architecture diagram of another NTN and terrestrial network integration provided by the present application;

[0057] FIG9 is a flow chart of a communication method provided by the present application;

[0058] FIG10 is a schematic diagram of the beam service area and the service time of each area in a non-staring mode provided by the present application;

[0059] FIG11 is a schematic diagram of the beam service area and the service time of each area in a staring mode provided by the present application;

[0060] FIG12 is a flow chart of another communication method provided by the present application;

[0061] FIG13 is a schematic diagram of the relationship between the location and area of ​​a terminal device provided by the present application;

[0062] FIG14 is a flow chart of another communication method provided by the present application;

[0063] FIG15 is a schematic diagram of coverage time of an area provided by the present application;

[0064] FIG16 is a flow chart of another communication method provided by the present application;

[0065] FIG17 is a flow chart of another communication method provided by the present application;

[0066] FIG18 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided by the present application;

[0067] FIG19 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device provided by the present application;

[0068] FIG20 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device provided in this application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0069] In the description of this application, unless otherwise specified, " / " indicates that the objects associated before and after are in an "or" relationship, for example, A / B can represent A or B; "and / or" in this application is merely a description of the association relationship of associated objects, indicating that three relationships may exist, for example, A and / or B can represent: A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone, where A and B can be singular or plural.

[0070] In the description of this application, unless otherwise specified, "plurality" means two or more than two. "At least one of the following" or similar expressions refers to any combination of these items, including any combination of single or plural items. For example, at least one of a, b, or c can mean: a, b, c, ab, ac, bc, or abc, where a, b, and c can be single or plural.

[0071] In addition, to facilitate the clear description of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, in the embodiments of the present application, the words "first" and "second" are used to distinguish between identical or similar items with substantially the same functions and effects. Those skilled in the art will understand that the words "first" and "second" do not limit the quantity or execution order, and the words "first" and "second" do not necessarily mean different.

[0072] In the embodiments of this application, words such as "exemplary" or "for example" are used to indicate examples, illustrations, or descriptions. Any embodiment or design described as "exemplary" or "for example" in the embodiments of this application should not be construed as being preferred or advantageous over other embodiments or designs. Rather, the use of words such as "exemplary" or "for example" is intended to present the relevant concepts in a concrete manner to facilitate understanding.

[0073] It will be understood that the “embodiment” mentioned throughout the specification means that the specific features, structures or characteristics related to the embodiment are included in at least one embodiment of the present application. Therefore, the various embodiments throughout the specification do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment. In addition, these specific features, structures or characteristics can be combined in one or more embodiments in any suitable manner. It will be understood that in the various embodiments of the present application, the size of the sequence number of each process does not mean the order of execution. The execution order of each process should be determined by its function and internal logic, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiment of the present application.

[0074] It can be understood that in this application, "when" and "if" both mean that corresponding processing will be taken under certain objective circumstances, and do not limit the time, nor do they require any judgment action when implementing, nor do they mean that there are other limitations.

[0075] It is understood that some optional features in the embodiments of the present application may, in certain scenarios, be implemented independently of other features, such as the solution on which they are currently based, to solve corresponding technical problems and achieve corresponding effects. They may also be combined with other features in certain scenarios as needed. Accordingly, the devices provided in the embodiments of the present application may also implement these features or functions accordingly, which will not be described in detail here.

[0076] In this application, unless otherwise specified, the same or similar parts between the various embodiments can refer to each other. In the various embodiments of this application, unless otherwise specified and there is no logical conflict, the terms and / or descriptions between different embodiments are consistent and can be referenced to each other, and the technical features in different embodiments can be combined to form new embodiments or implementations based on their inherent logical relationships. The implementation methods of this application described below do not constitute a limitation on the scope of protection of this application.

[0077] Currently, the fifth-generation (5G) New Radio (NR) has moved from standardization to commercial deployment. The NR standard is primarily designed to address the unique characteristics of terrestrial communications, which provide high-speed, high-reliability, and low-latency communications for user terminals.

[0078] Compared to terrestrial communications, non-terrestrial networks (NTNs) offer a wide coverage area and flexible networking. NTNs utilize equipment such as flying platforms to form networks and provide terminals with services such as data transmission and voice communication.

[0079] According to the altitude of the flight platform above the ground, the NTN may include a low altitude platform (LAP) subnetwork, a high altitude platform (HAP) subnetwork, and a satellite communication subnetwork (SATCOM subnetwork).

[0080] For example, in the LAP subnetwork, base stations or base station functions are deployed on low-altitude platforms (such as drones) 0.1km to 1km above the ground to provide coverage for terminals. In the HAP subnetwork, base stations or base station functions are deployed on high-altitude platforms (such as aircraft) 8km to 50km above the ground to provide coverage for terminals. In the SATCOM subnetwork, base stations or base station functions are deployed on satellites at an altitude of more than 50km to provide coverage for terminals. Satellite communications offer significant advantages, including global coverage, long-distance transmission, flexible networking, easy deployment, and independence from geographic location. They have been widely used in a variety of fields, including maritime communications, positioning and navigation, disaster relief, scientific experiments, video broadcasting, and Earth observation.

[0081] Furthermore, according to the orbital altitude of the satellite, the satellite communication system can be divided into geostationary earth orbit (GEO) satellite communication system, medium earth orbit (MEO) satellite communication system and low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite communication system.

[0082] The GEO satellite communication system is also known as the geostationary orbit satellite system. GEO satellites orbit at an altitude of 35,786 km and move at the same speed as the Earth's rotation, meaning that GEO satellites can remain stationary relative to the Earth. GEO satellite communication systems can provide large cell coverage, typically with a cell diameter of 500 km. However, GEO satellite communication also has significant disadvantages: 1) GEO satellite orbits are far from the Earth, resulting in high free-space propagation losses, which leads to tight communication link budgets. To increase transmit / receive gain, satellites must be equipped with larger antennas; 2) Communication transmission latency is high, such as a round-trip delay of around 500 milliseconds, which cannot meet the needs of real-time services; 3) GEO orbital resources are relatively scarce, launch costs are high, and coverage of the Earth's polar regions is inadequate.

[0083] MEO satellites orbit at altitudes between 2,000 and 35,786 km, enabling global coverage with a relatively small number of satellites. However, MEO satellites orbit at higher altitudes than LEO satellites, resulting in higher transmission latency compared to LEO satellite communications. Therefore, considering the advantages and disadvantages of MEO satellite communications, MEO satellites are primarily used for positioning and navigation.

[0084] The orbital altitude of LEO satellites is between 300 and 2000 km, which is lower than that of MEO satellites. They have the advantages of low transmission delay, low transmission loss, and relatively low launch cost.

[0085] In satellite communications, beam operating modes are generally divided into non-staring (earth-moving) and staring (earth-fixed or quasi-earth fixed) modes. As shown in Figure 1 (a), in non-staring mode, the coverage area of ​​the satellite beam moves with the satellite over a period of time (e.g., between time t0 and time t2). As shown in Figure 1 (b), in staring mode, the satellite dynamically adjusts the beam pointing over a period of time (e.g., between time t0 and time t2) so that the beam covers approximately the same area on the ground. However, in practical applications, due to issues with beam pointing accuracy and the distortion of the beam projection on the ground due to different incident angles, the beam coverage area in the staring mode still experiences a certain degree of jitter over time.

[0086] Typically, the movement of the coverage area relative to the ground due to satellite motion poses challenges to terminal access and reselection. For example, in non-staring mode, a terminal located at the edge of the beam coverage area and away from the direction of satellite movement may experience access failure during the access process because the beam no longer covers the terminal's location. For another example, in staring mode, the beam coverage area is distorted by satellite motion, and the quantization error of the beam weights in the project will cause jitter in the coverage area. Therefore, terminals at the edge of the beam coverage area may also encounter situations where the original beam no longer covers them.

[0087] To address these challenges, in non-staring mode, the network can send parameters such as the beam reference point, beam coverage area outline, and satellite motion vector to the terminal. This allows the terminal to determine the remaining coverage time of the beam based on these parameters, thereby selecting the beam with the longest remaining coverage time and starting the measurement before the beam coverage ends. In staring mode, the network can send the remaining coverage time and beam coverage area to the terminal, allowing the terminal to select the beam with the longest remaining coverage time and start the measurement before the beam coverage ends.

[0088] However, the signaling overhead in the non-staring mode is high. In addition, the protocol description interfaces in the non-staring mode and the staring mode are not unified, that is, the parameters that the network needs to send are different, requiring two sets of description mechanisms.

[0089] Based on this, the present application provides a communication method. In this method, the ground can be discretized into several areas, and the network can send area information to the terminal, thereby indicating information such as the coverage range of the beam or cell through the area. In other words, in both non-staring mode and staring mode, the network can inform the terminal of information such as the coverage area and remaining time of the beam or cell by sending area information, thereby unifying the description interface, reducing the complexity of protocol description, and thus reducing the implementation complexity of network equipment and terminals.

[0090] The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be described below in conjunction with the drawings in the embodiments of the present application.

[0091] The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application can be used in various communication systems, which may be third generation partnership project (3GPP) communication systems, such as long term evolution (LTE) systems, 5G systems such as NR systems, vehicle to everything (V2X) systems, or systems with hybrid networking of LTE and 5G, or device to device (D2D) communication systems, machine to machine (M2M) communication systems, Internet of Things (IoT), and other next generation communication systems. The communication system may also be a non-3GPP communication system without limitation.

[0092] Among them, the above-mentioned communication system applicable to this application is only an example, and the communication system and communication scenarios applicable to this application are not limited to this. The communication system and communication scenarios provided in this application do not impose any limitations on the solution of this application. They are uniformly explained here and will not be repeated below.

[0093] As shown in Figure 2, a communication system applicable to the solution of the present application may include at least one terminal device and at least one network device. The number of network devices and terminal devices in Figure 2 is only an example, and the communication system may include more or fewer network devices or terminal devices than shown in Figure 2.

[0094] Optionally, terminal devices and terminal devices, terminal devices and network devices, and network devices and network devices can communicate with each other in a wired or wireless manner.

[0095] Optionally, the terminal device may be a user-side device with wireless transceiver functions, or may be a chip or chip system provided in the device. The terminal device may also be referred to as user equipment (UE), terminal, access terminal, user unit, user station, mobile station (MS), remote station, remote terminal, mobile terminal (MT), user terminal, wireless communication device, user agent or user device, etc. The terminal device may be, for example, a terminal device in IoT, V2X, D2D, M2M, 5G network, or a future evolved public land mobile network (PLMN). The terminal device may be deployed on land, including indoors or outdoors, handheld or vehicle-mounted; it may also be deployed on water (such as ships, etc.); it may also be deployed in the air (such as airplanes, balloons and satellites, etc.).

