Communication method and apparatus

Abstract

A communication method and apparatus, the method being applicable to non-terrestrial network (NTN) communications. The method comprises: a first network device acquiring first information, and sending the first information to a terminal device, wherein the first information indicates information of an area, the area is fixed relative to the earth, and a geographical location of the area is determined by an identifier of the area; and after receiving the first information from the first network device, the terminal device determining, on the basis of location information of the terminal device and the first information, an identifier of a first area, and, on the basis of the identifier of the first area, performing mobility management, wherein the first area is an area where the terminal device is located. Based on this solution, the network device can indicate the information of the area to the terminal device, so that the terminal device can acquire an area distribution condition on the basis of the information of the area, thereby performing mobility management on the basis of the location information of the terminal device and the area distribution condition. Compared with a network device directly configuring reference point location information to enable a terminal device to perform mobility management, the present solution can reduce signaling overhead.

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] Non-terrestrial networks (NTNs) offer significant advantages, including global coverage, long-distance transmission, flexible networking, easy deployment, and freedom from geographical constraints. 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. NTNs can be integrated with terrestrial networks, leveraging their strengths and complementing their weaknesses to form a seamless, integrated global communications network spanning land, sea, air, space, and space, meeting the diverse service needs of users everywhere.

[0003] In terrestrial networks, cell handover or reselection is typically based on signal quality. However, due to the lack of near-far effect in NTNs, cell handover or reselection based solely on signal quality is inefficient. Therefore, NTNs have proposed mobility management methods based on location information, such as mobility management based on the distance between the terminal device and the reference points of the source cell and the target cell.

[0004] However, in the above-mentioned location information-based mobility management method, the signaling overhead of the network side performing mobility-related configuration (such as the reference point of the cell) is relatively large.

[0005] Summary of the Invention

[0006] The embodiments of the present application provide a communication method and apparatus that can reduce signaling overhead.

[0007] 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 from a first network device, the first information indicating information about a region, the region being fixed relative to the Earth, the geographic location of the region being determined by a region identifier; determining an identifier of a first region based on the terminal device's location information and the first information, the first region being the region where the terminal device is located; and performing mobility management based on the identifier of the first region.

[0008] Based on this solution, the ground can be discretized into some fixed areas relative to the earth, and the geographical locations of these areas can be determined by the identification of the areas. Therefore, the network device can indicate the information of the area (such as the total number of areas and / or the radius of the area) to the terminal device, so that the terminal device can obtain the regional distribution based on the regional information, thereby determining the area where the terminal device is located based on the terminal device's location information and the regional distribution, and performing mobility management based on the area where the terminal device is located. Compared with the network device directly configuring the reference point location information to the terminal device (such as sending the location coordinates of the reference point, etc.) so that the terminal device can perform mobility management, the signaling overhead can be reduced.

[0009] In one possible design, the first information indicates the total number of regions N spot and / or the radius R of the region spot .

[0010] Based on this possible design, the terminal device can learn the total number of area identifiers, thereby learning the geographical location of each area according to the area identifiers, and further learning the area distribution.

[0011] In one possible design, the first information further indicates at least one of the following: an identifier of a reference area, elevation angle information, and ephemeris information of the first network device or ephemeris information of the second network device. The reference area is an area in a first cell, which is a cell managed by the first network device; the elevation angle information indicates a minimum elevation angle corresponding to the first cell, or indicates a minimum elevation angle corresponding to an area in the first cell.

[0012] In one possible design, performing mobility management based on an identifier of the first area includes: determining a reference position in the first area based on the identifier of the first area; determining a remaining service time of the first cell based on the reference position in the first area, ephemeris information of the first network device, and a first elevation angle; and initiating neighboring cell measurement before the remaining service time of the first cell expires. The first elevation angle is a minimum elevation angle corresponding to the first cell or a minimum elevation angle corresponding to the first area.

[0013] In one possible design, performing mobility management based on an identifier of a first area includes: determining a reference position in the reference area based on the identifier of the reference area and the total number of areas; determining a remaining service time of the first cell based on the reference position in the reference area, ephemeris information of the first network device, and a first elevation angle; and initiating neighboring cell measurement before the remaining service time of the first cell expires. The first elevation angle is a minimum elevation angle corresponding to the first cell or a minimum elevation angle corresponding to the first area. The first cell is a cell managed by the first network device.

[0014] Based on the above two possible designs, since the terminal device starts neighboring cell measurement before the remaining service time of the first cell ends, and whether the first cell is covered is determined by the movement of the network device, this design can be applicable to the scenario where cell reselection is triggered by the movement of the first network device.

[0015] In one possible design, performing mobility management based on an identifier of a first area includes: determining a reference location in the first area based on the identifier of the first area; and performing neighboring cell measurements on a second network device within a first time window. The offset between a start time of the first time window and the reference time is a difference between a first delay and a second delay, where the first delay is a propagation delay between the reference location in the first area and the first network device, and the second delay is a propagation delay between the reference location in the first area and the second network device.

[0016] Based on this possible design, the terminal device performs neighboring cell measurements within the first time window, and the starting time of the first time window is related to the propagation delay between the terminal device and the network device. Due to the movement of the network device, the network device may be located in different positions at different times, so that the propagation delay between the terminal device and the network device varies with time. Therefore, this design can be applicable to the scenario where cell reselection is triggered by the movement of the first network device.

[0017] In one possible design, the first information further indicates at least one of the following: an area pattern, an identifier of a reference area, or a first threshold. The area pattern indicates an identifier of at least one second area, where the second area is an area served by a beam of the first network device; the reference area is an area in the first cell, where the first cell is a cell managed by the first network device.

[0018] In one possible design, mobility management is performed based on the identifier of the first area, including: performing neighboring cell measurement when at least one of the following is met: the identifier of at least one second area does not include the identifier of the first area; or, the distance between the reference position in the first area and the reference position in the third area is greater than or equal to a first threshold, the reference position in the first area is determined based on the identifier of the first area, and the third area is an edge area of ​​at least one second area; or, the distance between the reference position in the first area and the reference position in the reference area is greater than or equal to the first threshold; or, the difference between the identifier of the first area and the identifier of the reference area is greater than or equal to the first threshold; the distance between the position of the terminal device and the reference position in the third area is greater than or equal to the first threshold; or, the distance between the position of the terminal device and the reference position in the reference area is greater than or equal to the first threshold.

[0019] Based on this possible design, the conditions for triggering neighbor cell measurements are related to the location of the terminal device. When the terminal device is in different locations, the above conditions may be satisfied differently. Therefore, this solution can be applied to scenarios where the mobility of the terminal device triggers cell reselection.

[0020] In one possible design, the first information further indicates an identifier of at least one fourth area and access information corresponding to at least one fourth area, where the fourth area is N spot The access information is an area in the fourth area that can be covered by the first network device, and the access information is used for the terminal device in the fourth area to access the second network device.

[0021] In one possible design, the access information includes at least one of the following: an identifier of the second network device, an identifier of a target beam, a random access resource, or a random access preamble; the target beam is a beam of the second network device.

[0022] Based on the two possible designs described above, the first network device can indicate the identifier of the fourth zone and its corresponding access information to the terminal device, allowing the terminal device in the fourth zone to access other network devices based on the access information. In addition, the first network device can indicate different random access resources for different fourth zones, allowing terminal devices in different fourth zones to access other network devices using different random access resources, thereby reducing resource collisions when the terminal device performs random access, thereby improving the access success rate.

[0023] In one possible design, the identifier of the fourth region and the access information corresponding to the fourth region are located in the subheader of the media access control MAC protocol data unit PDU; or, the identifier of the fourth region and the access information corresponding to the fourth region are located in the MAC control element CE of the MAC PDU; or, the identifier of the fourth region is located in the subheader of the MAC PDU, and the access information corresponding to the fourth region is located in the MAC CE of the MAC PDU.

[0024] In one possible design, mobility management is performed based on the identifier of the first area, including: determining whether the identifier of at least one fourth area includes the identifier of the first area; if the identifier of at least one fourth area includes the identifier of the first area, accessing the second network device according to the access information corresponding to the first area.

[0025] In one possible design, the total number of areas is the total number of areas in which the second network device is effective, and / or the radius of the area is the radius of the area in which the second network device is effective.

[0026] In one possible design, mobility management is performed based on the identifier of the first area, including: receiving second information from the second network device based on the identifier of the first area, the second information indicating access information corresponding to the first area, the access information being used for terminal devices in the first area to access the second network device; and accessing the second network device based on the access information corresponding to the first area.

[0027] Based on this possible design, the second network device can indicate access information corresponding to each zone, allowing terminal devices in the zone to access the second network device based on the access information. Furthermore, the second network device can indicate different random access resources for different zones, allowing terminal devices in different zones to access the second network device using different random access resources. This reduces resource collisions during random access by terminal devices, thereby improving access success rates.

[0028] In a second aspect, a communication method is provided. The method can be performed by a first network device, or by a component of the first network device, such as a processor, chip, or chip system of the first network device, or by a logic module or software capable of implementing all or part of the functions of the first network device. The method includes: obtaining first information, the first information indicating information about a region, the region being fixed relative to the Earth, and the geographic location of the region being determined by an identifier of the region; and sending the first information to a terminal device. The technical effects of the second aspect can be referenced to the technical effects of the first aspect described above and are not further elaborated here.

[0029] In one possible design, the first information indicates the total number of regions N spot and / or the radius R of the region spot .

[0030] In one possible design, the first information further indicates at least one of the following: an identifier of a reference area, elevation angle information, and ephemeris information of the first network device or ephemeris information of the second network device. The reference area is an area in a first cell, which is a cell managed by the first network device; the elevation angle information indicates a minimum elevation angle corresponding to the first cell, or indicates a minimum elevation angle corresponding to an area in the first cell.

[0031] In one possible design, the first information further indicates at least one of the following: an area pattern, an identifier of a reference area, or a first threshold. The area pattern indicates an identifier of at least one second area, where the second area is an area served by a beam of the first network device; the reference area is an area in the first cell, where the first cell is a cell managed by the first network device.

[0032] In one possible design, the first information further indicates an identifier of at least one fourth area and access information corresponding to at least one fourth area, where the fourth area is Nspot The access information is an area in the fourth area that can be covered by the first network device, and the access information is used for the terminal device in the fourth area to access the second network device.

[0033] In one possible design, the access information includes at least one of the following: an identifier of the second network device, an identifier of a target beam, a random access resource, or a random access preamble; the target beam is a beam of the second network device.

[0034] In one possible design, the identifier of the fourth region and the access information corresponding to the fourth region are located in the subheader of the media access control MAC protocol data unit PDU; or, the identifier of the fourth region and the access information corresponding to the fourth region are located in the MAC control element CE of the MAC PDU; or, the identifier of the fourth region is located in the subheader of the MAC PDU, and the access information corresponding to the fourth region is located in the MAC CE of the MAC PDU.

[0035] In one possible design, the total number of areas is the total number of areas in which the second network device is effective, and / or the radius of the area is the radius of the area in which the second network device is effective.

[0036] Among them, the technical effects brought about by any possible design of 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.

[0037] In combination with the first aspect or the second aspect, in a possible design, the geographical location of the region is further determined according to at least one of the following: the radius of the region, the radius of the earth, and the total number of regions.

[0038] Based on this possible design, the total number of regions, the radius of the region, and the radius of the earth can be the same for each region, that is, the total number of regions, the radius of the region, and the radius of the earth can be considered constants. In this case, the variable affecting the geographical location of the region can be considered as the identifier of the region.

[0039] In combination with the first aspect or the second aspect, in one possible design, the region includes a reference position, and the three-dimensional coordinates of the reference position and the identifier of the region satisfy the following relationship:

[0040] Where i represents the region identifier, RL(i) represents the three-dimensional coordinates of the reference position, and R e represents the radius of the earth, [x] represents the decimal part of x, N spot Indicates the total number of regions.