[0096] Exemplarily, the terminal device may be a drone, an IoT device (e.g., a sensor, an electricity meter, a water meter, etc.), a V2X device, a station (ST) in a wireless local area network (WLAN), a cellular phone, a cordless phone, a session initiation protocol (SIP) phone, a wireless local loop (WLL) station, a personal digital assistant (PDA) device, a handheld device with wireless communication function, a computing device or other processing device connected to a wireless modem, an in-vehicle device, a wearable device (also referred to as a wearable smart device), a tablet computer or a computer with wireless transceiver function, a virtual reality (VR) terminal, a wireless terminal in industrial control, a wireless terminal in self-driving, a wireless terminal in remote medical care, a wireless terminal in a smart grid, a wireless terminal in transportation safety, a wireless terminal in a smart city, a smart home, or a similar device. The terminal device can be a mobile or fixed device, which is not specifically limited in this application.

[0097] Optionally, the network device may be a network-side device with wireless transceiver functions, or may be a chip or chip system or module provided in the device. The network device is located in the radio access network (RAN) of the mobile communication system and is used to provide access services for terminal devices.

[0098] As a possible implementation, the network device can be a wireless relay node or a wireless backhaul node. For example, the network device can function as a layer 1 relay device to regenerate physical layer signals (i.e., wireless frequency filtering, frequency conversion, and amplification) without any higher protocol layers.

[0099] As another possible implementation, the network device may implement some or all of the functions of a base station. For example, the network device may be an evolutionary Node B (eNB or eNodeB) in an LTE or evolved LTE system (LTE-Advanced, LTE-A), such as a traditional macro eNB and a micro eNB in ​​a heterogeneous network scenario; or a next-generation node B (gNodeB or gNB) in a 5G system; or a transmission reception point (TRP); or a base station in a future evolved PLMN; or a device that implements base station functions in IoT, V2X, D2D, or M2M.

[0100] Alternatively, the network device may be a centralized unit (CU), a distributed unit (DU), a CU and a DU, a CU-control plane (CP), a CU-user plane (UP), or a radio unit (RU). The CU and DU may be configured separately or included in the same network element, such as a baseband unit (BBU). The RU may be included in a radio frequency device or radio frequency unit, such as a remote radio unit (RRU), an active antenna unit (AAU), or a remote radio head (RRH).

[0101] In different systems, CU (or CU-CP and CU-UP), DU or RU may also have different names, but those skilled in the art can understand their meanings. For example, the network device may be a network device or a module of a network device in an open radio access network (open RAN, ORAN) system. In the ORAN system, CU may also be referred to as open (open, O)-CU, DU may also be referred to as O-DU, CU-CP may also be referred to as O-CU-CP, CU-UP may also be referred to as O-CU-UP, and RU may also be referred to as O-RU. Any of the CU (or CU-CP, CU-UP), DU and RU in this application may be implemented by a software module, a hardware module, or a combination of a software module and a hardware module.

[0102] Exemplarily, the base stations in the embodiments of the present application may include various forms of base stations, such as: macro base stations, micro base stations (also called small stations), relay stations, access points, etc., and the embodiments of the present application do not specifically limit this.

[0103] Optionally, the network devices in the embodiments of the present application can be deployed on non-ground platforms, such as low-altitude platforms (such as drones), high-altitude platforms (such as airplanes), or satellites. Therefore, the network devices in the embodiments of the present application can also be referred to as non-ground network devices.

[0104] For example, in the case where the network device is deployed on a satellite, or the network device is a satellite, the communication system may further include an NTN gateway (also known as a gateway station). Typically, the NTN gateway is deployed on the ground. The NTN gateway can communicate with the satellite, and the link between the satellite and the NTN gateway can be called a feeder link.

[0105] As shown in Figure 3, when a satellite functions as a wireless relay node, or in other words, a satellite has relay and forwarding capabilities, the NTN gateway has base station functions or partial base station functions. In this case, the NTN gateway can function as a base station. Alternatively, the NTN gateway can be deployed separately from the base station, meaning that the communication system also includes a base station in addition to the NTN gateway. Figure 3 illustrates the example of a separate deployment of the NTN gateway and base station.

[0106] As shown in Figure 4, when a satellite can perform some or all of the functions of a base station, the satellite has data processing capabilities and can be used as a base station. In this case, the NTN gateway and the satellite can transmit user-plane data of the terminal device through the satellite radio interface (SRI).

[0107] In addition, satellites can perform some or all of the functions of a base station. As shown in Figure 5, inter-satellite links (ISLs) exist between different satellites, allowing satellites to communicate via ISLs. Alternatively, as shown in Figure 6, a satellite can have the DU processing functions of a base station, or in other words, the satellite can act as a DU. In this scenario, the CU processing functions of the base station can be deployed on the ground, and the CU and DU communicate using the F1 interface through the NTN gateway.

[0108] In the architectures shown in Figures 3 to 6, NG refers to the interface between the base station and the core network. Uu refers to the interface between the base station and the terminal device. Xn refers to the interface between base stations. It is understood that as communication systems evolve, the names of the interfaces between the base station and the core network, between the base station and the terminal device, and between base stations may also change, and this application does not specifically limit this.

[0109] Optionally, when a satellite functions as a wireless relay node and has relay forwarding capabilities, it can be considered to be operating in transparent mode. When a satellite has data processing capabilities and can perform some or all of the functions of a base station, it can be considered to be operating in regenerative mode. A satellite may support only transparent mode, only regenerative mode, or both, and be able to switch between these two modes.

[0110] In some implementation scenarios, the NTN and terrestrial networks can be integrated. For example, Figures 7 and 8 illustrate the integrated network architecture of the NTN and terrestrial networks provided in embodiments of the present application. In the architecture shown in Figure 7, the satellite operates in transparent transmission mode, requiring the deployment of additional NTN base stations. In the architecture shown in Figure 8, the satellite operates in regeneration mode, and the satellite can serve as an NTN base station, or an NTN base station can be deployed on the satellite. The term "NTN base station" refers to a base station in the NTN.

[0111] In addition, in the architectures shown in Figures 7 and 8, ground base stations refer to base stations in the ground network. NTN base stations and ground base stations can be interconnected through a common core network, or they can achieve more timely assistance and interconnection through interfaces defined between base stations. Exemplarily, the interface between base stations can be an Xn interface, and the interface between a base station and the core network can be an NG interface. Of course, the interface between base stations and the interface between a base station and the core network can also be implemented in other ways, and this application does not specifically limit this.

[0112] It is understandable that the satellites in the architectures described in Figures 3 to 8 can be replaced by non-ground payloads on other flying platforms such as drones and airplanes.

[0113] It should be noted that the communication system described in the embodiment of the present application is intended to more clearly illustrate the technical solution of the embodiment of the present application, and does not constitute a limitation on the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application. Ordinary technicians in this field can know that with the evolution of network architecture and the emergence of new business scenarios, the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application is also applicable to similar technical problems.

[0114] The following describes the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application by taking the interaction between a terminal device and a network device as an example in combination with the communication system shown in Figures 2 to 8.

[0115] It should be noted that in the following embodiments of the present application, the message names, parameter names, or information names between devices are only examples. In other embodiments, they may also be other names, and the method provided in this application does not make specific limitations on this.

[0116] It is understood that in the embodiments of the present application, the execution subject may perform some or all of the steps in the embodiments of the present application. These steps or operations are merely examples, and the embodiments of the present application may also perform other operations or variations of various operations. In addition, the various steps may be performed in a different order than those presented in the embodiments of the present application, and it is possible that not all operations in the embodiments of the present application need to be performed.

[0117] As an example, the following embodiments assume that the aforementioned flight platform is a satellite, that is, satellite communications in an NTN are used as an example. Of course, the method can also be applied to other scenarios in the NTN, such as LAP subnetworks or HAP subnetworks, without specific limitation.

[0118] In addition, the present application can also be applied to other possible communication scenarios or communication systems, such as long-distance communication scenarios involving a long distance between a terminal device and a base station, or a relatively high moving speed, which can be accessed, measured, and processed through the communication method provided in the embodiments of the present application.

[0119] In order to facilitate understanding of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, a brief introduction to the relevant terms in the present application is first given as follows.

[0120] Region: Unless otherwise specified, the term "region" in the following embodiments of this application refers to a geographic area. A region is fixed relative to the Earth, or it can be understood as a region that refers to a fixed geographic area relative to the Earth. For example, a region can have at least one of the following attributes: shape, outline, size, radius, area, geographic location, etc.

[0121] "Region" can also have an altitude attribute, that is, a region can be understood as a geographical area of ​​a given altitude or altitude range. By default, a region can refer to a geographical area with an altitude of 0 kilometers (km) above sea level or an altitude of about 0 km (such as in the range of [-2, 2] km), or a geographical area with a certain average altitude. In addition, it can also refer to geographical areas of other specific altitudes or specific altitude ranges, such as a geographical area with an altitude of 10 km above sea level, or a geographical area with an altitude of about 10 km (such as in the range of [7, 13] km).

[0122] In a possible implementation, the above-mentioned region fixed relative to the earth may also be referred to as a "wave position", "geographical region", etc. Of course, other names are also possible, and this application does not specifically limit the name of the region fixed relative to the earth.

[0123] The shapes, outlines, sizes, radii, and areas of different regions may or may not be the same. Different regions may have different geographical locations. Different regions may or may not overlap.

[0124] In one possible implementation, a region is fixed relative to the Earth, which can be understood as: the region's outline, size, or geographic location remains unchanged. For example, the region's outline, size, or geographic location does not change over time. Alternatively, a region is fixed relative to the Earth, which can be understood as: the region's outline and points within the region can be described using an Earth-fixed coordinate system, or the coordinates of each point on the region's outline in the Earth-fixed coordinate system are fixed and unchanging.

[0125] In a possible embodiment, the shape of the region may be a regular hexagon, or other shapes such as a regular pentagon, a circle, an ellipse, etc. Alternatively, the shape of the region may be an irregular shape, which is not limited.

[0126] For example, the shape of a region can be defined by a protocol or by a network device. The region shapes defined by different network devices can be the same or different. The same network device can also define multiple region shapes. Similarly, the size, radius, and area of ​​a region can be defined by a protocol or by a network device. The size, radius, and area of ​​a region defined by different network devices can be the same or different. The same network device can also define multiple region sizes, multiple region radii, or multiple region areas.

[0127] In one possible implementation, the Earth's surface can be divided into multiple regions, and the regions can be indexed (e.g., numbered). The terminal device and the network device can agree on a numbering method for these regions (e.g., starting with 1 or 0) and a correspondence between regions and indices. Alternatively, a protocol can define a numbering method for these regions and a correspondence between regions and indices. Based on the region index, information such as the region's geographic location can be determined.

[0128] Optionally, the multiple divided areas may completely cover the surface of the earth, such as any location on the surface of the earth belongs to a certain area; or, the multiple divided areas may also cover partial geographical locations on the earth, for example, the multiple areas may not cover the South Pole and / or North Pole of the earth, that is, the South Pole and / or the North Pole may not exist in this area.

[0129] Optionally, the method of dividing multiple areas can be defined by a protocol or by a network device. The division methods defined by different network devices can be the same or different. The same network device can also define multiple division methods.

[0130] As a first possible division method, the Earth's surface can be divided using a latitude and longitude grid of a certain granularity. For example, the Earth's surface can be divided into a latitude and longitude grid with a granularity of 1 degree. If only this discrete method is used, the world can be divided into 360 × 360 = 129,600 regions. Terminal devices and network devices can agree on the indexes of these 129,600 regions as 0, 1, ..., 129599, or 1, 2, ..., 129,600.

[0131] Optionally, after introducing the altitude attribute of a geographic region, multiple grids can be defined to divide the Earth's surface. For example, at an altitude of 0 km or within the range of [-2, 2] km, the Earth's surface can be divided using a 1-degree latitude and longitude grid, resulting in 129,600 regions. At an altitude of 10 km or within the range of [7, 13] km, the Earth's surface can be divided using a 1-degree latitude and longitude grid, resulting in another 129,600 regions. When indexing these regions, the index range needs to be expanded. For example, the total index is 0, 1, ..., 129599, 129600, 129601, ..., 259199, where the first 129,600 numbers represent the region indexes at an altitude of 0 km or within the range of [-2, 2] km, and the last 129,600 numbers represent the region indexes at an altitude of 10 km or within the range of [7, 13] km.

[0132] For example, the granularity of the latitude and longitude grid can be determined according to the type of network device. For example, when the network device is a LEO satellite, a relatively small granularity can be used for discretization; when the network device is a GEO satellite, a relatively large granularity can be used for discretization.

[0133] As a second possible division method, the earth's surface can be divided using latitude and longitude grids of various granularities. For example, a part of the earth's surface or a part of the administrative area can be divided using a latitude and longitude grid with a granularity of 1 degree, and another part of the earth's surface or administrative area can be divided using a latitude and longitude grid with a granularity of 2 degrees.

[0134] Alternatively, after introducing the height attribute of the geographic area, the earth's surface can be divided into a latitude and longitude grid with a granularity of 1 degree at an altitude of 0 km, and the earth's surface can be divided into a latitude and longitude grid with a granularity of 2 degrees at an altitude of 10 km.

[0135] As a third possible division method, the Earth's surface can be divided into administrative regions. For example, a township-level administrative region can be considered as a region.

[0136] As a fourth possible division method, for GEO satellites, the projection of a GEO satellite beam on the ground can be considered as a region. Since GEO satellites are stationary relative to the Earth, the projection of a GEO satellite beam on the ground can be considered fixed relative to the Earth.

[0137] In practical applications, the Earth's surface can be divided in a combination of multiple division methods. For example, a part of the Earth's surface or administrative area can be divided by a latitude and longitude grid with a granularity of 1, and another part of the Earth's surface or administrative area can be divided according to administrative regions.

[0138] In one possible implementation, when the earth's surface is divided into multiple regions, different levels of regional division can be performed on the same surface range. For example, for a certain surface range, the first level of regional division can be performed with a longitude and latitude grid with a granularity of 10 degrees, the second level of regional division can be performed with a longitude and latitude grid with a granularity of 6, and the third level of regional division can be performed with a longitude and latitude grid with a granularity of 1. At this time, within the surface range, the number of regions in the first level is greater than the number of regions in the second level, and the number of regions in the second level is greater than the number of regions in the third level. In addition, in this scenario, the regions of each level can be numbered separately.

[0139] The following describes the communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application. FIG9 is a flow chart of a communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application. This method can be applied to the interaction between a terminal device and a network device in the communication system shown in FIG2 to FIG8. As shown in FIG9, the communication method may include the following steps:

[0140] S901. The network device determines first information.

[0141] The first information includes information about at least one area served by the first beam or the first cell. The coverage area of ​​the first beam or the first cell includes the at least one area. The area is fixed relative to the earth.

[0142] In a possible implementation, the first beam may be a beam in the first cell. The first cell may include one or more beams, and the first beam may be any beam in the first cell.

[0143] As a possible implementation, the first beam may be a beam controlled or generated by the network device. The first cell may be a cell controlled or managed by the network device. In this scenario, the first cell may be the current cell or the current cell, or the first cell may be a neighboring cell of the current cell. For example, the current cell may be understood as the cell where the terminal device is located, or in other words, the terminal device is within the coverage area of ​​the current cell.

[0144] As another possible implementation, the first beam may be a beam controlled or generated by another network device. The first cell may be a cell controlled or managed by another network device. In this scenario, the first cell may be understood as a neighboring cell of the cell controlled or managed by the current network device, that is, the first cell is a neighboring cell of the current cell. When the first cell is a neighboring cell of the current cell, the current cell may be a serving cell of the terminal device, that is, the first cell may be a neighboring cell of the serving cell, and the first beam is a beam within the neighboring cell of the serving cell.

[0145] Exemplarily, the embodiment of the beam in the protocol can be a spatial domain filter, or a spatial filter, or a spatial domain parameter, a spatial parameter, a spatial domain setting, a spatial setting, or Quasi-colocation (QCL) information, a QCL assumption, a QCL indication, etc. The beam can be indicated by a transmission configuration indication (TCI) state (TCI-state) parameter, or by a spatial relation parameter. Therefore, in this application, the beam can be replaced by a spatial domain filter, a spatial filter, a spatial parameter, a spatial parameter, a spatial setting, a spatial setting, QCL information, a QCL assumption, a QCL indication, TCI-state, a spatial relationship, etc. The above terms are also equivalent to each other. The beam in this application can also be replaced by other terms representing the beam, and this application is not limited thereto.

[0146] In one possible embodiment, at least one area served by the first beam or the first cell can be understood as: the area that the first beam or the first cell intends to serve, or the area that the first beam or the first cell will serve, or the area that the first beam or the first cell is currently serving.

[0147] In one possible implementation, the network device is mobile, and the coverage area of ​​the first beam or the first cell changes with the movement of the network device. However, the area is fixed relative to the Earth. Therefore, the area served by the first beam or the first cell may be different at different times. In other words, the time (e.g., start time and duration) that different areas are served by the beam or cell may be different.

[0148] For example, in non-staring mode, as shown in FIG10 , with the network device being a satellite and the angle within the dotted line being the coverage area of ​​the beam, the areas served by the beam at time t0 include areas numbered 1-13 (referred to as Area 1-Area 13). As time passes, among Areas 1-13, Area 2 is served the earliest and ends service the earliest, while Area 13 is served the last and ends service the latest.

[0149] In staring mode, as shown in Figure 11, with the network device as a satellite and the angle within the dotted line as the beam coverage area, from time t0 to time t2, the beam coverage area includes areas numbered 1-28 (referred to as Area 1-Area 28). Over time, most areas within Area 1-Area 28 are served at the same time. However, due to coverage area distortion and beam pointing jitter, areas at the edge of the beam coverage area may be served at different times. For example, Areas 1-5 and Areas 23-28 may be served at different times than other areas.

[0150] In one possible embodiment, the union of at least one area served by the first beam can be understood as the service area of ​​the first beam. The service area of ​​the first beam can be less than or equal to the coverage area (or coverage range) of the first beam. For example, as shown in the example in Figure 10, taking the angle within the dotted line range as the coverage area of ​​the beam as an example, the coverage area may include areas indexed 1-13, and the union of areas indexed 1-13 can be understood as the service area of ​​the beam, which is smaller than the coverage area of ​​the beam. In addition, since the area served by the first beam may be different at different times, the service area of ​​the first beam may also change with the movement of the network device.

[0151] In a possible implementation, the area served by the first cell may include an area served by part or all of the beams within the first cell.

[0152] In one possible implementation, when the network device functions as a wireless relay node (as shown in the architecture of FIG3 ), the network device determining the first information may include: the network device receiving the first information, for example, the network device receiving the first information from a base station or an NTN gateway. When the network device is configured to implement some or all of the functions of a base station (as shown in the architecture of FIG4-FIG6 ), the network device determining the first information may include: the network device generating the first information.

[0153] S902: The network device sends first information. Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the first information from the network device.

[0154] As a possible implementation, the first information may be carried in the broadcast information of the current cell, or the first information may be carried in an RRC message (such as an RRC reconfiguration message).

[0155] Exemplarily, the broadcast information may be system information, such as a master information block (MIB) or a system information block (SIB). The RRC message is an RRC message corresponding to the RRC connection of the terminal device in the current cell.

[0156] When the first cell is the current cell, the first information is carried in the broadcast information of the first cell, or carried in the RRC message corresponding to the RRC connection of the terminal device in the first cell.

[0157] For example, if the first cell is the current cell, the first information may be carried in the broadcast information of the current cell (ie, the first cell). If the first cell is a neighboring cell of the current cell, the first information may be carried in an RRC message.

[0158] S903: The terminal device performs processing according to the location information of the terminal device and the first information.

[0159] In a possible implementation, the location information of the terminal device may be global navigation satellite system (GNSS) information.

[0160] In one possible implementation, the processing performed by the terminal device may be at least one of access control, residency control, or measurement control. Of course, the processing performed by the terminal device may also be any other processing that requires the use of location information and the first information, and this application does not specifically limit this.

[0161] Based on the above scheme, since the area is fixed relative to the earth, that is, the position of the area is fixed relative to the earth, therefore, whether in non-staring mode or staring mode, the network device can send information about the area served by the beam or cell to indicate the service area of ​​the beam or cell. That is to say, the embodiment of the present application can describe the service area of ​​the beam or cell in different modes through a unified signaling method, reducing the description complexity of the protocol, thereby reducing the implementation complexity of the network device and the terminal. In addition, the area is fixed relative to the earth, so that the terminal device and the network device can agree on the indexing method of the area and the correspondence between the area and the index, so that the network device can indicate the area through the index of the area, which can reduce the signaling overhead compared to the explicit description of the service area (such as using latitude and longitude areas, beam pointing and angle description).

[0162] The above introduces the overall process of this application plan. The following is a detailed introduction to the regional information.

[0163] In a first possible implementation, as shown in Figure 12, the area information includes an index of the area, that is, the first information includes an index of at least one area served by the first beam or the first cell.

[0164] As a possible implementation, the first information may include an index of the first beam and an index of at least one area served by the first beam. Alternatively, the first information may include an index of each beam of the first cell and an index of at least one area served by each beam.

[0165] Exemplarily, taking the beam as a synchronization signal block (SSB) beam as an example, the first information may indicate a relationship as shown in Table 1. Exemplarily, the SSB includes a primary synchronization signal (PSS), a secondary synchronization signal (SSS), and a physical broadcast channel (PBCH).