[0041] In combination with the first aspect or the second aspect, in a possible design, the projection RL(x i ,yi ) and the region identity satisfy the following relationship: RL(x i )=(1-cosθ i ) / 2

[0042] The unit square is the square in the Cartesian plane with vertices at (0,0), (1,0), (0,1), and (1,1). i ) represents the projection measurement of the reference position on the x-axis of the unit square, RL(y i ) represents the projection metric of the reference position onto the y-axis of the unit square.

[0043] In combination with the first aspect or the second aspect, in a possible design, the Cartesian coordinate RL (x i ,y i ) and the region identity satisfy the following relationship: RL(x i )=i / N spot

[0044] Among them, RL(x i ) represents the projection measurement of the reference position in the x-axis direction of the Cartesian coordinate system, RL(y i ) represents the projection measurement of the reference position in the y-axis direction of the Cartesian coordinate system.

[0045] In combination with the first aspect or the second aspect, in one possible design, the region includes a reference position, and the three-dimensional coordinates of the reference position and the identifier of the region satisfy the following relationship:

[0046] Where i represents the region identifier, RL(i) represents the three-dimensional coordinates of the reference position, Re represents the radius of the earth, and N spot Indicates the total number of regions.

[0047] In combination with the first aspect or the second aspect, in one possible design, the region includes a reference position, and the latitude and longitude coordinates of the reference position and the identifier of the region satisfy the following relationship: RL(i) = (lon(i), lat(i))

[0048] Where lon(i) represents the longitude of the reference location, lat(i) represents the latitude of the reference location, and N spot Indicates the total number of regions.

[0049] In combination with the first aspect or the second aspect, in a possible design, the radius of the region and the total number of regions satisfy the following relationship:

[0050] Among them, R e Represents the radius of the Earth, N spot Indicates the total number of regions, R spot Indicates the radius of the area.

[0051] Based on the above possible designs, on the one hand, the coordinates of the reference position in the area can be quickly and accurately determined according to the identification of the area, so that the outline, geographical location, etc. of the area can be quickly and accurately determined. On the other hand, the radius of the area can be flexibly adjusted to adapt to different load capacities, such as adapting to different beam radii. On the other hand, since the geographical location of the area can be determined by the identification of the area, information exchange can be carried out between network equipment and terminal equipment based on the identification of the area. Compared with directly sending reference point location information for mobility management, the signaling overhead can be significantly reduced; compared with the division method based on the H3 geographic grid, since the total number of areas is relatively small, the number of bits required to indicate the area identification is also small, which can also reduce the signaling overhead.

[0052] In a third 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 first network device in the second aspect, or a device included in the second 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.

[0053] 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.

[0054] In some possible designs, the transceiver module may be composed of a transceiver circuit, a transceiver, a transceiver or a communication interface.

[0055] In a fourth 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 a chip system; or the communication device may be the first network device described in the second aspect, or a device included in the second network device, such as a chip or a chip system.

[0056] In a fifth 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 first network device described in the second aspect, or a device included in the second network device, such as a chip or chip system.

[0057] In a sixth 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 first network device described in the second aspect, or a device included in the second network device, such as a chip or chip system.

[0058] In the seventh aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, which stores a computer program or instruction, and when the computer program or instruction is run on a communication device, the communication device can execute the method described in the first aspect and any possible design thereof.

[0059] In an eighth aspect, a computer program product comprising instructions is provided, which, when run on a communication device, enables the communication device to execute the method described in any aspect and any possible design thereof.

[0060] In a ninth 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 aspect and any possible design thereof.

[0061] In some possible designs, the communication device includes a memory for storing necessary program instructions and data.

[0062] 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.

[0063] It can be understood that when the communication device provided in any one of the third to ninth 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.

[0064] Among them, the technical effects brought about by any design method in the third to ninth 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

[0065] 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;

[0066] FIG2 is a schematic diagram of a projection of a beam on the ground provided by the present application;

[0067] FIG3 is a schematic diagram of a regional description method based on an H3 geographic grid provided by the present application;

[0068] FIG4 is a schematic diagram of a group handover scenario provided by the present application;

[0069] FIG5 is a schematic diagram of a cell switching process provided by the present application;

[0070] FIG6 is a diagram of a satellite network architecture in a transparent transmission mode provided by the present application;

[0071] FIG7 is a diagram of a satellite network architecture in a regeneration mode provided by the present application;

[0072] FIG8 is a diagram of a satellite network architecture in another regeneration mode provided by the present application;

[0073] FIG9 is a diagram of a satellite network architecture in another regeneration mode provided by the present application;

[0074] FIG10 is a network architecture diagram of an NTN and terrestrial network integration provided by the present application;

[0075] FIG11 is a schematic diagram of a mapping relationship between beams and areas of a network device provided by the present application;

[0076] FIG12 is a flow chart of a communication method provided by the present application;

[0077] FIG13 is a flow chart of a communication method provided by the present application;

[0078] FIG14 is a schematic diagram of an elevation angle provided by the present application;

[0079] FIG15 is a flow chart of a communication method provided by the present application;

[0080] FIG16 is a schematic diagram of a propagation delay provided by the present application;

[0081] FIG17 is a schematic diagram of a terminal device movement provided by the present application;

[0082] FIG18 is a flow chart of a communication method provided by the present application;

[0083] FIG19 is a schematic diagram of a terminal switching scenario provided by the present application;

[0084] FIG20 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a MAC PDU provided by this application;

[0085] FIG21 is a flow chart of a communication method provided by the present application;

[0086] FIG22 is a schematic diagram of a switching process provided by the present application;

[0087] FIG23 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided by the present application;

[0088] FIG24 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device provided by the present application;

[0089] FIG25 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device provided in this application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0090] 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.

[0091] 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.

[0092] 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.

[0093] 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.

[0094] 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.

[0095] 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.

[0096] 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.

[0097] In this application, unless otherwise specified, the same or similar parts between the various embodiments can refer to each other. In the various embodiments in this application, and the various implementation methods / implementation methods / implementation methods in each embodiment, if there is no special explanation and logical conflict, the terms and / or descriptions between different embodiments and the various implementation methods / implementation methods / implementation methods in each embodiment are consistent and can be referenced to each other. The technical features in different embodiments and the various implementation methods / implementation methods / implementation methods in each embodiment can be combined to form new embodiments, implementation methods, implementation methods, or implementation methods according to 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.

[0098] In order to facilitate understanding of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, a brief introduction to the relevant technologies of the present application is first given as follows.

[0099] 1. Non-terrestrial networks (NTN):

[0100] 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.

[0101] Compared to terrestrial communications, NTN communications offer significant advantages, including global coverage, long-distance transmission, flexible networking, easy deployment, and freedom from geographical constraints. 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. NTN networks can be integrated with terrestrial networks, leveraging their strengths and complementing their weaknesses to form a seamless, integrated global communications network covering land, sea, air, space, and ground, meeting the diverse service needs of users everywhere.

[0102] 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).

[0103] For example, in the LAP subnetwork, base stations or base station functions are deployed on low-altitude flying platforms (such as drones) at an altitude of 0.1 km to 1 km from the ground to provide coverage for terminals; in the HAP subnetwork, base stations or base station functions are deployed on high-altitude flying platforms (such as airplanes) at an altitude of 8 km to 50 km from 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 50 km from the ground to provide coverage for terminals.

[0104] 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.

[0105] 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.

[0106] 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.

[0107] 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.

[0108] The next generation of satellite communication systems is generally showing a trend towards ultra-dense and heterogeneous systems. First, the scale of satellites has grown from 66 in the Iridium constellation to 720 in the OneWeb constellation, and ultimately to the Starlink ultra-dense LEO satellite constellation of over 12,000. Second, satellite networks are becoming heterogeneous, evolving from traditional single-layer communication networks to multi-layer ones. The functionality of communication satellite networks is also becoming increasingly complex and diverse, gradually becoming compatible with and supporting functions such as navigation augmentation, Earth observation, and multi-dimensional information processing on-orbit.

[0109] 2. Non-gazing mode (earth-moving) and gazing (earth-fixed or quasi-earth fixed) mode:

[0110] In satellite communication systems, beam operating modes can generally be divided into non-staring mode and staring mode. 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 actual applications, due to issues with beam pointing accuracy and the distortion of beam projections on the ground at different incident angles, the coverage area of ​​the beam in staring mode still experiences a certain degree of jitter over time.

[0111] 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.

[0112] 3. Description of NTN's service area:

[0113] As a first possible implementation, the antenna pattern, such as a given antenna model, can be used to calculate the corresponding contours of antenna gain or received power in different areas of the ground (which can be understood as the projection of the beam on the ground) to characterize the service area of ​​the satellite / cell. This contour can also be understood as the beam position.

[0114] For example, Figure 2(a) shows the antenna gain pattern for a single GEO satellite 72-beam reference system. The ellipse represents the projection of the beam on the ground, or the beam position. Figure 2(b) shows the profile of the LEO satellite's beam in the latitude and longitude plane in non-staring mode.

[0115] In the first possible implementation, since the projection of the beam on the ground is understood as the beam position, the beam position can be considered statically bound to the beam. Therefore, this solution is commonly used in GEO satellite networks or satellite networks operating in non-staring mode. However, in staring mode, the inclination angle between the satellite and a certain area on the ground changes dynamically, and the beam projection also changes accordingly. This static binding of the beam position to the beam may no longer be applicable. Furthermore, since the projection of the beam on the ground is used as the beam position, parameters such as the beam reference point, the beam coverage area outline, and the satellite motion vector are usually required to determine the specific location of the beam position, resulting in significant signaling overhead.

[0116] As a second possible implementation, the Earth's surface can be divided into regular pentagonal or hexagonal grids based on the H3 geographic grid. This grid can be used to represent the service area of ​​a satellite / cell. For example, the service area of ​​a satellite / cell can include one or more grids. Each grid can be understood as a wave position. For example, when dividing the Earth based on the H3 geographic grid, each face of the icosahedron is a spherical triangle with 12 vertices, known as a spherical icosahedron. Each face of the spherical icosahedron has hexagons arranged in the same manner.

[0117] This second possible implementation supports hierarchical addressing of wave positions. For example, as shown in Figure 3, there are three types of regular hexagons: small, medium, and large. The regular hexagon with the smallest area represents the wave position, and the regular hexagons with the remaining two areas can be used for hierarchical addressing of wave positions. For ease of description, the following embodiments refer to the regular hexagons with the largest and second largest areas as the first and second regular hexagons, respectively.

[0118] Based on the example shown in Figure 3, when performing hierarchical addressing of wave positions, the index of the first regular hexagon can be understood as the first-level index of the wave position, the index of the second regular hexagon can be understood as the second-level index of the wave position, and the index of the regular hexagon with the smallest area can be understood as the third-level index of the wave position. When indexing a wave position, the first regular hexagon to which the wave position belongs can be first determined based on the first-level index, then the second regular hexagon to which the wave position in the first regular hexagon belongs can be determined based on the second-level index, and finally the wave position in the second regular hexagon can be determined based on the third-level index.

[0119] In the second possible implementation, only 16 different precisions of the beam radius are currently supported, which makes it difficult to adapt to different payload capacities (such as beam radius). For example, when the precision of the beam radius is an integer and the beam radius is not an integer, it may not be possible to accurately use the beam to represent the service area of ​​the satellite / cell. In addition, when determining the specific geographical location of the beam based on the index value of the beam in this solution, it is usually necessary to determine it through an iterative loop, which cannot quickly calculate the exact location of the beam. Moreover, the index value of the beam is usually indicated by 64 bits, and the signaling overhead is also large.