[0166] Table 1

[0167] As can be seen from Table 1, at least one area served by SSB 0 is area 101 and area 102. At least one area served by SSB 1 is area 103 and area 104.

[0168] As another possible implementation, the first information may include N sets of area indices. The nth set of area indices includes the index of at least one area served by the nth beam of the first cell. N is the number of beams in the first cell, where n = 0, 1, ..., N-1. In this case, the first information may not include the index of the first beam or the indexes of each beam of the first cell.

[0169] For example, taking the beam as SSB as an example, the first information may include the following information {101, 102}, {103, 104}, .... This indicates that at least one area served by SSB0 is area 101 and area 102. At least one area served by SSB1 is area 103 and area 104, and so on.

[0170] In a case where the first information includes an index of at least one area served by the first beam or the first cell, as shown in FIG12 , the terminal device performing access control according to the location information of the terminal device and the first information may include:

[0171] If the first condition is met, the terminal device initiates access in the first beam or the first cell. If the first condition is not met, the terminal device determines not to initiate access in the first beam or the first cell. In other words, the terminal device can determine whether the first condition is met, and if the first condition is met, initiate access in the first beam or the first cell. The first condition includes: the terminal device is located in at least one area served by the first beam or the first cell.

[0172] Exemplarily, the terminal device may determine the area in which the terminal device is located based on its own location information. The terminal device may also obtain at least one area served by the first beam or the first cell based on the first information, thereby determining whether the terminal device is located within the at least one area served by the first beam or the first cell.

[0173] When the first cell is the current cell, the first beam can be understood as the beam detected by the terminal device, or can be understood as the beam with the strongest signal quality detected by the terminal device. For example, taking the beam as an SSB beam as an example, the first cell may include multiple SSB beams. Assuming that the terminal device detects SSB 0 and SSB 1, and the signal strength of SSB 0 is higher than the signal strength of SSB 1, then the first beam is SSB 0. Alternatively, assuming that the terminal device only detects SSB 0, then the first beam is also SSB 0.

[0174] When the first cell is the current cell, the first condition may further include conditions in access criteria defined in existing protocols. When the first cell is a neighboring cell of the current cell, the first condition may further include conditions in reselection / handover criteria defined in existing protocols. In the embodiments of the present application, the case where all conditions in access / reselection / handover criteria defined in existing protocols are satisfied is used as an example for description.

[0175] Exemplarily, taking the first beam as SSB 0 and the at least one area served by SSB 0 as area 101 and area 102 as an example, as shown in (a) of Figure 13, if the terminal device determines that it is in at least one area served by SSB 0 based on its own location information, the terminal device initiates access in the first beam. As shown in (b) of Figure 13, if the terminal device determines that it is not in at least one area served by SSB 0 based on its own location information, even if the terminal device is in the coverage area of ​​SSB 0, the terminal device does not initiate access in the first beam.

[0176] As a possible implementation, the terminal device initiating access in the first beam can be understood as: the terminal device initiating random access on the random access channel (RACH) opportunity (RO) corresponding to the first beam. For example, taking the beam as an SSB beam as an example, the network device can configure the correspondence between the SSB and the RO, so that the terminal device can know the RO corresponding to the first beam.

[0177] As a possible implementation, when the first cell is the current cell, as shown in FIG12 , the terminal device initiating access in the first beam or the first cell may include: the terminal device sending a random access preamble to the network device. When the first cell is a neighboring cell of the current cell and the first cell is not a cell managed by the current network device, as shown in FIG12 , the terminal device initiating access in the first beam or the first cell may include: the terminal device sending a random access preamble to the target network device, where the target network device is the network device that manages the first cell.

[0178] In a case where the first information includes an index of at least one area served by the first beam or the first cell, the terminal device performing residence control according to the location information of the terminal device and the first information may include:

[0179] If the second condition is met, the terminal device resides in the first cell. If the second condition is not met, the terminal device determines not to reside in the first cell. That is, the terminal device can determine whether the second condition is met, and reside in the first cell if the second condition is met. The second condition includes: the terminal device is located in at least one area served by the first beam or the first cell. In addition, the first condition may also include the conditions in the residency criteria defined in the existing protocol. The implementation of the residency control of the terminal device can refer to the relevant description of the terminal device performing access control based on the location information and the first information of the terminal device, which will not be repeated here.

[0180] As a possible implementation, when the terminal device receives the first information, which includes an index of at least one area served by the first beam or the first cell, the terminal device performs access control or residency control according to the above method. If the terminal device does not receive the first information, it can perform access and residency control according to the definition of the existing protocol.

[0181] Based on the first possible implementation method mentioned above, the network device sends an index of at least one area served by the beam or cell, so that the terminal device can determine whether it is located in the area served by the beam or cell based on its own location information. Therefore, when the terminal device is located in the area served by the beam or cell, it resides in the cell or initiates access in the cell, thereby avoiding the terminal device accessing or residing in a cell with unstable coverage caused by beam pointing jitter or movement, thereby improving the access success rate of the terminal device.

[0182] In a second possible implementation, as shown in FIG14 , the area information includes at least one of the coverage start time, coverage end time, or remaining coverage time of the area. That is, the first information includes at least one of the coverage start time, coverage end time, or remaining coverage time of at least one area served by the first beam or the first cell.

[0183] As a possible implementation, the coverage start time of an area refers to the time when a beam or cell begins to cover or serve the area. The coverage end time of an area refers to the time when a beam or cell ends covering the area. The remaining coverage time of an area refers to the remaining time that a beam or cell covers or serves the area.

[0184] As a possible implementation, the coverage start time may also be referred to as the service start time, service start time, or service start time. The coverage end time may also be referred to as the coverage stop time, service end time, or service stop time. The coverage remaining time may also be referred to as the service remaining time. Of course, the coverage start time, coverage end time, and coverage remaining time may also have other names, which are not specifically limited in this application.

[0185] As a possible implementation, the coverage start time and coverage end time of an area may be the same as indicating or determining the remaining coverage time of the area. For example, the remaining coverage time of an area may be the time difference between the current moment and the coverage end time. Alternatively, when the total coverage duration of a beam or cell for an area is known, the remaining coverage time of the area may be the total coverage duration minus the time difference between the coverage start time and the current moment. Alternatively, for two consecutive or adjacent areas, the coverage start time of the latter area may be used as the coverage end time of the former area, so that the remaining coverage time of the former area may be determined based on the coverage start time of the latter area. The latter area refers to an area that is served later by the beam or cell, and the former area refers to an area that is served earlier by the beam or cell. For example, as shown in Area 2 and Area 3 in FIG10 , Area 2 may be understood as the former area, and Area 3 may be understood as the latter area.

[0186] As a possible implementation, the coverage start time of the area carried by the first information may be later than the time when the beam or cell actually starts covering the area. The coverage end time of the area carried by the first information may be earlier than the time when the beam or cell actually ends covering the area. Alternatively, the coverage start time of the area carried by the first information may be understood as the start time when the beam or cell fully covers the area, and the coverage end time of the area carried by the first information may be understood as the end time when the beam or cell fully covers the area. Alternatively, the remaining coverage time of a certain area is less than or equal to the full coverage time of the area.

[0187] For example, the time when a beam or cell actually begins covering an area can be understood as the time when the coverage / service area of ​​the beam or cell begins to overlap with the area. The time when a beam or cell actually ends covering an area can be understood as the time when the coverage / service area of ​​the beam or cell begins to not overlap with the area. The full coverage area of ​​a beam or cell can be understood as the area completely within the coverage / service area of ​​the beam or cell. In other words, the area is a subset of the coverage / service area of ​​the beam or cell.

[0188] For example, as shown in Figure 15, assuming that at time t0, the coverage area of ​​the beam begins to overlap with area 1, the time when the beam actually begins to cover area 1 is t0. At time t1, the beam begins to fully cover area 1, and the start time of the beam's full coverage of area 1 is t1. Between t0 and t1, the coverage area of ​​the beam overlaps with area 1, but the beam's coverage area does not completely include area 1. At time t2, the beam no longer fully covers area 1, and the end time of the beam's full coverage of area 1 is t2. At time t3, the coverage area of ​​the beam no longer overlaps with area 1, and the time when the beam actually ends covering area 1 is t3. Between t2 and t3, the coverage area of ​​the beam overlaps with area 1, but the beam's coverage area does not completely include area 1, or in other words, the beam does not fully cover area 1.

[0189] As a possible implementation, the first information may include an index of the first beam, an index of at least one area served by the first beam, and time information of at least one area served by the first beam. The time information is at least one of the coverage start time, the coverage end time, or the coverage remaining time. Alternatively, the first information may include an index of each beam of the first cell, an index of at least one area served by each beam, and time information of at least one area served by each beam. For example, taking the beam as an SSB beam as an example, the first information may indicate the relationship shown in Table 2.1 below.

[0190] Table 2.1

[0191] As shown in Table 2, SSB 0 serves at least one area: Area 101 and Area 102. SSB 1 serves at least one area: Area 103 and Area 104. The time information for Area 101 is t101, which can be at least one of the coverage start time, coverage end time, or remaining coverage time for Area 101. t102 is the time information for Area 102, t103 is the time information for Area 103, and t104 is the time information for Area 104.

[0192] Optionally, in staring mode, multiple areas may have the same time information. In this case, the network device can send one time information for the multiple areas, that is, the multiple areas share the same time information. For example, taking the beam as SSB as an example, assuming that the time information (represented as t1) of area 103 and area 104 is the same, the first information can indicate the relationship shown in Table 2.2 below.

[0193] Table 2.2

[0194] As another possible implementation, the first information may include N area index sets and N time information sets, with the N area index sets corresponding one-to-one to the N time information sets. The nth area index set includes the index of at least one area served by the nth beam of the first cell, and the nth time information set includes the time information of at least one area served by the nth beam of the first cell. N is the number of beams in the first cell, n = 0, 1, ..., N-1. In this case, the first information may not include the index of the first beam or the indexes of each beam of the first cell.

[0195] For example, taking the beam as SSB, the first information may include the following area index set {101, 102}, {103, 104}, ..., and the following corresponding time information set {t101, t102}, {t103, t104}, .... This indicates that at least one area served by SSB 0 is area 101 and area 102, and their time information is t101 and t102, respectively. At least one area served by SSB 1 is area 103 and area 104, and their time information is t103 and t104, respectively, and so on.

[0196] When the first information includes at least one of the coverage start time, coverage end time or coverage remaining time of at least one area served by the first beam or the first cell, as shown in Figure 14, the terminal device performing measurement control based on the location information of the terminal device and the first information may include: the terminal device determines the first moment based on at least one of the coverage start time, coverage end time or coverage remaining time of the first area, and starts neighboring cell measurement before the first moment.

[0197] The first area is the area where the terminal device is located in at least one area served by the first beam or the first cell. Exemplarily, the terminal device can determine the area where it is located based on the location information of the terminal device, and if the time domain of the area where it is located is within the service area of ​​the first beam or the first cell, it is determined as the first area.

[0198] The first moment is the moment when the first beam or the first cell ends serving the first area. Alternatively, the first moment can be understood as the service end time of the first area.

[0199] As a possible implementation, the duration between the first moment and the current moment is the first remaining coverage time of the first area. The first remaining coverage time of the first area may be the remaining coverage time of the first area carried in the first information, or may be the remaining coverage time determined based on the coverage start time and / or coverage end time of the first area carried in the first information.

[0200] As another possible implementation, the duration between the first moment and the current moment is the second remaining coverage time of the first area. The second remaining coverage time of the first area is the difference between the first remaining coverage time of the first area and the first duration, the first duration is the duration between the current moment and the second moment, and the second moment may be the moment when the terminal device receives the first information, that is, the reception moment of the first information.

[0201] As a possible implementation, when the terminal device receives first information, where the first information includes at least one of a coverage start time, a coverage end time, or a coverage remaining time of at least one area served by the first beam or the first cell, the terminal device performs measurement control according to the method described in the second possible implementation manner. If the terminal device does not receive the first information, the terminal device may perform measurement according to the definition of the existing protocol.

[0202] Based on the second possible implementation method mentioned above, the network device sends at least one of the coverage start time, coverage end time or coverage remaining time of at least one area served by the beam or cell, so that terminal devices located in different areas can start measurement before the beam or cell ends serving the area where it is located, that is, the time for terminal devices in different areas served by the same beam or cell to start measurement may be different. Compared with judging whether to start measurement based on the remaining coverage time at the cell level, the flexibility of the terminal device in starting measurement can be improved, and terminal devices in areas with longer remaining coverage time can be prevented from starting measurement too early, that is, unnecessary measurements of the terminal device can be reduced, saving power consumption of the terminal device.

[0203] In a third possible implementation, the area information includes neighboring cell information associated with the area, that is, the first information includes neighboring cell information associated with at least one area served by the first beam or the first cell.

[0204] As a possible implementation, the neighboring cell information associated with a certain area indicates at least one cell. The cell indicated by the neighboring cell information may be a neighboring cell of the current cell. The service area of ​​the cell indicated by the neighboring cell information associated with a certain area may overlap with the service area of ​​the current area.

[0205] Exemplarily, the neighboring cell information may include a cell identifier, such as a physical cell identifier (PCI), a cell global identity (CGI), and the like.

[0206] As a possible implementation, the cells indicated by the neighboring cell information associated with different areas served by the first beam or the first cell may be different, the same, or partially the same, and this application does not make any specific limitations on this.

[0207] As a possible implementation, the first information may include an index of the first beam, an index of at least one area served by the first beam, and neighboring cell information associated with at least one area served by the first beam. Alternatively, the first information may include an index of each beam of the first cell, an index of at least one area served by each beam, and neighboring cell information associated with at least one area served by each beam. For example, taking the beam as an SSB beam as an example, the first information may indicate the relationship shown in Table 3 below.

[0208] Table 3

[0209] As can be seen from Table 3, at least one area served by SSB 0 is area 101 and area 102. At least one area served by SSB 1 is area 103 and area 104. The neighboring cell information associated with area 101 is neighboring cell information #1, and the at least one cell indicated by neighboring cell information #1 is the neighboring cell associated with area 101.

[0210] As another possible implementation, the first information may include N area index sets and N neighboring area information sets, and the N area index sets correspond one-to-one to the N neighboring area information sets. Among them, the nth area index set includes the index of at least one area served by the nth beam of the first cell, and the nth neighboring area information set includes neighboring area information associated with at least one area served by the nth beam of the first cell. N is the number of beams in the first cell, n = 0, 1, ..., N-1. At this time, the first information may not include the index of the first beam or the index of each beam of the first cell.

[0211] For example, taking the beam as SSB as an example, the first information may include the following area index set {101, 102}, {103, 104}, ..., and the following corresponding neighboring area information set {neighboring area information #1, neighboring area information #2}, {neighboring area information #3, neighboring area information #4}, .... This indicates that at least one area served by SSB 0 is area 101 and area 102, and the neighboring area information associated with the two is neighboring area information #1 and neighboring area information #2, respectively. At least one area served by SSB 1 is area 103 and area 104, and the neighboring area information associated with the two is neighboring area information #3 and neighboring area information #4, respectively, and so on.

[0212] When the first information includes neighboring area information associated with at least one area served by the first beam or the first cell, the terminal device performing measurement control based on the terminal device's location information and the first information may include: the terminal device performing measurement based on the neighboring area information associated with the first area. The first area is the area in which the terminal device is located within the at least one area served by the first beam or the first cell. Please refer to the aforementioned description of the first area, which will not be repeated here.

[0213] Exemplarily, the terminal device performs measurement based on the neighboring area information associated with the first area, which may include: the terminal device measures the neighboring area indicated by the neighboring area information associated with the first area.

[0214] In some implementation scenarios, the first information may indicate both time information of at least one area served by the first beam or the first cell and neighboring area information associated with the at least one area served by the first beam or the first cell. That is, the first information may indicate the relationship shown in Table 4 below.

[0215] Table 4

[0216] In this scenario, the terminal device performing measurement control based on the terminal device's location information and the first information may include: the terminal device determining a first moment based on at least one of the coverage start time, the coverage end time, or the remaining coverage time of the first area, and performing neighboring area measurement based on the neighboring area information associated with the first area before the first moment. The first area, the first moment, and the neighboring area measurement based on the neighboring area information associated with the first area can be referred to the aforementioned related descriptions and are not repeated here.

[0217] As a possible implementation, when the terminal device receives the first information, where the first information includes neighboring area information associated with at least one area served by the first beam or the first cell, the terminal device performs measurement control according to the method described in the third possible implementation method. If the terminal device does not receive the first information, the measurement may be performed according to the definition of the existing protocol.

[0218] Based on the third possible implementation method mentioned above, the network device sends neighboring cell information associated with at least one area served by the beam or cell, so that terminal devices located in different areas can perform measurements based on the neighboring cell information associated with their own areas, that is, the cells measured by terminal devices in different areas served by the same beam or cell can be different, which improves the flexibility of terminal device measurements. Compared with the solution in which each terminal device measures the same neighboring cell, unnecessary neighboring cell measurements are reduced, thereby saving power consumption of the terminal device.

[0219] In a fourth possible implementation, the area information includes first indication information and / or second indication information, that is, the first information includes first indication information and / or second indication information corresponding to at least one area served by the first beam or the first cell.

[0220] The first indication information is used to indicate whether the measurement configuration is allowed to be changed. The first indication information may be at a regional granularity, and therefore, the first indication information corresponding to a certain area may be used to indicate whether the terminal device in the area is allowed to change the measurement configuration.

[0221] Exemplarily, changing the measurement configuration may include changing (e.g., increasing or decreasing) a measurement period, changing the number of measurement objects, etc. When changing the measurement configuration includes increasing the measurement period and / or decreasing the number of measurement objects, the first indication information is used to indicate whether the change of the measurement configuration is allowed, which may also be understood as the first indication information being used to indicate whether the initiation of relaxation measurement is allowed. Relaxation measurement is used to reduce measurements to reduce power consumption of the terminal device. For example, relaxation measurement may include increasing the measurement period and / or decreasing the number of measurement objects.

[0222] Exemplarily, when changing the measurement configuration includes increasing the measurement period, the measurement period of the current cell and / or the measurement period of the neighboring cells of the current cell may be increased. When changing the measurement configuration includes reducing the number of measurement objects, the number of neighboring cells measured may be reduced.

[0223] The second indication information is used to indicate the first threshold, which is a time threshold used to determine whether to change the measurement configuration. The second indication information can be at a regional granularity. Therefore, the second indication information corresponding to a certain region can also be considered to indicate the first threshold corresponding to the region. The first threshold corresponding to the region can be used by terminal devices in the region to determine whether to change the measurement configuration.

[0224] Exemplarily, when changing the measurement configuration includes increasing the measurement period and / or reducing the number of measurement objects, the first threshold may be understood as a time threshold for determining whether to start the relaxation measurement.

[0225] As a possible implementation, the first indication information corresponding to different areas served by the first beam or the first cell may be the same or different. For example, taking the area served by the first beam as an example, which includes area 1 and area 2, the first indication information corresponding to area 1 may indicate that the measurement configuration is allowed to be changed, and the first indication information corresponding to area 2 may indicate that the measurement configuration is not allowed to be changed. In the case where all areas served by the first beam or the first cell correspond to the same first indication information, the first information may include one first indication information.

[0226] The second indication information corresponding to different areas served by the first beam or the first cell may be the same or different. For example, taking the example of the area served by the first beam including area 1 and area 2, areas 1 and 2 may correspond to the same second indication information, that is, the same first threshold; or, areas 1 and 2 may correspond to different second indication information, with the second indication information corresponding to area 1 indicating first threshold 1 and the second indication information corresponding to area 2 indicating first threshold 2. If all areas served by the first beam or the first cell correspond to the same second indication information, the first information may include one piece of second indication information.

[0227] As a possible implementation, when the area information includes the second indication information, since the second indication information indicates a time threshold for determining whether to change the measurement configuration, the change of the measurement configuration may be allowed by default.

[0228] As another possible implementation, when the area information includes the first indication information and the first indication information does not allow the measurement configuration to be changed, the area information may not include the second indication information. Of course, the area information may also include the second indication information, which is not specifically limited in this application.

[0229] As a possible implementation, the first information may include an index of the first beam, an index of at least one area served by the first beam, and first indication information and / or second indication information corresponding to at least one area served by the first beam. Alternatively, the first information may include an index of each beam of the first cell, an index of at least one area served by each beam, and first indication information and / or second indication information corresponding to each beam. For example, taking the beam as an SSB beam and the area information including the first indication information and the second indication information as an example, the first information may indicate the relationship shown in Table 5 or Table 6 below.

[0230] Table 5

[0231] Table 6

[0232] In the relationship shown in Table 5, different areas in the at least one area served by the first beam or the first cell may correspond to different first indication information and first thresholds. In the relationship shown in Table 6, the areas served by the first beam or the first cell all correspond to the same first indication information and second indication information.

[0233] As another possible implementation, the first information may include N area index sets and N indication information sets, where the N area index sets correspond one-to-one to the N indication information sets. The nth area index set includes the index of at least one area served by the nth beam of the first cell, and the nth indication information set includes first indication information and second indication information corresponding to at least one area served by the nth beam of the first cell. N is the number of beams in the first cell, where n = 0, 1, ..., N-1. In this case, the first information may not include the index of the first beam or the indexes of each beam of the first cell.