[0120] 4. Group switching and group reselection:

[0121] The movement of the satellite may cause group handover of connected terminal devices in a certain area, or group reselection of idle terminal devices in the area.

[0122] Taking group handover as an example, as shown in Figure 4, assume that a UE cluster (denoted as UE-G1, which includes multiple UEs) exists within sub-area 1 of area 2. At time T1, sub-area 1 is served by one or more beams of satellite 2. At time T2, the movement of satellite 2 causes it to no longer be able to serve sub-area 1. Instead, one or more beams of satellite 1 take over serving sub-area 1. During this process, because the satellite covering sub-area 1 changes, the multiple UEs in UE-G1 undergo group handover, switching from satellite 2 to satellite 1.

[0123] Since the satellite moves at a relatively high speed, for example, the speed of a LEO satellite is about 7.5 km / s, the frequency of group switching is relatively high, about once every few seconds to tens of seconds.

[0124] 5. Mobility Management

[0125] Mobility management mainly includes cell handover, cell reselection, registration update, and tracking area update. Taking cell handover as an example, as shown in Figure 5, the cell handover process in the NR system mainly includes the following steps:

[0126] 1) Cell handover measurement: The source base station (such as the next generation node B (gNodeB or gNB)) can send measurement configurations of multiple cells (including serving cells and neighboring cells) to the terminal device. The terminal device measures the cell signal quality according to the measurement configuration. Exemplarily, the cell signal quality can be represented by reference signal receiving power (RSRP) and / or reference signal receiving quality (RSRQ).

[0127] 2) Measurement Result Reporting: The terminal device reports the measurement results to the source base station. For example, the terminal device can report periodically or based on event triggering. For example, the reporting triggering event can be the signal quality of the serving cell being less than threshold 1 and / or the signal quality of the neighboring cell being greater than threshold 2.

[0128] 3) Handover decision: The source base station selects a suitable neighboring cell as the target cell based on the measurement results and sends a handover request to the target base station, which carries the context information related to the user handover.

[0129] 4) Admission Control: After receiving the handover request, the target base station performs admission control. If the terminal device is allowed to access, it sends a handover request confirmation message to the source base station, which carries relevant information for the terminal device to access the target cell. After receiving the handover request confirmation message, the source base station sends a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message to the terminal device, which carries relevant information for accessing the target cell.

[0130] 5) Handover execution: After receiving the handover-related information, the terminal device completes the access process in the target cell.

[0131] Exemplarily, the terminal device sends a random access preamble to the target cell to initiate random access in the target cell. The random access preamble used by the terminal device during the handover process is a dedicated preamble, which is different from the contention-based random access preamble used during initial access. In addition, the period of the random access channel (RACH) configured by the network during cell handover can be 10 / 20 / 40 / 80 / 160 milliseconds (ms).

[0132] During the cell reselection process, the base station broadcasts parameters such as the measurement configuration related to the neighboring cell. The terminal device compares the signal quality measurement value with the parameters sent by the network (such as the reselection threshold, etc.) and autonomously reselects to the target neighboring cell if the reselection conditions are met.

[0133] That is, in the NR system, the terminal device performs cell switching or cell reselection based on signal quality. However, in the NTN, the near-far effect is not obvious, and cell switching or cell reselection based solely on signal quality is inefficient. Therefore, the NTN proposes to implement mobility management in the NTN network based on information such as time and location (such as the distance between the terminal device and the reference point of the source cell and the reference point of the target cell).

[0134] However, mobility management based on location and other information is designed for cell handover / reselection triggered by terminal device movement. Applying this solution to group handover / reselection scenarios triggered by satellite mobility requires frequent configuration updates. For example, the network needs to frequently update the location of the cell's reference point, resulting in high signaling overhead for mobility-related configuration on the network side.

[0135] Based on this, the present application provides a communication method. In this method, the ground can be discretized into some fixed areas relative to the earth, and the geographical locations of these areas can be determined by the identification of the areas. Therefore, the network device can indicate the information of the area (such as the total number of areas and / or the radius of the area) to the terminal device, so that the terminal device can obtain the regional distribution based on the regional information, thereby determining the area where the terminal device is located according to the location information of the terminal device and the regional distribution, and performing mobility management based on the area where the terminal device is located. Compared with the network device directly configuring the reference point location information to the terminal device (such as sending the location coordinates of the reference point, etc.) so that the terminal device can perform mobility management, the signaling overhead can be reduced.

[0136] The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application can be used in NTN systems such as satellite communication systems, high altitude platform station (HAPS) communications, and drones. For example, integrated communication and navigation (IcaN) systems, global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), etc. NTN systems can be integrated with traditional mobile communication systems. For example, the mobile communication system can be a fourth generation (4G) communication system (for example, a long term evolution (LTE) system), a world-wide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) communication system, a 5G communication system (for example, a NR system), a device-to-device (D2D) communication system, a machine-to-machine (M2M) communication system, an Internet of Things (IoT) communication system, an Internet of Vehicles communication system, and future mobile communication systems.

[0137] 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.

[0138] As a possible implementation, a communication system applicable to the solution of the present application may include at least one terminal device and at least one network device. For example, terminal devices may communicate with each other, with each other, and with each other via wired or wireless means.

[0139] 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.).

[0140] 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.

[0141] 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.

[0142] 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.

[0143] 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.

[0144] 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).

[0145] 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.

[0146] 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.

[0147] 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.

[0148] 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.

[0149] As shown in Figure 6, when a satellite serves 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. In other words, in addition to the NTN gateway, the communication system also includes a satellite base station deployed on the ground. Figure 6 illustrates the example of separate deployment of the NTN gateway and base station.

[0150] As shown in Figure 7, 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).

[0151] In addition, satellites can perform some or all of the functions of a base station. As shown in Figure 8, inter-satellite links (ISLs) exist between different satellites, allowing satellites to communicate via ISLs. Alternatively, as shown in Figure 9, 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.

[0152] In the architectures shown in Figures 6 to 9, 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.

[0153] 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.

[0154] In some implementation scenarios, NTN and terrestrial networks can be integrated. For example, Figure 10 is a diagram of the integrated network architecture of NTN and terrestrial networks provided in an embodiment of the present application. In the architecture shown in Figure 10, satellites 1 and 2 operate in regeneration mode, and satellites can serve as NTN base stations, or NTN base stations can be deployed on satellites. Satellite 3 operates in transparent transmission mode, so additional NTN base stations need to be deployed. Among them, NTN base stations refer to base stations in NTN. In addition,

[0155] In addition, the architecture may also include ground base stations, which refer to base stations in the ground network. NTN base stations and ground base stations can be interconnected through a common core network. As a bearer network, the core network provides an interface to the data network, providing terminal equipment with communication connection, authentication, management, policy control, and data service carrying. Exemplarily, the core network may include access and mobility management function (AMF) network elements, session management function (SMF) network elements, authentication server function (AUSF) network elements, policy control function (PCF) network elements, user plane function (UPF) network elements, and other network elements.

[0156] Alternatively, NTN base stations and terrestrial base stations can also achieve more timely assistance and interconnection through interfaces defined between base stations. For example, 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, other implementations of the interface between base stations and the interface between a base station and the core network are also possible, and this application does not specifically limit this.

[0157] Optionally, in embodiments of the present application, satellites can provide services to terminal devices via beams. For example, different beams can provide services to terminal devices via one or more of time division, frequency division, and space division. On the one hand, satellites can operate in either regenerative mode or transparent mode. On the other hand, satellites can operate in either non-staring mode or staring mode. Satellites can be LEO satellites, MEO satellites, GEO satellites, etc., without limitation.

[0158] It is understandable that the satellites in the architectures described in Figures 6 to 10 can be replaced by ground payloads on other flying platforms such as drones and airplanes.

[0159] 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.

[0160] The following describes the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application by taking the interaction between a network device and a terminal device as an example in combination with the communication system shown in Figures 6 to 10.

[0161] 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.

[0162] 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.

[0163] 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.

[0164] 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.

[0165] 1. Region:

[0166] Unless otherwise specified, the term "region" in the following embodiments of this application refers to a geographic region. A region is fixed relative to the Earth, or it can be understood as referring 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.

[0167] "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 an 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).

[0168] In a possible implementation, the aforementioned region fixed relative to the Earth may also be referred to as a "wavelength," "broadcast wavelength," "geographical region," etc. Of course, other names are possible, and this application does not specifically limit the name of the region fixed relative to the Earth.

[0169] 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.

[0170] In one possible implementation, the region is fixed relative to the Earth, which can be understood as: the outline, size, or geographical location of the region remains unchanged, for example, the outline, size, or geographical location of the region does not change over time. Alternatively, the region is fixed relative to the Earth, which can be understood as: the outline of the region and points in the region can be described by a three-dimensional coordinate system such as earth-centered earth-fixed (ECEF) coordinates, a geodetic coordinate system, or an earth-centered inertial (ECI) coordinate system, or the coordinates of each point on the outline of the region in a three-dimensional coordinate system such as the ECEF, geodetic, or ECI coordinate system are fixed and unchanged.

[0171] 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.

[0172] 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.

[0173] In a possible implementation, the earth may be divided into multiple regions, and the multiple regions may be indexed (eg, numbered).

[0174] As one possible division method, the geographic location of a region is determined by the region's identifier. That is, the geographic location of a region can be obtained based on the region's identifier, or in other words, there is a correlation between the region's identifier and the region's geographic location. For example, multiple regions can be discretized on the earth, each corresponding to an identifier, and the geographic location of the region can be obtained based on the region's identifier.

[0175] Furthermore, the geographical location of the region can also be determined based on at least one of the following: the total number of regions N spot , the radius of the area R spot , or the Earth's radius R e .

[0176] For example, the total number of regions can be understood as the total number of regions discretely located on the earth. spot The N regions can completely cover the Earth, such that any location on the Earth belongs to a certain region; or spot A region can also cover a part of the geographical location on the earth, for example, s p ot This region may not cover the South Pole and / or the North Pole of the Earth, that is, the South Pole and / or the North Pole may not have this region. spot is a positive integer, such as N spot =78702.

[0177] For example, the N spot The radius of each region can be the same, that is, the radius of each region is R spot When the shape of the region is a regular hexagon, the radius of the region may be the radius of the circumscribed circle of the regular hexagon; when the shape of the region is a circle, the radius of the region may be the radius of the circle; when the shape of the region is an ellipse, the radius of the region may include a long radius or a short radius. spot The unit can be kilometers (km), for example, R spot =50 kilometers, or other length units such as meters (m) without limitation.

[0178] For example, in an embodiment of the present application, the radius of the earth can be a constant, such as 6378 km; or, the radius of the earth can be different for different time and space positions, for example, the radius of the earth can include the equatorial radius or the polar radius. For example, when dividing regions at the South Pole and / or the North Pole, the polar radius can be used; when dividing regions in non-polar regions, the equatorial radius can be used. Alternatively, when the earth is described by an ellipsoid (i.e., the shape of the earth is considered to be an ellipsoid), the radius of the earth may include a major axis and a minor axis, and the values ​​of the major axis and the minor axis are different.

[0179] As a possible implementation, the total number of regions, the radius of the region, and the radius of the earth can be the same for each region, that is, the total number of regions, the radius of the region, and the radius of the earth can be considered constants. In this case, the variable affecting the geographical location of the region can be considered as the identifier of the region.

[0180] In one possible implementation, each region includes (or has) a reference location, which may be, for example, the center of the region. For example, the geographic location of a region may refer to the geographic location of the reference location in the region. In this case, the geographic location of the region is determined by the region's identifier, which can be understood as follows: the reference location in the region is determined by the region's identifier. Alternatively, the geographic location of the region may represent the outline of the region or the range of the region. In this case, the geographic location of the reference location in the region may be determined based on the region's identifier, and the range or outline of the region may be determined based on the geographic location of the reference location and the radius of the region.