[0234] Exemplarily, taking the SSB beam as an example, the first information may include the following area index sets {101, 102}, {103, 104}, ..., and the following corresponding indication information sets {first indication information #1, first threshold #1; first indication information #2, first threshold #2}, {first indication information #3, first threshold #3; first indication information #4, first threshold #4}, .... This indicates that at least one area served by SSB 0 is area 101 and area 102, area 101 corresponds to the first indication information #1 and / or the first threshold #1, area 102 corresponds to the first indication information #2 and / or the first threshold #2, and so on.

[0235] As a first possible implementation, when the first information includes first indication information corresponding to at least one area served by the first beam or the first cell, the terminal device performs measurement control according to the location information of the terminal device and the first information, which may include: when the first indication information corresponding to the first area indicates that the measurement configuration is allowed to be changed in the first area, the terminal device changes the measurement configuration, for example, the terminal device starts relaxation measurement. The first area is the area where the terminal device is located in at least one area served by the first beam or the first cell. Please refer to the above-mentioned relevant instructions and will not be repeated here.

[0236] As a second possible implementation, when the first information includes second indication information corresponding to at least one area served by the first beam or the first cell, the terminal device performs measurement control based on the location information of the terminal device and the first information, which may include: when the remaining coverage time of the first area is greater than the first threshold indicated by the second indication information corresponding to the first area, the terminal device changes the measurement configuration. The first area can refer to the aforementioned relevant description and will not be repeated here.

[0237] Exemplarily, the remaining coverage time of the first area may be the remaining coverage time indicated by the network device through the second possible implementation method described above. Alternatively, after the network device indicates the remaining coverage time of the first area through the second possible implementation method described above, the terminal device determines the remaining coverage time based on the remaining coverage time indicated by the network device and the current moment. Reference may be made to the relevant description of the second remaining coverage time of the first area in the second possible implementation method described above, which will not be repeated here.

[0238] As a third possible implementation, when the first information includes first indication information and second indication information corresponding to at least one area served by the first beam or the first cell, the terminal device performing measurement control according to the location information and the first information of the terminal device may include: the first indication information indicates that the measurement configuration is allowed to be changed in the first area, and the measurement configuration is changed when the remaining coverage time of the first area is greater than the first threshold indicated by the second indication information. The first indication information may be the first indication information corresponding to the first area, and the second indication information may be the second indication information corresponding to the first area. The first area may refer to the aforementioned relevant instructions, and the remaining coverage time of the first area may refer to the relevant instructions in the above-mentioned second possible implementation, which will not be repeated here.

[0239] Optionally, when the first indication information does not allow the measurement configuration to be changed in the first area, or the remaining coverage time of the first area is less than or equal to the first threshold indicated by the second indication information, the terminal device may not change the measurement configuration.

[0240] Optionally, in a third possible implementation, as shown in FIG16 , after receiving the first information, the terminal device may determine, based on the first indication information, whether to allow the measurement configuration to be changed in the first area. If the measurement configuration is allowed to be changed in the first area, the terminal device determines whether the remaining coverage time of the first area is greater than a first threshold indicated by the second indication information. If the remaining coverage time of the first area is greater than the first threshold indicated by the second indication information, the terminal device changes the measurement configuration.

[0241] Optionally, in the second and third possible implementations described above, it can be considered that the network device can send time information of at least one area served by the first beam or the first cell, and can also send first indication information and / or second indication information corresponding to at least one area. Exemplarily, taking the beam as an SSB beam and the area information including the first indication information and the second indication information as an example, the network device can indicate the relationship shown in Table 7 below.

[0242] Table 7

[0243] As a possible implementation, after receiving the first information and changing the measurement configuration for the first time based on the first information, the terminal device can dynamically determine whether the current remaining coverage time of the first area is greater than the first threshold indicated by the second indication information. If the current remaining coverage time is greater than the first threshold, the changed measurement configuration is maintained; if the current remaining coverage time is less than or equal to the first threshold, the latest measurement configuration before receiving the first information is restored, or in other words, the measurement configuration before the change is restored.

[0244] Exemplarily, assuming that the measurement configuration is changed to start relaxed measurement, if the current remaining coverage time is greater than the first threshold indicated by the second indication information, the terminal device continues to perform relaxed measurement; if the current remaining coverage time is less than or equal to the first threshold, the terminal device turns off relaxed measurement.

[0245] As a possible implementation, when the terminal device receives the first information, where the first information includes first indication information and / or second indication information corresponding to at least one area served by the first beam or the first cell, the terminal device performs measurement control according to the method described in the fourth possible implementation method. If the terminal device does not receive the first information, the measurement may be performed according to the definition of the existing protocol.

[0246] Based on the above-mentioned fourth possible implementation method, the network device can indicate whether to allow the measurement configuration to be changed and / or indicate a first threshold value for determining whether to change the measurement configuration. When the network device indicates that the measurement configuration is allowed to be changed and / or the remaining coverage time of the area is greater than the first threshold value, the terminal device in the area can change the measurement configuration, thereby improving the flexibility of the measurement. In addition, when the measurement configuration is changed to start relaxation measurement, the measurement frequency of the terminal device can be reduced, thereby reducing the power consumption of the terminal device. If the terminal device starts relaxation measurement when the remaining coverage time of the area is greater than the first threshold value, since the remaining coverage time of the area is long, starting relaxation measurement will not affect the terminal device.

[0247] In a fifth possible implementation, as shown in Figure 17 , the network device further transmits second information to the terminal device. Accordingly, the terminal device receives the second information from the network device. The second information indicates a second threshold corresponding to at least one coverage level. The second threshold corresponding to a coverage level is the minimum time required to complete a transmission at that coverage level. Exemplarily, the "transmission" may be a data or signaling transmission between the terminal device and the network device.

[0248] As a possible implementation, the coverage level can be used to reflect or indicate signal quality. In other words, the coverage level is related to signal quality. A terminal device can obtain downlink signal quality through downlink measurements and determine its operating coverage level based on the downlink signal quality and the signal quality threshold / range. The operating coverage level of a terminal device can also be referred to as the terminal device's corresponding coverage level. The coverage level can also be referred to as the coverage strength level.

[0249] As a possible implementation, the smaller the coverage level, the better the signal quality corresponding to that coverage level. For example, the coverage levels can be divided into coverage level 0, coverage level 1, and coverage level 2. The downlink signal quality corresponding to coverage levels 0, 1, and 2 decreases in sequence. For example, the signal quality corresponding to coverage levels 0, 1, and 2 can be shown in Table 8.

[0250] Table 8

[0251] Wherein, Rx represents signal quality. The first value and the second value can be understood as signal quality thresholds, and (second value, first value] can be understood as a signal quality range. The signal quality represented by the first value is greater / higher / stronger than the signal quality represented by the second value.

[0252] As a possible implementation, the better the signal quality corresponding to the coverage level, the shorter the minimum time required to complete transmission at that coverage level, that is, the smaller the second threshold corresponding to that coverage level. For example, based on the example shown in Table 8, the second thresholds corresponding to each coverage level can be shown in Table 9.

[0253] Table 9

[0254] As a possible implementation, the second information can be included in the first information, that is, the first information includes the second information. Alternatively, the second information and the first information can be decoupled, that is, the second information can be information that exists independently of the first information. In this case, the second information and the first information can be carried in the same message or in different messages, which is not specifically limited in this application.

[0255] When the first information includes at least one of the coverage start time, coverage end time, or coverage remaining time of at least one area served by the first beam or the first cell, and the terminal device receives the second information, as shown in FIG17 , the terminal device performs access control based on the location information of the terminal device and the first information, including:

[0256] If the third condition is met, the terminal device initiates access in the first beam or first cell. If the third condition is not met, the terminal device determines not to initiate access in the first beam or first cell. In other words, the terminal device can determine whether the third condition is met and, if so, initiate access in the first beam or first cell.

[0257] Among them, the third condition includes: the remaining coverage time of the first area is greater than the second threshold corresponding to the first coverage level. The first area is the area where the terminal device is located in at least one area served by the first beam or the first cell, and reference may be made to the aforementioned relevant description of the first area. The remaining coverage time of the first area may be the first remaining coverage time of the first area, or may be the second remaining coverage time of the first area, and reference may be made to the relevant description in the above-mentioned second possible implementation method. The first coverage level is the working coverage level of the terminal device, and reference may be made to the aforementioned relevant description of the working coverage level of the terminal device, which will not be repeated here.

[0258] Optionally, when the first cell is the current cell, the third condition may further include conditions in access criteria defined in existing protocols. When the first cell is a neighboring cell of the current cell, the third condition may further include conditions in reselection / handover criteria defined in existing protocols. In the embodiments of the present application, the case where all conditions in the access / reselection / handover criteria defined in existing protocols are satisfied is used as an example for explanation.

[0259] For example, taking the working coverage level of the terminal device as coverage level 1, the second threshold corresponding to coverage level 1 is 6s, that is, the minimum time required to complete transmission at coverage level 1 is 6s. For example, if the remaining coverage time of the first area is 4s, the third condition is not met, and the terminal device does not initiate access; if the remaining coverage time of the first area is 10s, the third condition is met, indicating that the remaining coverage time is sufficient to complete a transmission, and the terminal device initiates access.

[0260] Among them, the terminal device initiating access in the first beam or the first cell can refer to the relevant description of the first possible implementation method mentioned above, which will not be repeated here.

[0261] In a fifth possible implementation, the terminal device may be a terminal device in an IoT system or a narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT), or in other words, the terminal device may be an IoT device. That is, the fifth possible implementation can be applied to IoT scenarios.

[0262] As a possible implementation, when the terminal device receives the first information and the second information, where the first information includes at least one of the coverage start time, coverage end time, or coverage remaining time of at least one area served by the first beam or the first cell, the terminal device performs access control according to the method described in the fifth possible implementation method. If the terminal device does not receive the first information, access may be performed according to the definition of the existing protocol.

[0263] Based on the fifth possible implementation, the network device indicates the minimum time required to complete a transmission at the coverage level, enabling the terminal device to determine whether to initiate access based on the minimum time required to complete a transmission at the terminal device's operating coverage level and the remaining coverage time in the terminal device's area. If the remaining coverage time in the terminal device's area is sufficient to complete a transmission, the terminal device initiates access, thereby improving the terminal device's access success rate.

[0264] Furthermore, if a terminal device initiates access when the remaining coverage time is insufficient, access failure may occur. That is, the terminal device initiates access but fails. Based on the solution of this application, if the remaining coverage time is insufficient, the terminal device does not initiate access. This prevents the terminal device from initiating access when the remaining coverage time is insufficient, thereby saving power consumption of the terminal device.

[0265] It is understood that in each of the above embodiments, the methods and / or steps implemented by the network device may also be implemented by components applicable to the network device (e.g., processor, chip, chip system, circuit, logic module, or software); and the methods and / or steps implemented by the terminal device may also be implemented by components applicable to the terminal device (e.g., processor, chip, chip system, circuit, logic module, or software). The chip system may be composed of a chip, or may include a chip and other discrete components.