[0181] As a possible implementation, the association relationship between the reference position in the region and the identifier of the region is determined based on the Fibonacci criterion, or in other words, the association relationship between the reference position in the region and the identifier of the region satisfies the Fibonacci criterion. Exemplarily, there are three implementations of this association relationship:

[0182] Method 1: The three-dimensional coordinates of the reference position in the region and the identifier of the region satisfy the following relationship (1):

[0183] Where i represents the region ID. e Indicates the radius of the Earth. [x] indicates the decimal part of x, such as x = 2.3, then [x] = 0.3. N spotRepresents the total number of regions. RL(i) represents the three-dimensional coordinates of the reference position in the region, which refers to the coordinates in a three-dimensional coordinate system. For example, the three-dimensional coordinate system can be a spherical coordinate system, such as the ECEF coordinate system. Of course, other three-dimensional coordinate systems can also be used, such as the geodetic coordinate system, the earth-centered inertial (ECI) coordinate system, etc.

[0184] For example, the projection RL(x i ,y i ) and the region identity satisfy the following relationship: RL(x i )=(1-cosθ i ) / 2

[0185] Among them, θ i and Please refer to the above explanation. The unit square refers to the square in the Cartesian plane with vertices at (0,0), (1,0), (0,1) and (1,1). RL(x i ) represents the projection measurement of the reference position in the x-axis direction of the unit square, RL(y i ) represents the projection measurement of the reference position in the y-axis direction of the unit square.

[0186] For example, the reference position is represented by the Cartesian coordinates RL(x i ,y i ) and the region identity satisfy the following relationship: RL(x i )=i / N spot

[0187] Where [x] represents the fractional part of x. RL(x i ) represents the projection measurement of the reference position of the region in the x-axis direction in the Cartesian coordinate system, RL(y i ) represents the projection measurement of the reference position of the region in the y-axis direction in the Cartesian coordinate system. Exemplarily, the Cartesian coordinate system refers to the Cartesian rectangular coordinate system.

[0188] Method 2: The three-dimensional coordinates of the reference position in the region and the identifier of the region satisfy the following relationship (2):

[0189] The physical meaning of each parameter can be found in the relevant description in the above relationship (1), which will not be repeated here.

[0190] It can be understood that the three-dimensional coordinates of the reference positions shown in the above relationship (1) and relationship (2) can be equivalently converted into longitude and latitude positions, and this application does not limit the specific form of expression of the reference position.

[0191] Method 3: The latitude and longitude coordinates of the reference position in the region and the identifier of the region satisfy the following relationship (3): RL(i) = (lon(i), lat(i)) (3)

[0192] Where RL(i) represents the latitude and longitude coordinates of the reference location, such as lon(i) represents the longitude of the reference location, and lat(i) represents the latitude of the reference location. spot Indicates the total number of regions.

[0193] It can be understood that the latitude and longitude coordinates of the reference position shown in the above relationship (3) can be equivalently converted into three-dimensional coordinates, and this application does not limit the specific form of expression of the reference position.

[0194] As a possible implementation, the radius of the region and the total number of regions satisfy the following relationship (4):

[0195] Among them, R e Represents the radius of the Earth, N spot Indicates the total number of regions, R spot Indicates the radius of the area. The explanation of each parameter can be found in the previous description and will not be repeated here.

[0196] Based on the above possible designs, on the one hand, the coordinates of the reference position in the area can be quickly and accurately determined according to the identification of the area, so that the outline, geographical location, etc. of the area can be quickly and accurately determined. On the other hand, the radius of the area can be flexibly adjusted to adapt to different load capacities, such as adapting to different beam radii. On the other hand, since the geographical location of the area can be determined by the identification of the area, information exchange can be carried out between network equipment and terminal equipment based on the identification of the area. Compared with directly sending reference point location information for mobility management, the signaling overhead can be significantly reduced; compared with the division method based on the H3 geographic grid, since the total number of areas is relatively small, the number of bits required to indicate the area identification is also small, which can also reduce the signaling overhead.

[0197] 2. Coverage area of ​​network equipment:

[0198] The coverage area of ​​the network device may refer to the maximum area that the network device can cover, or in other words, the coverage area of ​​the network device indicates (or reflects) the maximum coverage capability of the first network device.

[0199] The coverage area of ​​the network device changes with the movement of the network device, that is, the coverage area of ​​the network device may be different at different times. The coverage area of ​​the network device includes at least one of the above areas (ie, wave positions).

[0200] Since the coverage area of ​​a network device changes with the movement of the network device, and the area (wave position) is fixed relative to the earth, the wave positions included in the coverage area of ​​the network device may be different at different times.

[0201] For example, taking the area as a regular hexagon, as shown in Figure 11, the elliptical solid line can represent the coverage area of ​​the network device. The areas represented by all regular hexagons in the elliptical solid line are the areas included in the coverage area of ​​the network device.

[0202] 3. Service area of ​​network equipment:

[0203] The service area of ​​the network device may refer to the maximum area that the beam of the network device can serve (or cover), or in other words, the service area of ​​the network device indicates (or reflects) the maximum service capability of the first network device.

[0204] The service area of ​​a network device is smaller than or equal to the coverage area of ​​the network device. For example, based on the example shown in FIG11 , the service area of ​​a first network device may be the range indicated by the solid ellipse. In this case, the service area of ​​the first network device is equal to the coverage area of ​​the first network device. Alternatively, the service area of ​​the first network device may be smaller than the range indicated by the solid ellipse.

[0205] The service area of ​​a network device changes with the movement of the network device, that is, the service area of ​​the network device may be different at different times. The service area of ​​the network device includes at least one of the above areas (ie, wave positions).

[0206] Since the service area of ​​a network device changes with the movement of the network device, and the area (wavelength) is fixed relative to the earth, the wavelengths included in the service area of ​​the network device may be different at different times.

[0207] In addition, at a certain moment, the beam of the network device may actually serve (or cover) part of the service area, and at different moments, the beam of the network device may serve (or cover) different areas in the service area. For example, as shown in (a) of FIG11 , at time T1, the beam of the network device serves areas x1, x2, and x3 in the service area; and as shown in (b) of FIG11 , at time T2, the beam of the network device serves areas y1, y2, y3, and y4 in the service area.

[0208] 4. Activation area of ​​network equipment:

[0209] The area currently being served (or covered) by the beam of the network device can be called an active area or an activated area. The area currently not being served (or covered) by the beam of the network device can be called an inactive area or an inactive area.

[0210] The following describes a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application. Referring to FIG12 , which is a flow chart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application, the communication method may include the following steps:

[0211] S1201. A first network device obtains first information.

[0212] The first information indicates information about a region. The region is fixed relative to the Earth. The geographic location of the region is determined by a region identifier. For details about regions, please refer to the above description and will not be repeated here.

[0213] In a possible implementation, the information of the first information indication area can be understood as: the division or distribution of the first information indication area. For example, the total number of first information indication areas N spot and / or the radius R of the region spot The total number of regions and the radius of the regions can be found in the above description of the regions, which will not be repeated here.

[0214] For example, the total number of zones and / or the radius of a zone can be understood as the total number of zones and / or the radius of a zone that are valid or used by a first network device; alternatively, it can be the total number of zones and / or the radius of a zone that are valid or used by a second network device. The second network device can be a neighboring network device of the first network device. The total number of zones and / or the radius of a zone that are valid or used by different network devices can be the same or different, without limitation.

[0215] For example, when the total number of regions is known, the region identifiers can be obtained, for example, the region identifiers belong to 1, 2, ..., N spot Based on the identification of each area, the geographical location of each area can be obtained. For example, the identification of the area and its reference position satisfy one of the above relations (1) to (3), so that N spot The geographical location of each region, that is, the distribution of the region is known.

[0216] In addition, when the radius of the region is known, the total number of regions can be determined based on the relationship between the radius of the region and the total number of regions, such as the above relationship (4), and then the geographical location of each region can be determined based on the identification of the region, thereby determining the distribution of the region.

[0217] For example, the first information may include the total number of regions N spot and / or the radius R of the region spotAlternatively, the protocol may predefine multiple total area numbers, or the network device and the terminal device may pre-negotiate multiple total area numbers. In this scenario, the first information may include a total area number index, where the total area number index corresponds to one of the multiple total area numbers. For example, if a total number of N total areas is defined, the first information may include an index n, where n∈1,2,…,N. The total area number indicated by the first information is the total number of the nth area among the N total areas.

[0218] In a possible implementation, when the first information indicates the total number of areas and / or the radius of the areas in which the first network device is effective, the first network device obtains the first information, which may include: the first network device determines or generates the first information; or, the first network device receives the first information, for example, the first network device receives the first information from the ground device, that is, the first information is generated by the ground device and sent to the first network device.

[0219] Exemplarily, when the first network device is a device deployed on a satellite and has partial or full base station functionality, the first network device determines or generates the first information. When the first network device is deployed on a satellite and operates in a transparent transmission mode, the first network device receives the first information from a core network element or an NTN base station deployed on the ground.

[0220] In another possible implementation, when the first information indicates the total number of areas and / or radius of areas where the second network device is effective, the first network device obtaining the first information may include: the first network device receiving the first information from the second network device.

[0221] S1202: The first network device sends first information to the terminal device. Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the first information from the first network device.

[0222] Exemplarily, the first network device may send the first information via broadcast. For example, the first network device may send cell system information, which includes the first information. Alternatively, the first network device may send the first information to a terminal device via unicast, which is not specifically limited in this application.

[0223] It can be understood that when the first network device sends the first information by broadcasting, any terminal device in the cell can implement or execute the functions implemented by the terminal device in the method provided in the embodiment of the present application.

[0224] S1203: The terminal device determines an identifier of a first area according to the location information of the terminal device and the first information, wherein the first area is the area where the terminal device is located.

[0225] For example, the location information of the terminal device may be the GNSS location information of the terminal device. The first area may be the N spot The area in which the reference position is closest to the terminal device.

[0226] For example, the first information indicates the total number of regions N spot and / or the radius R of the region spot In the case of the terminal device receiving the first information, the total number of areas N can be known. spot , so that the identification of the area can be known, for example, the area identification belongs to 1,2,…,N spot Based on the identification of each area, the geographical location of the reference position in each area can be obtained. For example, the identification of the area and its reference position satisfy one of the above relationships (1) to (3), so that the distance between the terminal device and the reference position in each area can be obtained, and then the area to which the reference position closest to the terminal device belongs is determined as the first area.

[0227] S1204: The terminal device performs mobility management according to the identifier of the first area.

[0228] Exemplarily, mobility management may include at least one of the following: neighboring cell measurement, cell reselection, cell handover, etc. Of course, mobility management may also include other implementations, which are not specifically limited in this application.

[0229] Based on the above scheme, the ground can be discretized into some fixed areas relative to the earth, and the geographical locations of these areas can be determined by the identification of the areas. Therefore, the network device can indicate the information of the area (such as the total number of areas and / or the radius of the area) to the terminal device, so that the terminal device can obtain the regional distribution based on the regional information, thereby determining the area where the terminal device is located based on the location information of the terminal device and the regional distribution, and performing mobility management based on the area where the terminal device is located. Compared with the network device directly configuring the reference point location information to the terminal device (such as sending the location coordinates of the reference point, etc.) so that the terminal device can perform mobility management, the signaling overhead can be reduced.

[0230] The above describes the overall process of the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application. The following describes in detail the implementation of mobility management of the terminal device. For example, the terminal device can perform mobility management in the following five ways:

[0231] Method 1: As shown in FIG13 , the terminal device performs mobility management according to the identifier of the first area, including:

[0232] S120411. The terminal device determines a reference position in the first area according to an identifier of the first area.