[0266] It is understandable that, in order to realize the above functions, the communication device includes hardware structures and / or software modules corresponding to the execution of each function. It should be easily appreciated by those skilled in the art that, in combination with the units and algorithm steps of each example described in the embodiments disclosed herein, the present application can be implemented in the form of hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is executed in the form of hardware or computer software driving hardware 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 be beyond the scope of this application.

[0267] The embodiment of the present application can divide the functional modules of the communication device according to the above method embodiment. For example, each functional module can be divided according to each function, or two or more functions can be integrated into one processing module. The above integrated modules can be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of software functional modules. It should be noted that the division of modules in the embodiment of the present application is schematic and is only a logical functional division. In actual implementation, there may be other division methods.

[0268] Communication Device Figure 18 shows a schematic structural diagram of a communication device 180. The communication device 180 includes a processing module 1801 and a transceiver module 1802. The communication device 180 can be used to implement the functions of the above-mentioned network device or terminal device.

[0269] In some embodiments, the communication device 180 may further include a storage module (not shown in FIG. 18 ) for storing program instructions and data.

[0270] In some embodiments, the transceiver module 1802, which may also be referred to as a transceiver unit, is configured to implement a transmitting and / or receiving function. The transceiver module 1802 may be composed of a transceiver circuit, a transceiver, a transceiver, or a communication interface.

[0271] In some embodiments, the transceiver module 1802 may include a receiving module and a sending module, which are respectively used to execute the receiving and sending steps performed by the network device or terminal device in the above method embodiments, and / or used to support other processes of the technology described herein; the processing module 1801 may be used to execute the processing steps (such as determination, etc.) performed by the network device or terminal device in the above method embodiments, and / or used to support other processes of the technology described herein.

[0272] When the communication device 180 is used to implement the functions of the above-mentioned terminal device:

[0273] The transceiver module 1802 is used to receive first information, which includes information about at least one area served by the first beam or the first cell, and the coverage area of ​​the first beam or the first cell includes at least one area, which is fixed relative to the earth; the processing module 1801 is used to perform at least one of access control, residence control or measurement control based on the location information of the terminal device and the first information.

[0274] Optionally, the information of the area includes an index of the area. Processing module 1801 is used to perform access control based on the location information of the terminal device and the first information, including: processing module 1801 is used to initiate access in the first beam or the first cell when the first condition is met; and determine not to initiate access in the first beam or the first cell when the first condition is not met. Processing module 1801 is used to perform residence control based on the location information of the terminal device and the first information, including: processing module 1801 is used to reside in the first cell when the second condition is met; and determine not to reside in the first cell when the second condition is not met. The first condition or the second condition includes: the terminal device is located in at least one area served by the first beam or the first cell.

[0275] Optionally, the area information includes at least one of the following: coverage start time, coverage end time, or coverage remaining time. Processing module 1801 is used to perform measurement control based on the location information of the terminal device and the first information, including: processing module 1801 is used to determine the first moment based on at least one of the coverage start time, coverage end time, or coverage remaining time of the first area; processing module 1801 is also used to start neighboring area measurement before the first moment. The first moment is the moment when the first beam or the first cell ends serving the first area; the first area is the area where the terminal device is located in at least one area served by the first beam or the first cell.

[0276] Optionally, the area information includes: neighboring area information associated with the area. Processing module 1801 is used to perform measurement control based on the location information of the terminal device and the first information, including: processing module 1801 is used to perform neighboring area measurement based on the neighboring area information associated with the first area, where the first area is the area where the terminal device is located in at least one area served by the first beam or the first cell.

[0277] Optionally, the information of the area includes: first indication information and / or second indication information. The first indication information is used to indicate whether the measurement configuration is allowed to be changed. The second indication information is used to indicate a first threshold, and the first threshold is a time threshold for determining whether to change the measurement configuration. The processing module 1801 is used to perform measurement control according to the location information of the terminal device and the first information, including: a processing module 1801, used to change the measurement configuration when the remaining coverage time of the first area is greater than the first threshold. Alternatively, the processing module 1801 is used to change the measurement configuration when the first indication information indicates that the measurement configuration is allowed to be changed in the first area, and the remaining coverage time of the first area is greater than the first threshold. The first area is the area where the terminal device is located in at least one area served by the first beam or the first cell.

[0278] Optionally, the transceiver module 1802 is further configured to receive second information, where the second information indicates a second threshold corresponding to at least one coverage level, and the second threshold corresponding to the coverage level is a minimum time required to complete transmission at the coverage level.

[0279] Optionally, processing module 1801 is configured to perform access control based on the location information and first information of the terminal device, including: processing module 1801 is configured to initiate access in the first beam or the first cell if a third condition is met; and determine not to initiate access in the first beam or the first cell if the third condition is not met. The third condition includes: the remaining coverage time of the first area is greater than a second threshold corresponding to the first coverage level, the first area is the area in which the terminal device is located in at least one area served by the first beam or the first cell, and the first coverage level is the operating coverage level of the terminal device.

[0280] When the communication device 180 is used to implement the functions of the above-mentioned network device:

[0281] The processing module 1801 is configured to determine first information, and the transceiver module 1802 is configured to send the first information. The first information includes information about at least one area served by a first beam or a first cell, where the coverage area of ​​the first beam or the first cell includes at least one area that is fixed relative to the Earth.

[0282] Among them, all relevant contents of each step involved in the above method embodiment can be referred to the functional description of the corresponding functional module and will not be repeated here.

[0283] In the present application, the communication device 180 may be presented in the form of various functional modules divided in an integrated manner. The "module" here may refer to a specific application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a circuit, a processor and memory that executes one or more software or firmware programs, an integrated logic circuit, and / or other devices that can provide the above functions.

[0284] In some embodiments, when the communication device 180 in Figure 18 is a chip or a chip system, the function / implementation process of the transceiver module 1802 can be implemented through the input and output interface (or communication interface) of the chip or chip system, and the function / implementation process of the processing module 1801 can be implemented through the processor (or processing circuit) of the chip or chip system.

[0285] Since the communication device 180 provided in this embodiment can execute the above method, the technical effects that can be obtained can refer to the above method embodiments and will not be repeated here.

[0286] As a possible product form, the terminal device or network device described in the embodiments of the present application can also be implemented using the following: one or more field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), controllers, state machines, gate logic, discrete hardware components, any other suitable circuits, or any combination of circuits that can perform the various functions described throughout this application.

[0287] As another possible product form, the terminal device or network device described in the embodiment of the present application can be implemented by a general bus architecture. For ease of explanation, refer to Figure 19, which is a structural diagram of a communication device 1900 provided in an embodiment of the present application, and the communication device 1900 includes a processor 1901 and a transceiver 1902. The communication device 1900 can be a network device, or a chip or chip system therein; or, the communication device 1900 can be a terminal device, or a chip or module therein. Figure 19 only shows the main components of the communication device 1900. In addition to the processor 1901 and the transceiver 1902, the communication device may further include a memory 1903, and an input and output device (not shown in the figure).

[0288] Optionally, processor 1901 is primarily used to process communication protocols and communication data, as well as control the entire communication device, execute software programs, and process software program data. Memory 1903 is primarily used to store software programs and data. Transceiver 1902 may include a radio frequency circuit and an antenna. The radio frequency circuit is primarily used to convert baseband signals into radio frequency signals and process radio frequency signals. The antenna is primarily used to transmit and receive radio frequency signals in the form of electromagnetic waves. Input and output devices, such as a touch screen, display, and keyboard, are primarily used to receive user input and output data to the user.

[0289] Optionally, the processor 1901 , the transceiver 1902 , and the memory 1903 may be connected via a communication bus.

[0290] When the communication device is powered on, processor 1901 can read the software program in memory 1903, interpret and execute the instructions of the software program, and process the data of the software program. When data needs to be sent wirelessly, processor 1901 performs baseband processing on the data to be sent and outputs the baseband signal to the radio frequency circuit. The radio frequency circuit performs radio frequency processing on the baseband signal and then transmits the radio frequency signal to the outside in the form of electromagnetic waves via the antenna. When data is sent to the communication device, the radio frequency circuit receives the radio frequency signal via the antenna, converts the radio frequency signal into a baseband signal, and outputs the baseband signal to processor 1901. Processor 1901 converts the baseband signal into data and processes the data.

[0291] In another implementation, the RF circuit and antenna may be provided independently of the processor performing baseband processing. For example, in a distributed scenario, the RF circuit and antenna may be remotely arranged independent of the communication device.

[0292] In some embodiments, in terms of hardware implementation, those skilled in the art may conceive that the above-mentioned communication device 180 may take the form of a communication device 1900 shown in FIG. 19 .

[0293] As an example, the functions / implementation process of the processing module 1801 in FIG18 can be implemented by the processor 1901 in the communication device 1900 shown in FIG19 calling the computer-executable instructions stored in the memory 1903. The functions / implementation process of the transceiver module 1802 in FIG18 can be implemented by the transceiver 1902 in the communication device 1900 shown in FIG19.

[0294] As another possible product form, the network device or terminal device in this application may adopt the structure shown in Figure 20, or include the components shown in Figure 20. Figure 20 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device 2000 provided in this application. The communication device 2000 may be a terminal device or a chip or system-on-chip in a terminal device; or it may be a network device or a module, chip, or system-on-chip in a network device.

[0295] As shown in FIG20 , the communication device 2000 includes at least one processor 2001 and at least one communication interface ( FIG20 is merely an example of one communication interface 2004 and one processor 2001). Optionally, the communication device 2000 may further include a communication bus 2002 and a memory 2003.

[0296] Processor 2001 may be a general-purpose central processing unit (CPU), a general-purpose processor, a network processor (NP), a digital signal processor (DSP), a microprocessor, a microcontroller, a programmable logic device (PLD), or any combination thereof. Processor 2001 may also be other devices with processing capabilities, such as circuits, devices, or software modules, without limitation.

[0297] Communication bus 2002 is used to connect the various components in communication device 2000, enabling communication between them. Communication bus 2002 may be a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus or an Extended Industry Standard Architecture (EISA) bus, for example. Such buses may be classified as address buses, data buses, and control buses. For ease of illustration, FIG20 shows a single thick line, but this does not imply that there is only one bus or type of bus.

[0298] Communication interface 2004 is used to communicate with other devices or communication networks. Exemplarily, communication interface 2004 can be a module, circuit, transceiver, or any other device capable of communication. Optionally, communication interface 2004 can also be an input / output interface within processor 2001, used to implement signal input and output to the processor.

[0299] The memory 2003 may be a device with a storage function, used to store instructions and / or data, wherein the instructions may be computer programs.