[0233] Exemplarily, the identifier of the first area and the reference position in the first area may satisfy at least one of the above relationships (1) to (3). Please refer to the above related descriptions and will not be repeated here.

[0234] S120412. The terminal device determines the remaining service time of the first cell based on the reference position in the first area, the ephemeris information of the first network device, and the first elevation angle.

[0235] As a possible implementation, the first elevation angle is the minimum elevation angle corresponding to the first cell. The elevation angle at the reference position in each area of ​​the first cell is greater than or equal to the first elevation angle. The first cell is a cell managed by the first network device, and the first cell may be the current serving cell of the terminal device.

[0236] As another possible implementation, the first elevation angle is a minimum elevation angle corresponding to the first area. When the elevation angle is greater than or equal to the first elevation angle, the first area is completely covered by the first network device.

[0237] For example, for a location on Earth, when the line of sight is above the horizon, the angle between the line of sight and the horizon within the vertical plane in which the line of sight lies can be understood as the elevation angle. In this Form 3, the elevation angle at the reference location can be understood as the angle between the line connecting the reference location and the location of the first network device and the horizon at the reference location. The elevation angle at the reference location can be used to describe the position of the first network device passing above the reference location. For example, an elevation angle of 90° at the reference location indicates that the first network device is located directly above the reference location.

[0238] As shown in (a) of FIG. 14 , the elevation angle when the reference position is at point P is shown; and as shown in (b) of FIG. 14 , the elevation angle when the reference position is at point Q is shown.

[0239] As a possible implementation, the ephemeris information of the first network device describes an expression of the position and velocity of the first network device over time. Of course, the ephemeris information can also have other names, such as trajectory information, velocity trajectory information, etc., which are not specifically limited in this application.

[0240] For example, the reference position in the first area, the ephemeris information of the first network device, the first elevation angle γ0, the remaining service time T of the first cell c The following relationship can be satisfied: c =1 / w×arccos(cos(γ0) / cos(γ m ))

[0241] Wherein, w is the angular velocity of the first network device in a three-dimensional coordinate system (such as the Earth-centered inertial coordinate system ECI), γ mIt can be calculated based on the reference position in the first area and the ephemeris information of the first network device.

[0242] S120413. The terminal device starts neighboring cell measurement before the remaining service time of the first cell ends.

[0243] For example, if the starting time of the remaining service time of the first cell is t1 and the ending time is t2, then the terminal device starts the neighboring cell measurement before time t2.

[0244] As a possible implementation, starting neighbor cell measurement can also be understood as performing neighbor cell measurement. The neighbor cell measurement result can be used by the terminal device for cell reselection.

[0245] Method 2, as shown in FIG15 , the terminal device performs mobility management according to the identifier of the first area, including:

[0246] S120421: The terminal device determines a reference position in the first area according to the identifier of the first area. Please refer to the relevant description in the above step S120411, which will not be repeated here.

[0247] S120422. The terminal device performs neighboring area measurement on the second network device within the first time window.

[0248] The offset between the start time of the first time window and the reference time is the difference between the first delay and the second delay. For example, as shown in FIG16 , the first delay is the propagation delay between the reference location in the first area and the first network device; the second delay is the propagation delay between the reference location in the first area and the second network device.

[0249] For example, the position of the first network device can be determined based on the ephemeris information of the first network device, and then the propagation delay between the reference position in the first area and the first network device can be determined. Similarly, the position of the second network device can be determined based on the ephemeris information of the second network device, and then the propagation delay between the reference position in the first area and the second network device can be determined.

[0250] Illustratively, a propagation delay between the reference location in the first area and the first network device is equal to a distance between the reference location in the first area and the first network device divided by the speed of light. A propagation delay between the reference location in the first area and the second network device is equal to a distance between the reference location in the first area and the second network device divided by the speed of light.

[0251] Exemplarily, the reference time and offset may be universal time chiming (UTC), or the units of the reference time and offset may be a system frame number, a subframe number, a time slot number, an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol, etc. The reference time may be determined by the terminal device itself, or may be configured by the first network device, without limitation.

[0252] Exemplarily, the offset between the start time of the first time window and the reference time may also be referred to as a synchronization signal block (SSB) measurement timing configuration (SMTC) offset.

[0253] In a possible implementation, the above-mentioned method 1 and method 2 can be combined. For example, the terminal device can perform neighboring cell measurement on the second network device within the first time window before the remaining service time of the first cell ends.

[0254] In one possible implementation, the first elevation angle, the ephemeris information of the first network device, or the ephemeris information of the second network device may be indicated by the first network device to the terminal device. For example, the first information may further indicate at least one of the following: elevation angle information, ephemeris information of the first network device, or ephemeris information of the second network device. The elevation angle information indicates the first elevation angle. Of course, the first network device may indicate at least one of the above items using other information besides the first information, without limitation.

[0255] In addition, the first information may also indicate an identifier of a reference area. The reference area is an area in the first cell, or an area in the coverage area or service area of ​​the first cell. Exemplarily, the reference area may be an area where the cell center of the first cell is located.

[0256] In the case where the first information indicates the identifier of the reference area, the above step S1203 may not be performed. In the above step S1204, the terminal device performs mobility management based on the identifier of the reference area. Exemplarily, the implementation of the terminal device performing mobility management based on the identifier of the reference area is similar to the implementation of the terminal device performing mobility management based on the identifier of the first area. The first area in the above method 1 or method 2 can be replaced with the reference area, and will not be further described here.

[0257] In one possible implementation, in the above-mentioned method 1, since the terminal device starts neighboring cell measurement before the remaining service time of the first cell ends, and whether the first cell is covered is determined by the movement of the network device, method 1 can be applicable to the scenario where cell reselection is triggered by the movement of the first network device.

[0258] In addition, in the above-mentioned method 2, the terminal device performs neighboring cell measurements within the first time window, and the starting time of the first time window is related to the propagation delay between the terminal device and the network device. Due to the movement of the network device, the network device may be located at different positions at different times, so that the propagation delay between the terminal device and the network device changes with time. Therefore, method 2 can also be applied to the scenario where cell reselection is triggered by the movement of the first network device.

[0259] Mode 3: The terminal device performs mobility management according to the identifier of the first area, including: when at least one of the following is met, the terminal device performs neighboring area measurement, or starts neighboring area measurement:

[0260] 1) The identifier of the at least one second area does not include the identifier of the first area.

[0261] The second area is the area served by the beam of the first network device, or the second area is the activated area. Condition 1) can also be understood as: at least one second area does not include the first area, or the area served by the beam of the first network device does not include the first area, or the first area is not served by the beam of the first network device.

[0262] 2) The distance between the reference position in the first area and the reference position in the third area is greater than or equal to a first threshold.

[0263] The reference position in the first area is determined according to the identifier of the first area, and reference may be made to the above related description. The third area is an edge area in at least one second area.

[0264] As a possible implementation, the edge area may be an area in the at least one second area where the distance between the reference position and the terminal device is the largest. Exemplarily, the third area may also be referred to as an edge area in the at least one second area.

[0265] For example, taking the case where the beam of the first network device serves three second areas, which are respectively recorded as second area 1, second area 2 and third area 3, if the distance between the terminal device and the reference positions in these three second areas is 10km, 20km and 15km respectively, then the third area is the second area 2.

[0266] As another possible implementation, the edge area may be an area in the at least one second area where the distance between the reference position and the center position of the coverage area of ​​the first network device is the largest.

[0267] 3) The distance between the reference position in the first area and the reference position in the reference area is greater than or equal to a first threshold.

[0268] The reference position in the first area is determined based on the identifier of the first area, and reference may be made to the above-mentioned related description. The reference area is an area in the first cell, or an area in the coverage area or service area of ​​the first cell. The first cell is a cell managed by the first network device, and the first cell may be the current service cell of the terminal device. For example, the reference area may be the area where the cell center of the first cell is located. The position of the reference area may be determined based on the identifier of the reference area.

[0269] 4) The difference between the identifier of the first area and the identifier of the reference area is greater than or equal to a first threshold.

[0270] 5) The distance between the reference position in the reference area and the position of the terminal device is greater than or equal to a first threshold.

[0271] 6) The distance between the location of the terminal device and the reference location in the third area is greater than or equal to the first threshold.

[0272] It is understandable that in the above conditions 1) to 6), the values ​​of the first thresholds under different conditions may be the same or different. For example, the values ​​of the first thresholds in conditions 2) and 3) are the same, while the values ​​of the first thresholds in conditions 2) and 4) are different.

[0273] In one possible implementation, the at least one second area, reference area, or first threshold may be indicated by the first network device to the terminal device. For example, the first information may further indicate at least one of the following: an area pattern, an identifier of the reference area, or the first threshold. The area pattern may indicate the identifier of the at least one second area. Of course, the first network device may indicate the at least one of the above items using other information besides the first information, without limitation.

[0274] As a possible implementation, the area pattern may include an identifier of each second area in the at least one second area. That is, the area pattern includes an identifier of each area served by the beam of the first network device.

[0275] Alternatively, the area pattern may be a bitmap comprising M bits, where M is the total number of areas included in the coverage area or service area of ​​the first network device, and M is a positive integer. The M bits correspond one-to-one to the M areas included in the coverage area or service area of ​​the first network device. When the mth bit is set to a preset value, the area corresponding to the mth bit is the area served by the beam of the first network device, or the area corresponding to the mth bit is the second area or the activated area. When the mth bit is not set to a preset value, the area corresponding to the mth bit is not the area served by the beam of the first network device, or the area corresponding to the mth bit is not the second area or the activated area. m = 1, 2, …, M.

[0276] Exemplarily, the preset value may be 1, and correspondingly, the non-preset value may be 0; or, the preset value may be 0, and correspondingly, the non-preset value may be 1.

[0277] Furthermore, when the area pattern is a bitmap, the first network device may pre-indicate to the terminal device the areas within the coverage area or service area of ​​the first network device. For example, the identifiers of the various areas within the coverage area or service area of ​​the first network device may be sent to the terminal device. For example, if the coverage area or service area of ​​the first network device includes areas identified as 1 to 100, the first network device may pre-indicate the identifiers {1, 2, ..., 100} to the terminal device.

[0278] As a possible implementation, regarding the indication of the first threshold, the first network device may send the value of the first threshold to the terminal device; or, the first network device may indicate a unit value to the terminal device, and the first threshold may be the product of the unit value and the area radius.

[0279] In one possible implementation, the conditions in the above-mentioned method three are related to the location of the terminal device, and when the terminal device is in different locations, the satisfaction of the above-mentioned conditions may be different. Therefore, the above-mentioned method three can be applied to the scenario where the movement of the terminal device triggers cell reselection. For example, as shown in Figure 17, the elliptical solid line represents the coverage area or service area of ​​the first network device, and the regular hexagon in the elliptical solid line represents the area in the coverage area or service area. When the terminal device moves in the direction of the arrow, the location of the terminal device and the area where the terminal device is located change, which causes the satisfaction of the conditions described in the above-mentioned method three to change.

[0280] In a possible implementation, in the above-mentioned method three, the first network device may also indicate at least one of the following to the terminal device: the ephemeris information of the first network device, the ephemeris information of the second network device, or reselection-related measurement information, such as frequency priority, neighboring cell frequency, or neighboring cell antenna polarization mode.

[0281] Method 4: As shown in FIG18 , the terminal device performs mobility management according to the identifier of the first area, including:

[0282] S120431. The terminal device determines whether the identifier of at least one fourth area includes the identifier of the first area.

[0283] Among them, the fourth area is N spot The fourth area is an area within the coverage area of ​​the first network device; or the fourth area is N spot The fourth area is an area that can be served by the beam of the first network device, or in other words, the fourth area is an area within the service area of ​​the first network device.

[0284] It is understood that the at least one fourth area refers to part or all of the coverage area or service area of ​​the first network device. For example, if the coverage area of ​​the first network device includes areas 1 to 100, the at least one fourth area may be areas 20 to 30, or areas 25 to 40, etc., without limitation.

[0285] In a possible implementation, step S120431 may also be understood as: the terminal device determines whether the at least one fourth area includes the first area.

[0286] In one possible implementation, before step S120431, the first network device indicates an identifier of at least one fourth zone to the terminal device. Furthermore, the first network device also indicates access information corresponding to at least one fourth zone to the terminal device. The access information corresponding to the fourth zone is used for the terminal device in the fourth zone to access the second network device.

[0287] Exemplarily, the first network device may indicate the identifier of at least one fourth area and its corresponding access information to the terminal device through the first information. That is, the first information also indicates the identifier of at least one fourth area and its corresponding access information.

[0288] Exemplarily, the access information includes at least one of the following: an identifier of the second network device, an identifier of the target beam, a random access resource, or a random access preamble. The target beam is the beam of the second network device. The random access resource may include a random access occasion (RACH occasion, RO), which indicates the time domain and / or frequency domain resources occupied by a random access channel (RACH). The random access preamble may be a dedicated preamble during a cell handover process.

[0289] Optionally, the access information corresponding to different fourth areas may be different. For example, the random access resources and / or second network devices corresponding to different fourth areas may be different. For example, as shown in FIG19 , taking at least one fourth area including a fourth area 1 and a fourth area 2 as an example, assuming that the access information corresponding to the fourth area 1 includes the identifier of the second network device 1 and random access resource 1, and the access information corresponding to the fourth area 2 includes the identifier of the second network device 2 and random access resource 2, wherein the second network device 1 and the second network device 2 are different network devices, and the time domain position and / or frequency domain position of the random access resource 1 and the random access resource 2 are different. Then, the terminal device in the fourth area 1 can use the random access resource 1 to access the second network device 1, and the terminal device in the fourth area 2 can use the random access resource 2 to access the second network device 2.

[0290] As a possible implementation, the identifier of the fourth area and the access information corresponding to the fourth area can be carried in a media access control (MAC) protocol data unit (PDU). For example, as shown in FIG20 , a possible MAC PDU frame structure is shown.

[0291] As shown in Figure 20, a MAC PDU includes at least one MAC sub-PDU (MAC subPDU). MAC subPDUs are divided into MAC subPDUs containing a MAC control element (CE), a MAC subPDU containing a MAC service data unit (SDU), and a MAC subPDU containing padding (optional). A MAC subPDU containing a MAC CE includes a subheader and a MAC CE. A MAC subPDU containing a MAC PDU includes a subheader and a MAC SDU.

[0292] Exemplarily, the identifier of the fourth region and the access information corresponding to the fourth region may be located in a subheader of the MAC PDU, such as in a subheader of a MAC subPDU that includes the MAC PDU;

[0293] Alternatively, the identifier of the fourth area and the access information corresponding to the fourth area are located in the MAC CE of the MAC PDU;

[0294] Alternatively, the identifier of the fourth area is located in the subheader of the MAC PDU, such as in the subheader of the MAC subPDU containing the MAC PDU; the access information corresponding to the fourth area is located in the MAC CE of the MAC PDU.

[0295] Optionally, the identifiers of different fourth regions and their corresponding access information may be located in different MAC PDUs, or may be located in the same MAC PDU, without limitation. For example, the identifier of fourth region 1 and its corresponding access information are located in MAC subPDU1, and the identifier of fourth region 2 and its corresponding access information are located in MAC subPDU2; or, the fourth region 1 and its corresponding access information and the fourth region 2 and its corresponding access information are both located in MAC subPDU1.

[0296] In one possible implementation, in addition to the identifier of the fourth area and the access information corresponding to the fourth area, the first network device further indicates the identifier of the terminal device or the identifier of the terminal device group. After the terminal device in the fourth area receives the instruction from the first network device, if the identifier of the terminal device indicated by the first network device includes its own identifier or the identifier of the terminal device group to which it belongs, the terminal device accesses the other network device according to the access information corresponding to the fourth area.

[0297] Alternatively, the first network device may indicate different access information to different terminal devices or terminal device groups in the same fourth area, such as indicating different random access resources, different target network devices, etc.

[0298] In one possible implementation, since the terminal device in the fourth area will access other network devices, the identifier of the fourth area, the identifier of the terminal device, or the identifier of the terminal device group indicated by the first network device to the terminal device can be understood as a switching command, used to instruct the terminal device in the fourth area to access other network devices.

[0299] S120432: If the identifier of at least one fourth area includes the identifier of the first area, the terminal device accesses the second network device according to the access information corresponding to the first area.

[0300] Exemplarily, if the identifier of at least one fourth area includes the identifier of the first area, it means that the first network device instructs the terminal device in the first area to access other network devices or perform cell switching, so that the terminal device can access the second network device according to the access information corresponding to the first area.

[0301] As a possible implementation, if the first network device also indicates the identifier of the terminal device or the identifier of the terminal device group, then when the identifier of at least one fourth area includes the identifier of the first area, the terminal device also needs to determine whether the identifier of the terminal device indicated by the first network device includes its own identifier, or determine whether the identifier of the terminal device group indicated by the first network device includes the identifier of the terminal device group to which it belongs. If so, access the second network device according to the access information corresponding to the first area.

[0302] Exemplarily, according to the access information corresponding to the first area, accessing the second network device may include: sending a random access preamble code to the second network device using a transmission beam corresponding to the target beam on the random access resource indicated by the access information.

[0303] Based on this fourth approach, the first network device can indicate the identifier of the fourth zone and its corresponding access information to the terminal device, so that the terminal device in the fourth zone can access other network devices based on the access information. In addition, the first network device can indicate different random access resources for different fourth zones, so that terminal devices in different fourth zones can access other network devices using different random access resources, thereby reducing resource collisions when the terminal device performs random access, thereby improving the access success rate.

[0304] In the above-mentioned methods 1 to 4, the total number of areas and / or the radius of the areas can be understood as the total number of areas and / or the radius of the areas in which the first network device is effective or used. In this case, the first area is the area within the coverage area or service area of ​​the first network device where the terminal device is located. In addition, the total number of areas and / or the radius of the areas can also be the total number of areas and / or the radius of the areas in which the second network device is effective or used. In this case, the terminal device can use the following method 5 for mobility management.

[0305] Method 5: As shown in FIG21 , the terminal device performs mobility management according to the identifier of the first area, including:

[0306] S120441. The terminal device receives second information from the second network device according to the identifier of the first area.

[0307] The first area is the area where the terminal device is located in the coverage area or service area of ​​the second network device. The second information indicates access information corresponding to the first area, which is used for the terminal device in the first area to access the second network device.

[0308] Exemplarily, the access information includes at least one of the following: an identifier of a target beam, a random access resource, or a random access preamble. For details about the random access resource or the random access preamble, please refer to the relevant description in step S120431 above, which will not be repeated here.

[0309] Exemplarily, the target beam may be a beam corresponding to a handover (HO)-SSB of the second network device. HO-SSB is used for mobility management. In addition to HO-SSB, the second network device may also send a traditional SSB, which may be used to access the second network device.

[0310] Typically, the period of a traditional SSB is fixed (e.g., the period of a traditional SSB is generally 5 / 10 / 20 / 40 / 80 / 160 ms), and the period of a traditional SSB is relatively short. The second network device may frequently send a traditional SSB to the terminal device based on a fixed period. The period of an HO-SSB is adjustable (e.g., the period of an HO-SSB may range from a few seconds to several hundred seconds). The period of an HO-SSB has a larger span, and the period of an HO-SSB is longer than that of a traditional SSB. The second network device may send an HO-SSB every few seconds or several hundred seconds.

[0311] In addition, the service area of ​​traditional SSB and the service area of ​​HO-SSB are also different. HO-SSB generally serves the area where cell handover / cell reselection is about to occur. As the second network device moves, the service area of ​​HO-SSB also changes.

[0312] As a possible implementation, the second network device may carry the second information via a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH). Furthermore, the PDCCH may be scrambled using the identifier of the first region. Therefore, the terminal device receiving the second information from the second network device based on the identifier of the first region may include: the terminal device parsing the PDCCH based on the identifier of the first region, thereby obtaining the second information carried in the PDCCH.

[0313] Optionally, the second network device may send access information corresponding to different regions via different PDCCHs. Furthermore, different PDCCHs may be scrambled using the identifiers of the corresponding regions. For example, if PDCCH#1 carries access information corresponding to region 1 and PDCCH#2 carries access information corresponding to region 2, then PDCCH#1 is scrambled using the identifier of region 1 and PDCCH#2 is scrambled using the identifier of region 2. The access information corresponding to different regions may be different.

[0314] S120442. The terminal device accesses the second network device according to the access information corresponding to the first area.

[0315] Exemplarily, the terminal device accessing the second network device according to the access information corresponding to the first area may include: sending a random access preamble code to the second network device using the transmitting beam corresponding to the target beam on the random access resource indicated by the access information.

[0316] For example, it can be considered that the solution corresponding to the above-mentioned method five is applicable to the following scenario: the terminal device first accesses the first network device and maintains the RRC connection state on the first network device. Subsequently, the first network device indicates to the terminal device the total number of areas and / or the radius of the area in which the second network device is effective or in the time domain, and the terminal device determines the area (i.e., the first area) where the terminal device is located in the coverage area or service area of ​​the second network device based on its own location information. Then, according to the identifier of the first area, the second information from the second network device is received, and according to the access information of the first area indicated by the second information, the second network device is accessed. That is, it can be considered that the terminal device switches from the first network device to the second network device.

[0317] Based on this fifth approach, the second network device can indicate the access information corresponding to each zone, allowing terminal devices in the zone to access the second network device based on the access information. Furthermore, the second network device can indicate different random access resources for different zones, allowing terminal devices in different zones to access the second network device using different random access resources, thereby reducing resource collisions when terminal devices perform random access, thereby improving access success rates.

[0318] In a possible implementation, the solution described in the fifth embodiment can be applied to the handover process shown in FIG22. As shown in FIG22, the handover process includes the following steps:

[0319] S2201: The terminal device sends a measurement report and / or location information of the terminal device to the first network device. Correspondingly, the first network device receives the measurement report and / or location information of the terminal device from the terminal device.

[0320] Exemplarily, the measurement report includes signal measurement results of a conventional SSB (such as NR-SSB). The location information of the terminal device may be indicated by information of the first area, such as an identifier of the first area or a reference location indication in the first area.

[0321] Optionally, before step S2201, the first network device may send a measurement configuration to the terminal device, and the terminal device may perform measurements according to the measurement configuration and report the measurement results.

[0322] Optionally, after receiving the measurement report and / or the location information of the terminal device, the first network device may perform layer 1 / layer 2 triggered mobility (LTM) candidate preparation.

[0323] S2202a: Network devices exchange HO-SSB and handover-related configuration information.

[0324] For example, FIG22 illustrates the interaction between a first network device and a second network device. The first network device can be understood as a source network device, and the second network device can be understood as a candidate network device. Of course, there can be multiple candidate network devices (not shown in FIG22 ), and one of the multiple candidate network devices can be a target network device.

[0325] Exemplarily, the configuration information may include at least one of the following: HO-SSB measurement period, measurement duration, measurement offset, ephemeris information of the network device, or access resource configuration corresponding to different time periods, such as a random access preamble index, a mask index, an RO resource, or a radio network temporary identity (RNTI).

[0326] S2202b: The first network device sends an LTM candidate configuration and a conditional handover (CHO) triggering condition to the terminal device. Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the LTM candidate configuration and the CHO triggering condition from the first network device.