[0300] Exemplarily, the memory 2003 may be a read-only memory (ROM) or other types of static storage devices that can store static information and / or instructions, or a random access memory (RAM) or other types of dynamic storage devices that can store information and / or instructions, or an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) or other optical disc storage, optical disc storage (including compact discs, laser discs, optical discs, digital versatile discs, Blu-ray discs, etc.), magnetic disk storage media or other magnetic storage devices, etc., without limitation.

[0301] It should be noted that the memory 2003 can exist independently of the processor 2001 or can be integrated with the processor 2001. The memory 2003 can be located within the communication device 2000 or outside the communication device 2000, without limitation. The processor 2001 can be used to execute instructions stored in the memory 2003 to implement the methods provided in the following embodiments of the present application.

[0302] As an optional implementation, the communication device 2000 may further include an output device 2005 and an input device 2006. The output device 2005 communicates with the processor 2001 and can display information in a variety of ways. For example, the output device 2005 can be a liquid crystal display (LCD), a light emitting diode (LED) display device, a cathode ray tube (CRT) display device, or a projector. The input device 2006 communicates with the processor 2001 and can receive user input in a variety of ways. For example, the input device 2006 can be a mouse, a keyboard, a touch screen device, or a sensor device.

[0303] In some embodiments, in terms of hardware implementation, those skilled in the art may conceive that the communication device 180 shown in FIG. 18 may take the form of the communication device 2000 shown in FIG. 20 .

[0304] As an example, the functions / implementation process of the processing module 1801 in FIG18 can be implemented by the processor 2001 in the communication device 2000 shown in FIG20 calling the computer-executable instructions stored in the memory 2003. The functions / implementation process of the transceiver module 1802 in FIG18 can be implemented by the communication interface 2004 in the communication device 2000 shown in FIG20.

[0305] It should be noted that the structure shown in FIG20 does not constitute a specific limitation on the network device or terminal device. For example, in other embodiments of the present application, the network device or terminal device may include more or fewer components than shown in the figure, or combine or split certain components, or arrange the components differently. The components shown in the figure may be implemented in hardware, software, or a combination of software and hardware.

[0306] In some embodiments, an embodiment of the present application further provides a communication device, which includes a processor for implementing the method in any of the above method embodiments.

[0307] As a possible implementation, the communication device further includes a memory. The memory is used to store necessary computer programs and data. The computer program may include instructions, and the processor may invoke the instructions in the computer program stored in the memory to instruct the communication device to perform any of the above-described method embodiments. Of course, the memory may not be located in the communication device.

[0308] As another possible implementation, the communication device also includes an interface circuit, which is a code / data read / write interface circuit, and the interface circuit is used to receive computer execution instructions (computer execution instructions are stored in a memory, may be read directly from the memory, or may pass through other devices) and transmit them to the processor.

[0309] As another possible implementation, the communication device further includes a communication interface, where the communication interface is used to communicate with a module outside the communication device.

[0310] It can be understood that the communication device can be a chip or a chip system. When the communication device is a chip system, it can be composed of chips or include chips and other discrete devices. The embodiments of the present application do not specifically limit this.

[0311] The present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium having a computer program or instruction stored thereon, which implements the functions of any of the above method embodiments when executed by a computer.

[0312] The present application also provides a computer program product, which implements the functions of any of the above method embodiments when executed by a computer.

[0313] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that, for the sake of convenience and brevity of description, the specific working processes of the above-described systems, devices, and units may refer to the corresponding processes in the aforementioned method embodiments and will not be repeated here.

[0314] It is understood that the systems, devices, and methods described in this application may also be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are merely illustrative. For example, the division of the units is merely a logical function division. In actual implementation, there may be other division methods, such as multiple units or components can be combined or integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored or not executed. In addition, the coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed may be through some interface, indirect coupling or communication connection of devices or units, and may be electrical, mechanical, or other forms.

[0315] The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separate, i.e., they may be located in one place or distributed across multiple network units. Components shown as units may or may not be physical units. Some or all of these units may be selected to achieve the objectives of this embodiment as needed.

[0316] In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist physically separately, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit.

[0317] In the above embodiments, all or part of the embodiments may be implemented by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented using a software program, all or part of the embodiments may be implemented in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When the computer program instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, all or part of the processes or functions described in the embodiments of the present application are generated. The computer may be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable device. The computer instructions may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium. For example, the computer instructions may be transmitted from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center via a wired (e.g., coaxial cable, optical fiber, digital subscriber line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) method. The computer-readable storage medium may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device such as a server or data center that includes one or more media integrated therein. The available medium may be a magnetic medium (eg, a floppy disk, a hard disk, a magnetic tape), an optical medium (eg, a DVD), or a semiconductor medium (eg, a solid state drive (SSD)). In the embodiment of the present application, the computer may include the aforementioned device.

[0318] Although the present application is described herein in conjunction with various embodiments, in the process of implementing the claimed application, those skilled in the art can understand and implement other changes to the disclosed embodiments by reviewing the drawings, the disclosure, and the appended claims. In the claims, the word "comprising" does not exclude other components or steps, and "a" or "an" does not exclude multiple situations. A single processor or other unit can implement several functions listed in the claims. Certain measures are recorded in different dependent claims, but this does not mean that these measures cannot be combined to produce good results.

[0319] Although the present application has been described with reference to specific features and embodiments thereof, it is apparent that various modifications and combinations may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the present application. Accordingly, this specification and the drawings are merely illustrative of the present application as defined by the appended claims and are deemed to cover any and all modifications, variations, combinations or equivalents within the scope of the present application. Obviously, those skilled in the art may make various modifications and variations to the present application without departing from the spirit and scope of the present application. Thus, the present application is intended to include such modifications and variations as fall within the scope of the claims of the present application and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that: The method comprises: receiving first information, the first information comprising information of at least one area served by a first beam or a first cell, the coverage area of ​​the first beam or the first cell comprising the at least one area, and the area being fixed relative to the earth; At least one of access control, residence control or measurement control is performed according to the location information of the terminal device and the first information.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The information of the area includes an index of the area.

3. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that The performing access control according to the location information of the terminal device and the first information includes: when a first condition is met, initiating access in the first beam or the first cell; when the first condition is not met, determining not to initiate access in the first beam or the first cell; The performing the residence control according to the location information of the terminal device and the first information includes: if the second condition is met, residing in the first cell; if the second condition is not met, determining not to reside in the first cell; The first condition or the second condition includes: the terminal device is located in at least one area served by the first beam or the first cell.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that: The information of the area includes at least one of the following: coverage start time, coverage end time or coverage remaining time.

5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that The performing measurement control according to the location information of the terminal device and the first information includes: Determine a first moment according to at least one of a coverage start time, a coverage end time, or a coverage remaining time of the first area; the first moment is a moment when the first beam or the first cell stops serving the first area; the first area is an area where the terminal device is located in at least one area served by the first beam or the first cell; Before the first moment, neighboring cell measurement is started.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that: The information of the area includes: information of neighboring areas associated with the area.

7. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that The performing measurement control according to the location information of the terminal device and the first information includes: Neighboring area measurement is performed according to neighboring area information associated with a first area, where the first area is an area where the terminal device is located in at least one area served by the first beam or the first cell.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that: The information of the area includes: first indication information and / or second indication information; The first indication information is used to indicate whether to allow the measurement configuration to be changed; the second indication information is used to indicate a first threshold, and the first threshold is a time threshold used to determine whether to change the measurement configuration.

9. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that The performing measurement control according to the location information of the terminal device and the first information includes: When the remaining coverage time of the first area is greater than the first threshold, changing the measurement configuration; or, The first indication information indicates that changing the measurement configuration in the first area is allowed, and when the remaining coverage time of the first area is greater than the first threshold, the measurement configuration is changed; The first area is an area where the terminal device is located in at least one area served by the first beam or the first cell.

10. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that: The method further includes: receiving second information, wherein the second information indicates a second threshold value corresponding to at least one coverage level, and the second threshold value corresponding to the coverage level is a minimum time required to complete transmission at the coverage level.

11. The method according to claim 10, characterized in that The performing access control according to the location information of the terminal device and the first information includes: If the third condition is met, initiating access in the first beam or the first cell; if the third condition is not met, determining not to initiate access in the first beam or the first cell; Among them, the third condition includes: the remaining coverage time of the first area is greater than the second threshold corresponding to the first coverage level, the first area is the area where the terminal device is located in at least one area served by the first beam or the first cell, and the first coverage level is the working coverage level of the terminal device.

12. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, characterized in that: The first cell is a neighboring cell of the serving cell, or the first beam is a beam within a neighboring cell of the serving cell.

13. The method according to claim 12, characterized in that The first information is carried in a radio resource control RRC reconfiguration message.

14. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, characterized in that: The first information is carried in the broadcast information of the first cell.

15. A communication method, characterized in that: The method comprises: Determine first information, the first information comprising information of at least one area served by a first beam or a first cell, the coverage area of ​​the first beam or the first cell comprising the at least one area, and the area is fixed relative to the earth; The first information is sent.

16. The method according to claim 15, characterized in that The information of the area includes an index of the area.

17. The method according to claim 15 or 16, characterized in that The information of the area includes at least one of the following: coverage start time, coverage end time or coverage remaining time.

18. The method according to any one of claims 15 to 17, characterized in that: The information of the area includes: information of neighboring areas associated with the area.

19. The method according to any one of claims 15 to 18, characterized in that: The information of the area includes: first indication information and / or second indication information; The first indication information is used to indicate whether to allow the measurement configuration to be changed; the second indication information is used to indicate a first threshold, and the first threshold is a time threshold used to determine whether to change the measurement configuration.

20. The method according to any one of claims 15 to 19, characterized in that: The method further includes: sending second information, wherein the second information indicates a second threshold value corresponding to at least one coverage level, and the second threshold value corresponding to the coverage level is a minimum time required to complete transmission at the coverage level.

21. The method according to any one of claims 15 to 20, characterized in that: The first cell is a neighboring cell of the serving cell, or the first beam is a beam within a neighboring cell of the serving cell.

22. The method according to claim 21, characterized in that The first information is carried in a radio resource control RRC reconfiguration message.

23. The method according to any one of claims 15 to 20, characterized in that: The first information is carried in the broadcast information of the first cell.

24. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that: The computer-readable storage medium stores computer instructions or programs. When the computer instructions or programs are executed on a computer, the method according to any one of claims 1 to 14 is executed, or the method according to any one of claims 15 to 23 is executed.

25. A computer program product, characterized in that The computer program product comprises computer instructions; when part or all of the computer instructions are run on a computer, the method according to any one of claims 1 to 14 is executed, or the method according to any one of claims 15 to 23 is executed.

26. A chip, characterized in that: include: a memory for storing computer program instructions; A processor, configured to execute the computer program instructions so that a communication device including the chip performs the method according to any one of claims 1 to 23.

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