[0327] Exemplarily, the LTM candidate configuration may be an LTM RRC-related configuration, which may include at least one of the information described in step S2202a. The CHO trigger condition is used to determine whether to perform a cell handover. When the CHO trigger condition is met, the terminal device performs a cell handover. When the CHO trigger condition is not met, the terminal device does not perform a cell handover.

[0328] Exemplarily, the first network device may send an RRC reconfiguration message to the terminal device, where the RRC reconfiguration message carries the LTM candidate configuration and / or the CHO triggering condition.

[0329] S2203: The terminal device sends an RRC reconfiguration complete message to the first network device. Correspondingly, the first network device receives the RRC reconfiguration complete message from the terminal device.

[0330] S2204a: The terminal device performs downlink synchronization with the second network device according to the HO-SSB of the second network device.

[0331] Exemplarily, the terminal device may receive the HO-SSB from the second network device, and perform downlink synchronization with the second network device based on the synchronization signal carried therein.

[0332] S2204b. The terminal device obtains timing information of the second network device.

[0333] For example, the timing information may be a timing advance (TA). The terminal device may determine the TA based on the ephemeris information of the second network device, the location information of the terminal device, etc. After obtaining the timing information of the second network device, it can be considered that the terminal device and the second network device have completed uplink synchronization.

[0334] S2205. The terminal device performs layer 1 / layer 3 measurement based on the HO-SSB of the second network device.

[0335] Exemplarily, the terminal device may measure the HO-SSB of the second network device according to the HO-SSB measurement period, measurement duration, measurement offset, etc. configured in the above step S220b.

[0336] For example, after obtaining the HO-SSB measurement result, the terminal device can perform an LTM-CHO trigger event evaluation and an LTM decision (LTM decision), that is, whether the measurement result meets the CHO trigger condition. If the measurement result meets the CHO trigger condition, the terminal device determines to perform a cell handover; if the measurement result does not meet the CHO trigger condition, the terminal device does not perform a cell handover and remains in an RRC connection state on the first network device.

[0337] S2206: The second network device sends the second information to the terminal device. Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the second information from the second network device.

[0338] The second information indicates access information corresponding to the first area, and the access information is used for the terminal device in the first area to access the second network device. Please refer to the relevant description in the above step S120441, which will not be repeated here.

[0339] As a possible implementation, when the measurement result meets the CHO triggering condition, the terminal device determines to perform cell switching, thereby receiving the second information from the second network device.

[0340] S2207: The terminal device accesses the second network device according to the access information corresponding to the first area. Please refer to the relevant description in the above step S120442, which will not be repeated here.

[0341] S2208. The second network device sends LTM completion response information to the terminal device; correspondingly, the terminal device receives the LTM completion response information from the second network device.

[0342] Based on the above steps, the terminal device can perform cell handover and access the second network device. Furthermore, the terminal device accesses the second network device based on the access resources indicated by the second network device. Therefore, the second network device can indicate different random access resources for different areas, allowing terminal devices in different areas to access the second network device using different random access resources. This reduces resource conflicts during random access by terminal devices, thereby improving access success rates.

[0343] It is understood that in each of the above embodiments, 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 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). The chip system may be composed of a chip, or may include a chip and other discrete components.

[0344] 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.

[0345] 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.

[0346] Communication Device Figure 23 shows a schematic structural diagram of a communication device 230. The communication device 230 includes a processing module 2301 and a transceiver module 2302. The communication device 230 can be used to implement the functions of the above-mentioned terminal device or network device.

[0347] In some embodiments, the communication device 230 may further include a storage module (not shown in FIG. 23 ) for storing program instructions and data.

[0348] In some embodiments, the transceiver module 2302, which may also be referred to as a transceiver unit, is configured to implement a transmitting and / or receiving function. The transceiver module 2302 may be composed of a transceiver circuit, a transceiver, a transceiver, or a communication interface.

[0349] In some embodiments, the transceiver module 2302 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 in the above method embodiments, and / or used to support other processes of the technology described herein; the processing module 2301 may be used to execute the processing steps (such as determination, etc.) performed by the network device in the above method embodiments, and / or used to support other processes of the technology described herein.

[0350] Exemplarily, when the communication device 230 is used to implement the functions of the above-mentioned terminal device:

[0351] The transceiver module 2302 is used to receive first information from the first network device, where the first information indicates information about an area. The area is fixed relative to the earth, and the geographical location of the area is determined by an identifier of the area; the identifier of the first area is determined based on the location information of the terminal device and the first information, where the first area is the area where the terminal device is located; the processing module 2301 is used to perform mobility management based on the identifier of the first area.

[0352] In one possible design, processing module 2301 is configured to perform mobility management based on an identifier of a first area, including: processing module 2301 is configured to determine a reference position in the first area based on the identifier of the first area; processing module 2301 is further configured to determine a remaining service time of the first cell based on the reference position in the first area, ephemeris information of the first network device, and a first elevation angle; and processing module 2301 is further configured to initiate neighboring cell measurement before the remaining service time expires. The first elevation angle is a minimum elevation angle corresponding to the first cell or a minimum elevation angle corresponding to the first area.

[0353] In one possible design, processing module 2301 is configured to perform mobility management based on an identifier of a first area, including: processing module 2301 is configured to determine a reference position in a reference area based on the identifier of the reference area and the total number of areas; processing module 2301 is further configured to determine a remaining service time of the first cell based on the reference position in the reference area, ephemeris information of the first network device, and a first elevation angle; processing module 2301 is further configured to initiate neighboring cell measurement before the remaining service time expires. The first elevation angle is a minimum elevation angle corresponding to the first cell or a minimum elevation angle corresponding to the first area. The first cell is a cell managed by the first network device.

[0354] In one possible design, processing module 2301, configured to perform mobility management based on an identifier of a first area, includes: processing module 2301, configured to determine a reference location in the first area based on the identifier of the first area; and processing module 2301, further configured to perform neighboring cell measurement on a second network device within a first time window. The offset between a start time of the first time window and the reference time is a difference between a first delay and a second delay, wherein the first delay is a propagation delay between the reference location in the first area and the first network device, and the second delay is a propagation delay between the reference location in the first area and the second network device.

[0355] In one possible design, the processing module 2301 is used to perform mobility management based on the identifier of the first area, including: the processing module 2301 is used to perform neighboring cell measurement when at least one of the following is met: the identifier of at least one second area does not include the identifier of the first area; or, the distance between the reference position in the first area and the reference position in the third area is greater than or equal to the first threshold, the reference position in the first area is determined based on the identifier of the first area, and the third area is an edge area of ​​at least one second area; or, the distance between the reference position in the first area and the reference position in the reference area is greater than or equal to the first threshold; or, the difference between the identifier of the first area and the identifier of the reference area is greater than or equal to the first threshold; the distance between the position of the terminal device and the reference position in the third area is greater than or equal to the first threshold; or, the distance between the position of the terminal device and the reference position in the reference area is greater than or equal to the first threshold.

[0356] In one possible design, the processing module 2301 is used to perform mobility management based on the identifier of the first area, including: the processing module 2301 is used to determine whether the identifier of at least one fourth area includes the identifier of the first area; the processing module 2301 is also used to access the second network device according to the access information corresponding to the first area when the identifier of at least one fourth area includes the identifier of the first area.

[0357] In one possible design, the processing module 2301 is used to perform mobility management based on the identifier of the first area, including: the processing module 2301 is used to receive second information from the second network device through the transceiver module 2302 based on the identifier of the first area, the second information indicates access information corresponding to the first area, and the access information is used for the terminal device in the first area to access the second network device; the processing module 2301 is also used to access the second network device based on the access information corresponding to the first area.

[0358] When the communication device 230 is used to implement the functions of the first network device:

[0359] The processing module 2301 is used to obtain first information, where the first information indicates information about a region. The region is fixed relative to the earth, and the geographical location of the region is determined by an identifier of the region. The transceiver module 2302 is used to send the first information to the terminal device.

[0360] 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.

[0361] In the present application, the communication device 230 may be presented in the form of 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.

[0362] In some embodiments, when the communication device 230 in Figure 23 is a chip or a chip system, the function / implementation process of the transceiver module 2302 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 2301 can be implemented through the processor (or processing circuit) of the chip or chip system.

[0363] Since the communication device 230 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.

[0364] 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.

[0365] 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 24, which is a structural diagram of a communication device 2400 provided in an embodiment of the present application, wherein the communication device 2400 includes a processor 2401 and a transceiver 2402. The communication device 2400 can be a terminal device, or a chip or chip system therein; or, the communication device 2400 can be a network device, or a chip or chip system therein. Figure 24 only shows the main components of the communication device 2400. In addition to the processor 2401 and the transceiver 2402, the communication device may further include a memory 2403, and an input and output device (not shown in the figure).

[0366] Optionally, processor 2401 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 2403 is primarily used to store software programs and data. Transceiver 2402 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.

[0367] Optionally, the processor 2401, the transceiver 2402, and the memory 2403 may be connected via a communication bus.

[0368] When the communication device is powered on, the processor 2401 can read the software program in the memory 2403, interpret and execute the instructions of the software program, and process the data of the software program. When data needs to be sent wirelessly, the processor 2401 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 through the antenna. When data is sent to the communication device, the radio frequency circuit receives the radio frequency signal through the antenna, converts the radio frequency signal into a baseband signal, and outputs the baseband signal to the processor 2401. The processor 2401 converts the baseband signal into data and processes the data.

[0369] 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.

[0370] In some embodiments, in terms of hardware implementation, those skilled in the art may conceive that the above-mentioned communication device 230 may take the form of the communication device 2400 shown in FIG. 24 .

[0371] As an example, the functions / implementation process of the processing module 2301 in FIG23 can be implemented by the processor 2401 in the communication device 2400 shown in FIG24 calling the computer-executable instructions stored in the memory 2403. The functions / implementation process of the transceiver module 2302 in FIG23 can be implemented by the transceiver 2402 in the communication device 2400 shown in FIG24.

[0372] As another possible product form, the terminal device or network device in this application may adopt the structure shown in Figure 25, or include the components shown in Figure 25. Figure 25 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device 2500 provided in this application. The communication device 2500 may be a network device or a module, chip, or system-on-chip in a network device; or the communication device 2500 may be a terminal device or a module, chip, or system-on-chip in a terminal device.

[0373] As shown in FIG25 , the communication device 2500 includes at least one processor 2501 and at least one communication interface ( FIG25 is merely an example of one communication interface 2504 and one processor 2501). Optionally, the communication device 2500 may further include a communication bus 2502 and a memory 2503.

[0374] Processor 2501 can 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 2501 can also be other devices with processing capabilities, such as circuits, devices, or software modules, without limitation.

[0375] Communication bus 2502 is used to connect the various components in communication device 2500, enabling communication between them. Communication bus 2502 may be a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus or an Extended Industry Standard Architecture (EISA) bus, for example. This bus can be categorized as an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, and so on. For ease of illustration, FIG25 shows only one thick line, but this does not imply that there is only one bus or only one type of bus.

[0376] Communication interface 2504 is used to communicate with other devices or communication networks. Exemplarily, communication interface 2504 can be a module, circuit, transceiver, or any other device capable of communication. Optionally, communication interface 2504 can also be an input / output interface within processor 2501, used to implement signal input and output to the processor.

[0377] The memory 2503 may be a device with a storage function, used to store instructions and / or data, wherein the instructions may be computer programs.

[0378] Exemplarily, the memory 2503 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.

[0379] It should be noted that the memory 2503 can exist independently of the processor 2501 or can be integrated with the processor 2501. The memory 2503 can be located within the communication device 2500 or outside the communication device 2500, without limitation. The processor 2501 can be used to execute instructions stored in the memory 2503 to implement the methods provided in the following embodiments of the present application.

[0380] As an optional implementation, the communication device 2500 may further include an output device 2505 and an input device 2506. The output device 2505 communicates with the processor 2501 and can display information in a variety of ways. For example, the output device 2505 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 2506 communicates with the processor 2501 and can receive user input in a variety of ways. For example, the input device 2506 can be a mouse, a keyboard, a touch screen device, or a sensor device.

[0381] In some embodiments, in terms of hardware implementation, those skilled in the art may conceive that the communication device 230 shown in FIG. 23 may take the form of the communication device 2500 shown in FIG. 25 .

[0382] As an example, the functions / implementation process of the processing module 2301 in FIG23 can be implemented by the processor 2501 in the communication device 2500 shown in FIG25 calling the computer-executable instructions stored in the memory 2503. The functions / implementation process of the transceiver module 2302 in FIG23 can be implemented by the communication interface 2504 in the communication device 2500 shown in FIG25.

[0383] It should be noted that the structure shown in FIG25 does not constitute a specific limitation on the network device. For example, in other embodiments of the present application, the network device may include more or fewer components than shown in the figure, or combine or split some 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.

[0384] 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.

[0385] 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.

[0386] 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.

[0387] 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.

[0388] 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.

[0389] 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.

[0390] 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.

[0391] 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.

[0392] 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.

[0393] 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.

[0394] 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.

[0395] 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 a computer can access 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.

[0396] 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.

[0397] 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 from a first network device, the first information indicating information of a region, the region being fixed relative to the earth, and the geographical location of the region being determined by an identifier of the region; Determine an identifier of a first area according to the location information of the terminal device and the first information, where the first area is an area where the terminal device is located; Mobility management is performed according to the identifier of the first area.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The geographic location of the region is further determined based on at least one of the following: a radius of the region, a radius of the earth, and a total number of regions.

3. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that The region includes a reference position, and the three-dimensional coordinates of the reference position and the identifier of the region satisfy the following relationship: Where i represents the identifier of the region, RL(i) represents the three-dimensional coordinates of the reference position, and R e represents the radius of the earth, [x] represents the decimal part of x, N spot Indicates the total number of regions.

4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that The projection RL(x) of the reference position on the unit square i ,y i ) and the identification of the region satisfy the following relationship: RL(x i )=(1-cosθ i ) / 2 The unit square is the square with vertices at (0,0), (1,0), (0,1), and (1,1) in the Cartesian plane. i ) represents the projection measurement of the reference position on the x-axis of the unit square, RL(y i ) represents the projection measurement of the reference position on the y-axis of the unit square.

5. The method according to claim 3 or 4, characterized in that: The Cartesian coordinates RL(x i ,y i ) and the identification of the region satisfy the following relationship: RL(x i )=i / N spot Among them, RL(x i ) represents the projection measurement of the reference position in the x-axis direction of the Cartesian coordinate system, RL(y i ) represents the projection measurement of the reference position in the y-axis direction of the Cartesian coordinate system.

6. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that The region includes a reference position, and the three-dimensional coordinates of the reference position and the identifier of the region satisfy the following relationship: Where i represents the identifier of the region, RL(i) represents the three-dimensional coordinates of the reference position, and R e represents the radius of the earth, N spot Indicates the total number of regions.

7. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that The region includes a reference position, and the latitude and longitude coordinates of the reference position and the identifier of the region satisfy the following relationship: RL(i) = (lon(i), lat(i)) Wherein, lon(i) represents the longitude of the reference position, lat(i) represents the latitude of the reference position, and N spot Indicates the total number of regions.

8. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 7, characterized in that: The radius of the area and the total number of areas satisfy the following relationship: Among them, R e represents the radius of the earth, N spot represents the total number of regions, R spot Represents the radius of the area.

9. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that: The first information indicates the total number of regions N spot and / or the radius R of the area spot .

10. The method according to claim 9, characterized in that The first information further indicates at least one of the following: an identification of a reference area, elevation information, ephemeris information of the first network device, or ephemeris information of the second network device; The reference area is an area in a first cell, and the first cell is a cell managed by the first network device; the elevation angle information indicates the minimum elevation angle corresponding to the first cell, or indicates the minimum elevation angle corresponding to the area in the first cell.

11. The method according to claim 10, characterized in that Performing mobility management according to the identifier of the first area includes: determining a reference position in the first area according to the identifier of the first area; Determine the remaining service time of the first cell according to the reference position in the first area, the ephemeris information of the first network device, and a first elevation angle, where the first elevation angle is a minimum elevation angle corresponding to the first cell or a minimum elevation angle corresponding to the first area; Before the remaining service time ends, neighbor cell measurement is started.

12. The method according to claim 10 or 11, characterized in that: Performing mobility management according to the identifier of the first area includes: determining a reference position in the first area according to the identifier of the first area; A neighboring area measurement is performed on a second network device within a first time window, and the offset between a start time and a reference time of the first time window is a difference between a first delay and a second delay, the first delay being a propagation delay between a reference position in the first area and the first network device, and the second delay being a propagation delay between a reference position in the first area and the second network device.

13. The method according to claim 9, characterized in that The first information further indicates at least one of the following: a region pattern, an identifier of a reference region, or a first threshold; The area pattern indicates an identifier of at least one second area, the second area is the area served by the beam of the first network device; the reference area is one of the areas in the first cell, and the first cell is a cell managed by the first network device.

14. The method according to claim 13, characterized in that The method further comprises: performing mobility management according to the identifier of the first area, including: performing neighboring cell measurement when at least one of the following is satisfied: The identifier of the at least one second area does not include the identifier of the first area; or, The distance between the reference position in the first area and the reference position in the third area is greater than or equal to the first threshold, the reference position in the first area is determined according to the identifier of the first area, and the third area is an edge area of ​​the at least one second area; or The distance between the reference position in the first area and the reference position in the reference area is greater than or equal to the first threshold; or, The difference between the identifier of the first area and the identifier of the reference area is greater than or equal to the first threshold.

15. The method according to claim 9, characterized in that The first information further indicates an identifier of at least one fourth area and access information corresponding to the at least one fourth area, wherein the fourth area is N spot The access information is an area in the fourth area that can be covered by the first network device, and the access information is used for the terminal device in the fourth area to access the second network device.

16. The method according to claim 15, characterized in that The access information includes at least one of the following: an identifier of the second network device, an identifier of a target beam, a random access resource or a random access preamble code; the target beam is a beam of the second network device.

17. The method according to claim 15 or 16, characterized in that The identifier of the fourth area and the access information corresponding to the fourth area are located in a subheader of a media access control MAC protocol data unit PDU; or, The identifier of the fourth area and the access information corresponding to the fourth area are located in the MAC control element CE of the MAC PDU; or, The identifier of the fourth area is located in the subheader of the MAC PDU, and the access information corresponding to the fourth area is located in the MAC CE of the MAC PDU.

18. The method according to any one of claims 15 to 17, characterized in that: Performing mobility management according to the identifier of the first area includes: determining whether the identifier of the at least one fourth area includes the identifier of the first area; If the identifier of the at least one fourth area includes the identifier of the first area, access is performed to the second network device according to access information corresponding to the first area.

19. The method according to claim 9, characterized in that The total number of the areas is the total number of areas in which the second network device is effective, and / or the radius of the area is the radius of the area in which the second network device is effective.

20. The method according to claim 19, characterized in that Performing mobility management according to the identifier of the first area includes: receiving, according to the identifier of the first area, second information from the second network device, where the second information indicates access information corresponding to the first area, and the access information is used for a terminal device in the first area to access the second network device; Access the second network device according to the access information corresponding to the first area.

21. A communication method, characterized in that: The method comprises: Acquire first information, where the first information indicates information of a region, the region is fixed relative to the earth, and a geographical location of the region is determined by an identifier of the region; Send the first information to the terminal device.

22. The method according to claim 21, characterized in that The geographic location of the region is further determined based on at least one of the following: a radius of the region, a radius of the earth, and a total number of regions.

23. The method according to claim 22, characterized in that The region includes a reference position, and the three-dimensional coordinates of the reference position and the identifier of the region satisfy the following relationship: Where i represents the identifier of the region, RL(i) represents the three-dimensional coordinates of the reference position, and R e represents the radius of the earth, [x] represents the decimal part of x, N spot Indicates the total number of regions.

24. The method according to claim 23, characterized in that The projection RL(x) of the reference position on the unit square i ,y i ) and the identification of the region satisfy the following relationship: RL(x i )=(1-cosθ i ) / 2 25. The method according to claim 23 or 24, characterized in that The Cartesian coordinates RL(x) of the reference position in the Fibonacci grid i ,y i ) and the identification of the region satisfy the following relationship: RL(x i )=i / N spot 26. The method according to claim 25, characterized in that The region includes a reference position, and the three-dimensional coordinates of the reference position and the identifier of the region satisfy the following relationship: Where i represents the identifier of the region, RL(i) represents the three-dimensional coordinates of the reference position, and R e represents the radius of the earth, N spot Indicates the total number of regions.

27. The method according to claim 22, characterized in that The region includes a reference position, and the latitude and longitude coordinates of the reference position and the identifier of the region satisfy the following relationship: RL(i) = (lon(i), lat(i)) Wherein, lon(i) represents the longitude of the reference position, lat(i) represents the latitude of the reference position, and N spot Indicates the total number of regions.

28. The method according to any one of claims 22 to 27, characterized in that: The radius of the area and the total number of areas satisfy the following relationship: Among them, R e represents the radius of the earth, N spot represents the total number of regions, R spot Represents the radius of the area.

29. The method according to any one of claims 21 to 28, characterized in that: The first information indicates the total number of regions N spot and / or the radius R of the area spot .

30. The method according to claim 29, characterized in that The first information further indicates at least one of the following: an identification of a reference area, elevation information, ephemeris information of the first network device, or ephemeris information of the second network device; The reference area is an area in a first cell, and the first cell is a cell managed by the first network device; the elevation angle information indicates the minimum elevation angle corresponding to the first cell, or indicates the minimum elevation angle corresponding to the area in the first cell.

31. The method according to claim 29, characterized in that The first information further indicates at least one of the following: a region pattern, an identifier of a reference region, or a first threshold; The area pattern indicates an identifier of at least one second area, the second area is the area served by the beam of the first network device; the reference area is one of the areas in the first cell, and the first cell is a cell managed by the first network device.

32. The method according to claim 29, characterized in that The first information further indicates an identifier of at least one fourth area and access information corresponding to the at least one fourth area, wherein the fourth area is N spot The access information is an area in the fourth area that can be covered by the first network device, and the access information is used for the terminal device in the fourth area to access the second network device.

33. The method according to claim 32, characterized in that The access information includes at least one of the following: an identifier of the second network device, an identifier of a target beam, a random access resource or a random access preamble code; the target beam is a beam of the second network device.

34. The method according to claim 32 or 33, characterized in that The identifier of the fourth area and the access information corresponding to the fourth area are located in a subheader of a media access control MAC protocol data unit PDU; or, The identifier of the fourth area and the access information corresponding to the fourth area are located in the MAC control element CE of the MAC PDU; or, The identifier of the fourth area is located in the subheader of the MAC PDU, and the access information corresponding to the fourth area is located in the MAC CE of the MAC PDU.

35. The method according to claim 29, characterized in that The total number of the areas is the total number of areas in which the second network device is effective, and / or the radius of the area is the radius of the area in which the second network device is effective.

36. A communication device, characterized in that: The communication device comprises a processor; the processor is used to run a computer program or instruction so that the communication device executes the method according to any one of claims 1 to 20, or so that the communication device executes the method according to any one of claims 21 to 35.

37. 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 20 is executed, or the method according to any one of claims 21 to 35 is executed.

38. A computer program product, characterized in that The computer program product comprises computer instructions; when part or all of the computer instructions are executed on a computer, the method according to any one of claims 1 to 20 is executed, or the method according to any one of claims 21 to 35 is executed.

39. 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 35.

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